Page 8 of The Tycoon's Diamond Demand

She rubbed the back of her neck. ‘I was nine, nearly ten, when I last visited the house. Eighteen when I was last in Norway.’

His eyebrows rose, and Maja saw the doubt in his eyes. ‘I didn’t only walk away from you, Jens, I walked away from my father, and from being a Hagen. I reinvented myself. I went to university, got a degree, and started work. I have been supporting myself ever since.’

He looked sceptical and she couldn’t blame him. Daughters of billionaires seldom walked away from a lifetime of wealth and ease, but she had. It hadn’t been easy, but she hadn’t taken a penny from Håkon since she left Norway. When she’d turned twenty-five, she’d inherited the proceeds from the sale of this house, and her grandparents’ investments, but those first few years alone had been tough.

Maybe if she underscored how estranged she was from Håkon, Jens would leave her be. ‘During my last argument with my father, I told him I didn’t want anything more to do with him. Håkon didn’t believe me, and his lawyer delivered an ultimatum on his behalf. I either apologised and resumed my place as a Hagen, or I had to give up all claims on him and Hagen International.’

‘Håkon, always so kind and cuddly,’ Jens snidely commented.

‘My point is, I chose the latter, I’ve had no contact with Håkon for twelve years and don’t consider myself a Hagen.’ She worked hard, tried to be a good person, paid her taxes, and flossed her teeth. What had she done to deserve to be slapped in the face with her past?

‘But it’s whatIthink that matters, Maja,’ Jens softly informed her, his voice both seductive and sinister. ‘It’s whatIwant that’s important.’

She threw up her hands and turned to face him, frustration and fury bubbling up from her stomach into her throat. ‘Then tell me! Stop toying with me.’

Jens stood up and came to stand in front of her, his expression implacable and his eyes unreadable. ‘Years ago, you promised to marry me, Maja, and that’s exactly what you are going to do.’

CHAPTER THREE

MAJABLINKEDAShis words sank in, and then she released a small laugh. Jens had always had an offbeat and dark sense of humour that often made an appearance at wholly inappropriate times. Then she noticed his unchanged expression, his bleak and cold stare, and realised he wasn’t joking. She crossed her arms across her chest and bit down on her tongue to stop herself from demanding to know why he wanted to marry her, what game he was playing, and what he’d get from it.

His motivations didn’t matter because there was no way she was going to do it.

‘In your dreams,’ she scoffed. ‘That’s not going to happen. Not today, not tomorrow or any time in the future.’ Maja threw up her hands, distressed. ‘You can’tmakeme marry you! You’re not a Viking raider and I most definitely am not a prize to be claimed.’

His dark eyes remained steady on her face. His expression didn’t change, and Maja swallowed. Oh, she recognised the light in his eyes, the sheer determination. She was his entire focus. He meant every word he said and when Jens said he was going to do something, in that tone of voice, with that light in his eyes, he was an unstoppable force. Marrying her was now top of his priority list. Butwhy? They hadn’t seen each other for over a decade.

‘I don’t understand why you want to do this,’ she told him, agitation causing her to speak an octave higher, her words tumbling over each other.

‘You don’t need to understand my motives, Maja. You just need to fall in line, which you will, because if you don’t I will dismantle the life you spent the last twelve years building,’ Jens told her, sounding completely assured. ‘Follow me,’ he said, before he turned and walked into the bigger of the three reception rooms.

Maja watched him walk away, moving silently despite being so broad and tall. In a daze, she dropped her bag onto the chair next to the hall table but her feet were glued to the floor.

Marriage?Seriously?

It was, genuinely, the last thing she’d expected him to say, or suggest. How could he want to marry her, the girl who’d dumped him via a blithe video twelve years ago, the daughter of his biggest rival? What was he thinking?Washe thinking?

Maja jammed her hands into the back pockets of her jeans and rocked on her heels. Of course he’d thought this through, Jens wasn’t someone who made irrational and impulsive decisions. She didn’t know his reasons for his out-there suggestion but she knew he had a plan...

Healwayshad a plan.

Once, a long time ago, she’d thought marrying Jens was the be-all and end-all. It was all she’d wanted, being his wife was all she’d desired. He had been, was still, magnetic and charismatic, dizzyingly attractive. And any woman with strong instincts recognised he was the alpha male of the pack, and being his mate came with significant advantages.

But even back then, when she was alone, doubts would creep in. Away from him, she’d remember their conversations, and she’d realise that there were often times her initial plans for the day—to paint or to read or to visit with her friends—had changed because Jens wanted to do something else. And if she tried to get her way, he’d either boss her into doing what he wanted or give her the silent treatment until she changed her mind. She’d resented his inability to compromise or to see situations from her point of view.

And once she’d seen it, she couldn’t stop. She’d started looking for similarities between him and her father and initially only found two—his ambition and incredible work ethic. As she’d looked, she’d found more—impatience, streaks of intolerance, and overriding self-confidence. By the time they were to marry, there had already been a part of her that craved an out.

Then Håkon had given her one. He’d given her an ultimatum. Break it off and have nothing else to do with Jens or he’d systematically and with great precision dismantle the fishing operation Jens managed for his aunt and would one day inherit. Håkon had threatened to have their fishing quotas yanked, buy out the mortgage loans and get them evicted, and poach their staff. Jens would have had to start from scratch.

Either she walked away and he’d leave Jens untouched, or stayed to watch Håkon dismantle everything Jens and his aunt had worked for.

Maja had chosen to run...

If she’d married him, then Jens would have been fighting a battle he couldn’t win and she would have become a faded version of herself. Just as her mother had done; she’d withered away under Håkon’s heavy hand. If she’d married Jens back then, she’d have risked her independence, her creativity, and her hard-fought battle to find herself.

If they married now, the same would happen. She could see the signs. How could she get out of this? What could she do to change his mind?

What if she just called his bluff, and walked out? What if she told him to do his worst? Well, his worst would be him revealing that she was M J Slater, and she’d lose her anonymity. Art connoisseurs and critics would look at her through a different lens, her art would be compromised. She didn’t want her career to be influenced, in any way, by her connection to her father and the Hagen dynasty. She’d worked too hard to allow that to happen.

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