Her Collateral Bride: A Lesbian Age Gap Romance

into an almost sick sort of dread that made her stomach lurch.

She didn’t just want to hit Robert where it hurt financially. She

didn’t just want to take from him the very thing he’d once

taken from her. No, it was so much more than that. He hadn’t

just taken the tangible from her. He’d once been like a brother.

The person she trusted more than anyone. He’d broken that.

Broken her heart. She wanted to break his.

With a string of women who could never be called

girlfriends, and very few close friends because Robert was, at

best, a self-centered pig, Claire had few options on how to get

to his heart. Lucky for her, Robert had something he valued

above anything else. Something he’d give his life to protect.

There had been one woman in a string of never-ending women

who meant nothing. She probably meant nothing too, but what

she’d given Robert meant something. What she’d given him

was his whole world. That woman had done Claire an

immense favor.

Robert had a daughter. He’d had her young, when he was

seventeen. His parents, who were actually good people, had

stepped up and raised her while he finished high school and

went to cooking school. Claire hadn’t even known about

Haley until they’d opened the restaurant together and Robert’s

parents had brought her in, a sweet little thing, tiny for her age.

Since Robert’s parents were mostly responsible for her care

until she was much older, Haley had turned out even sweeter

over the years. By all accounts, she was polite and kind. It was

hard to believe she was twenty-one now. Claire hadn’t seen

Haley in person since she was ten. She was a child then. She

wasn’t a child now.

Claire wasn’t a naturally intimidating person by physical