Page 61 of Trick's Trap

The bed dipped. His heat wrapped around her again. “Let’s get married.”

“What?”

Tahlia jerked, her eyes flying open just in time to get kissed in the eye. “Ow.”

She clapped a hand over the smarting eye, tears streaming.

Patrick winced. “Sorry…but I’m serious. We should get married as soon as possible. Today if we can.”

She coughed, suddenly having a hard time getting air into her lungs. Once she could talk again, she laughed. “You’re insane.”

He didn’t laugh with her. His eyes burned like coals as one of his fingers traced her cheek.

“Tahlia, I know you don’t have much basis for comparison, but this is not normal. What we have is special. More than special. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime kind of love…and I don’t want to lose it.”

She could barely speak; her throat was thick with more trapped tears. “I—I don’t want to lose it either. And I can see us spending the rest of our lives together, but…”

“We’re not going to let your family get in our way. This is right.”

Her lip quirked. “Will Liam and Maggie see it that way? Won’t they kill you for getting married without them?”

“They’ll get over it,” he promised.

She sighed, guilt eating her alive. “I can’t.”

His eyes flashed. “Is it because of your family or is it me? Because if it’s your family, fuck them. Those crazy assholes don’t get to dictate your life. But if it’s me you’re not sure about, tell me now so I can change your mind.”

She chuckled half-heartedly, even if it wasn’t funny. Part of her wanted to lie, to tell him she didn’t love him, but she couldn’t bring herself to do it.

Tahlia had been born in a world full of secrets and lies. Nobody knew better than she did—there were some lies that couldn’t be told. If they were, there was no going back, no way to make it right after.

She stared at his beautiful dark eyes. “I need to find a way to get my family to leave me alone first. Otherwise, I’ll be a prisoner the rest of my life. And that will make you one, too. I don’t want that for you.”

He opened his mouth to speak, but she forestalled him by covering his mouth. “I’m not saying no. I want to find a way out from under this. That’s why I came here. I had this half-baked idea I could make enough money to do something—fight back.”

There was an adorable pucker between Patrick’s dark brows. “Money I’ve got. It’s all yours if you need it. What were you planning on?”

“Nothing solid. I…”

He ran his hand up her arm. “You can tell me anything. Maybe I can help.”

She bit her upper lip. “I was thinking I should go on the offensive. But for that, I needed money. I made a bit so far, but I’m going to need a lot more.”

He frowned. “Do you want to sue them?”

“Err…no. I want to frame them for murder and then blackmail them into leaving me alone.”

His eyes widened. “I’m sorry,what?”

“I want to frame them for my father’s murder.”

“The one they actually committed?”

“Yes.”

“Don’t you think we should try and stick to legal courses of action? We just have to try to find evidence of the real crime.”

Tahlia couldn’t decide if that was naive or a sign of Patrick’s inherent decency. She hated to sully that integrity with all her baggage.

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