Page 63

My brother had no room to escape, but he leaned in right before I lowered my shoulder into his chest, with a neat little uppercut to the jaw.

Oh, my brother had more of a bite than he claimed, fake-ass scholar and gentleman that he was!

In my rage I was foolhardy, reckless, idiotic as we grappled together, and I felt Léonie’s boat hook stab me in the back as Hugo and I toppled off and into the lake.

My brother ended up with a blow to my chin just as we hit the water that fucking rattled my teeth, and there was a hard smack as Léonie threw the life preserver out. Right in front of Hugo.

“Just leave her alone,” he said. “You’re a break shit up guy, not a fixing it guy. You never have been.”

“I am not.”

“Yeah, the fuck you are. You don’t know how to fix shit because you’ve never had to.”

He grabbed the preserver and made his way back with powerful strokes.

Mme had always insisted he was weak but I didn’t think so anymore. . .

“Léonie!” I shook the water from my ears and swam closer to her boat, trying to grab a hold of it before she started the engine.

“I lied! I didn’t mean anything I said. I swear on all the ancestors that I didn’t!”

That was a serious oath, and I didn’t make it lightly. In fact, I’d only ever made it one other time. . .

“I’ve heard you say that before,” my wife said, glancing over at me, and there was something in how she was so calm while I was a maelstrom of chaotic emotions. “You swore by all the ancestors on our wedding day that you’d always take care of me. You lied then, so why should I believe you now?”

Hugo was already back in the boat and Léonie turned on the engine.

And then she was gone. Without another backwards glance.

“Léonie!” I roared again, waves from her wake slamming into my face, and I swam toward the docks for several minutes before realizing I was being a fucking idiot, and got back in my own boat.

I was dripping with water, filled with baffled fury and confusion.

She hadn’t believed me. She didn’t even want to hear my explanation.

I knew she would be angry, but I hadn’t expected this refusal to even listen to me. Or trust me.

I’d thought my word would have been good enough for her to begin to see what had happened, even if I’d been a selfish bastard.

“Don’t say a goddamn word,” I warned Mano as I shook the water out of my hair. “What did you offer the Pinoteaux for her?”

He looked away. Then he told me a number.

“You’re a fucking idiot,” I said savagely. “I would never have allowed you those funds.”

“You spent ten times that much to get her,” Mano said. “And you couldn’t find a better way to take down her family than shaming her. You’re a fucking dipshit.”

“She’ll forgive me,” I said.

But for once I didn’t feel so confident in my precious wife.

I ordered the boat back to shore, skirting their boundaries, and told my men to patrol carefully about the borders of the Savatier lands.

Why the fuck was she here?

I was beginning to realize that there was a lot I didn’t know about my wife.

Why did she think they could protect her more than I could?