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‘I’m not here for financial advice,’ Ethan said. ‘I’m thinking of marrying her.’
Ethan didn’t exactly expect his brother to jump up and shake his hand and slap his back, but at the revelation that he was about to be a father Ethan had expected a little more,
But Abe was thinking in dollars. ‘A contract needs to be nutted out properly. How many divorce meetings have we sat through? How many times have we stepped in when Jobe got too generous...?’
Ethan closed his eyes.
‘It’s not all bad,’ Abe said. ‘If she’s an actress she’ll at least know how to smile for the cameras. And it might be a nice way to divert the press from Jobe’s health, or lack of it. Babies are good for that.’’
‘I don’t know how Candice puts up with you.’
‘She puts up with me because Ipayher to,’ Abe said, and Ethan looked up as for the first time he heard the truth about his brother and Candice. ‘It’s a business arrangement.’
‘Justbusiness?’
‘Yes. Candice gets an apartment, a monthly allowance, and for that she just has to trot out for dinner or the theatre once in a while—and, of course, appear to forgive me for my indiscretions. The board likes to see stability and a constant partner by my side. It’s not for ever. I don’t doubt that I’ll have to work out alternative arrangements soon. But for now everyone’s happy.’
‘You don’t have a baby on the way, though.’
‘Which makes it all the more important that you go into this well informed. Call Maurice now and tell him to meet you at the office—and to get Lewis in.’
Lewis was their contract attorney, and had had his work cut out with Jobe’s health crisis.
It would seem the baton had been handed back to Ethan.
‘Now?’ Ethan checked.
‘Now.’ Abe nodded. ‘Don’t speak with her again until you’ve sorted out a plan.’
It was the classic Devereux modus operandi—they never walked into a meeting unarmed. And theyneverplayed nice.
‘It’s up to you to make it work,’ Abe said. ‘Set the tone from the start. You need to plan for the day when this sham of a marriage is over.’
CHAPTER TEN
ETHANKNOCKEDONthe door to his own suite and then let himself in.
There were dishes on the table when he put down his briefcase, so he knew she’d had dinner. And there were towels on the floor when he walked into the bedroom.
There Merida lay, on her side, her red hair so long that it spilled onto both pillows, her breathing deep and even.
She looked so peaceful that after a long night with Maurice and Lewis he wanted to flick theDo Not Disturbswitch, undress and climb into bed. Not even for sex, but just to blot out the world and share in a slice of that peace.
There would be no peace today, though.
He’d listened to Lewis, but—like his father before him—had insisted on more generous terms than he’d recommended.
God, the apple really didn’t fall far from the tree, Ethan thought. And then he thought how his own parents’ marriage had ended—with his mother running off and dead within a couple of weeks.
He and Merida had to be properly prepared for the end of their marriage. To Ethan, that was the one certainty in all of this—because he knew, beyond doubt, that nothing lasted.
There was not one relationship that he could draw on that said otherwise. Not a single one.
It was easier to believe he’d been trapped than to believe in the beauty of that night. It was safer that way.
‘Merida?’
She didn’t move.
