That’s the last thing I ever wanted. It’s a feeling I never want her to experience again. It’s not fair, to cradle her in my arms all night and then disregard her value the next day, to give her those kinds of highs and lows. She deserves better than that.
Every woman does.
And I’m going to show her that I’ll give up the things I hold so tightly—my cabin, my self-reliance, my asshole M.O.—because none of that matters if I don’t have her.
I walk straight inside the castle, not waiting for the footman to open the fucking door or the butler to address me. The conversation I need to have has waited too fucking long.
Running my hand over my beard, I pause before my father’s office. Taking a deep breath, I know I’m about to say something I never thought I’d fucking say.
The very thing that only yesterday I swore I never would. It’s crazy to think how much can change in such a short amount of time. But none of my ideals are worth having if I’m alone.
I knock on the door, wait for my father to answer.
“Yes?” he calls.
I turn the door handle and step inside his wood paneled office. It’s claustrophobic in here. Books line the shelves, but more than that, everything is polished and perfectly in place, not a detail overlooked. The Historic vibe is strong, and everything is a relic, which is strange considering none of it has any personal value to anyone left living.
But my father is meticulous about the appearance of things. And this office is more my father than anything. I sigh, resigning myself to the realization that it will be my space one day. But knowing why I came here, I know that it may be my space sooner than I ever anticipated.
“Father, I came to discuss an urgent matter with you.”
“Urgent?” my father cocks an eye at me and motions to the chair opposite him. He sits behind a desk with papers piled high.
I know I’ve slacked off long enough, not taking my role as the heir to the throne seriously in the way my father wishes. But all it took was one massive look of disappointment on my bride’s face for me to realize it’s time I change my ways. Even if it means spending less time in the village and more time with pompous dignitaries.
“What brings you here exactly, Garrick?” my father asks.
I sit down and look at him straight on. “I have a request of you. I know it’s the exact opposite of everything I’ve been saying for years, but I’ve had a change of heart.”
“Don’t tell me you think you’re sending Iris back? You married her. There’s no way you can get out of this now. She’s your wife, damn it, Garrick.”
“God no,” I say, revolted at the idea of sending Iris anywhere but to my bed. “I don’t want out.”
“What do you want?”
“I want in. I want in on the family business. No more refusing to play by your rules. No more dismissing the royal court. No more leaving the party early.”
“Oh, really?” he asks, disbelief written across his face. “And what’s in this for you?”
“Iris,” I tell him plainly. “Iris is all I’m after.”
My father’s eyes narrow, but he can see the genuine look on my face. He shakes his head, a grin on his face. “I told you back at your cabin last week that marriage was a compromise. You took your old father’s advice to heart, I take it?”
“Iris’s heart is all I want.”
My father stands, shakes my hand. He calls in my mother, and we discuss the details. She throws her arms around me, the most affection I think I’ve ever received from her.
I’d be offended, but if this is what Iris wants, this is what I’ll do.
“Garrick, I’m so proud of you,” she says squeezing my shoulders. “Finally getting some sense. Marriage will do that to a man. We need to call in the bulldozers!”
I feel my shoulders tense at her words. My cabin means a hell of a lot to me, and her dismissal isn’t appreciated. There’s no way in hell that thing is going to be bulldozed.
Instead of addressing it, I step away from her hug, not wanting to sour the mood. I’ve never made my parents so proud. But their pride means so little. That isn’t why I am doing this.
My father pours us each a drink, and we raise our glasses in a toast.
“To new beginnings,” my father says.
I down the whiskey and make my way outside. I need to get out of this stifling castle and win over the heart of my wife.
21
I arrive at the empty cabin and see several packages have been delivered to our front door. It’s all the items I bought earlier.
None of them hold the same pleasure now that I’m here alone, now that I’ve decided my tactics of winning over my husband were childish and immature.