Page 23 of A Convenient Ring to Claim Her

Micah had stood by, watching a couple of groomsmen and even a winery employee take a shot at her. He’d wanted to shove every single one of those men to the floor, but she hadn’t given any of them more than a vague moment of her attention.

She had been waiting for him. He didn’t know how he’d known that, but he had.

They hadn’t found their chance until they were in that hotel room in Niagara Falls. It had been spectacular, as usual, but he’d been distracted by his sister running away with Remy.

The next time he’d seen her, she’d blurted out their affair like it was nothing worth protecting. He’d walked away from it and her. Furious.

Hurt.

“Signore?” The nurse broke into his brooding. “The doctor said to tell you everything went well and she’s in recovery. She’ll be brought up in an hour or so.”

“Grazie.” He pulled out his phone and texted yet another update to Eden, noting it was dinner hour, there. It wasn’t like her to be out of touch like this. Had she blocked him?

He started to call their mother, but his phone rang with a video call.

Eden.

His first unsettling reaction was a reflexive desire to hit Ignore. He was still unable to wrap his head around how his half sister could have married a Sylvain. How could she believe herself in love with Remy? As far as Micah knew, until Eden’s wedding to Hunter fell apart, Eden had only spoken to Remy a handful of times.

The other reason he’d been avoiding Eden, however, was one he hadn’t even acknowledged to himself.

Would you stop having sex with me if Eden told you to?

His sister knew that he’d been sleeping with her best friend. He wasn’t prepared for her to tell him how to behave toward Quinn—or for any questions on how he’d already behaved toward her.

That’s not what this was, though. She was worried about her friend.

He accepted the call.

Eden was in a robe, her hair hidden beneath a towel, her eyes wide with anxious alarm. She sat up against the headboard of an unfamiliar bed.

“We had his and hers massages and, um, a nap. I just woke up and saw all your texts. Whathappened?”

Honeymooners. He tried not to dwell on it.

“Exactly what I said.” He’d sent a few updates as things had developed. “They should bring her up soon, but I imagine she’ll be asleep.”

“Who?” a male voice rumbled off-screen. Remy.

“Quinn was hit by a cyclist.”

“Is she all right?”

“Not really. She just came out of surgery,” Eden replied.

“I’ll make coffee.” There was a rustle as Remy rose and left.

“Thank God you’re with her and she’s not going through that alone.” Eden touched her brow. “Are you two—”

“No.”

It wasn’t even a relationship and this is why.

“She came to see me here in Italy. We had an argument, she walked out and...”I should have stopped her.“I guess she stepped off the sidewalk as the cyclist came up to the intersection. No concussion or broken bones.” Thank God. “She’s banged up, though.” He’d seen the blood on her clothes and that, too, had given him chills at how much worse it could have been. “As soon as I learned she was in hospital, I came to make sure she got the treatment she needs.”

“Thank you,” Eden said solemnly.

It wasn’t for you, he wanted to say. But he also didn’t want to say it.

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