Chapter 3
We sat on a stone at the edge of a cliff with Montana wrapped around us. This was the most beautiful place I”d ever been. I”d lived in a city my whole life, and the little of Cornwall I”d seen didn”t have this majesty.
”What do you think of my land?” he asked.
My land. His possessiveness should sound facetious, but it didn”t. He meant it. He had a kinship with his ancestral property.
”It”s stunning,” I admitted. ”I”ve never traveled this far in my life. And this is just…I can see why people love the wide open spaces. I thought the countryside would be too quiet for me, growing up and living in London. But I could see myself living in a place like this, where the silence speaks volumes and gives so much peace.”
His eyes softened, and he stroked my cheek with the back of his hand.
”Ace says you grew up in an orphanage.”
I moved my face away from him. I didn”t want him to touch me.
”I did.” I wasn”t ashamed of it and didn”t mind talking about it, but I didn”t advertise it or go into detail.
”When did you end up there?”
I gave him a confused look. ”What do you mean?”
”When did you start living there?”
”Since I was a baby. Since…before I can remember anything. I was left at a church when I was a couple of days old.”
”Who raised you?”
”No one.” I felt disconcerted by his probing eyes, so I looked around at the beauty of Montana instead of Rowan.
”Someone must”ve.”
I turned now to face him. ”I guess the nuns did. But…it”s not like there”s one person. You”re part of a system. You just grow up.”
He narrowed his eyes. ”Was it a good orphanage?”
I chuckled then. ”Define good.”
”I don”t know, Isha. Were you abused? Were you hurt? Did you have enough to eat?”
”You”re wondering if I ever had to hold up a bowl and say, ”Please, sir, I want some more?” It wasn”t like that. It was fine.” It was a nightmare, one that didn”t end when Yas and I had to leave the orphanage and ended up in a state-run home when we became teenagers.
”Have you looked for your parents?” he asked.
I rubbed my hands on my bare thighs. He was making me uneasy. ”Why would I?”
”Curiosity.”
I shrugged. ”I”m not interested. I mean, what would I say? Thanks for not throwing me in a dustbin and letting me die? I know some kids who look. My friend Yasmine and I met when we were nine, and we became fast friends right away. She looked.”
”And?”
”And it was a disappointment,” I revealed. ”Her mum didn”t want her and didn”t want to see her. She”d been raped and didn”t want to keep the baby.”
He took my hand in his then and surprised me. ”That”s tough.”
”Yeah. Speaking of childhoods, how was it to grow up on a ranch? It must”ve been so much fun.”
He kept my hand in his, stroking the palm of my hand with a rough thumb.
”I was close to my father. He took me everywhere with him. I think I sat on a horse before I could walk.”
”How wonderful.”
He traced my nose with a finger, and I shrank from his touch. ”Please don”t.”
”Why?”
I licked my lips, and his eyes were drawn to them.
”I…I cannot do this.”
”Do what?”
I got up then, wanting to get away from him, his aura, his magnetism. This man was lethal. I”d never had this kind of attention from a man. I didn”t trust it.
”I”m with your brother,” I offered lamely. I was so not with Ace, but I needed some defenses against this man.
He laughed. ”Darlin”, you”re barking up the wrong tree. Ace has always been in love with Caitlyn and will always be. You”re just a…dalliance.”
He might as well have called me a prostitute. I suddenly felt dirty.
”I understand you think that,” I whispered. ”But you know nothing about Ace and my relationship.” And if you did, you”d know that I”m not even a dalliance. When he found out, I would love to be there and rub it in his face.
He came up to me.
”If you”re with my brother, Isha, explain why you”re soaking wet because of me?”
I felt shock course through me at his blunt words. I grew up rough. I”d heard it all, and yet I cringed. There was nothing sexy about what he”d said. It was…insulting.
”Can we go back?” I asked.
”You sure about that, sweetheart?” He looked at his horse, and then at me.
I nodded. ”Yes, please.”
”You”re so fuckin” polite, you know that.”
I cleared my throat. ”I grew up in a church. They drill etiquette into you.”
”I grew up on a ranch.” He put the pad of his thumb over my lips and ran it over, making me ache to push my tongue out to taste him. ”I”m not polite, darlin”. I take what I want.”
I took a step back from him and he grabbed my arm. ”Careful, Isha, it”s a long fall from up here.”
I looked behind me. I was close to the edge of the cliff and somehow that seemed a lot less scary than the man who was standing in front of me.