Total pages in book: 134
Estimated words: 129676 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 648(@200wpm)___ 519(@250wpm)___ 432(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 129676 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 648(@200wpm)___ 519(@250wpm)___ 432(@300wpm)
“First of all, no, you would not. And second, I don’t like to be lowballed. It’s marriage or nothing. Take it or leave it.”
“Are you forcing me—”
“No, not forcing,” he corrected offhandedly. “You’re free to walk from this place right this second. You’re free to walk out of my life right this second. Free to keep your job regardless of your answer. Free to quit it. I am merely offering you a deal, and quite a generous one. Ask your friends’ husbands what kinds of deals I usually put on the table. They are never this benevolent.”
Row and Rhyland despised doing business with Tate. And they were people he didn’t outwardly despise. Where did it leave me?
“Well, I’m so bloody touched.” I put a hand to my rib cage. “That you’re altruistic enough to offer I become your whor—”
“Stop right there.” He raised his palm. “Nobody gets to call my future wife a slut other than me.”
“You plan to call me a slut?” I blinked fast. It was just my luck to work for a madman.
“Only in the bedroom.” He sucked on his cigarette, the ember burning orange. “You’ll love it.”
“Do you understand?” My teeth ground together to a point of dust. “You’re essentially forcing me to have sex with you to save my mother’s life?”
“Miss Bennett, you wound me. I would never force myself upon you.” His voice felt like the edge of a knife, cold and sharp, traveling along my skin. “You will come to me willingly. Happily. ’Tis human nature to seek warmth where one can get it.”
“Warmth?” I laughed humorlessly, nauseous with rage. “You’re high if you think I’d ever sleep with you. Even if we’d been married for a hundred yea—”
“Enough.” He put his cigarette out swiftly. “The human race has remarkable spirit. We have survived countless wars, famine, pandemics, natural disasters, oppression, floods, and nuclear accidents. I have every faith you will survive—and thrive—in a marriage with a six-three handsome man worth ninety billion dollars who is fond of reciprocal oral sex and will leave you to your own devices. Your five minutes are up. Give me your answer.”
I hated him.
I hated him so much the hatred had a taste and a scent and a shape.
It was a living, breathing thing inside me.
It thrummed under my skin. Still, I knew I had no choice. He wasn’t going to budge. He had all the power.
All I could hope for was that this was one of our games. Something I could bargain my way out of at some point.
“Well?” Tate flicked his wrist to check his watch. It was, I realized, a tic. “What’s it going to be?”
“This marriage…” I took a deep breath. “How do you envision it?”
“With a rigid set of rules,” he replied. “We live in different corners of my estate. I provide you with money, security, freedom, and comfort. My means and connections would be at your disposal. You, in return, provide me with heirs, company, and arm candy for social events.”
“That’s all?” I frowned.
He quirked an eyebrow up. “Am I missing something?”
Yes. Friendship. Feelings. Love.
“And are you still going to be obnoxious to me?” I asked.
“Naturally.” He opened up his arms, undaunted. “You’re the only person I know who is foolish enough to defy me.”
My disobedience being attractive to him wasn’t a good thing, because I could never stop butting heads with that demon.
“I don’t even know your real name,” I pointed out.
I didn’t know much about my boss, but the little I’d stumbled upon in Forbes three years ago fascinated me. He’d spent his early years in an orphanage—or a boarding school of sorts—and was adopted as a teenager, where he took on a different name. No one knew his real name. Not even his friends.
“Tatum Blackthorn is my legal name,” he retorted. “Anything else?”
I rolled my tongue along the walls of my mouth. “I have rules too.”
“Let’s hear them.”
“The results of your side of the bargain won’t be immediate. It’d take time to see if Mum is getting better and the experiment is working. Therefore, no heirs the first two years of our marriage.” That’d buy me some time.
Tate didn’t flinch.
I continued, feeling like a heavy stone rolled off my chest. “I decide when, where, and how we consummate this marriage. You will not pressure me. There’ll be no time limit on this.”
An indifferent nod. He was oddly confident that I would come to him readily. His ego was bigger than Nebraska.
“I come and go as I please. I do not answer to you. And when my mother passes away, our marriage contract expires, and I get to decide if I want a divorce or not.”
He scowled. “Absolut—”
I held up a hand. “This shouldn’t be an issue if you plan on taking care of her. This is my assurance. Bear in mind that if all goes well and we have spawn, I am less likely to leave. Or at least I’d give you a fair chance.” Lies. I would not. And there’d be no spawn. But he didn’t need to know that.