“Really, what were you thinking?” Bess’s eyes were wide with shock. “That was a terrible idea, Corwin. You were risking Peter’s life to make a point.”
Corwin’s face flushed, and his expression turned ugly. “You know what I grew up with, Josephine. I can not stand by and watch that happen. Not again.”
I took a deep breath, counted to ten, and let it out slowly. I balled up my fists and then released them.
Corwin’s father was a violent, psychotic shifter who had beaten Corwin’s mother regularly, finally injuring her so much that she’d ended up being hospitalized for several months. She came out permanently deaf in one ear, limping on a broken right leg that hadn’t healed properly, because Corwin’s father had locked her in her room and refused to let her seek help for weeks. Corwin had begged and cried; Corwin’s father had beaten him too, and chained him to a heavy table. Finally, when Corwin’s father had passed out drunk, Corwin had managed to escape and seek help.
“I know what you grew up with, and I am sorry about that,” I said. “I really am. However, you can’t let that influence you into making really, really bad decisions. And that was a bad decision. It was not fair to Peter, who could have gotten killed. He did nothing to deserve that. It was not fair to me, because it made me look absolutely terrible in front of Maxwell’s entire pack. It was very disrespectful to Maxwell, who has been nice enough to agree to go through with this whole fake marriage thing to help out Camille, a shifter that he’s never even met before.” At least, I hoped he’d never met her before.
Corwin shoved his hands in his pockets, scowled at the ground and didn’t say anything.
“Did you think about what could happen to Camille if this whole charade were exposed, by the way?” I demanded. “If Kray’s pack hears about this, he’s going to start looking for her, and she’s going to be in deep trouble.”
“So you have to sacrifice your happiness for Camille?” Corwin demanded. “Why don’t you ever put yourself first?”
I swallowed hard. “First of all, I am not sacrificing my happiness. I’m actually having a good time with Maxwell. Yes, he’s a big, macho Alpha jerk, but it’s kind of sexy. I like him way more than I thought I would. His family has been very welcoming.”
“We’re your family.” Bess said it in kind of a pouty voice, her lip quavering. It occurred to me for the first time ever that it wasn’t just that I needed her and Corwin; maybe she needed me to need her. She came from an uber-wealthy family with servants, and a mother who was a control freak who micro-managed everything. She’d been desperate to leave home so she could prove that she could live on her own. Her mother had even made her start college a year late because she was sure Bess wasn’t ready.
Maybe taking the big sister role for me was something that Bess really needed.
“You’re my best friends in the world,” I assured her, grabbing her hands. “You both mean the world to me. That doesn’t mean I don’t want a relationship of my own, though.”
Corwin stood with his arms folded, glaring at the ground like a chastened child. He was still sulking.
“You’re not…you’re not actually going to stay here when the three weeks are up, are you?” Bess asked suddenly, looking worried.
“I don’t know what’s going to happen,” I said.
Her jaw dropped. “Seriously?” she demanded.
“Well, Bess, you and Corwin are going to get married, travel for a while, then settle down…”
“I thought you could come with us when we travelled!” Bess protested.
“Oh, come on,” I said, laughing. “That sounds like the worst honeymoon ever! For both you and for me – I’d be a third wheel the whole time.”
“No, you wouldn’t. We’d have a great time,” Bess protested, but I shook my head. She sighed. “I guess you’re right, I hadn’t thought about it from your perspective.”
“I don’t know what Maxwell will want in a few weeks. I don’t know what I will want. I suspect that he will do the smart thing and end the marriage, and find himself a bride who actually brings some political advantages. I mean, he doesn’t love me, I know that, and I don’t love him. Although I am turned on by his incredibly hot body. Sorry, big brother Corwin, but it’s true,” I said at his pained wince.
Was that the truth, that I didn’t love him? I missed him when I wasn’t with him, I loved having sex with him, I enjoyed his company 99 percent of the time, I was coming to believe that he was genuinely a very good person…but I couldn’t possibly be in love. We’d just met.