Page 22 of The Grump I Married
“Your hair.”
She touched the back of her head. “What’s wrong with it?”
“Nothing,” I assured her. It was pulled back, though not in the same way she usually wore it for work. There were a few loose, curling strands that hung down by her cheeks. She frowned at me, and I took a long sip of my coffee to mask the awkwardness that suddenly crept across the room. The sweetened coffee hit my tongue, and I groaned. “God, this is excellent brew. Thank you, again.”
“Just being a good wife,” she said, her lips pursing in a half grin.
But instead of laughing, the words startled me. It was so strange to think that I had a wife, business reasons or not. The closest I’d ever come was with Narissa, and what a disaster that had turned out to be.
At first, she’d seemed like an eminently sensible choice. She was beautiful, polished, well spoken, and knew how to movecomfortably among Houston’s highest society. More than that, she wasn’t looking for her happily ever after either. She understood that most relationships like ours tended to border more on a business arrangement than a messylove fest. It helped that I’d enjoyed her company, and I thought I knew her well enough that we would make a good team. So I’d popped the question, looking forward to a low-key, comfortable partnership in our married life.
Of course, that wasnotwhat I’d gotten. But hell, how was I to know that as soon as I put a ring on it, she’d start showing me her true colors? It had barely taken a month before the jealous fits, the screaming tantrums, and the round-the-clock diva behavior had me regretting I’d ever even spoken to her, much less proposed.
And then there were all the lies that came with her accusations. Her jealousies over any female who got within feet of me were unfounded and when pressed, she made up stories to match her outrage. She was the victim in every one of her crises even when the aggressor was nonexistent. Her lies and the resulting drama had me walking on eggshells, and I was second guessing everything I said or did around her. It got so bad, there were moments where I didn’t trust my own memory.
Ending the relationship had become priority number one…though maybe I should have been alittlemore delicate in how I went about it. If I’d been a little more careful with her feelings, maybe she wouldn’t have spent the five years since then on an unending campaign to ruin my life any way she could, one STI rumor at a time. But then again, any decision that didn’t involve Narissa getting exactly what she wanted—instead of what she deserved—was never going to go my way.
More proof, as if I needed it, that love always went toxic in the end. Not that I’d loved her, but she’d certainly claimed to love me. And she used her supposedly broken heart as justification for every wretched, twisted thing she did to me.
“How’d the walk around the estate go?” Lena asked.
Perfect, back to business. “Aside from the fact Callum thinks I can’t tell the top of a scythe from the bottom?”
“What the hell are you doing with a scythe?” she asked.
I rolled my eyes. “Attempting to help the man clear out the damn trail to the coast. I’d like to get the surveyors out here ASAP. That way we can still break ground on the wind farm before the end of the year. That was Grandad’s original goal, and I’d like to keep to that if I can.”
She winced. “Just please don’t hurt yourself. I don’t want to have to explainthatto the board.”
“Worried you’ll be blamed for trying to off your new husband now that there’s a castle on the line?” I joked.
She snorted. “If I really wanted to do away with you, I’d just poison your coffee.”
I held her gaze as I raised the mug to my lips again. Sipping slowly. Teasingly. I winked at her. “Maybe this was your plan all along.”
“Oh, yes,” Lena snarked, more of that pink flush flashing across her cheeks. I couldn’t tell if it was from exasperation or something else. “Definitely playing the long con here. But seriously, don’t go falling down some cliffside or getting yourself trampled by a herd of shaggy cows. I do not want to end up as the prime suspect in some inheritance scandal.”
“The coos are actually rather gentle.”
A bubble of laughter slipped from her throat. “The hell are coos?”
“The Highland cattle.”
“The big hairy things with the horns?”
I was unclear where the disconnect was. “Yes?”
“Okay,” she nodded. “Just had to make sure we were talking about the same thing. Your accent’s been a lot stronger since we arrived. Back in Houston, I barely even notice it most of the time. But here it’s dialed up to eleven.”
“Speaking of Houston, how’re things back at the office?”
She checked her phone. “Nothing urgent right now,” she said. “I have some meetings scheduled for today. Just waiting for the world to wake up back at home.”
I nodded.
“I was hoping to make use of Pete’s office, if that’s okay? Figured I could start sorting through some of his things. Maybe figure out what the hell planning this summer festival is going to entail.”
I sipped my coffee. “Have at it. I’m just warning you, the man wasn’t exactly orderly when it came to paperwork.”
