He shrugged. How much could he say?
“I’m not a good person.”
She blinked. “Right. You’re a Bartolli. I didn’t expect any of you were.”
“My cousin is. Tabby, have you met her?”
“A few times,” she said guardedly.
“Only one in my family worth knowing,” he told her.
Was that a blanket on the closet floor?
“Are you sleeping in there?” He nodded at the closet.
She shrugged. “It’s the only way I can sleep. Is that a problem?”
The fact that she was sleeping on the floor in a closet instead of in the large bed in her room? Yeah, it kind of was.
She was prickly. Far more guarded and reserved than he’d expected.
And what were you expecting?
He was a fucking idiot.
It was obvious that she wouldn’t talk to him. She was holding back because she didn’t know him and couldn’t trust him.
Standing, he moved to the closet and gripped hold of the door when she tried to pull it out of his hold.
“What . . . what are you doing?” she demanded. “Get away from there.”
Jared stared down at the stuffed whale toy that was sitting by her blanket along with an old book that looked scuffed and marked.
It was all she had in here except from some clothes pushed down to the far end. They all looked skimpy and gaudy.
No doubt stuff his father had picked out for her.
Something struck him at the sight of that whale.
“I want you to leave. Now.”
Her words seemed brave and demanding. But they held a quivery note to them.
As though she was terrified that he wouldn’t listen.
Fuck. He was just making things worse.
“You like books?” he asked.
“Yes.”
“Have you been into the library here at the house?” he asked.
“Yes,” she said with less heat in her voice. “But it doesn’t have much I like to read.”
Hmm. It looked like she was reading a romance book, so he guessed she was right.
Well, that was one thing he could change.
