Page 56 of My Orc Contract Husband
The fear in Aunt Sharon’s voice had me whirling around, my arms out. She was running toward me, her expression frantic. My dread, which had been picking at the back of my brain all day, suddenly went into overdrive.
“Oh, no,” I whispered.
Because following my aunt at a sedate pace, a cold smile on his cruel lips, was my dad’s business partner, Pierce T. Montgomery III. My fiancé.
Chapter Thirteen
Tarkhan
I felther fear before I understood it, and myKteerhowled.
The terror on Sami’s face when she caught her aunt in her arms and whirled back to me? Well, it told me all I needed to know. There was a man sauntering toward us, and I had no way of knowing for certain he’d been the one to scare the woman I loved, but when it came to taking my rage out on someone, he would do.
My claws sprang from my fingertips, and I was stepping toward him when my brain caught up with my instincts.
The woman I loved?
I forced myself to breathe, to meet Sami’s eyes.
Yes. I loved Sami with everything in me. She was mine, and I was hers, and I would protect her or die trying.
“Pierce,” she whispered to me, and it took me a moment to realize that was the name of the man her father had wanted her to marry; the man who had tried to force her to the altar. The man she’d marriedmeto escape.
Luckily, it took me long enough to piece through that, that by the time the bastard had sauntered closer, myKteerhad calmed enough for me to be able to rein in my primal urges. Instead of reaching for the man’s neck to rip out his artery, I merely moved in front of Sami and Sharon, blocking them from view.
To give him credit, Pierce T. Montgomery III was a handsome man in his sixties. His hair was thick, his shoulders wide, and his suit—based on that brief experience I had with the tailor prior to the wedding—was impeccably fitted. There was a certain sort of shininess around his eyes and chin that made me think his handsomeness wasn’t entirely natural, but that smile—predatory, shark-like—said he was used to getting what he wanted.
Not today, asshole.
“Samantha, you’ve been a naughty girl,” he drawled, as if he could carry on a conversation with her hiding behind me. “Making me search all over the country. And this week, I’ve been looking for you all over this island. Really…” Still smiling, he flicked imaginary lint from his shoulder. “Don’t you know I have better things to do with my time? Come on, darling, we’re going home.”
He hadn’t even looked at her.
He hadn’tseenher, hadn’t had a conversation with her. Hadn’t embraced her or looked happy to see her.
If anything told me this male didn’t give two shits about my wife, then this was it.
“Sami?” I murmured, wanting her to know that I would do what she preferred.
I heard her take a deep, shuddering breath, then her small hand slipped into mine and she carefully moved to stand at my side. I glanced down at her, and when she lifted her chin, I was so damn proud of her strength, her bravery.
“I’m not going anywhere with you, Pierce. My home is here.”
The male’s sharp gaze had narrowed in on her, but his smile didn’t falter. “Nonsense, darling. Your father wanted you to live in the city with him. Since that’s no longer an option, the least you can do is honor his wishes.”
She swallowed, and I squeezed her hand.
“I don’t have any intention of honoring anything about my father, least of all some agreement he made with you when I was too young to make my own choices.”
Now Montgomery’s eyes narrowed, and his smile dropped. “Youwillhonor that contract, Samantha. I have papers, signed by both myself and your father before he died, promising you would be my wife. We will finally unite this company?—”
“And then I’ll conveniently disappear?” Sami snorted her disbelieving snort. “I don’t think so.”
In a blink, Montgomery’s expression slackened, blanked to neutral. No more smiles, no more rage. It was as ifSami had guessed a secret, and he didn’t know how to respond.
“Do you see that van over there?” he hissed, leaning forward, trying to intimidate her. “The black one?” Therewasa black van idling in the area the farm had designated for dropping off visitors, and a limo right behind it. “My men are in there. All I need to do is raise my right hand, and four of them will be here, ready to do my bidding.”
I have to tell you, at this point, the ridiculousness of the situation had outweighed my rage. I no longer wanted to kill this male, but Iwasconsidering laughing at him. The bastard hadn’t glanced at me since Sami had stepped to my side—hadn’t acknowledged me…nothing.
