Page 38 of Reluctantly His

Everything had happened so quickly last night. The triumph of the concert. Reid’s passionate response.

Then our devastating fight.

All night long, I’d gone over every detail of my reaction, imagined all sorts of different outcomes, and yet it all came down to the same end.

The end for us.

The end before there was even a beginning.

No matter how exciting and dangerous and thrilling I may have found Reid, I could not think of a single scenario where I would have thrown away who I was at my very core, to fuck a man I barely knew on an old, dirty couch.

Especially considering it would have been my first time.

I’d long ago given up the girlish notion of some ultra-romantic, special first night with candles and flowers and words of love, but I at least deserved a clean bed, and not some wham-bam-thank-you-ma’am as if I were being paid by the hour.

Being a Manwarring had one terribly arrogant benefit… I knew my worth.

And I knew the power of bitter regret.

At my outburst, my father’s fingers stopped moving over his keyboard as he looked at me. The anger and disbelief reflected in his eyes made me wish he’d go back to his computer screen.

Every single time I’d wished that he would actually just stop and look at me when I spoke came crashing down on me. This was a prime example of the phrase ‘be careful what you wish for.’

His gaze narrowed. “I have made you a baroness. You will be responsible for elevating our family from a disrespected, tiny Irish village to a county seat in Windermere, England. And you question my motives?”

My fingers twisted in my lap. “I’m twenty-four, father. I deserve to pick the man I marry. Someone I could love, like you loved mother.”

The moment I said it, the blood drained from my head so quickly, I almost teetered out of my chair.

He stood from his desk, towering over me even from across the large carpet.

My father was a powerful and intimidating man. It was no wonder no one dared go against him in business.

“Don’t you dare bring your mother’s memory into this. I’m setting you up to fulfill your duty to this family. Love has nothing to do with it.”

I knew I was tempting fate, but this was my future on the line. I stiffened my arms against my ribcage as I whispered, “But didn’t you and mother marry for love?”

His fists slammed into the wood top of his desk hard enough to make me jump and stayed there as he leaned forward on his knuckles. “Enough!” he roared.

“I…” I started to say something, my voice shaking, but it didn’t matter.

He talked over me.

“No, you don’t get to speak right now. You need to listen. I have spent my life working to provide this level of luxury and comfort for you and your siblings. Your sister should have been the one to garner a title in our family, but she went against my wishes and chose another path. So that leaves you. Your siblings selfishly married for love and did not improve our standing. You will not do the same. Is that understood?”

“But I…” The tears burned at the back of my eyes, and a lump formed in my throat, making it difficult to swallow.

“You will do what is required of you, without any further argument. This marriage and your children will make our family a part of the aristocracy. I will not allow your childish notions of romance to interfere with that. I know what is best for you.”

“Yes, sir. But…”

“You are dismissed,” he said, retaking his seat and focusing on his computer.

And that was it, the end of the conversation.

He would hear nothing else.

The choice had been made.

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