Page 34 of Ice Cold Christmas

She was far too conscious of each hard beat of her heart. “You seem to know my body pretty well.”

“I like to think of myself as an expert.”

Right. “Because we were lovers.” Clearly. No denying the obvious there. He seemed to have every inch of her body memorized which was kinda scary. “Okay, so you know my body.” And since he knew her body so well. “You saw things that prove I’m Melody?—”

He rose before her. Towered over her. “We were far more than just lovers. You and I weren’t some sort of casual hookup. You weren’t having hate-sex with me for fun because I was taking over your father’s company.”

His expression had changed. Gone predatory. And…

Calculating.

“What were we?” Melody asked, voice soft, even as she heard footsteps coming toward them.

“You were going to marry me.”

No, impossible.

“You are my fiancée, Melody. And believe me when I say, I always will protect and avenge what is mine.”

Chapter Nine

He’d scared her.

He probably could have handled the scene in the kitchen differently. No need to just straight up drop the bombshell that she was his fiancée. Or, you know what?

Screw it. There was every single freaking need. She’d been shot at by some bastard in the darkness. Victor had just gotten her back, and someone had already wanted to take Melody away from him again. Not happening. When they left the mansion—and they would be leaving ASAP, he’d already made arrangements to get her the hell out of there—she would be staying with him. Staying as in living in his house. Staying under his careful watch. Staying alive while he tried to figure out who the hell had taken her from him and why someone was still trying to kill her.

“I don’t want a DNA test.” Sebastian sat in his chair in the den. The lights of the Christmas tree gleamed beside him. His gaze was on the fire, not Victor.

“Pretty sure that’s gonna be necessary. Dario is already chomping at the bit for the test. And with the team of lawyers at Mage Industries—hell, you know that you can’t just accept her with no questions asked.” Victor remained standing, his body tense. He didn’t want to be in that room. He wanted to be with Melody.

She had gone back upstairs, supposedly to rest.

But the truth was that she’d practically run up those stairs after he dropped his engagement bombshell.

Yes, he really had more explaining to do.

Except he’d been summoned to the den for a meeting with Sebastian. Sebastian’s nurse had been the one to get him. Tracy Ryder had knocked on the kitchen door even as Melody had gaped up at him with a mixture of disbelief and shock on her face.

Clearly, Melody had a hard time believing she’d ever wanted to marry him.

Right, sweetheart, sometimes, I can’t believe you said yes, too. But she’d taken his ring. She’d said she loved him. The life he wanted had been right there, within his grasp.

Then some sonofabitch had snatched that life away. Had snatched Melody away.

You will pay.

The nurse’s interruption had given Melody time to flee, and Victor had headed in to face off with Sebastian.

Tracy Ryder, private nurse. A nurse practitioner. Age thirty-eight. Divorced. She’d been a live-in caregiver for Sebastian since March. “He’s having another good day,” she’d informed Victor, with a curious glance toward Melody as they stood in the farmhouse-style kitchen, “and he’s asking to speak with you, Victor.” A delicate clearing of her throat. “Says it is urgent.”

Like there weren’t plenty of urgent issues facing them all.

So now Victor stood in the den, when he wanted to be upstairs. No, correction, he wanted to be a million miles away from that place. Curled up with Melody. Holding her tight. Telling the rest of the world to fuck off.

When you got a second chance, you did not screw it up. You fought like hell for it.

Sebastian huffed and shifted uncomfortably in his leather chair. “A DNA test is a waste of time. Why can’t I just accept her? You have.”