Page 18 of Shameless
“You? You started all this… on a bet?”
“I’m friends with his family, so they helped. Now, back to my family.”
“Oh yeah.”
I shrugged because what my sister had brought was a nuisance suit. “Primogeniture still exists. The title and money could never officially be Bernadette’s.”
She sighed and took my hand. “Is there a way she could win?” Her caring was sweet.
I shrugged. “If she could prove I was somehow mentally unfit, I suppose.”
She lifted her chin and said, “If my… our child is your heir, then your money is protected.”
“Yes.” I offered her the butter tray. “She would move down the list, and you’d ensure no one ever gets near him or her.”
“With my life.” She added some butter to her bread.
I sat straighter. My sister was bitter, but that wasn’t an issue.
“Hopefully, it won’t get to that,” I said.
She stared at me, and for a second, I was lost.
Then she took my hand and said, “Okay, I’ll marry you as you want, but we need rules.”
My heart sped up as though I’d already won. “Rules?”
She laughed. “Yes. Obviously, sex is staying between us.”
I let out a breath I’d been holding. “Good.”
She then tasted her meal and closed her eyes as she enjoyed her food. “And you need a year and a trip to England.”
Heat washed through me. We were back to fakery. I should have realized that sooner.
But I nodded and said, “I do.”
She sipped her tea and, for a moment, said nothing. Then she said, “Okay, but you can never, ever tell me you love me.”
I sat back and stared at her. She was serious.
My heart raced as I said, “What if it’s that I can’t tell you first?”
She stared at me like I was being strange and shrugged. “That’s fair enough.” Then she ate more bread and drank her tea. Just when I thought we were done with rules, she said, “Okay, and let’s keep separate accounts. I don’t want to ever start depending on you financially.”
I folded my hands on the table and said, “My offer of twenty-five million for you is to ensure you’re provided for.”
She pushed back her empty plate and asked, “Just because I have the baby I intend to have anyhow?”
And she would have the means to protect herself from scandal and support herself without lifting a finger the rest of her life. But I kept that to myself. “Yes.”
She stared down at the table then closed her eyes like she was praying or something. Then she sighed and said, “Then I’ll accept because I need to make New York work as it’s the only home I have.”
I poured her a second cup of herbal tea. “I thought we were going to your home first?”
She shook her head quickly. “Forget it. They only know me as a failure.”
“That’s impossible.” I was the last person who would ever think that.
