Page 10 of Vengeful Vows

My father sidles up to me, smiling. “You’re doing great, Declan.”

I just glance at him. I don’t mean to brood, but I can’t believe he pushed this on me without talking to me about it first.

“I set up one of the guest rooms as a honeymoon suite,” he comments, as if I’m supposed to be happy about this. “You’ll have to take your new wife to bed pretty soon.”

My eyes widen. “What? You can’t expect me to force myself on her?”

My father scoffs. “Of course not. What kind of man are you that you can’t seduce a pretty young girl? You’re a looker, Declan.”

“You’ve lost your fucking mind,” I mumble, as low as I can, almost hoping he doesn’t hear me.

My father’s gaze goes sharp. “What did you say?”

“Nothing, Da,” I sigh. “But I’m not going to?—”

“I didn’t say rape her, Declan. I said take her to bed,” he barks, and I don’t know what that means.

“Why are you doing this?” I ask him, unable to stop myself. “Why are you punishing me?”

My father looks at me, smiling softly. “It’s not a punishment, son. I just know that you’re the right man for the job. You have to consummate the marriage. We can’t leave it open to the possibility of an annulment.”

The job? What job?

Punishing Murphy? Punishing Bree? Marrying a Murphy?

I don’t argue any further because my father has this look on his face, one I’ve seen before. That look tells me that nothing is going to change his mind. And when he has that look, you don’t talk back.

I’ve known that since I was a little kid.

Paige, giggling and on her third glass of champagne brings Bree back to me.

“She’s getting tired,” she teases. “You should take her to bed.”

Bree’s hazel eyes snap to mine, and the rage in them is bigger than ever.

It’s almost as if I can hear the thoughts running through her head challenging me to just try it. Just you fucking try it.

Paige bounces away, and I lean down to whisper to Bree, “I’m not that kind of man. We’ll just go in the bedroom and talk.”

“What do we have to talk about?”

I grab her by the elbow, with more strength than I needed, but not in a way that might hurt her or mark her in any way. “You’ll go along with this, or Gray will be tempted to do something stupid. Like pull a knife on you.”

Bree’s eyes widen, but she doesn’t break eye contact, and it makes me almost proud of her.

What am I thinking? She’s the enemy.

I don’t want this any more than she does, though, and so it does make me have pangs of sympathy for her.

I don’t care that she’s afraid. I just wish we weren’t in this situation.

Gray walks by and whispers to me, “It’s the guest bedroom by your office.”

I take Bree’s hand, leading her upstairs, and she jerks away from me.

“I’ll follow you if I have to, but don’t fucking touch me,” she seethes.

I hold my hands up as if in defense, trying to fight a smile. I do like how feisty she is, I can’t help it. I’ve always been attracted to strong women, and I’m impressed by how Bree is handling all of this.

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