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“You know your brother well,” George said.
“Yeah, but normally that means it has to do with me, which also means Dad has come to a decision and I’m not going to like it. Boarding school is out of the question, and I don’t know if they would send me back to school for business.”
He wasn’t meeting her eyes.
“George, do you know why my brother was uncomfortable this afternoon?”
He shoved some chocolate ice cream into his mouth and then looked at her. She loved his dark-brown eyes. “No, but I am curious, what would you do if your dad … was, uh … thinking about finding you a husband?”
At first, his words didn’t register, but when they did, Anna-Beth’s mouth opened and then closed. “Oh. I don’t know, I guess I’d have to consider who he wanted me to marry.”
She couldn’t look at George. So that was what they were going to do with her, or at least, that’s what they were hinting at. They had threatened many times to find her a husband, but they never actually did it. Looking at her empty spoon, she felt sick to her stomach. This couldn’t be happening. This was unfair, and she didn’t even know for certain if that was what they were going to do.
“Anna-Beth?” George asked.
“It’s fine. Of course it’s going to be fine.” She felt tears spring to her eyes. She got to her feet.
There was no way she was going to marry a husband that they chose. This was horrible. This was worse than what she thought they might do.
She should have seen this coming. Sending her to a friend’s house to work was one thing, but she must have really pissed them off for them to consider marrying her off, for real this time.
Anna-Beth didn’t know when she had stood, or that she was freaking out, but all too soon, strong arms grabbed her hard. She stared into George’s brown eyes. They were strong, confident, and she knew no one was going to mess with him. Those hands that had grabbed her arms suddenly cupped her face.
“Look at me, breathe. That’s it, breathe.”
In freaking out, she had forgotten to breathe, and now, watching George, she followed his movements, taking several deep breaths, and slowly expelling them. She breathed in and out, and then George pulled her into his arms and held onto her tightly.
“I don’t want to get married,” Anna-Beth said.
“I’ve got you.”
Did he have her? She didn’t belong to George. Her family was going to marry her off, to become someone else’s problem, because they could no longer stand for her to be their problem.
Tears prickled at her eyes, and were ready to fall again. She loved her family, but this wasn’t fair, which made her feel like a child.
George tilted her head back and he looked into her eyes. “I’m not going to let them do anything to you, okay?”
She nodded her head, but she didn’t quite believe it. They were her parents, and she knew they didn’t know the meaning of failing. They always got what they wanted. Always. No one had been able to win against them.
She couldn’t help but look at George’s lips. She had thought about kissing him so many times.
You’re a virgin.
About to be forced to marry a man you don’t love.
Your parents don’t know you’re a virgin.
Kiss him.
Anna-Beth didn’t know what happened, she was pretty sure George was leaning toward her as she closed the distance at the same time. One moment, they were staring at one another, and then in the next moment, his lips were on hers and she lost all sense of thought.
For twenty years, she’d been thinking about this kiss, and it was even better than anything she had ever imagined.
Chapter Five
George couldn’t stand the thought of her marrying anyone else. He didn’t know how he was going to stop her parents from ruining her life, but he knew he couldn’t go another second without kissing those lips.
He could not even comprehend her being with another man. No one else was ever going to kiss those lips. They were soft as they kissed him back. George didn’t know who kissed who first.
