JUST ONE LOOK
“The only way to have a friend is to be one.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson
JUST ONE LOOK
I was bought and paid for but nothing is as it seems. My prison is a mansion filled with luxuries I’ve never seen.
That’s nothing compared to the master of the estate. Especially now that he’s my husband. He’s made it clear he’ll never let me go. Til death do us part.
But Roman is nothing like the beast everyone claims he is. In fact, underneath all his gruffness, there is another side to my husband. A side I could love.
Each night he holds me close making me want so much more. Can he turn this marriage into the real thing, into the true love I’ve always dreamed of? Or will I lose the only thing that still belongs to me, my heart.
1
ROMAN
I stare down at the picture that I’m holding in my hand. The sides are worn with creases. It looks like I’ve had it for years and not only a week. The object of my obsession came into my life at the perfect time. So many things are falling into place when I need it most.
“Are you really going to do this?” I pull my attention away from the picture to look at George. He’s been at Rose Point Manor longer than I have, and it’s my family home.
“Do you have another plan?” I open my desk drawer, tucking the photo away for safekeeping.
“Hire a nanny?” That has been the plan all along, but plans change.
“She’s worked at a daycare for years, so she’ll be a perfect fit.”
“Then why didn't you just offer her a job?” Because I’m a greedy man that always gets what I want. She is no exception. I couldn’t take the chance of her refusing me, so I did what I had to. George huffs an annoyed breath. “I know you can be obsessive about things but never a person.” He’s right. I’ve never been that way with anyone else, but she’s changed that.
“She’s different.” One look at her picture and I was done for. I knew I had to have her. Her long dark hair was tied into a braid with a pink ribbon on the bottom making her look every bit as innocent.
Her cheeks were rosy, her lips were puffy and begging for my attention. Her nose was a bit upturned, reminding me of a tiny fairy. But what had really gripped me were her eyes. They had a violet hue to them, a color I’d never seen before. I didn't even know such a color existed. I also don’t know how this angel came from a man like John Hawthorne.
I should be thankful to him. It was his fuckup that has gotten me my beauty. That’s if she agrees. I think she will, and if she doesn’t, I’ll have to come up with another plan to make her mine.
“She’s going to hate you.” A sharp pain pierces my chest at the thought, but I ignore it, knowing I have to take the risk. There is no way I can go on knowing she exists in this world and she doesn’t belong to me.
“She’ll be my wife.” I shrug because that’s a fact. My dick goes painfully hard thinking about my ring on her finger. Does it matter if she likes me? Of course, I would prefer that but either way she’ll be mine.
“What are you going to do about Hawthorne?” Her deadbeat father won’t be a problem. He’s handed her over to me on a silver platter. He’d gotten away with embezzling over half a million dollars from my investment company, but no one truly gets away with stealing from me.