Page 62 of Moonlit Temptation

It didn’t matter. People would see what they wanted to see, make up what they wanted to believe.

The people of Honeycutt loved attacking the Delacores, no matter the zeroes in Saint’s bank account. They hated him for his father’s crimes. Nothing he did would change their minds.

Also, not to forget the biggest factor in all this.

My brother, my family. The love Saint had for them.

If they found out, they would go ballistic.

My father’s threat of destroying Saint wiggled its way into my head.

“I see your gears working.” Saint tapped my temple. “What’s going on in there?”

“How? How is this going to work? What if people find out?”

“Since when does Madelayne Novak care about what people say about her?”

“She does when it’s about you.”

I could burn myself down, but I refused to take another person with me.

Affection reflected in his gaze as he brushed some hair away from my face. “We’ll be careful. Set up some rules.”

“You know I’m not good at following rules.”

“You will be,” he said with a confidence I didn’t possess.

He was giving me what I wanted, what I always wanted, so why was I all of a sudden filled with fear?

Because I was afraid, petrified, this wasn’t going to work. That London had some magic around us where everything felt right.

If we went back and this crashed down on us, it would ruin the decades of memories and relationships with my family. With us.

“How are you so calm right now?”

“I’m not. I’m just better at hiding what I’m feeling. Can’t let businessmen see you sweat. They’ll eat you alive.”

“Well, lucky you,” I grumbled.

“Mady.” He grabbed my hand and brought it to his chest, over his heart, where I could feel it beating. Racing wilder than mine. I wasn’t vain enough to think it was because of me. “I want you, but I can’t lose your family. I don’t care how pathetic it makes me sound, but I can’t lose the only family that’s ever given a damn about me. They mean too much to me.”

“I don’t want you to lose them, Saint.”

“Then I need you to listen to these rules. And follow them. As best you can.”

“Lay ‘em on me.” If there was ever a set of rules for me to follow, it would be these.

“We can’t be alone together if we’re at a party or at your house. As long as other people who know us are near, we can’t be alone.”

I nodded. As evidenced by this trip, we weren’t to be trusted in a room left unsupervised.

“No lingering touches. A quick hug hello or a hair ruffle, like I usually greet you, but nothing more.” He sounded stern, rattling them off from memory. How long had he been thinking about this?

He waited for me to nod before continuing.

“No fighting with Archer about sitting next to me like you usually do when we have dinner.”

“Can you blame me for wanting you to pay attention to me at a family dinner?”

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