Page 56 of Finding Forever

She had no choice, she had to speak to Cade about this, and that meant bearding the dragon in his den.

After a moment’s hesitation, she threw back her shoulders and padded from her room… once in the hallway her confidence deserted her and she tiptoed toward his study door, her bare feet making no sound on the heated tiled floor. She stood outside the closed door for a good minute and a half before raising her hand to knock.

Her arm was in its downward motion when the door swung open unexpectedly and her fist missed its connection with the wood of the door and landed instead on the equally hard surface of his collarbone.

They both froze in shock, while her fist remained curled up against his warmth, just below the strong pulse in his neck.

He swallowed, and she stared at the movement of his throat in fascination.

He recovered first and stepped back, forcing her hand to fall into the space between them. She immediately snatched her fist to her chest, covering it with her other hand, as she stared up at him mutely.

He was in full business wear as always, his black rimmed reading glasses adding to his stern and intimidating appearance.

“Any particular reason you’re staked out at my office door,Fern?” His voice was quietly curious and snatched Fern out of her embarrassing stupor.

“Uh,yes, sorry.” His impatient sigh confused her and she floundered.

“You apologize too much,” he said, his voice a low growl.

Fern gulped down her nerves, before blurting an instinctive, “Sorry”—then winced, when she realized what she’d just done and—“Sorry!”

Oh man, what was wrong with her?

“Yes, we’ve gathered that you’re sorry.” The impatient growl was now an insouciant purr and it put Fern even more on edge. “Do you mind progressing beyond these apologetic bleats? We’re running out of daylight fast.”

Fern decided to ignore his mockery in favor of more urgent matters.

“Yes, of course. Right. Beth called. We’re going shopping. Well, she asked if I wanted to go shopping and I said yes, but I just realized that I don’t… well…” She cringed. “I don’t have any money.”

“You do have money,” he told her, still that sexy, nonchalant purr. “Quite a lot of it, in fact, but it’s still tied up due to Abernathy’s bloody mindedness.”

Her stepfather’s attorneys had placed an injunction on the release of her funds and had petitioned for an emergency interdict, pending investigation around the “suspicious” circumstances of their marriage.

His efforts were being hampered by images of Fern and Cade walking on the beach two weeks ago. The photographs had been published in gossip rags around the world, last week. So many pictures of them holding hands, sitting in the sand, of Fern playing in the waves, of Cade giving her a piggyback ride. She didn’t even know who’d taken them. Cade had also claimed to be unaware of the lurking photographer.

But the sneaky pap had done them a favor in this instance.Because, even to Fern, they’d looked like a happily honeymooning couple.

It must’ve enraged Granger and the thought of his frustration was extremely satisfying. But it didn’t solve her immediate problem.

Cade had turned away from her and strode to his desk, while Fern helplessly admired his long, confident stride as he rounded it to open one of the drawers from which he withdrew an envelope. He tossed it on the uncluttered surface of his desk.

Task complete, Cade sat down on his massive leather chair, and nodded toward the envelope, steepling his fingers, as he watched her hesitant approach.

“What’s this?” she asked, reaching for the envelope with tentative fingers. It wasn’t very bulky; just a plain, white, standard-sized envelope. It wasn’t sealed, and she turned it over to lift the flap, reaching inside cautiously.

“It’s not a venomous spider, Fern,” he chastised. His voice had been mild but it still startled her into snatching her fingers away, and she looked up in time to see him roll his eyes.

Feeling foolish, she berated herself for being an idiot, and reached into the envelope again to withdraw an Amex Black credit card. She blinked at it in confusion and turned it over in her hands. It had her name on it.

Her married name, which—thanks to an expedited process—had been officially changed a week ago.

F I Hawthorne

“But how?—?”

“Consider it an advance.”

“I can’t take your money.”

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