I get to my feet and walk around the desk, reaching down to grab her panties from around her ankles. “I will keep these until after we’re married,” I tell her. “You will go and try on your wedding dress. Hit the buzzer if you need help. Let me know if it doesn’t fit.”
“Do I have a choice about any of this?” she asks, getting to her feet and looking straight at me with a spark of hope in her eyes. I have to stomp on that hope. I can’t let it grow, not when I’m this close to reaching my goal.
“No,” I say. “No choice at all.”
She walks out, shoulders slumped. I go after her and grab them, leaning down toward her ear. “My wife walks upright,” I snap. “My wife is confident and powerful and strong. March upstairs like you own the place. Now go.”
She walks away, her spine upright at least. I watch her go until she’s high enough for me to see the tops of her thighs under that skirt.
I dig out my cell phone. A message from Toby is on there.
Oswald’s gone from his house. We lost him in traffic. He could be anywhere. Be on your guard.
30
Bex
* * *
“What do you think?”
“I can’t believe you’re going to marry him, is what I think.”
I look at the phone screen. Ursula is sitting in a bath full of bubbles, a glass of champagne in her hand. I could be there right now. That could be me.
“What am I doing?” I say, flopping back onto the bed, the dress too tight for my body to allow me to even flop back properly. “I’m in a wedding dress in a psycho’s house, and I’m going to marry him tomorrow.”
“What are you doing?” she asks, taking a sip from her glass. “Did he hit you over the head and change your personality or something?”
I sigh, shaking my head. “If I don’t do this, everyone loses their jobs.”
“That’s not on you. That’s on him. You don’t have to do this. You could just leave.”
“I know, but it’s not just about work. I couldn’t abandon his daughter. She’s getting picked on at school, and I’m trying to help sort that out. If I go now, I don’t know what’ll happen to her.”
“Therefore, you must marry him?”
“Look on the bright side. It’s only for a couple of months, and at the end of it, we have enough money for the boutique and maybe even for somewhere to live for the two of us.”
She puts her glass down, moving the phone closer to her face so I can see her frowning at me. “You want to marry him,” she says after examining me closely. “I can tell. What is it? Is he good in bed?”
“Ursula!”
“Come on, it’s that, isn’t it? You can’t just marry someone because they can make you come.”
“You sure?”
“There has to be love involved in there somewhere.”
“It’s just a formality. It’s not like I’ll be attached to him for life or anything. He’s made it clear that there are no feelings between us. He just needs this so he can inherit instead of his brother.”
She grins. “So what is he like in bed?”
“I wouldn’t know.”
“Are you saying you haven’t done anything with him?”
“No, I’m saying I haven’t been in bed with him.”