Chapter 10 What Newlyweds Sleep in Separate Rooms?
A sister?
Grace’s contempt deepened. Had he already decided that if he couldn’t have her, he might as well try someone else in the family?
“No,” she said coldly. “I’m an only child.”
Ryan frowned.
Then why did she look so much like Chloe? They could have been twins.
Was there some long-lost sister neither of them knew about? Or was it simply an extraordinary coincidence?
“I think you misunderstood me earlier. At the gate. I’d met another woman before you, and—”
“Ryan.” Her voice was sharp with impatience. “This arrangement lasts three months. Then we go our separate ways. I’m not going to fall in love with you. We’ll end up strangers. You don’t need to explain your involvement with other women, because I’m not interested.”
His desire to explain disappeared.
Fine. She could think whatever she wanted. She was the golden girl, and he was the creep who wasn’t good enough for her.
All he needed was the pendant.
He would treat this as settling a debt. His mentor had given Henry that pendant as a pledge and accepted the Morgans’ money. Ryan couldn’t simply pretend none of it had happened.
If he wanted it back, they had to return it willingly. Taking it through deception or force was out of the question.
He could endure a little hostility. That was better than repaying the family’s help with ingratitude.
Besides, if he hurt the Morgans to get his way, his mentor would probably break his legs.
“All right.”
Grace turned toward the house without another word. Her loose T-shirt shifted as she walked, and her shorts left her long legs bare.
Ryan watched her go.
Chloe, the woman beside her at the hospital, and now Grace. Apparently, this town had no shortage of gorgeous women with incredible legs.
Not that any of them had anything to do with him.
Henry was waiting on the couch when they returned. He looked eagerly from one to the other.
“How did it go?”
Grace sat beside him and linked her arm through his.
“Really well.”
His face brightened.
“So you’ll make it official tomorrow?”
“Yes.”
He turned to Ryan.
“And you?”
Ryan smiled.
“Grace wants to marry me. What could I possibly complain about?”
Henry looked fondly at his granddaughter.
“She lost her parents so young. And I’m an old man. One day I might go to sleep and never wake up. There isn’t much I worry about anymore, but I worry about her. Who’ll look after her when I’m gone?”
He turned back to Ryan.
“Now she has you. Knowing you’ll be there puts my mind at ease.”
Grace’s eyes reddened.
“Don’t talk like that, Grandpa. You’re going to live to a hundred.”
“Of course I am. I still have to see you two have children.” He laughed, then regarded Ryan with renewed seriousness. “She’s my only granddaughter. I know you’re a capable man, and I won’t ask much of you. Whatever happens, keep her safe.”
Something about those words unsettled Ryan. Henry sounded almost like a man putting his affairs in order.
Still, Ryan had a part to play.
“Once we’re married, she’ll be my wife. Of course I’ll protect her.”
Henry’s laughter filled the room.
“That’s what I wanted to hear. You’re having a drink with me at dinner.”
“I’d be happy to.”
Perhaps Henry really did feel that a weight had lifted. That evening, it took very little alcohol to make him tipsy. He was unmistakably happy, as though he could finally rest.
Later, Ryan was getting ready for bed in the guest room when Grace knocked. She entered carrying two copies of their agreement.
“Sign these.”
He read through them. They contained essentially what they’d discussed that afternoon.
Without comment, he signed and initialed the documents. Grace kept one and handed him the other.
“This is yours.”
Ryan took it and tore it up.
Her expression changed.
“What are you doing?”
“Keep your copy safe.” He smiled faintly. “I don’t need mine.”
She considered that, then relaxed. She still had a signed copy. If he later denied their arrangement or demanded money, she would have something to hold him to.
With a cold huff, she turned to leave.
“Grace.”
She stopped, watching him warily.
“I just wanted to point something out. After tomorrow, we’re supposed to be husband and wife. If you keep looking at me like that, we won’t fool anyone.”
He paused.
“And the guest room is fine tonight. But once we’re married, how are we going to explain me staying here?”
Grace went still.
He was right. Somehow, she hadn’t thought of that.
What newlyweds slept in separate rooms?
Was she really going to have to share a bedroom with this creep for three months?