Total pages in book: 112
Estimated words: 113272 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 566(@200wpm)___ 453(@250wpm)___ 378(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 113272 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 566(@200wpm)___ 453(@250wpm)___ 378(@300wpm)
“What? No! What are you talking about? Did she say that?”
“She has nightmares,” Eli said. “Where she says that she doesn’t want ‘him’ and don’t make me marry ‘him’.”
“Oh shit,” Julian said.
Cole blanched. “What the fuck? She never said anything about not wanting to marry me. I mean, it was clear that it wasn’t a love match. It was for business. But I would never have forced her into anything.”
“Why would she move here if Cole had forced her into something she didn’t want?” Julian asked.
Good point.
“Her father must have forced her into it,” Cole said grimly. “That asshole assured me that she was happy and that she wanted to marry me. But what if he forced her into saying yes?”
Fuck. “We’ve started looking into him and we couldn’t find much dirt.”
“Oh, there will be dirt,” Cole said. “He wasn’t a clean man. I couldn’t believe it when I heard he jumped off a bridge. Hank Bridges was the last person I expected to do something like that. He was too full of his own self-importance. He always thought he’d come out on top. I still have no idea how he managed to become the Governor of Texas. He was close to broke, then suddenly, he’s running on a ticket with Richard Lyle. Then Lyle dies and Hank becomes governor?”
“It sounds like something out of a soap opera,” Julian said. “How did he know Lyle?”
“I don’t know,” Eli said. “But I think I need to find all of this out.”
“I want to talk to her,” Cole said. “Make sure she wasn’t forced into an engagement with me.”
“You’ll have to wait. She needs rest. If she’s willing to talk to you, I’ll let you know.”
Cole frowned. “Arabella shouldn’t be on her own.”
“Maybe we should go get her and bring her here to stay,” Keira said worriedly.
Cole shot her a warm look. “You’re so sweet.”
She blushed.
“Actually, we will be staying with Arabella,” Eli said. Like hell she was coming here.
“And why are you looking after her?” Cole asked smoothly. “You don’t even know her. She would be better here.”
“Not happening. My brother and I will be taking care of her. And you will stay away until she wants to talk to you. Thanks for taking care of Horse.”
Grabbing the dog’s lead, he stormed out of the house.
As he headed back toward his car, his phone rang. He frowned when he saw it was Kellan. “Yeah?”
“You need to come back here,” Kellan said. “Arabella’s house was broken into and they’ve trashed the place.”
What the fuck?
23
Arabella stood in the middle of her living room gazing around in dismay.
It seemed like these assholes had been very thorough. Everything had been ransacked and ripped or broken.
What was she going to do?
Her laptop was smashed into pieces which was odd, she’d have thought they would just take it and sell it.
“Jesus,” Jake said, looking around.
Walking over, he stared down at her. “Hey, are you all right? I heard that you had to go to the hospital. I was about to come see you. Do you need someone to stay with you? Might be a good idea if you come and stay with me and Molly.”
“She’ll stay with us,” Kellan said firmly.
“Will she?” Jake murmured. “Is that what you want, Arabella?”
“It is,” Kellan said.
“I need to speak to Arabella alone,” Jake said firmly. “Let’s go outside so you can sit down. Duncan is on his way over to help process the scene.”
Scene?
Like a crime scene?
Well, she guessed it was a crime scene, wasn’t it?
“You don’t need to talk to her alone,” Kellan stated.
“Fucking hell,” Eli stated from the entrance to the living room. “Who the fuck would do this? What did they take?”
“I don’t know. I don’t have much. The most expensive thing I own is my laptop,” she said. “And it’s sitting in pieces.”
“Jesus, baby.” Eli walked over to her and wrapped his arms around her. “This is the last thing you need. All this stress can’t be good for you.”
“We shouldn’t be in here,” Jake said firmly. “Let’s go wait on the front porch for Duncan. I think I heard another car pull up.”
“We know how to treat a crime scene,” Kellan said.
To her surprise he drew her from Eli’s arms and carried her out of the house.
It felt better to get out into the fresh air and away from the house. Even if the evening sun did hurt her eyes. Closing them, she buried her face in Kellan’s chest. She heard a loud noise coming from somewhere but she couldn’t seem to figure out what it was.
“Is the sun hurting her eyes?” Eli asked urgently.
“Yeah,” Kellan replied.
“Being out here is no good, Jake,” Eli said. “The sun is hurting her eyes.”
Good Lord.
She was fine. They didn’t need to fuss so much.
“She should be in bed,” Kellan said.