Page 21 of His Ruthless Queen

I want to scream at the man for being so rude. I shake my head, turning to Corbin.

He’s cool as a cucumber, though I know by the tilt of his head that he’s wondering what he just witnessed. Heat creeps up my neck, right up to my cheeks.

I just yelled at Corbin last night for being clipped with Hugh, and here Scotty is being a jerk to him. “He’s so rude. I’m sorry.”

Corbin chuckles. “Honey, that was jealousy.”

“What? No.” I shake my head frantically as I sit in my seat.

Corbin waves a dismissive hand as he takes the chair Scotty had been occupying. When he’s comfortable, he reaches for that baby blue hair tie resting around his wrist like a bracelet. He twirls it as he watches me with a curious interest. “Were you two ever a thing?”

“Never. You don’t need to worry about that. I’d never …”

My voice drifts off when he lifts an open hand to stop me. “Saoirse, I get it. This thing …” His hand flits back and forth between us. “It’s forced. There’s no chemistry. I’m okay with that. We just need to …” He sighs, leaning forward to rest his elbows on his knees. He pinches the bridge of his nose. “We need to establish what’s going to happen. I expect to run for the White House next term. We need to be married and, realistically, you should be pregnant by then.”

My eyes bulge from my head. “I hadn’t given kids much thought,” I say, honestly.

Corbin fidgets with the hair tie again. “I have. And we need our ground rules in place. I know what it’s like to pine after someone who isn’t interested in you. Wanting someone that you can’t have.”

I scrunch my brows, shaking my head. “No. I’m not … I’m not interested in Scotty, if that’s where you’re going with this.”

“Thatiswhere I’m going with it.” He watches me, a sweet smile on his face.

Corbin is so good with holding his composure. He could be stewing beneath the surface, planning a million ways to castrate Scotty right now, and I’d have no clue. I wonder if I’ll ever learn to read him. If I’ll ever be the one who soothes him with a soft touch to his hand, or a sweet kiss to his cheek. If it will ever be my hair tie he fiddles with during a press conference. Will he find that somewhere else if he doesn’t get it from me? Probably.

“Okay,” I whisper. “So what exactly are you saying? I’m not following.”

“I’m saying we’re both wanting other people.” He’s still twirling his bracelet. “People that maybe we can’t—or shouldn’t—have.”

My hand instantly reaches for my necklace. I dip my chin, confirming what he’s saying. His eyes meet the pendant, then dart back to meet mine. “Maybe we get over them together?” he asks.

My breath hitches, and I nod. “Maybe.”

Corbin’s soft smile turns into a satisfied grin, and his eyes fall to my neck again. “Now. Can we talk about the bruises on your throat?”

I inhale. “Someone attacked me last night.”

His jaw twitches, and the sweet act he usually holds slips away for a split second before he masks it. “Tell me what happened.”

I fill him in on the details, and he listens intently, resting in the seat casually. He takes in the information without even a slight elevation of his heart rate, and I wonder what it is he’s done to be able to hone maintaining a blank face. Because even though Corbin smiles and speaks with amusement and humor in the twinkle of his eye, it is a stone face. There’s no way to know what he’s really thinking.

“I can’t wait to be away from this shit,” I say. “I hate that I was born into this family. There’s no … peace. No safety.”

“We need to move up the engagement,” he says.

“You think?” I sip my coffee.

He nods. “I think that once we announce the engagement, we can put additional security on you. And that’s what needs to be done.” Reaching into his pocket, he pulls out a black velvet box. “I was going to do this in a more public setting next month. But you should take it now. We’ll make a public announcement this weekend.”

I swallow, my throat suddenly feeling too thick to speak. When I don’t reach for the box, he sets it down on the desk.

“We will say I did it last night. After our public dinner with Becca. I took you home and popped the question intimately.”

My fingers stroke the soft material before finally opening it. The white gold band is sprinkled with small diamonds. There’s a large princess-cut diamond in the center. I snap the box closed. “I’ll wear it after the announcement.”

He offers me a nod. “I have to get going for a meeting. I’ll see you tomorrow evening?”

“Yeah. Just text me the time and address for dinner.”

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