Page 5

CHAPTER

TWO

It was a solid hour before I dealt with Calder again. I was sitting back in my seat, and he took his beside me again without a word.

I accepted another glass of champagne. He knocked back another drink then turned, speaking to the server, his voice so low I couldn’t catch the words.

The server returned promptly with two tiny glasses filled with dark liquid.

My husband handed me one, clinking them together when I accepted. “It’s port. Bottoms up,” he said, then polished his off, eyes unblinking on me.

I blushed and looked away.

With a trembling breath, I took a drink of the port. I nearly had to choke it down. It was strong and bitter compared to the champagne, and I felt the effects within moments after finishing the tiny glass.

“It does not go well with champagne,” he noted, “you’ll have to try it again sometime when you’ve learned to drink properly.”

I didn’t know what to say to that, so I just nodded. If drinking port was part of this arrangement, then it went without saying that I would do it and just about anything else that was required of me. Worse than this was undoubtedly coming. I’d suck it up and deal with whatever I had to.

I’d been working nonstop for years, and with the cost of living in New York, combined with my fair share of misfortunes, I’d never managed to do much more than keep myself afloat.

After today, that was all going to change. I’d traded my body for wealth beyond my wildest dreams.

It’s a small price to pay, I told myself, yet again.

The wealthy of the world did what they liked. Their money made the world go round and solved all of their problems, while the little people took what life gave them, weathering whatever punches fate decided to lay on them with no anesthetic to soften the blows or means of protecting themselves. I knew that firsthand.

I had a chance to switch from the latter to the former, and I was taking it with both hands and eyes wide open.

Yes, I had sold myself. Yes, it was my choice. The price: my freedom. The benefit: I’d just been upgraded from lowly peasant to one of the elite of society.

Now I was set for life. Untouchable.

Except for my husband. He’d get to touch me however he liked.

“What a joke, huh?” Calder said suddenly.

“Pardon?” I asked, looking around for what he might be talking about.

“All of this.” He waved his drink around at the room. I realized that he, like myself, was feeling the alcohol. “My father thinks that if I spend even a little bit of time with you I’ll grow to like you and then he’ll feel justified for this whole mess. He thinks I’ll get attached.” His words were crisp with a bite, his eyes square on me and contemptuous. “To someone like you. He’s delusional. As if I could ever care about a gold digger. Let me be crystal clear with you. I’ll never be reconciled with this marriage. I’m never going to care about you. I’ll perform when I have to, but never forget that while you chose this, I did not.”

I felt my temper flaring but didn’t respond. It was a hard thing to do, but if there was anything I needed to get used to in this arrangement it was holding my tongue.

Shut your mouth and cash the check, I told myself.

My husband seemed done with his tirade. We engaged in a minor stare down that was only halted when a heavy hand settled on both of our shoulders.

“You need some air,” my father-in-law’s voice spoke from behind and above. “A stroll through the garden will help. Son, take your bride for a walk.”

We both rose like puppets on strings.

“Of course, Father,” Calder said tersely.

He took my arm and led me out of the room. “Meanwhile a photographer will follow behind to capture candids of us,” he muttered, but only after we’d left his father’s earshot.

I glanced at him. His father’s words had been an order, of course, not a suggestion, and I wondered what was going through his head. I’d done nothing but learn his habits and preferences for the last six months, but I wondered what leverage his father had over him, and how it could have led to him saying yes to a marriage that so clearly disagreed with him. It struck me just then that I really was married to an absolute stranger.

It was beautiful out, the night lit with stars. I made myself look past my nerve-wracking day and take in the sight.