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“What is it?” She eyed him hesitantly. “You’re scaring me.”
“Skylar overheard me talking to Adelia earlier.”
Her face remained straight, waiting for him to elaborate.
“She knows.”
Her lips parted. “She knows? About us? Our marriage?”
“Yes.”
Her hands clasped together tightly as she stared at the floor for long silent moments. “So, what do we do?”
“Adelia’s talking to her now. I don’t know what we can do other than ask her to keep our secret.”
“What if she refuses? What if she tells the rest of your family? Then this was all for nothing.”
“Not all for nothing.” His eyes locked with hers.
“What happens then? Will I lose the rest of the funding for my expansion? Because it’s not my fault you opened your big mouth and she heard.”
Disappointment settled over him. “That’s all you care about? The money?”
Her head fell forward in defeat. “Not all I care about. But it’s a huge part of this for me.” She looked at him again. “And what about you? If they know, then there’s no point to this anymore. Right?”
“I guess not.” His stomach clenched at the thought of being apart from her, and he reached over and took her hand in his, winding his fingers through hers. “Let’s not freak out before we have a chance to talk to her. We can go to her together, plead our case.”
Merritt looked worried, and all he wanted was to comfort her. He let go of her hand and gently rubbed his hand up and down her back before pulling her into his side and pressing his lips to the top of her head.
“We’ll be fine. I think she’ll agree.”
“I don’t know. Your sister doesn’t seem like the kind of woman who plays games.” She paused. “We’ve gotten pretty close. She even told me—”
His brow furrowed, noticing the way she suddenly clammed up. “What were you going to say?”
“Nothing.”
“Tell me, Mer.”
She sighed. “She confided something in me.”
“She did?”
Merritt nodded. “Something she doesn’t want people to know.”
His mind went crazy with all kinds of scenarios. “Is she okay?”
“Yes, it’s not her health or anything.”
“What is it?”
“I’m not telling you.”
He narrowed his eyes at her. “It’s going to drive me crazy now, wondering.”
“Too bad.”
“But a second ago, you were considering telling me.”