That statement was so shocking that she turned to gape at him. “You can’t honestly think I’m going to marry you?”
He switched lanes in his Ferrari, weaving through traffic on the rainy, slippery highway. “I know this whole experience has been very upsetting for you, petal, forced to endure the captivity of that depraved beast…”
Depraved beast? She had a sudden memory of Xerxes’s haunted expression as Lars had driven by him in the Ferrari, with Rose beside him. Her eyes had met Xerxes’s in the endless gray rain. Then Lars had stomped on the gas pedal, and they’d left him behind.
Xerxes was lost to her now. Forever.
“But we must put that all unpleasantness behind us now,” Lars finished firmly.
With an intake of breath, she whirled back to face him.
“What was unpleasant,” she said coldly, “was the way you lured me into a fake wedding to try to get me into bed, while you were waiting for your real wife to die so you could steal her money.”
Silence fell in the Ferrari.
“I did that because I loved you. I needed money for you. To make you happy,” Lars said in a determinedly cheerful voice. “But petal, we must move on now with our lives.” He gave her a toothy grin. “Marry me tonight. Let me start making it up to you.”
She had a sudden memory of raspberries in champagne, bubble bath, inscrutable dark eyes filled with tenderness and fire.
“What are you doing?”
“Making it up to you,” Xerxes had said.
Catching herself, she looked at the blond baron beside her. Lars clearly believed that with almost no effort, he could make her swoon back into his arms. How was it possible she’d ever been so blind as to believe herself in love with such a man?
“We’re not getting married,” she told him evenly. “Not tonight. Not ever.”
“But I did it all out of love for you,” he pleaded. “I divorced Laetitia, gave up her fortune. All I have now is this car and a castle that requires a fortune just to maintain. I gave up everything—for you!”
Her eyes narrowed. “And you think that makes me obligated to marry you? Because you allowed Xerxes to get her some decent medical care, when you were waiting eagerly for her to die of your neglect?”
He reached one hand from the steering wheel and tried to take her hand. “You’re just angry,” he pleaded. “After our wedding…”
“What will it take for you to ever actually listen to me?” she shouted. “I am not going to marry you. Ever! Pull off the highway. I’ll take a taxi home!”
He withdrew his hand. His face was grim as he pulled off the highway. But instead of stopping, he turned the car around to drive the opposite direction on the highway, now heading to the east.
“Do you really think I’ll let you go?” he said in a low voice. “I gave up Laetitia’s fortune. You owe me yours.”
“My fortune!” Rose choked out a laugh. “You mean the fifty dollars in my bank account? You can have it!”
“I mean the money Novros gave you,” he said coldly. “Millions of dollars and that old factory in the bargain.” He switched gears to go faster on the highway. “Once the building is demolished, the land might fetch a good price,” he mused. “Perhaps for a gated community of vacation homes.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Funny, isn’t it? Novros called me last night. He’d always said he’d never give me a penny. But this time, he offered instead to give money to you. What happens next is up to Rose, he said.” He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. “Oh, did Novros not tell you? He’s just made you a very rich woman.”
Rose suddenly thought of the envelope he’d given her, still clenched in her hand. Her hands trembled as she started to open the envelope.
Lars ripped it out of her hands and tossed it out his window.
“Why did you do that?” she gasped.
“You don’t need it.”
“What?”
“Forget him, Rose.”