Reborn to Dodge the Bad Marriage novel Chapter 9

Chapter 9 Terms Between Them

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The Sinclair house was not large, and a few minutes of walking brought them to a small greenhouse at the back of the property.

A handful of things grew inside it, but the roses had taken over, blooming in thick clusters that were genuinely worth the walk.

One of the staff set out lemonade and a plate of pastries, then left the two of them alone.

Nora gestured toward the chair across from her. “Sit down and have something to drink, Mr. Weston.”

Julian looked at her for a moment and sat anyway, then went straight at it. “My grandmother dragged me here. I’m not looking to marry anyone right now. Tell her yourself that we don’t suit each other. It’s better for both of us that way.”

If Mandy had been the bride, he would never have had to show his face at all. He could have brought her home and let her sit there like furniture.

But the moment Constance heard the Sinclairs had swapped in Nora, she insisted on coming herself, and she cried and carried on and swore it would be the death of her until he agreed to come along.

Nora lifted the pitcher and poured with an easy grace. “Have you got someone else in mind, Mr. Weston?”

If he wanted another woman and his family had blocked it, she would give up her comfortable springboard and step aside, because she had no interest in taking what belonged to someone else and no particular need for the Westons.

Julian answered flat and cold. “No.”

He had never wanted anyone. Every woman who had ever been put in front of him struck him as tedious.

Nora poured a glass for herself and set the pitcher down. “Neither do I. That works out well.”

Julian wanted no one, carried no torch for anyone, and did not have long left, and all three of those made him perfect for her.

Julian frowned. “I won’t ever want you either.”

Nora let out a low laugh. “That’s a long road ahead of you. Don’t say never, Mr. Weston. It has a way of coming back around.”

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Chapter 9 Terms Between Them

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Julian watched her hold the glass, her fingers loose around it and her nails a soft pink, and somehow the drink in it looked better than it had any right to.

Then he watched her bring it to her mouth and take a small sip, and her lips came away wet and full, and something in him wanted to know what that tasted like.

His own mouth went dry watching it, and his throat worked before he could stop it.

Julian frowned, picked up his own glass, and drank to clear it. “There’s no road ahead. You can lead a horse to water, Miss Sinclair. You can’t make it drink.”

Nora set her glass down, still smiling, and raised her eyes to his. “Oh, I’m not worried about the drinking. As long as what’s on offer is big enough and hard enough to satisfy, I’ll manage.”

Julian choked.

He had been mid-swallow when she said it, and the sheer nerve of the thing sent his drink straight down the wrong way.

The coughing put color into a face that had been drained and tired for years, and it only made him better to look at.

Nora pulled a napkin and handed it across, then explained. “I meant the Weston name. Big enough to matter, hard enough to last.”

Her mouth twisted, deadpan. “You could try keeping your mind out of the gutter, Mr. Weston. Nobody sent it there.”

Julian had never lost his composure like that in his life, and the anger arrived with his voice dropping cold. “You’re the one who phrased it that way. Anyone would have heard the same thing.”

Nora could not be bothered to argue and admitted the whole thing outright. “Fine. I don’t want the Weston name and I don’t want the Weston money. I want you for that face, Julian Weston, and for how big your assets are. Satisfied?”

She leaned on “that face and how big your assets are” hard enough that nobody could have taken it clean, and Julian understood exactly that he was being played with, which did nothing for his temper.

Something lethal came into his voice. “If you insist on marrying me, understand that I have no objection to being widowed.”

Nora sat back and stopped toying with him. “Let’s call it a business arrangement instead. We marry. After you’re gone I don’t remarry, and I keep the Weston family standing.”

The second those words landed, whatever had been lethal in him a moment ago sharpened

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Chapter 9 Terms Between Them

into something far worse.

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He stared at her the way people stare at something already in the ground. “How do you know?”

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