Page 51 of 2 Books in One Bundle

Leaving her to deal with Orion’s threats to Kendricks’ if he didn’t marry her.

Because of course, she couldn’t allow that to happen. The whole reason she’d been adopted had been to take over Kendricks’ since her father hadn’t had any other children. His wife hadn’t been able to have them and after she’d died, he hadn’t wanted to marry again. Yet Kendricks’ was a family company and because he’d wanted to pass it on to a child of his, he’d decided to adopt. And she’d been his choice.

Which also made Orion her problem to fix.

She had no idea why he wanted to marry her, none at all. Apart from that one conversation in the National Gallery where he’d rudely turned around and walked out, he’d never shown her the slightest bit of interest. So for him to turn up here, telling her that he’d paid Gianni off and that he’d take Kendricks’ if she didn’t marry him... It was baffling.

Regardless of his reasons, that didn’t make her any less furious. Furious with him for threatening her into this and furious at herself, because surely, she should have anticipated this. Perhaps not his arrival at her wedding or his paying off Gianni, but surely she should have felt alarm bells at his interest in Kendricks’ and wondered why he hadn’t moved to acquire it straight away.

David had taught her to be sharp and observant in the boardroom, yet she hadn’t noticed Orion betray anything more than his usual cold interest.

And you know why you didn’t notice, don’t you?

Isla gritted her teeth, keeping her gaze squarely on the altar at the end of the aisle and not on the shocked gazes of the guests.

Yes, she knew. She just hated to admit that the reason she hadn’t noticed anything untoward about Orion was that she’d tried very hard not to notice him at all. He unsettled her, he always had, right from the first moment he’d walked into the boardroom a week after their first meeting at the National Gallery a year ago. He’d brought some kind of hissing, crackling electricity with him that had found its way under her skin, making her feel antsy and restless and bothered.

She’d hated it. Emotions had no place in the boardroom, as she well knew. She had to be cool and sharp, and she was learning to be both, but it was something she’d always found difficult. She felt things deeply and passionately, and even the years in the foster system hadn’t quite put out the fire that burned in her heart. The fire that Orion’s mere presence only stoked, apparently. She’d tried to tune him out whenever he was around, tried to pretend she didn’t notice when his gaze rested on her, staying quiet and still in the hope that he’d lose whatever interest in her he had. Except that hadn’t worked because if it had, she wouldn’t be walking down the aisle with him right now.

She should have paid attention. If she’d put her personal feelings aside and talked to him, discovered what his intentions were with Kendricks’ and with her, then perhaps this could have been avoided.

It doesn’t help that the board don’t want you at the helm.

That was also true. They were dissatisfied with her performance—they hadn’t thought she was CEO material—and that made the company vulnerable to someone like Orion, a wolf lying in wait looking for prey to attack and pull apart.

It was a vulnerability she’d been hoping to fix. David had adopted her to be the future of Kendricks’ and the marriage to Gianni was supposed to help cement that future with the board. Some of them wouldn’t like this new development with Orion, but it was likely the majority would approve—they might even like him better than Gianni, in which case marrying him would achieve the same aim. But only if it looked like her decision rather than a deal done behind her back between Orion and her father, that she had no part in.

So you’d better keep smiling and acting like this was all your idea, hadn’t you?

Isla shoved down her anger and bitter self-recriminations as she came to a stop before the altar, forcing herself to smile. There was a murmured exchange between Orion and the vicar, who then launched into the marriage service.

Dead silence fell over the entire church.

It didn’t matter that it wasn’t the wedding she’d thought she’d have.

It didn’t matter that Orion had paid off the man she’d thought she was going to marry and Gianni had... Well, he’d taken the money and run.

You can’t have been that important to him. He didn’t really want to marry you. He didn’t want a wife any more than David had wanted a daughter.

Something ached and burned in her heart, but she was familiar with the sensation, so she ignored it. Instead, she concentrated on saying her vows when prompted, then listening to Orion say his. And when he held out his hand, she gave it to him. He produced a ring from his pocket and slid it onto her finger, and dimly it occurred to her that there were a whole lot of questions she should be asking him. Such as why he was marrying her in the first place and how long had he been planning for it.

People were murmuring, and that was no surprise. They’d all be wondering why the Kendricks’ heir was suddenly walking down the aisle with a different man, and what had happened to her original groom.

What must they think of you? What must David think of you? He sold you to one man first, before selling you off to another...

She felt cold, the winter outside penetrating the stone of the church, or maybe it wasn’t the winter. Maybe it was just the cold settling down inside her, a slow creeping shock she couldn’t shake.

Yet she couldn’t allow that to take hold, just as she couldn’t keep going back over that late-night phone conversation of her father’s that she shouldn’t have overheard.

She was standing before the altar, with people staring at her, and she couldn’t afford to look weak and uncertain in front of them, not when her suitability as future CEO was already being questioned. She had to look strong and in control, as if this had been her decision all along, not one forced on her.

So she put some steel into her spine as Orion took hold of her veil and lifted it. His gaze wasn’t cold now. Instead, it burned with a dark golden flame that made her heart beat inexplicably fast.

She didn’t like him. Everything about him made her restless and uneasy, and the way he was looking at her now...

Gianni never looked at you that way.

No, he hadn’t. He’d liked her and the kisses they’d shared had been pleasant if undemanding. But he’d never looked at her the way Orion was looking at her. As if he wanted to eat her alive...

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