Page 124 of Ruthless Intent

One corner of his mouth tips up, and his head tilts.

“You’re probably right.” He leans forward and brushes his lips over mine. “Some things should definitely not be shared, especially at the dinner table.”

“Did you at least get a prenup?” Sondra asks, her voice sharp.

Zain’s eyes don’t move from mine. “No. We don’t need one.”

No, we don’t. Because he has something better. A contract giving him authority over every aspect of my life for fourteen months. A contract that is only one day old … It already feels like a lifetime.

“I just don’t understand the hurry. Even if we ignore what she did to you, you barely know each other.”

“What she did to me wasn’t personal.”

His eyes say something entirely different. It was personal, and he’s never going to allow me to forget it.

“You lost years, Zain. How can you say that isn’t personal?”

“Because she thought what she was doing was right.” His eyes move, dipping down to my lips and then back up. “But we’ve worked through it, and we are on the same page now … aren’t we, Firecracker?”

I break eye contact with him and look at Sondra.

“You know, you almost sound jealous. Do you have feelings for your cousin?” I feel a moment of horror as the words fall from my lips, but I can’t stop myself from saying them.

Sondra turns red, then white, and her lips pinch together. “That’s disgusting. How dare you even suggest such a thing.”

I shrug. “It’s not unusual, especially if you were close growing up.”

“I do not have feelings, beyond family concern, for Zain.”

“Good.” I smirk into my glass. “Because I’d hate to have to get into a fight with you over my husband. I’m not the kid you were at school with. I fight dirty these days.”

Ohmygod. Shut up!

“Are you threatening me?” Sondra’s voice rises an octave or two.

“No. I’m just telling you that you won’t get him without a fight.” I reach out and cover his hand with mine.

Fuck it. If he wants me to pretend to be the doting wife, that’s what I’ll do. I have nothing left to lose at this point. He wants everyone to think I’m insane? Well, I’ll drag him along into insanity with me.

I link my fingers with his. “We’re not the same people we were back then. If Zain can find it in his heart to forgive me for what I did when I was a child, then you’re just going to have to live with that.”

His fingers flex against mine, but he doesn’t pull away.

“Girls, please.” Heather’s voice stops Sondra from responding. “Sondra, you don’t have the right to ask these questions. Ashley, I’m sorry. Please don’t think this was planned. No one wants to make you uncomfortable.”

I tip my glass toward Sondra. “She does.”

I’m sure I hear Zain laugh quietly, but when I turn to peer at him, he’s toying with the food on his plate and not looking at anyone. I untangle our fingers, and push, a little unsteadily, to my feet.

“I’m sorry, but I didn’t sleep very well last night. Today has been long, and I’m really tired. If you’ll excuse me, I’d like to go to bed.”

I don’t wait for a response and walk out of the room. I’m sure his parents and Sondra will enjoy talking about how rude I am, but I don’t care. Nothing Zain will do to punish me for leaving without his agreement can make me stay.

I’m halfway up the stairs when I regret drinking as much wine as I did. The stairs are swaying … or maybe that’s me, and I cling to the handrail so I don’t have a repeat performance of earlier and take a nosedive down the stairs. It seems to take forever to get to the bedroom.

I find my toiletry bag and pajamas in my suitcase. Leaving the pj’s on the bed, I take the bag into the bathroom, remove my makeup, brush my teeth, then go back into the bedroom to change, and climb into bed.

There’s something important that I should be thinking about, I’m sure of it, but exhaustion and the wine makes it hard to focus on what it is.

---