Page 121 of Rosabel and the Billionaire Beast

“I’m so sorry,” he said, pocketing his phone and offering me his hand.

“It’s her loss,” I told him, taking it.

I knew my worth. I didn’t need her approval or anyone else’s. My own mother taught me that. And Dad, too, for that matter.

“Who is Miss Witherstone?”

He released a stress-filled sigh. “I’m assuming she’s talking about Veronica Witherstone. Mom tried to set us up a few times before, but she should know it’ll never happen.”

“Are you sure? I can bow out. Miss Witherstone sounds amazing?—”

The look on Duncan’s face was absolutely resolved. “There’s no one for me but you,” he said.

The words had impact.

“Wow,” I said once they were done resonating in my bones. “I can’t argue with that. Then what is it?”

He stared at our interlocked fingers. “I just—I’m embarrassed. Mom always had such notoriously high standards with everything, from the types of shoes I wore to making sure I made my bed before I left for school.”

“I had to do that, too.”

He slid me a look. “Were you grounded when you forgot?”

“No,” I amended.

He inclined his head. “In any case, Mom’s obsessive. Their standards are the reason Grandpa’s heart attack was blamed on me. Like I should have known stepping out of line caused heart attacks.”

I felt his anger brewing and from the way his hand fisted around my fingers, I could tell he wanted to hit something.

Someone get this man his punching bag!

He released me, ran his hands through his hair, and then pivoted to face me again.

“We don’t have to go,” he said. “I don’t want you to feel like they’re judging you the whole time. I don’t want you to think I think the way they do, because I don’t. You’re the most incredible woman I’ve ever known, and?—”

“Duncan,” I said, resting my hands on his chest.

He caught my hand in his and gazed at me as though his existence hinged on whatever I might say next.

“I’ll be fine,” I assured him. “You can’t leave; this party is the whole reason we came to Arkansas in the first place.”

He tilted his head to one side and made a hedging kind of noise. “Eh, kind of.”

“What?”

He trailed his fingers along my jawline. The featherlike touch from someone so masculine and gruff made me shudder.

“It’s you, Rose. You.You’rethe reason I came to Arkansas, the reason for the secluded lake house. You mean more to me than anything, don’t you get that? So if they’re going to be nasty to you in front of all of Grandmother’s guests? We don’t go. We book the flight. Go back home. Check on your dad and then get out of dodge and find out what we can about Wolf Industries until this crap with The Pact dies down for good.”

His eyes were stony with resolution, and they met mine unflinchingly. He would do that?

He would give up seeing his grandma on what could be her last birthday, would give up making up with his family, for me?

I placed my hand on his cheek. “I’m touched. Really, I am. But if you don’t go, if you don’t make things right with her, you’ll always regret it.”

From the lack of argument and the expression in his gaze, I could tell he agreed.

He pressed his forehead to mine. “The last time I was with them, aside from our most recent visit, I’d messed up. And they’ve held a grudge against me for it for three years. Knowing my mother, I don’t want her to pull something to embarrass you.”

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