Four

Chapter Four

Tam

FUCKING FAMILY LOYALTY.

I scowled at my reflection in the hallway mirror of my five-bedroom Greenwich home. I didn’t want some girl living here. This was my house, and I wanted to keep it that way. The only reason I was doing this was to make it appear to my father and remaining brother that I was just as much a part of this family as Harvey had been. If Hallie happened to decide she was unable to marry me, well, that would be on her, not me. I could put my hands up and say I’d done everything I could to secure this union and she was the one who’d bailed.

No matter what I wanted, it was now late afternoon and Hallie Wynters would be here soon.

I knocked back a shot of whiskey and clenched my fists. I couldn’t believe I’d ever fucking agreed to this. I’d just lost my younger brother and now I was having to bring the woman who should have been his wife into my home.

This was her fault, at least in part. If Harvey hadn’t been standing at the front of the church, if everyone hadn’t been distracted by watching her in that ridiculous dress, they’d have realised something was wrong.

I should have realised something was wrong. Had I been distracted by her, too? I remembered us locking eyes as she’d entered the church. I would never have admitted it out loud, but the sight of her walking down the aisle wearing a simple, curve-fitting dress and her red hair pinned up, so it exposed her long, elegant neck, had taken my breath away. She’d certainly been a sight to behold, but that didn’t mean I wanted to marry her.

Even the word ‘marriage’ turned my stomach. I didn’t want some little wife, and if she thought I was going to be faithful to her, she was going to be sorely disappointed. One pussy for the rest of my life? No fucking chance.

Dipping my cock into the same cunt for even a month was too long for me.

At least she was pretty. More than pretty—she was striking, with that red hair, pale skin, and blue-green eyes. A little turned-up nose with freckles

across it, and full lips that would look perfect wrapped around my cock. I started to get hard at the thought.

But she’d end up running home to her daddy, I intended to make sure of it. I’d keep her here long enough to make my own father realise that we didn’t need this union, and then she could go home crying about what a beast I was, and I wouldn’t have to go through with this ridiculous marriage.

Had Harvey fucked her already? I wished I’d asked him now, but it hadn’t interested me enough at the time. Not that I was bothered about it if he had, but I would have liked to have got some details from him, find out what her limits were, just so I could break them.

The buzzer went, and I let out a growl. Fuck, they were here already. I pressed the button to open the gates, and they slowly swung inwards, the large black Range Rover on the other side creeping through as they did.

The rear door opened, and Marlon Wynter climbed out. Interesting. He hadn’t left one of his drivers to bring his precious daughter here alone, then. He’d wanted to do it himself. Was that because he’d wanted to check me out first or the house that was now to become his daughter’s home? Or did he not trust his daughter to make it here unless he delivered her here himself.

Perhaps he’d thought she might bribe the driver and make a run for it at the last minute?

I opened my front door and approached the car.

“Mr Wynter.” I extended my hand for Marlon Wynter to shake. “Welcome to my home.”

“Thank you, Tam. Can I first just say how devastated we all are over the loss of Harvey. It should never have happened.”

My jaw tightened. “No, it shouldn’t have.”

And it wouldn’t have happened if he hadn’t been in the fucking church that day.

“I’m sure you’re anxious to meet Hallie properly.”

No matter what I thought of this marriage, I had a begrudging respect for Marlon Wynter. The man ran a tight ship, and even though our families had clashed on many occasions, he’d never resorted to anything underhand.

Hallie Wynter unfolded herself from the Range Rover. My tongue flicked across my lower lip as I regarded her. Impossibly long legs covered in tight- fitting light-blue jeans emerged from the car, and then she straightened. Her red curls were loose today, falling down her back, and the scoop-neck black top exposed a good amount of cleavage. Silently, I approved. Small waist,

decent sized tits, and a face that looked like it should belong on an angel. Maybe I could have fun with this.

She lifted her gaze to mine but didn’t smile. Was that a bruise across her left cheekbone? She’d tried to hide it with makeup but hadn’t succeeded. Had she sustained that the day my brother had died, or was it more recent?

Something made me hesitate. Was she thinner than she’d been a week ago? Was such a thing even possible? Dark smudges of tiredness beneath her eyes had also been poorly hidden beneath the makeup. The clothes and attitude shouted ‘confident young woman’, but underneath it all seeped the air of someone who wanted to climb under the bedcovers and pretend the rest of the world didn’t exist.

I plastered a smile across my face, though it felt ridiculously fake. The smile was for her father’s benefit, not hers. She’d discover soon enough that I wasn’t one for much smiling.

“Welcome to my home, Hallie. Well, I suppose it’ll be our home soon.” She gave me a nervous smile in return. “Umm...right.”

The driver went to the back of the vehicle and opened the boot to retrieve Hallie’s bags.

“Where should I take these?” he asked.

I motioned to the house. “Just leave them at the bottom of the stairs. I’ll carry them up later.”

He nodded and went to do as he’d been instructed.

“Why don’t you both come in,” I invited. “I’ll get us all something to drink.”

But Marlon put up his hand. “No need. I ought to get going. I’ve got work I need to get on with. I just wanted to make sure my daughter got here in one piece.”

He hadn’t trusted her not to run. Interesting to know that she seemed to be as against this marriage as I was. I wondered if that was something I could use. I didn’t think it would be too hard to send her crawling home to daddy if she didn’t even want to be here in the first place. Why was she here then? I assumed it was down to family loyalty. Neither of us wanted to be the person who let their side down.

Marlon leaned in and said something in her ear and then kissed her cheek. “I hope the two of you are very happy together,” he said. “I expect to have another wedding to go to in one month’s time.”

One where the groom isn’t murdered, I wanted to add but didn’t.

He stepped away and then shook my hand again. “I’ll leave her in your good care.”

“Don’t worry, Mr Wynter,” I said. “I’ll watch out for her.”

Marlon gave his daughter one final, tight smile before heading back to the car. The driver returned, his hands free of bags, and opened the back door for Hallie’s father. Hallie stood, frozen to the spot, watching as her father climbed back in. A moment later, the doors slammed shut and the large black vehicle did a three-point turn at speed and drove out through the gates.

I didn’t say another word to Hallie but turned and walked back up towards the house.

“Come inside,” I called back to the girl without bothering to check what she was doing.

Feet crunched on the gravel behind me. I stepped through the front doors and hit the buzzer to close the front gates again. Hallie’s bags were at the bottom of the stairs, where I’d told the driver to leave them. Hallie went and stood next to them like they were some kind of security blanket.

Her gaze flitted around the large entrance hall, taking in the high ceilings, wooden floor and curved staircase. Hallie was a Cornell and was no stranger to wealth. I highly doubted my house, worth seven figures, impressed her at all. Not that I needed to impress her.

“I’m sorry about what happened to Harvey,” she said. I stiffened in response. “So you should be.”

“What happened wasn’t my fault.”

“He wouldn’t have been in the church that day if it wasn’t for you.”

She snapped her head up, and anger darkened those blue-green eyes to a stormy grey. “It was for both our families. Don’t you dare put what happened on my shoulders. I’m only here because of family, but I intend to make this work.”

“You’re going to beg to go back to your father’s house sooner or later,” I told her. “I doubt you’ll even last the week.”

“I have to last. I don’t have any choice.” “There’s always a choice, sweetheart.”

“No there isn’t, not when my father makes up his mind about something.” I licked my lower lip and dropped my gaze to the front of her body,

lingering on her tits. “We’ll have to see about that, won’t we?”

Clearly self-conscious, she wrapped her arms around her chest, and I smirked. If me looking was all it took to embarrass her, she was going to get

one hell of a shock.

But she lifted her chin. “You’re wrong. Family means everything to me, and if you’re going to be my family, too, that also applies to you.”

I shook my head at her. “You’ve got your head in the clouds, little girl.

You and I aren’t family. We never will be.”

Her eyes narrowed. “I’m twenty-one. I’m not a little girl.” “I guess I’ll find that out soon enough, won’t I?”

Her cheeks coloured prettily, her gaze slipping from mine once more.

Maybe I was going to enjoy this after all.