“Who?—Oh.” Evan looked up from behind his desk. “Sweetheart, to what do I owe this honor?”
Sweetheart.
She stiffened at the word. It was remarkable, truly, how he managed to make her melt even when she was furious with him.
Don’t lose your focus,she reminded herself.
Her hands clenched. “I would prefer if you do not call me that, not when you are shirking your responsibility to me,” she snapped. “Have you forgotten something?”
“That is quite the heavy accusation.” Evan leaned back in his chair. “And not to my knowledge, no.”
Great.So, he had decided to play dumb. He was looking at her with great curiosity now, and for a moment, Isadora almost forgot what she had come here to do.
She was too distracted by the way he looked—which just happened to be… handsome.
“Cat got your tongue, sweetheart?” he teased when he noticed the slight pause in her step.
That was enough to re-ignite her anger.
“What are you doing here in your study?” she blurted out. “It is our wedding night. You are expected to be with me, are you not? Or have you changed the rules of marriage?”
“Ah,” he murmured, studying her. “This is about my absence. You should have said so clearly. Why make me guess?”
“Do you mean, rather, your deliberate disappearance?” she bit out. “Yes, it is.”
“I assumed you would be grateful,” he said simply.
Except the manner in which he spoke only served to infuriate her even more so.
“Grateful?” she repeated, incredulous.
He lifted a shoulder in a half-shrug. “We both know this is a marriage of convenience. I saw no reason to… complicate matters.”
Her face burned.
Complicate matters.
The words should have relieved her. Instead, they only humiliated her.
She folded her arms. “Then why marry me at all? That iscomplicatingmatters.”
It was a bold question, but one that she had not asked him before. Now, as his wife, she felt as though she had that much of a right.
Something flickered in his expression.
“You owed me a favor.”
“Yes, butwhymarriage?” she pressed. “I knew that you had been looking for a bride. Surely, a man of your status could have found any woman. Why was it that you chose to marry me and then just leave me waiting? Is this a game to you?”
“No, no,” he clarified, straightening slightly. “This is no game. I’d wager it’s something much better. Sweetheart, you’re the perfect wife for me.”
His words caught her entirely off guard. For a fleeting second, her breath hitched, her mind scrambling to understand what he meant.
Perfect wife?“But you do not even know me.”
“I know enough,” he said, simply. “You’ll do the job just fine.”
Thejob?And then—understanding dawned on her.
