Page 6 of A Twisted Arrangement

He examines me for several seconds. “Are you sure you don’t want me to walk you?”

I raise one perfectly arched brow, and he just shakes his head, taking a step back. “I’ll meet you out front.”

I turn before he can say anything else and slip through the groups of chatting people, trying my best to ignore the whispers as I go.

“They should’ve ripped the Laurent seat from her years ago.”

“There are several families who are a better fit. Now we have to deal with Liam Dupont.”

A lady meets my gaze, but that doesn’t stop her from saying in a hushed tone, “I can’t believe he went as far as tricking that useless girl. She should know better than to think someone atthis level would want to marry her for anything other than her name.”

With each word, my steps turn more frantic, needing to escape. I much prefer when they gossip behind my back.

I’m still looking back at her when my foot slips, tipping me forward. I brace for impact, knowing in this tight dress, there’s nothing I can do about the fall, when I slam into a wall that wasn’t there a second ago.

My hands go up to catch myself, and they’re met with hard muscle under thin fabric. I follow the path of pearl buttons, a black tie and crisp collar, all the way up a thick, tanned neck and pouty, curved lips, a hint of a grin curling the corner.

The air whooshes out of me as I meet a pair of familiar brown eyes with gold-rimmed centers. He looms over me, several inches above six feet, his broad shoulders double my width.

Matthias.

I jolt back, but his arm bands around my back, holding me in place. My heart ricochets against my ribs, fluttering in my stomach. How can being held by a man I haven’t been close to in a decade feel so good?

For a brief moment, I allow myself to relax into him before reality comes crashing back.

“I’m so sorry,” I rush out.

He’s made it perfectly clear he’s the last person who wants to see me, and embarrassment, mixed with something I refuse to examine, crawls up my neck into my cheeks.

He dips his head to my ear so only I can hear him, and I can’t stop my shiver when he says, “I’ve caught you, Little Sparrow.”

Chapter 3

Scarlet

“You know, you could be friendlier,”I say as I sway against Oliver’s side, desperately trying to distract myself from the mortification threatening to take over. I frantically search for something, anything, to take my mind off the overwhelming embarrassment that threatens to consume me. The moment Matthias spoke, I ran away from him like a frightened little bird.

He meant that hecaught meas I fell, but it triggered memories of the brief period when I thought he wanted me. That I was somehow special to him. The last ten years did a great job of proving me wrong.

I stumble on the next step, and Oliver steadies me easily, putting several inches between us as we walk up the five steps to my front door.

“See. It’s like you think I have the plague. You’ve been my security guard for a freaking—”Hiccup.“—decade.”

Oliver grumbles something under his breath, and if I didn’t know better, I’d swear it was about not losing his fingers.

“Silly. Why would you lose your fingers?”

He blanches but just shakes his head at me as he unlocks the entrance and heads inside before me while I wait patiently in the entry. This is the way it’s been ever since that guy broke into myplace and lay in wait for me. It had left me feeling vulnerable, unsafe in my own house.

Honestly, prior to that, I kinda thought having my own security was excessive, but he saved my ass that day. So here we are. Me against the exposed brick wall, trying to convince myself I’m not as tipsy as I am, while Oliver goes and searches my place forbadguys.

The attempts to trap me into a marriage to claim my family’s spot have calmed down since then. I guess the sight of my potential kidnappers’ mangled face put a dent in their plans.

Well, that is, until tonight’s proposal. I guess he thought if he came at it sideways, that would somehow make his attempt more likely to succeed.

I huff out a breath. All it did was piss me off.

My cozy home is shaped like a long, narrow alleyway. I renovated it when I got back from college, doing my best to keep the charm intact. The original red brick wall runs along one side, serving as a focal point for the furnishings. The kitchen is in the middle of the layout. It’s small, less than ten feet wide, but functional, leading into a dining nook at the back. I embraced the vintage charm of the space and went with a Victorian girly theme, keeping the original crown molding and wainscoting intact. But to add some drama, I painted the walls a deep, rich green color that makes the space feel warm and inviting.

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