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“But I didn’t,” Bella said. “I’m right on time.”
“No backtalk.” His eyebrows drew together. “You need to be on your best behavior tonight.”
“I know. We’ve gone over this.”
For hours, every day of the last week.
Ding-dong!
Bella bit back a comment about how her dad was the one making the mystery man wait.
He shot her a glare before opening the door. “Neil, we’re so glad you could make it.”
Bella tried to look around her father, but he blocked her view of the man.
Neil.
Hopefully he was better looking than his name implied. It made him sound like someone her parents’ age, not hers.
She tried even harder to get a good view of him.
Mother pinched her arm just below the armpit.
Bella started to cry out in pain but stopped herself. She knew better.
Not that it kept her mother from glowering at her.
She was getting a lot of that tonight, though the dirty looks were the least of her worries.
Dad finally stepped aside and allowed Neil in.
Bella’s stomach sank.
The man standing in front of herwasalmost as old as her parents. He was nowhere near her age, not even close. Neil’s hair was a mass of frizzy waves, his brows too bushy, and he had deep lines around his eyes and on his forehead.
Hewas the person her parents had chosen for her to marry — before the end of the year. She wouldn’t be able to finish college unless Neil gave her permission. There was no way he would approve of her studying pre-law, a plan she’d hidden from even her parents. They thought she was on the path to become an elementary teacher.
Neil’s gaze roved over her body before he finally made eye contact. Something dark in his expression sent an icy chill down her spine.
Her stomach lurched. She resisted the urge to hide behind her parents like she’d done as a little girl. They wouldn’t protect her.
They were going to push her toward the wolf.
Mother pinched her again.
Bella swallowed and stepped forward. “Hello, sir. I’m Bella—”
Another pinch, this one harder than the other two.
“I’m Isabella,” she corrected herself.
A fourth pinch.
She turned and glowered at her mother.
Her mother gave her a threatening stare.
Bella turned back to Neil, her mouth dry. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
