He shook his head.“Judging me to be too regimental?”
“I wouldn’t say that out loud.”
“Which means I read your mind.”
She flushed, but she shrugged.“I’ve honestly never seen anything like it.”
“I found ways to cope in the last few years.”
“Since your father passed?”
His gaze shuttered, but surprisingly, he didn’t close her out.“That’s part of it, certainly.”
“And the rest?”
“Ask again over dinner.”
He offered the wine and she accepted, taking a small sip.She put the glass on top of the dresser and unpacked her things.She hung a dress on a rail.“It looks a little odd.”
“For now.”
“Are you sure you’re okay with me cluttering your space like this?”
“It won’t bother me in the least.”
Next she went into the bathroom to put away her personal items.“I’ve never done anything like this,” she said when she saw his reflection in one of the mirrors.
He lazed against the doorjamb, at ease.“What part?”
“Putting my stuff away at a man’s house.I hadn’t thought about it until now, but I rarely sleep over with a man.And I’ve never lived with anyone.”
“It’ll take some adjustment, but we’ll figure it out.”
Doubts and reality collided, crashing into her.She dropped her makeup bag onto the counter.
“Easy,” he said.
She turned to face him.“I’d really imagined we’d…”
He waited.
“Go to a justice of the peace or a judge.Some sort of civil ceremony.Then I’d see you at board meetings.”She pursed her lips.
“Lara, the day you walked in my office and I saw you in that delirium-inducing skirt, that became an impossibility.I was determined to have you.You will be waking up next to me for the next four years.”
“Three!”
He grinned.“Ends that argument.”
“Your contract said three years, Mr.Donovan.”
“And now you think it’s an excellent idea,” he said.
“Coercion is grounds to nullify the entire agreement.”
“Thatwasn’tcoercion.”
“But it is trickery.”
