Lucien(23)
“She doesn’t?”
“Afraid not. Elise has the uncanny ability to find gold lining in the clouds.”
“Uh-huh.”
“You don’t believe me?”
“It’s not a matter of believing, but understanding,” Luc said.
Raven laughed. “You don’t now, but you will.” He finished his beer then pushed his chair back from the table. “My sister can make a man want to do things he wouldn’t do for any other woman.”
“Such as…?”
“Such as dishing out thousands of dollars to appease his conscience.” Raven stood and looked down on Luc. “You claim that Elise means a lot to you, but you don’t say that you love her, which leads me to believe that you asked her to marry you for some ulterior motive.”
“Your sister is well aware of my motives,” Luc assured him.
“Yeah, but are you aware of hers?” Raven picked up his helmet. “Until next time.” He started to leave then stopped. “Nothing personal, Luc, but… if you hurt her, I will kill you.”
The transformation in Raven’s expression from good natured, concerned brother into deadly serious borderline psychopath of an overprotective brother was amazing. No wonder Wyndemere had chosen Raven as the role model for his blade carrying hero-slash-villain Dexter Quimby.
Luc blinked and idly wondered if that’s what he looked like when anyone threatened his sisters and their happiness. It was a sobering, interesting thought and one he’d delve into later. Familiar with the protocol, Luc nodded indicating that the threat had been received and clearly understood.
Seemingly satisfied, Raven turned on his heel and left.
Luc sat at the table for a long time after Raven’s exit and pondered his soon-to-be-brother-in-law’s words. The longer he thought about it the harder he worked to convinced himself that he’d made the right decision not to tell Elise everything about the deal with his grandfather.
The questions rolling through his mind had nothing to do with Raven and his threat. While Raven’s technique was impressive, Luc wasn’t intimidated. Instead, his thoughts were travelling along another vein all together.
If Elise had an ulterior motive for marrying him—something he really, really hoped she harbored, because it’d make his life just that much easier and all the more pleasurable in the long run. But ignoring that delightful potential twist to his future, which would hurt Elise the least?
Telling her before the wedding or finding out afterwards that he was required to do his duty and beget an heir on her?
It was a conundrum and not one easily solved sitting in a dingy bar peeling the label off the warm beer bottle in his hand. No, what he needed was more data from his wooing tactics. And time to figure out the best path to achieving his goals. All of them.
And preferably without breaking his personal creed of not destroying the fairy tale princess’s dream, or her heart, in the process.
CHAPTER SIX
The afternoon before the biggest day of her life, Elise sat on the front porch of a Victorian manor house, nestled in the heart of the city’s posh but sleepy and very affluent neighborhood, and wondered if she’d fallen down the rabbit hole. Because she’d definitely stepped through the looking glass into a life she barely recognized as her own.
“Oh-my-freaking-word,” she whispered to herself. “He gave us a house.”
Lucas Masters—Luc’s grandfather—had given them a house as an early wedding present. But not just any house. The Perfect House. Complete with everything she’d ever dreamt of having in her dream house. It was even the right color. Yellow with white scrollwork trim. Dark hardwood floors. Smooth, not stippled, ceilings that could be painted. Thick walls, solid doors. Oooh and window seats in all the best rooms and… the staircase?
La, it was exactly the staircase that every girl dreamed of descending on prom night when her date stood transfixed in the foyer, gazing up at her intoxicating beauty.
Her shoulders lifted with yet another hopelessly romantic sigh. The house even came with a white picket fence and a garden in the back. What more could a girl hope for?
It was perfect. Absolutely perfect.
The screen door opened behind her and Luc came out. “Is that everything?” He sat down next to her and offered her a cold bottle of water.
Elise yanked her fingernail out of her mouth and took the bottle. “For today. Raven will arrange for the rest of my stuff to be moved over before the end of the month.”
“You sound worried. Do you not like the house?”