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We’re thirty minutes into the silent car ride before I finally break the silence. “Where are we going?”
“Greenwich,” he answers, keeping my hand firm in his grip.
“Why are we going to Connecticut?”
“There’s somewhere I want to take you.”
“And you can’t tell me before we get there? We’ve got to have at least another thirty minutes left.”
“It’ll probably be more like forty minutes,” he says, that ghost of a smile playing on his lips despite the sadness in his eyes.
“That seems like a lot of time to explain to me what’s going on.”
He brings my hand to his lips and presses a kiss to my knuckles. “I promise I’ll explain everything to you. I don’t want to hide anything.” He actually smiles. “I vowed to earn your trust, and I meant it. There’s just somewhere I want to take you first. Does that sound okay?”
I nod because I don’t know what else to say. The only thing that keeps me comforted the rest of the drive there is the way he clutches my hand tightly, his thumb brushing over my hand in circles as he looks out the window.
CHAPTER 43
ARCHER
“Archer,”Winnie begins, her voice cautious as she stares in front of her. “Why did you bring me to this massive house?”
I look down at my phone, sending a text message to the real estate agent, letting her know we have arrived. Marcie responds immediately, telling me that she’s unlocked everything through the security system and to let her know when we leave so she can lock it back up.
“Because I wanted you to see the house,” I answer, holding the double doors open so she can walk in.
“Why does it matter if I see this house or not?” Her eyes take in the sprawling foyer. “It feels weird calling it a house. It’s a mansion. A castle,” she marvels.
I laugh because at over twelve thousand square feet, it is a huge house. But I don’t know if I’d go as far as calling it a castle.
“I want you to see this house because I want to buy it for you.”
Her shoes squeak against the marble flooring as she spins to look at me. “You what?”
“Technically speaking, I put in an offer on it this morning, but I can back out if you don’t like it.”
Her head rocks back and forth as she goes from staring at me with wide eyes to looking around the space. She focuses on a table that has brochures andshoe protectors so no one tracks mud into the house. She rips the paper from the table and holds it in the air. “Archer, this house is more than fifty million dollars.” By the end of her sentence, her voice has gone up an octave from the shock.
I don’t blame her. It’s a lot of money for a house, but the property is breathtaking. It has a waterfront view with its own private beach. I can already imagine waking up and walking down the beach in the morning with Winnie and watching her drink her coffee on the porch while the spring breeze kisses her cheeks.
I can picture it so vividly it scares me. I’m imagining a future with her when I have no idea if there’s a chance of one together after what I have to say.
“I don’t care about the price,” I say, my voice controlled.
She rolls her eyes at me like my comment is ridiculous. It might be, but I have more money than I even know what to do with. If I want to buy her a fifty-million-dollar house, then I’m going to do it—as long as that’s what she wants, too.
“This seems like a very elaborate gift for your fake wife.” Her tone is teasing, but it doesn’t quite reach her eyes. She explores the foyer, running her hand along the bannister of the grand staircase as she refuses to look in my direction.
It hurts to hear her diminish what’s developed between us like that. “Don’t do that,” I mutter, my shoulders tense with nerves.
“Don’t do what?”
“Say that what’s happening between us is fake.”
She spins so she faces me directly. She looks so tiny compared to everything in this house. If I wasn’t sick with anxiety about telling her my father’s plan, I might comment on how absolutely adorable she looks in my clothes that are far too big for her.
“Is it not?” she finally asks, her words coming out shaky.
