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“Yeah,” I agreed, feeling the impish look come back to my face after a long absence—the expression I knew my husband loved, just on the verge of brattiness. “I’ll allow it.”
I felt myself start to relax. I doubled the number of fries I would allow myself to eat from five to ten, and watched Rick steal seven or eight from my plate—something we had agreed very early on in our relationship he should do whenever he felt like it. I thought about my tablet again, and about the girl in the novel, the dragon-calling heroine who had refused all her suitors in favor of a rogue dragon-rider of whom her family disapproved.
“No!” I heard the woman who had caught my eye say, her voice sounding frantic. “No. John, I didn’t…”
I looked over to see her husband (their new wedding rings gleamed just as brightly as mine and Rick’s did) leaning in to talk quietly to her.
“No!” she said again. “I’m not going… I’m just…”
Miss Haddon appeared from whatever agents’ desk she worked at.
“Mr. Franklin?” I heard her say to John. “Would you like to take Mrs. Franklin to one of our private rooms?”
CHAPTER7
Rick
I saw a violent blush mount into Mandy’s face in a sudden wave of crimson. For a moment I couldn’t decide whether I felt glad that she had gotten the chance to see what this visit to Rocky Falls would entail, or anxious that she would try to get out of it. As I watched her beautiful but currently very alarmed face closely it became clear that the two emotions had gone to war inside my chest and my head. I couldn’t tell which would win for the life of me, but I knew I had to act decisively, just as Scott had recommended.
I felt like an idiot, needing the advice of an older guy to put my marriage back on track. I had become much too conscious of my own hot cheeks when Scott had taken me aside—in the most sympathetic way, but still with an embarrassing note of wisdom given to a younger man.
“You two really should come to Rocky Falls,” he had told me. “I won’t insult you by saying more than that, but can I text you a link?”
“Thanks,” I had said, trying hard to mean it. After the bewilderment of the previous night, I didn’t know what to think. Certainly I felt some gratitude to Scott for trying to help, but I also couldn’t keep myself from wanting to show my independence and my character in this most personal area.
I prided myself on making decisions and sticking to them, in my business life. It had gotten me to a strong, successful position financially, and it had given me the confidence to make the personal decision of asking Mandy to marry me. I had made the decision not to push her into sex before marriage, too. Until the previous night, I had thought I had made these choices well.
When I had taken a look at the link, while Mandy packed to leave the lodge, I felt the unwelcome warmth return to my face. It seemed either that Selecta had read my mind, or that despite my intention to live my own life, different from anyone else’s, I had ended up in an all-too-common trap.
You’ve got the younger woman of your dreams,the site said,but do you know how to ensure her happiness—and yours?
I had felt a frown break out on my brow. Part of me hadn’t wanted to admit I understood precisely what the words meant. Then, as I read on, my heart rate had gone up a notch, and my eyes had widened.
To put it very frankly, do you know how to train your bride? Here in Rocky Falls, we can help.
* * *
Mandy
I looked over at Rick and saw that he had turned his attention to me, rather than to the Franklins and their strange and scary little drama. I felt my brow furrow. Why would he be so interested in my reaction, rather than in what the hell was going on here?
The answer came to me in a flash that made me take a little gasping breath in through my nose.
Because he knows exactly what’s going on with the Franklins. And he was expecting that kind of thing to happen here.
My eyes went wide. I looked back over at the couple having the little fight, then at the other two couples in the lounge. The older couple were in conversation, their heads close together, and to my dismay I saw smiles on their faces. The Franklins’ scene clearly amused them.
The younger couple had reacted very differently. Indeed, the wife met my eyes, and I saw that she had an expression on her face that looked if anything more shocked than my own.
“I don’t care!” Mrs. Franklin said. “I don’t care what I checked or signed or whatever!”
“Heather,” John said, and then his voice got too quiet for me to hear.
Heather Franklin looked at Miss Haddon, a strange desperation in her eyes.
I glanced back over at the third young wife, the one with the shocked expression who had looked at me. She returned my gaze again, her eyebrows rising, it seemed, near to her hairline. Then she looked over at her husband, who—just like Rick—had focused on his wife, as if to assess her reaction to the Franklins’ argument.
“Mr. Franklin is right,” Miss Haddon told Heather. “I’m afraid that if you refuse to go to the private couple’s room on your own, I’ll have to call a skycap to help your husband take you there.”
