Page 41 of Runaway Bride’s Husband

“You’re right.” I gave it back to him just as straight. “Maggie has made her terms perfectly clear. She’ll marry Daniel if you agree that she can make the decisions for the wedding. Until she gets your answer on whether you’ll let her do that, nothing is going to change.”

“Do you really think that’s all this is?” he asked pensively. “Can you sit there and honestly tell me that Maggie didn’t know how it was going to work from the very outset?”

“I can’t give you that answer. You’ll have to ask her what she did and didn’t know, but even if she did know, maybe that’s the problem. Maybe she didn’t want that wedding to begin with and her opinions were simply never taken into consideration.”

His jaw worked. “Her opinions were considered. They were simply overruled.”

“To such an extent that she wasn’t in control of anything by the end?” I asked. “She didn’t even choose her own dress, Cliff. Now, I won’t pretend to be an expert on brides, weddings, or even women in general, if I’m being honest, but it seems to me that the dress they wear on their wedding day is a pretty big deal to them.”

“Maggie knew what was expected of her. She was at every dress fitting. Obviously.” He shook his head. “In any event, how well do you really know her, Ryan?”

“Not well at all. That’s why I’m not sure why I’m involved in any of this.”

He slid his elbows onto the table and steepled his fingers, pausing for a beat before he finally spoke again. “See, I know her quite well and I’m not convinced that this is about the dress, or the flowers, or the venue. In fact, I don’t think she’s planning on marrying Daniel at all.”

I frowned. “Well, right now, she’s not. Not until her terms are met.”

He offered me wry smile. “I know her game, son. Even if we do meet her terms, she’s not going to go through with it. She’ll think up some other hoop she wants us to jump through, then that will become her condition, and on, and on. She’s trying to wear us down.”

My heart thumped against my ribs. Well, butter my butt and call me a biscuit. Does anything get past this guy?

“She knows perfectly well that she won’t get her inheritance if she refuses to get married,” he said. “There’s nothing I can do for her if she’s doesn’t marry and marry well, at that.”

I regarded him for a moment, this man my dad’s age who’d never lost anything in his life. Cliff Pembroke was silver at the temples nowadays, his dark hair shot through with gray and the lines across his face a mixture of laughter and tension.

Yet, for all his skills of observation and his experience, he didn’t know what it felt like to lose control. I did.

“What if you agree to meet her terms?” I said after a beat. “She gets to choose her wedding, the dress, the venue, the ceremony, and the guest list.”

He let out a long, almost disappointed sounding sigh. “I just told you, Ryan. This is a game to her. It doesn’t matter what we agree to, she’ll come up with something else.”

“Maybe, but that doesn’t mean it’s not also fair,” I said firmly. “In fact, it’s the bare minimum. She should get to choose the terms of her own wedding and marriage.”

“And what then? We just jump through the next hoop she puts up too, and the next?”

“No.” Alright, Ryan. Time to double down. “If you agree to her terms, I will ensure that she goes through with it, but not while there’s financial pressure on her too.”

“You’ll ensure it?” He arched an eyebrow at me. “I’ll believe that when I see it, but okay. Let’s give it a try. I’ll give her access to her money. For a short amount of time, but she comes home.”

“That might do more harm than good.”

He let out a long sigh, looking back at me for a moment before he jerked his chin in a nod. “You might not be wrong about that. Neither her mother nor Daniel’s will be happy about giving up control of the wedding.”

I leaned back in my chair. “Then we’ve got a deal?”

Cliff’s head cocked. “Not quite. There’s one last thing.”

I stopped halfway through pushing my chair back. “What else is there?”

“I know Marcus offered you money.”

My eyes narrowed. Obviously, he fucking knows about that. Is there anything happening in my life right now this man doesn’t know?

“I don’t need it,” I said. “So I’ll tell you the same thing I told him. No, thank you. Don’t bring it up again.”

His gaze remained fixed on mine. “Think about this very carefully, Ryan.”

“I already have and I don’t want your money, so thanks, but no thanks.”