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I take a deep breath, thinking of everything I’ve heard about Mase. Bexley’s warning me about him. Grayson telling him to stay away from me.
And then I think about everything I’ve learned about him in the last two days. “Did you pay off Emelia?” I ask in a quiet voice, afraid to hear his reply.
“Yes.” He should get credit for being unflinchingly honest, but the word is more of a stab than a soothe, so he’s not getting much from me.
I exhale my disappointment. “Did you actually take a paternity test?”
“There was a test,” he admits. “My grandfather’s assistant provided the sample.”
“Oh my God! Mase!” I clutch at my hair, the knots tightening in my stomach.Breathe, Fiona. What has he done?“You have to know. It might be your baby.”
“It’s not,” Mase says quickly. “The skin colour is all wrong—you saw Emelia. We’re both pale and the baby is clearly not. It’s not mine.”
“You have to find out for sure.”
Mase hangs his head, and I hope his remorse and regret are real. Because there’s a lot about Mase that I don’t know.
“I know,” he says. “I didn’t want to go through with it when Grandfather told me, but he insisted. He said—”
“It’s not your grandfather’s life,” I tell him. “It’s yours.”
“Everything about my life impacts him,” Mase says. “That’s how it is in my family. You don’t understand.”
“I don’t want anything from you,” I tell him firmly. I never would have imagined my heart could crack so easily. But then again, I never would have thought I could fall in love so fast. Especially with Mase Stirling. “I’ll sign whatever you want. I’m not looking for anything from you or your family.”
“I know that. Fee, I don’t know what you’re trying to do but—”
“I think you’ll change your mind about me after you talk to your family,” I interrupt because Mase’s voice turned soft and sweet, and I’m not going to be able to walk away if he sounds like that.
And I need to be the one who walks away.
“Your family is really important to you. And that’s okay. How you grew up is very different from me. You have the world. I have a very small, teeny tiny part of it.”
“Darlin’, I want you to be part of my world.” Mase reaches for me, but I jerk back. The silence swells like a balloon. “Fiona. You sound like you don’t want that.” This time the gaze holding mine isn’t as steady and has a whole lot of fear behind it. “Tell me what you want.”
I don’t know what I want. I want not to have heard him on the phone. I want his sisters to be happy for him and not feel like they have to clean up his messes. I don’t want anyone to think of me as one of those messes.
“Tell me what you want, Fiona. Please,” Mase implores, and I catch my breath, ready to change my world.
Mase
Fionalookssolemn,eyesblue pools, mouth curving down. “You don’t have to worry about me, you know. Last night was great, but if this—” She waves her hand with the flower ring in my face. “If this isn’t what you want, I will survive. I’ll be fine. Do you regret giving me this?” She stares down at the ring.
“I don’t regret anything I gave you, but especially not this.” I reach for her hand, and this time she lets me hold it. I bring it to my lips. “My sisters think I’m an idiot—”
“An idiotic idiot,” she says solemnly. “I heard that part.”
I expect her to run. Or at least tell me to get out. And when Fiona frowns, I think that’s it. The Fiona and Mase love story—over.
Before we even got to the good stuff.
“This isn’t all my decision,” I tell her. “What do you want? Honestly. Don’t pull your punches, I can take it too.”
I fully expect Fiona to take the out. We’ve been husband and wife for twenty-four hours, and already we’re into the serious family stuff. I wouldn’t want to marry into my family. But she’s full of surprises.
“I won’t begin to try and understand your family and what you’ve been through,” she says. “I can’t imagine that life. But I do understand commitment, and I made one to you.”
I only stare at her, my heart thumping with anticipation. It sounds like—I think she might—
