Paper Marriage Proposition (Gage Brothers 1)

Someone the “love of his life” had chosen over him.

Hector had never recovered from that blow.

“I’ve never seen someone hate as powerfully as he hates you,” she admitted, and a wave of embarrassment washed over her.

She should’ve done something before. Sooner. She should’ve run with her son the moment he was born.

Hector had married Beth, and for a time she’d believed he cared. But in mere months she’d realized the truth. She’d been the means to make another woman jealous. Hector had been crazy about Landon’s wife, feverishly wanting what he couldn’t have and loathing the man who had ruined his chances with her. Chrystine would’ve married him if Landon hadn’t been the better man. And Beth had never seen a man so hell-bent on ruining someone for being honest, richer, better, like Hector had.

“He was in love with my wife,” Landon said noncommittally as he crossed his arms, a neutral expression on his face.

“I’d say more like obsessed. He didn’t seduce her out of love, Landon. He seduced her to humiliate you.”

“You’re right, Beth.”

The words, steely and loaded with the promise of vengeance, whirled like a storm inside the room.

Beth felt it inside her, like one would feel a death wish, fury, hunger.

She had never understood this hatred of Hector’s—until now that it ate at her, demanded some sort of retribution, that she take a hand at justice once and for all.

Hector had lied about her. He’d taken David!

He’d turned her into a sick person who only thought of revenge. She’d never been this vicious but the thought of hurting her ex-husband held so much appeal she felt flutters of evil, cruel excitement at the mere prospect. At night, her fantasies weren’t girlish or even romantic anymore. At night, she felt so angry, so frustrated, she imagined how good she’d feel once she’d clawed the bastard’s eyes out.

Did Landon feel this, too?

Would he stop at nothing, like her, until they’d ended up the winners?

Her pulse hitched when he pushed his chair back and rose with the ease of a wild cat. A large, stealthy wild cat who’d insisted that if she wanted to sleep with someone, she’d sleep with him.

“You’re certain you’re up for tonight?” he asked. “The press can be exhausting and so can my mother.”

She wrinkled her nose. It was a miracle a powerful creature like Landon had even had a mother. That he’d been vulnerable once. And oh, yes, she’d been born for tonight, she was more than ready for it. “Believe me, so can mine be.”

His brows flew up in genuine interest. “What did you tell yours?”

“That I finally found a white knight.” When he didn’t smile at her stupid joke, Beth sobered up and hugged the pillow tighter. “I told her I was marrying a man who would help me get David back. She was ecstatic. And you? Your mother?”

“I mentioned she should prepare to welcome my new wife. She was stunned speechless after my announcement, which is unusual for my mother.”

“But she knows this is temporary?”

He didn’t seem in the least bit concerned, and gave a nonchalant lift of his shoulders. “I didn’t go into details, but she’ll know where I’m coming from when she realizes who you are.”

“Were,” she corrected, watching him head for the door. “I’m reinventing myself now.”

His interest clearly piqued, he turned around and crossed his arms over his broad chest, stretching the material of his shirt. “Who do you want to be now?”

“Me. Bethany. Whoever I was before Hector Halifax put his filthy hands on me.”

For the first time in many many years, she felt hopeful, and as she drank in the brooding dark image of Landon, she wondered if he even realized this gift he gave her without meaning to.

She could smell him in the room, cologne and soap, and the scent was oddly reassuring. A surge of warmth, divine and wicked, began to pump in her bloodstream. His neck was tanned and thick, and his hands were wide, large, the fingers long and blunt. She had always been fascinated by men’s hands, and his were so very virile.

“Have I said thank you?” she asked, her voice strangely thick.

He was silent for a moment, then, his voice equally terse, “Wait until you get your kid back.”