Page 11 of The Alpha's Mail Order Bride

“I eat alone. There’s not usually any need to use a whole table.”

“That’s a shame.” Her stomach had been growling since the aroma of the meal had first reached her, and Claire hoped it wouldn’t seem rude to dive straight in. The first spoonful made her eyes slide shut and she suppressed a knee-jerk impulse to groan her appreciation. “Darion, this isincredible.”

“It is?” he sounded genuinely surprised.

“It absolutely is,” she said firmly, taking another mouthful as Darion sipped his wine. “Seriously? You’ve never cooked for a date before?”

“No,” he said, after a fractional hesitation. “I don’t … date.” The ginger way he pronounced the word made her smile. “Though I suppose my brother told you that.”

“Yeah. Sorry,” she added, wincing. “I feel like I know more about you than I should.” An idea suddenly occurred to her, and she pulled out her phone. “Do you want me to show you the profile Reeve made? Then you’ll know exactly how much you should yell at him.”

“Profile,” he repeated, eyes narrowing. Claire pulled up the screenshots she’d saved, feeling a strange twinge of unreality as she thought about the last time she’d looked at them. She’d been sitting in a helicopter, half-blinded by the glare of the sun on the ocean below, scrolling through Darion’s profile to remind herself why she was making this absolutely ridiculous journey. She handed Darion her phone and sipped her wine as he scowled down at it. The device looked so fragile in his enormous hands, and the ginger way he held it confirmed her suspicions that this wasn’t a man who had much time for technology. His scowl deepened as he read, and by the time he’d handed the phone back she could see a vein pulsing in his temple.

“Family, huh?” she said faintly, eager to break the ominous silence that had fallen.

“This is…” Darion’s breath hissed between his teeth. “My brother has truly outdone himself.”

“Wine,” she said firmly, lifting her glass and tapping it against his. “Wine heals all wounds, that’s what my best friend always says.” Darion didn’t look especially convinced, but the two of them sipped their wine regardless. Despite the rather intense atmosphere, she couldn’t help but appreciate how good it was. She’d have to tell Suzanne she was right—expensive wine really was worth the trouble. “Do you want to talk about it?”

“About my brother meddling in my life?”

“Yeah. This seems like the kind of thing it might help to vent to a stranger about. Does he do this kind of thing a lot?”

“It’s a complicated story.”

Claire smiled. “That’s my favorite kind.”

She was surprised by how deeply the conversation drew her in. Darion was so guarded, so slow to speak; every word he uttered seemed to come from a great distance, checked and re-checked before escaping his lips. But that sense of resistance made him a captivating speaker, and as he eased into the story—helped, no doubt, by the wine they quickly finished off—some of his hesitation faded. He told her about his brother, about their fractious relationship growing up, about a long and bitter separation and a recent reunion. Claire had to bite back the urge to pepper him with questions, her curiosity well and truly ignited by the gaps in his story. He and Reeve had grown up in another country, that much was clear—but where? He never named the place, and she still couldn’t place his accent. He spoke a lot about leadership and responsibility—did Darion run a company too, she wondered? But he didn’t strike her as the corporate type. If anything, he had the bearing and demeanor of a soldier. A military career would make sense. It would certainly explain his build, his physical presence, his effortless assertion of authority… but something about that didn’t quite fit, either. There had been a few officers among Suzanne’s regular clients, but Darion wasn’t like any of them. Then again, Darion wasn’t like anyone she’d ever met.

“What are you going to do?” she asked finally, when he’d lapsed into a silence that she sensed marked the end of the story, at least for now.

“I’ll ensure your safe return to your home,” he said grimly, not looking up. “And then I’ll speak to my brother.”

“In his defense…” Darion’s expression darkened immediately, and Claire recoiled. “I mean, he’s obviously in the wrong here. He shouldn’t have violated your privacy like that. He definitely shouldn’t have sent some strange woman to your house.” That won her the faintest suggestion of a smile, which emboldened her to continue. “But—to look at it from his perspective—I think he was trying to do something nice.”

“Nice.” The word sounded like an insult when he said it. Claire persisted.

“I mean, you told me that in the last few years he’s fallen in love, started a family. His life’s changed enormously. He’s happy, right? It sounds like he wants that for you, too.”

“So he meddles in my life? Shares my personal business with the entire damned world? Sends a stranger to my house to intrude on my peace?” Darion’s fists were clenched, and Claire reached out to move his wine glass away from the edge of the table.

“Like I said, he shouldn’t have done it,” she said carefully, heart thudding against her ribs.

“So why defend him?” Darion snapped, those silver eyes suddenly boring through her hard enough to make her catch her breath. “Why justify his actions?”

“Sorry. It’s what I do,” she said, a cold weight settling into her belly as she realized she’d overstepped. “I don’t mean to suggest he was right to do any of what he did, I just…I find I have a better time when I work to understand why people behave the way they do. Otherwise, the world is just…horrible for no reason.”

Darion looked at her intently for a long moment. Despite her unease at having offended him, she couldn’t help but marvel at how it felt to be listened to so intently. “Thank you for your perspective,” he said finally, in a softer tone than she’d expected.

“Well, thank you for cooking,” she said, gesturing with a half-smile down to her empty plate. “And for your hospitality. This is probably the best date I’ve ever been on.” She’d intended it as a joke, but as the words cleared her lips she was already cringing. “Wow. There it is, the saddest thing I’ve ever said.” Darion was looking at her uncertainly, clearly at a loss for how to respond, and she cleared her throat and rose to her feet, suddenly desperate to get the hell out of the room before she put her foot any more firmly in her mouth. Murmuring a hasty thanks for dinner, she headed for the stairs, only barely suppressing the urge to take them three at a time. Then she was back in the guest room, and she could finally breathe.

Well, that had been an absolute disaster, she thought faintly. She’d crashed into this man’s life without warning, declared herself to be his wife, eaten his food and defended the guy who’d brought the whole wretched situation to pass. It was a wonder Darion hadn’t dragged her down to the docks and rowed her back to the yacht himself. But as she settled into the unfamiliar but cozy bed, she couldn’t chase the faint, giddy smile from her lips. Because sad as it was, she hadn’t been lying.

This absolute trainwreck of an evening genuinely had been the best date of her life.

Chapter 6 - Darion

Sleep was out of the question. Slowly and methodically, Darion set about cleaning up after dinner, trying to keep his attention in the moment. He washed each plate, each glass, each knife and fork. He dried them carefully, then hung the cloth to dry while he put them away. He wiped every surface down until there was no sign that anyone had ever used the kitchen. And all the while, he tried to ignore the thudding of his heart, the buzzing in his ears, the way the entire house seemed to have been transformed. Even the air smelled different. A floral scent, high and sweet, undercut with a darker undertone that he couldn’t place, no matter how many times he breathed it deeply in. Was that why his wolf was so wide awake? The whole evening he’d felt like he was on the verge of shifting, the magic crackling across his skin. It had been all he could do to maintain composure with Claire’s dark eyes on him.

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