Page 65 of Bitter Rival

Who is this man posing as a gentleman with his suave manners and debonair good looks?

“You two make a beautiful couple,” Gabriella says, appraising us.

“Oh, we’re?—"

“Thank you,” Beckett says with a smile as his hand lands on my thigh and he gives it a little squeeze. “I’m a lucky man.”

After I get over my momentary shock, I give him a big smile and play along. “I make sure to remind him every day.”

“That she does,” Beckett says cheerfully.

I give him a sidelong glance. Who are you?

“That’s all a man really needs,” Michael says. “The love of a good woman and some good wine.”

“Can’t ask for much more than that,” Beckett agrees.

Over lunch, the conversation revolves around Michael’s two favorite topics—love and wine.

“So it was love at first sight?” I ask Gabriella.

She laughs. “Oh no. I couldn’t stand Michael. In fact, I told my sister that I pity the poor fool who ends up with him.”

Michael chuckles. “She really hated me. Used to give me those dagger eyes any time I looked her way. But it never stopped me from looking. Eventually I wore her down with my charms.”

Gabriella shakes her head. “That’s what he likes to think.”

“So how did you end up together?” I ask, intrigued. “What changed your mind about him?”

“My father,” she says with a laugh. “He was trying to get me married off and decided that Michael Castellano would be the perfect match for his daughter.”

“No, no, no,” Michael says. “I went to your father and told him I would give him two acres of land for just one date with you. He snapped that right up.”

“That’s what I was worth,” Gabriella says to me. “Two acres of land.”

“And now you have hundreds of acres,” Michael says, sweeping his arm across the view.

Gabriella smiles. “I do. And after forty years of marriage, I’ve concluded that my father was right.” She pats Michael’s hand, and they exchange a look that tells me they still love each other after all these years. “He knew you would make me happy.”

“You see that?” Michael tells Beckett. “All you have to do to get the girl is knock yourself out and bend over backward until she says yes.”

Beckett looks over at me. “Maybe I’ll have to try that.”

I arch a brow. “Maybe you should. I think I need to raise my standards. I’ve made everything far too easy for you.”

He tilts his head and gives me a smile. “I don’t think anything about you is easy, Daisy.”

I give him a coy smile despite the butterflies in my stomach. “But would you knock yourself out and bend over backward for me?”

“I’d fight to the death for you.”

There’s no trace of humor in his tone. He actually sounded serious. I don’t know what to make of this.

I’m still reeling from his words when he drapes his arm around the back of my chair and idly brushes his fingertips over my arm. A shudder rolls through me and delicious shivers run up and down my spine.

My God. I feel like a character in a Jane Austen novel, where every small look or touch is amplified.

I’m so flustered that I completely miss the part where the men have moved on to the business portion of our lunch meeting.

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