The Love Triangle(35)

“How are you feeling?” I asked.



“Better,” he said, and I believed him. Despite the bruises on his face, the strap across his nose, where his skin was untainted he had color again, and his eyes glinted.



I took a deep breath.



“I’m sorry,” I said.



“For what?”



I hesitated before talking. This was hard. This was harder than I’d thought it would be.



“For hurting you. For choosing the wrong man when I loved you all along. And for what happened to you that you ended up here. Without me in your life, you would have been fine.”



“Without you in my life I would have felt empty. Really, I’d rather have you along with all this, than nothing at all.”



I looked up at him.



“How can you love me after all of this?”



“I don’t know,” he said. “I’ve told myself so many times that I shouldn’t. But I couldn’t really stop. So there it is. I was an idiot, but I couldn’t help myself.”



I looked down at my hands. They were trembling. I couldn’t look him in the eye. I didn’t have a script the way the heroines did in movies. I didn’t know what to say to tell him what I really felt. I took a deep breath and pushed my hands under my thighs so I was sitting on them. I couldn’t get them to stop trembling any other way.



“I love you,” I said and nearly tripped over the words. “It took me too long to realize it, and I was an idiot for throwing it back in your face when you wanted me to be exclusive with you. I’m sorry about that. I regret it every day. Well, since I remembered it.” I’d attempted a joke, but neither of us laughed.



“What about Elijah?”



I thought about the man in jail, the washed-out color of his skin in that jumpsuit, the hopeless look in his eyes, and I swallowed hard.



“I want you,” I said. “If you don’t want me after all of this, I understand. I know I’ve messed up enough that I don’t deserve to be with you. But I couldn’t just leave Fort Atkinson without telling you how I felt. That I know now I shouldn’t have been a stubborn ass when you told me you loved me. I should just have bit the bullet with my job and loved you back no matter what.”



“Well, if you think you’re going to leave me now, you’ve got another think coming. I took a bullet for you. So you have to stay. It would be rude not to.”



I smiled at him. I wanted to cry, but I was going to force a smile and be polite about it, even if it killed me. He moved his hand on the bed, putting it on mine. His hand was warm and big and familiar. And it pushed me over the edge. Tears spilled onto my cheeks.



“I love you, too, Grace. If you run from me now I’ll just follow you. So just stay.”



He tried to sit up and pulled a face.



“No, don’t,” I said and came to him. I put his hand behind my neck and pulled my lips against his. He made a small protesting sound when our lips touched, and then he let me go. He put his fingers lightly on top of his nose.



“That hurt,” he said. I put my head on his shoulder, the good one, and he put his hand on my cheek.



“I’ve loved you from the day I met, all the way through until now,” he said, and his voice hummed through his chest.



“I remember,” I answered.



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Her Marriage Of Convenience


By Violet Jackson





Chapter 1





“Dahlia, it's not something that we like to think about, but something must be done. Now that your father is dead, it's up to you to run the business.”



“What about James?”



“He's getting nothing. I haven’t told him yet because we both know why.”



“Are you sure there is no way for him to sue? He told me before he would sue me and the estate if Father overlooked him.”



“Well, there is some money in a trust. It is enough for him to live comfortably for the next fifty years. It will never be enough for James though. Johnston made it iron-clad. He has no misconceptions of who your brother is. There are too many lives at stake in the company, for him to just dismiss everything he has done. Your father loved his workers just as much as his family, so it will all go to you.”



“So why are we in such a rush then? It's all mine right?”



“Yes, but if something were to happen to you…”



“Alfred, I'm twenty-five. Nothing is going to happen to me.”



“Accidents do happen, Dahlia, and your father wants to make sure that everything with the company will be secure. I know it may seem arcane, but he wants you married and to be with an heir soon.”



“How soon?”



“The stipulation is for a year. You have to be pregnant and married by then. It keeps Johnston’s legacy alive this way. You see this, don’t you?”



Dahlia nodded, pushing the small black braids back from her face. She didn’t know what to say and she certainly hadn’t expected the family lawyer to come down to her office and give her the ultimatum her father was too afraid to give her himself. Johnston Williams had been sick for some time, giving him plenty of time to get his affairs in order. It seemed that he was still trying to push her in the right direction, even though he wasn’t walking the earth anymore. That kind of determination was what the Williams' were known for, everyone but her older half brother James. He did many things to the family’s disapproval.



“So this is for real?”



“I’m afraid so. It has been done in wealthy families for many years.”



“What, making the daughter marry?”



“Arranged marriages.”



“Wait. You didn’t say anything about an arrangement.”



“It's to the Black family. Your father has been in business with them for years.”



She knew the family well and the several sons that were in it. Only two were single and one had a hideous tick. It didn’t take much to figure out which one it was that her father proposed. It was just like him to make her talk to a lawyer about it, instead of having a conversation with her. Johnston had hated conflict and since he had never found it easy to say no to her, Dahlia couldn’t blame him for it.



“So Charles then?”



The older man nodded his head. Things were not going as bad as he had imagined, surprised that Dahlia’s infamous temper had not come out. He did not wish to be in the man’s shoes, though like her, he would have his own reasons for marrying her. Theirs would not be one of great love, but of family loyalty and a sense of honor. The financial parts would help them both. The business partnership could help tens of thousands of workers and families. It was a win-win for most involved, besides the two that had to actually be in the partnership. It was a marriage though and most partnerships did not have to be consummated.



“Indeed, Dahlia, but I assure you he is the best of that family. I have worked with him for many years.”



“How old is he?”



“I think he's in his early thirties. You know the men are usually older in these arrangements. To be honest, your father would have rather had you married off when you were eighteen, but your mother always pushed to let you be free for a while. She knew that this day would come and Alice wanted you to see the world.”



Dahlia’s dark-brown eyes closed for a moment. The almond shape became more pronounced and when she opened them back up, they glittered with wetness. “It has been a long few years, hasn't it Alfred?”



“Yes, Miss. But you have done beautifully. I know that they look down on you with pride. Your brother? Not so much, but you have done a better job than anyone would have believed. It was no small feat to take over and now you just need to do this one last thing. Think of it as your father’s one last wish.”



She knew she would agree, far before her lips would submit to the prospect. It was all she could do and if Johnston felt so strongly that he had made it a stipulation, she could do nothing else but abide by it. She shifted uncomfortably and then smiled back. It was just one more thing to bear. While many wished to be rich, those that were knew it came with a price.



Dahlia had not been rich growing up, never even knowing her father until many years later when she was a teenager. While he said that he felt bad that he was never there and wanted to make it up to her, she secretly wondered if he came around because he knew James would be such a poor choice for running the company. Either way, being thrust into a world of money, from living with practically nothing, was hard. While everyone looked at money as the goal, she saw it sometimes as the hindrance in life. There had been many times when she was working 16 hours a day at the Williams Company that she wished for the days when there wasn’t much, but everything worked out. Her mother and father had rekindled their love and everything had changed from that point. There she was, talking to a lawyer about a marriage to a man she had never met before. Only the rich, she thought to herself.