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“What do you want?” she hissed, turning to him.
“I want five minutes to explain.”
She rolled her eyes. “You are a man. You’re a lying asshole. There is nothing more to know.” Harper began to leave.
He grabbed her arm and stopped her.
“Seriously?” she hissed, glaring at her arm.
“Five fucking minutes, Harper.” He let go of her arm and saw the flicker of hurt underneath her anger.
“I’m not engaged,” Daniel said, getting straight to the point. “I haven’t been engaged, nor am I engaged right now. Nor was I before. Is that clear enough? No wife. No fiancée.”
It was true.
Daniel wasn’t engaged at this very moment, and he hoped to God he wouldn’t be.
“I doubt I’m even husband material. In fact, I know I’m not,” he said.
“Then why does dear old daddy think you are? I saw the text, Daniel,” Harper snapped.
Daniel really wanted to lie—to say something to ease her pain and allow things to return to the way they were.
But he couldn’t.
And he couldn’t tell Harper the complete truth, which left him in a tricky position. So he found a middle ground, which was as close to the truth as possible.
“My father wants me to marry a woman in New York,” he said, taking a step closer to her. “It’s a business decision. Nothing to do with love. I have no interest in her and certainly don’t want to marry her.”
Harper stared back at him, and he saw the ice melting a little. Her eyes darted around his face until they met his.
“I can’t do this,” she whispered. “I’m sorry. I thought I could but...”
He nodded. “I understand.”
Did he really think Harper was going to bounce back and throw her arms around him? No.
Okay, yes.
But that wasn’t why he was here. He had wanted to ease the pain he had caused her and was hoping she would hate him just a little less to knowing some of the truth.
“It was important to me, you knew. I swear I was single the day I met you. Just as I am now.”
Harper nodded and glanced away. “Thank you for telling me.”
His chest tightened and a kind of panic began to set in. He wanted to drag her upstairs and never let her go.
Fucking hell.
She was never meant to be this important.
Right now, he was fighting the urge to pull her into his arms and tell Harper she was the woman he wanted to love and spend his life with.
Daniel shook his head.
He couldn’t.
Ensuring the Dufort Dynasty was protected had to come first. For his father, his family, the thousands of people who worked for them. For his future.
