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I watched her emotionally gather herself. My God, she was twenty-one years old, and she had the ability to pull herself together after what I'd been throwing at her.
She rose and stood to face me. "My relationship with Ace is none of your business."
"It is."
"No."
"Yes. And you know why?"
She cocked an eyebrow, and I wanted to laugh because I hadn't met a woman like her before, so strong and yet so vulnerable. Calculating and naïve at the same time. "Oh, you're still under the misconception that I'm attracted to you?"
I smiled. "Baby, don't make me prove you wrong."
"Hell, I've been throwing myself at your foreman, you, Ace. Do you think a woman like me, a whore, is really attracted to any man? Isn't my kind of woman too capricious for one man?"
Her gray eyes were darker, her pupils dilated, and they spit fire.
"Either way, darlin', ridin' you is going to be a ride for the ages."
"You're disgusting. I grew up in a home, and I have never met people as obnoxious as you and your family. I wouldn't have anything to do with you, no matter that you think you have a magic cock in your pants."
She wasn't wrong. We were all behaving insufferably toward her. But she was an interloper, here to upend my brother's life and my business with the Masons. No fucking way I was going to allow either to happen.
"Say what you like, Isha, I can see you want some of my magic cock." It wasn't in my nature to back down; to allow someone else to take the parting shot, even though I knew I deserved their contempt.
Ace walked in then and looked at both of us. "What's going on here?"
"Your brother here was telling me that I am a whore, and I should leave." She didn't look away from me when she spoke.
"What the fuck, Ro."
Ace came between us and pulled Isha to him. "God, sweetheart, I'm so sorry."
She looked at him with some of the same scorn she'd shown me. She pulled away from him so he couldn't touch her.
"I'm booking my ticket to—"
"No," Ace said firmly. "Come on, we have the fair this weekend. It'll be fun, Isha. Ro, don't be an asshole."
She was standing so still and stiff that she was almost vibrating. Her rage was palpable and met mine. How the fuck was this woman pushing my buttons? Why was I letting her?
I took a deep breath. "Stay the weekend. I'll make sure you get home next week. I'll even buy your ticket."
"No thanks. I can buy my own ticket," she seethed.
"Come on, Isha. I promised you that I'd buy your ticket back home. And you were supposed to be here for four weeks, and you're leaving after just one. Has it been that bad here?" Ace was smiling at her, unaware of the tension between us. That boy couldn't read a room even if it was on fucking fire.
Isha closed her eyes. "I'll stay, but I'll buy my own airplane ticket." She then looked at me. "I don't need money from any of you."
"Isha, trust me, buying you a plane ticket will not put a dent in the Ledger fortune," Ace joked. "Am I right, brother?"
The man was a moron. He was her age, and yet she was more mature, more aware…just more. Deb was wondering how Ace found her interesting, whereas I couldn't believe she wanted to have anything to do with this idiot.
"Ace, let me talk to Isha."
Ace looked at Isha, and then at me for a long moment. He kissed her on her cheek and left.
"I need to be alone," Isha murmured softly and walked to the door in her room that led into the garden. She opened it and stepped outside as the sun dipped behind the mountains. She hugged herself.
