Total pages in book: 127
Estimated words: 129951 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 650(@200wpm)___ 520(@250wpm)___ 433(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 129951 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 650(@200wpm)___ 520(@250wpm)___ 433(@300wpm)
“That would disallow both her and I to get creative.”
Since I’d been the recipient of some of his creativity, I got that.
“Why does settling matter?” I inquired.
“It was simply a pact we made so we could get beyond how mortifying it was for both of us when I walked in on her. However, from that experience, I believe we both learned our lesson.”
I should say.
Tempie was the shit.
But, yuck.
“It was a kneejerk reaction on her part,” he explained. “Tempie has her pride, and a certain reputation she cultivates. If she needed that distance, I wasn’t going to stop her.”
He’d do anything for his sisters, so that was no surprise either.
“But she would also need an excuse to let the flat go and come back,” he continued, “And our pact gave her that.”
“Ah.”
“Did you hear what I said earlier?”
I turned to him. “I heard it all, but which part are you referring to?”
“I’ll always live with my sisters, and they’ll always live with me.”
Their vow.
“It isn’t like you live in a two thousand square foot, three-bedroom, two-bath house, Battle,” I pointed out. “Either residence.”
“That doesn’t bother you?”
“Honey, I walked to the breakfast table all three of your sisters were sitting at after a sex-fest and with a visible love bite. If I can survive that, and do it making pancakes, I think I could handle…”
Oh shit.
“You can handle…what? Living with my sisters?” he prompted.
I did the whole tighten-reins/lightly-squeeze-legs bit, and Noelle stopped.
So did Battle and Oberon.
“Are you saying I’m a candidate?” I asked breathlessly.
“It troubles me you keep emphasizing that word, but I’m seeing you understand the importance of it, so I can confirm you absolutely are. Now, does that trouble you?”
Okay, he’d had to heft me up in that saddle, something he did with ease, but I wasn’t sure he’d be up to doing it again if I got off Noelle and did a dozen cartwheels in the sheep field.
So I focused on something else.
“You know…already, that I’m a candidate?”
“I would hardly walk you to the breakfast table with a love bite I gave you with all my sisters in attendance if you weren’t.”
“Chassie says you warn them about the ones who aren’t the ones.”
His mouth tightened but he loosened it enough to say, “Very much seeing the disadvantages of you being so close to my sisters.”
“Battle,” I called.
His gaze sharpened on me. “I would also hardly keep my sister’s best friend in my bed for thirty-six hours if I didn’t feel deep feelings for you, doing it understanding those feelings will only grow deeper.”
Why was I on a fucking horse?
And…
Would he beg off if he saw me do a dozen cartwheels in a sheep field?
“Oh my God,” I snapped. “Can we get off the horses so I can ride you in a field?”
A slow, very naughty grin formed on his lips. “Sheep shit in this field, darling.”
“Gross.”
“Indeed.” He clicked his tongue and kept going.
So I did too.
“So, these candidates will have to know it’s The Downs, Burleigh House, and the Talyn family forever, and be all the way down with that, correct?” I asked, just to be sure.
“Are you ever going to stop emphasizing the word ‘candidate?’”
“Does it bug you?”
“Yes.”
“Then, no.”
He grunted in annoyance.
It was fucking adorable.
“To answer your question, yes,” he said. “And they lose if they have an issue with it.”
“As in, they get kicked to the curb.”
“Absolutely.”
“I bet Chelsea wasn’t at one with sharing The Downs and Burleigh House,” I muttered.
“The girls were told she wasn’t the one before I even brought her here when I was seeing her.”
“I’ll bet.”
“Then again, I’d known her for years, so she’d been here before.”
“Right.”
“But yes, if it had ever gotten to that point, though it never would have, she would have been ousted because she’s an avaricious, privileged bitch who would want everything to herself, including me evicting my sisters.”
“She sure would,” I agreed.
“Hamish, however, is madly in love with Tempie. She doesn’t give anything away, but they’ve been together for over a year, and I know my sister. She wouldn’t invest that time if her heart wasn’t in it. And he’s an outdoorsman. He’d love The Downs.”
“Hamish?”
“Yes.”
“Please tell me he’s Scottish.”
“I don’t know if I’ve met a more Scottish Scotsman.”
I hoped I got to meet him.
And when I did, I hoped I understood him when he talked. A pronounced Scottish burr was practically indecipherable to me.
Though indecipherable, it was invariably hot.
“She’s going to lose him if she doesn’t quit fucking him about,” Battle stated. “He’s not a man who’d put up with that for long, even from a woman he loves. Maybe especially.”
Shit.
“Maybe, have a word with her?” I suggested.
He looked to me and raised his brows.
“Are you saying you want me to?” I bleated in panic.
That made two Talyns putting the lean on me to interfere in Tempie’s life.