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“Rich, stop, please. Chelsea would never do that.”

He turned back with a grimace and fire in his eyes. “Okay. Let’s playthisscenario out. You marry Chelsea. Happy as can be for a few years, maybe she even graces our family with the next generation of Buchanans. Then things turn sour when the oxytocin and all the cuddly hormones wear off and you suddenly cannot stand the sight of her. You become a miserable fuck and want to leave, only you can’t. Why? Because you never got her to sign a dang paper, outlining she gets nothing. So she’ll takeeverythingwhen you split.”

“Fuck you.” I scraped my sweaty hair off my forehead with my palm. “I love her. And if she gives me children, all the better. God forbid I ever reach that point like you’re describing, but if I did, it’s only money.”

“You’d give away your fortune to her?” He stared at me, incredulous. Like him, I almost couldn’t believe I was saying it.

“All of it. She could have it, but I know she wouldn’t take it. It means nothing to her. And that right there is the fundamental difference between her and Janet.”

“Don’t say that name,” he seethed, rushing right up to my face. Boy, was I wrong. He’s definitely a little touchy about his ex still.

With my hands up, I backed away. “Calm down.”

“Test her.”

“What the fuck?”

“Give Chelsea a check for a few million and tell her shehas a choice. She could walk away with the money now or marry you,” he suggested.

“That’s sick. There’s no way I’d do that.” Then again, in a way, I sort of already tested her. When I proposed to her the first time, offering money and a marriage of convenience, complete with an enormous diamond ring. She turned me down flat, no hesitation.

After, for the first time in my life, I threw money—that ring—right off the roof after she ran away from me. Money couldn’t buy her then, which was why I doubted she was in this for money now.

His water bottle and towel crashed to the ground, and he sauntered away, pacing with his fingers laced behind his head. “I can’t do this. Take me out of the wedding.”

“What? Mom would have your head.”

“Then I’ll go away for a year. Somewhere she can’t find me.”

“Whoa. Miriam aside, what about me? You’re my brother, and you agreed to be my best man.” Although if his face and neck were going to be this beet red on my wedding day…

“Sorry, but I can’t,” he muttered, his tone of voice flat, holding no emotion whatsoever.

“Rich, I get how things sucked for you, and if I could turn back time and have figured some way to learn about J—your ex’s motives earlier on, I would have done anything to save you from the heartbreak. But dude, don’t break mine by not being there for me.”

“You have no idea how hard it is to see you all happy andshit, when I can’t even allow myself to go there yet with anyone.” A hint of his voice cracked, and I softened.

“Given time, maybe you will…but until then, I won’t apologize for my love and my life.” I took up his things with mine and handed them over to him. “We’re already down one Buchanan, since Dad’s not with us anymore. I need you there with me.”

That got to him, and his shoulders drooped. “Dammit. You dare play the Dad card?”

“Yes. Because you’re my big brother, and I want you by my side up at the altar as my best man. And what I want, I usually get.”

“Fucker. Don’t I know it?” He covered his face with the towel, wiping it down, and when he reemerged, a hint of a grin was there.

“I get how you can’t be happy yourself yet, but can you at least be happy for me that day? Then after, I’ll send you away anywhere in the world you want, on me. Deal?” I stuck out my hand between us.

“Fine. I’ll be there.” He shook it at first, then yanked me closer. “But get the prenup signed. If not for your benefit, then for mine.”

He left the court, and I gawked after him. At least now I believed he’d show up on my wedding day. As for the prenup, I was ready to bet on the love between Chelsea and me to last through the test of time—and maybe this would prove the biggest gamble of my life.

38

LITTLE STAR

REX

No sirens.No traffic or horns honking. No hum of electricity as is always present in New York City. Waking up in a bed-and-breakfast in Holly Creek appealed on a whole new level because of the silence. I could understand the attraction for small town living.