Total pages in book: 48
Estimated words: 45614 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 228(@200wpm)___ 182(@250wpm)___ 152(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 45614 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 228(@200wpm)___ 182(@250wpm)___ 152(@300wpm)
“Or else what?”
In answer, his father swiped his hand across the desk, sending the contents flying over the room.
Mason wasn’t afraid. He hadn’t been afraid of his father in a long time. Maybe as a boy, his show of anger would have triggered something. Not now.
“The original terms of the marriage are still in effect. If you don’t have a child within three years, Tamsin can demand a divorce.”
Okay, Mason wasn’t aware of that.
“What?”
“Maddox actually cared about his daughter. Getting him to agree to this arrangement wasn’t easy.”
Mason hadn’t been there for all the negotiations. He had known his father was up to something, but he hadn’t believed it was for a teenage Denton daughter. Yes, his father had a thirst for the power and respect the Denton name had. He knew Paul had also used it a great deal in the past two years. The Denton name and association opened quite a few doors and helped link them to some powerful people.
Even Mason was quite surprised by how easy some things had come to them, now that he was married to Tamsin. He had even gotten used to wearing his wedding band, which helped remind people who he was married to.
“What do you mean?” Mason asked.
Paul smirked.
This was a power play.
“Tell me, Mason, what do you know about the Dentons, apart from them being powerful?”
He didn’t like to play guessing games. There was no rushing his father, though.
“What if I were to tell you about a certain legacy?” Paul asked.
Mason frowned. “You mean the supposed curse?”
“Or gift, whichever way you look at it.”
“Only what rumors suggest. The men, when they see the woman destined to be theirs, they become obsessed, and will do whatever it takes to make her his.”
Mason didn’t like that. It sounded a little too close to home with how he was feeling. He wasn’t a Denton. His father, being the controlling asshole he was, had gotten them all checked to make sure they were his sons. There was no doubt in his mind he was a Savonas. He’d seen the paperwork.
“What about the daughters?” Mason asked.
“That’s not even the most interesting part—did you know the women don’t feel the same way?” Paul tutted. “The men have to make them fall in love with them.”
“And the daughters?”
“Maddox told me the daughters don’t feel it, but you know, I have a feeling that fucker was lying to me. He has sisters that were married, and I think they still are married, but if you don’t get Tamsin pregnant soon, if that little legacy of theirs is true, then it will only be a matter of time before she finds another man.”
Chapter Three
Tamsin flicked the page of the book and then took a bite of her apple. She was so tired from helping David work all morning. She’d been helping him prune roses, and they had also been hunter-gathering all the fresh tomatoes for the kitchen. She loved every second of it.
At two, David had to leave for something personal. She tried not to get too involved, but it was just a doctor’s appointment for a checkup. He referred to it as his yearly checkup, like getting a car serviced. She did adore him and the colorful way he described everything. Being an older man came with problems, he said, and he wouldn’t bore her with the details.
Dropping the book as it got to a particular sexy part, she glanced over the garden. The sun was slowly setting, and she closed her eyes, trying not to think of her and Mason in the parts of the book. She was not attracted to her husband, at least that’s what she kept telling herself, to no avail.
It was insane. She hated Mason. He had stolen her from a life she had loved, to this—to boredom.
That is a lie. You’re rarely bored.
She didn’t want to think of the good parts right now. For two years she had tried to keep her distance, but there were moments like the other day, where she felt drawn to him and wanted to pretend their past was different. She had no doubt in her mind he was the enemy, but even that argument was getting weak. He didn’t feel like an enemy.
Tamsin took a deep breath, and in that moment she missed Landon. He’d find the right words to help settle her troubled thoughts, and also put her back on the right path. The path that made sense to her. None of this made sense to her.
Staring down at the book, the man had just stripped the woman naked and admired her full, ripe body. In the books, men could love a woman’s fuller figure, with the lumps and bumps. The way he cupped her tits, pulling her breasts together. Tamsin wandered in her imagination to thinking about Mason.