One Bride for Five Mountain Men

As she reached out to unlock the door to the living room, she realized that it was Lizzy whose voice now echoed through the house. Arsen was sitting at the same place as the night before, and was patiently listening to Lizzy, whose eyes gleamed with excitement as she spotted the owner of the house.

“Oh my God! Can you believe it, Rory?” Lizzy exclaimed. Arsen turned his head slowly and what Rory thought was a hint of a smirk came upon his face. So damn arrogant.

“Lizzy… when did you get in?” Rory inquired calmly, trying not to catch the dark eyes that sat below Arsen’s angular eyebrows. She cursed to herself. Should’ve put on something more than a robe.

“Like, an hour ago. Oh my God, Rory why didn’t you tell me that Arsen Ford was here?” Lizzy was wide-eyed with disbelief.

“Arsen who? What the hell are you talking about, Lizzy?” Without her morning cup of coffee, Rory’s brain was still half asleep and her mood cranky.

“When I walked in this morning the shop was shut, so I came in from the back entrance and oh my God! Arsen Ford was sitting right here. Oh my God, I still can’t believe it!” Lizzy was way too excited to listen to anything but the sound of her own voice.

Arsen? So this person is someone called Arsen Ford. If Lizzy is so excited then he must be someone famous. Maybe one of those stupid reality-TV stars, Rory thought. The smell of cigarette smoke filled the room and Arsen was flicking ash into a teacup. Her teacup. Rory’s temper rose.

“What the hell are you doing?!” she shouted at him. What kind of person starts smoking indoors without asking permission from the owner of the house first?

“Me? Nothing,” he replied with a dismissive glance.

“You can’t smoke in here!” Rory’s face tightened.

“Yeah, but couldn’t you make an exception for him, Rory? This is Arsen Ford!” Lizzy pleaded his case.

“No! Please put that out and thanks heaps for ruining my teacup, by the way.” Rory frowned.

He took a long pause before replying nonchalantly. “Oh. I didn’t realize…”

Of course, you didn’t, thought Rory. The rich celebrity thinks he can do whatever he wants. The world is his oyster. Who the hell is he, anyway?

Arsen stubbed out his cigarette in the cup and with a smirk on his face, held it out for her to take. Rory straightened, drew to her full height and crossed her arms. She hoped that he wouldn’t miss the anger on her face.

“Here, I’ll take this and clean it later.” Lizzy quickly intervened and slid the cup from the table. Once Rory’s eyes went to the table she saw that Arsen had stuck all of his belongings there. The wallet, the thousand dollars he promised her, a bunch of rings, his dead cell phone, and a bag of what looked like marijuana.

“What the hell is in that bag?” Rory sneered.

“This bag? Just some... herbs.” Arsen snorted. This time, she had no doubt that there was an intentional smirk plastered on his face. Rory rushed forward and grabbed the little plastic bag.

“First you smoke in my house and then I find drugs? In my own house!” Arsen slumped in his seat and shrugged, utterly unaffected by her outburst.

“But Rory…” Lizzy started.

“Stay out of it, Lizzy.” Rory shut her up with one look. “I am going to dump this bag in the garbage. No drugs in my house.” She opened the bag and was about to dump it in the wicker wastebasket when Arsen spoke up, still calm as a cucumber.

“Don’t do that. That is very…rare stuff.” He crossed his arms. “Look, I’ll be out of your hair in a bit and you won’t have to deal with all this anymore. Just give me back the bag and I promise I won’t smoke or do anything else to piss you off. At least I’ll try…” The last line he said quietly to Lizzy with a chuckle, who quickly suppressed her laughter.

Rory couldn’t decide if he was asking, or telling. The man was arrogant though. He had not even said as much as a thank you for all that she had done for him so far, neither had he been humble or shown any other signs of gratitude.

She decided that she didn’t even want the money he was offering to fix the wall. Rory just wanted this Arsen Ford to leave her house and her life for good.

“That’s it. You gotta go. I have put up with you for too long,” Rory said with a downturned mouth that exhibited her contempt for him.

“But Aurora?” Lizzy pleaded. She only called her Aurora when she wanted a favor, but another angry look from Rory shut her up.

“All right. If that’s what you want.” Arsen got up from the couch but grimaced and his leg wobbled. Clearly, his ankle was still not better. He sat back on the couch and massaged his ankle, his lips thinning to hide a pained expression. Unwilling to waver from her stance, Rory said nothing till Arsen spoke up.

“Look… Rory…” Arsen said, as if trying to remember her name. “I’ve already called my manager this morning. He’s going to be here in no time at all and then I will be out of here for good. Till then can I sit here and wait for him?”

Rory didn’t like the entitled tone, but she felt she had no choice but to let him wait. She was too kind of a person to throw out an injured man. Besides, the house was big enough for her to stay out of his way.

“He’s your responsibility till he goes.” She turned to Lizzy with a pinched look.