Page 46 of Corrupted Bride

And instead, I blinked once, only to find morning sunlight streaming through the windows and the other side of the bed empty and cold.

I don’t move for a while. I stare at the ceiling and try to come to grips with my new reality. Last night feels like a blur: the ceremony, the reception, wandering around on Bass’s arm and struggling to keep a smile on my exhausted face, and the bizarre negotiation afterward. His body as he took off his shirt, the tattoos snaking through the beautiful muscles, and how hard he got catching a glimpse of my breasts…

It’s exciting, being wanted like that, but dangerous too.

Five years. Then I can have everything I want.

I climb out of bed and explore the room now that I’m alone. The closet is huge and filled with clothes I don’t recognize, but they’re all on my side. I’d bet a limb Lia helped out with this, and I’m not even upset about it. Dresses, jeans, tank tops, even a cute set of glittery cowboy boots that I’ll never wear.

And tucked on top of a small safe in the back corner is the envelope of cash he gave me.

I could take that and stroll out of here. I poke my head into the hallway and don’t see any guards. There’s nothing stopping me.

But the dull ache I’ve been feeling in my heart for the past few years is strangely faded.

Not totally gone—but softer and nowhere near as urgent.

For once in my life, I don’t need to worry about how I’ll get away.

Only that I’ll survive until it’s time to start my life for real.

I decide I might as well embrace ranch life. I shower and wander downstairs in search of coffee. I’m thinking a leisurely morning on the balcony watching the cattle in the distance⁠—

“Hey, there you are! I’ve been looking all over for you!” Lia appears around the corner wearing a pair of wide-legged jeans and a button-down flannel, her hair tucked under a bandana.

“You look like a farmer’s daughter.”

“Girl, I’m studying economics at UT.” She puts her hands on her hips and grins. “And I’m also a ranch girl. Speaking of which, we have some chores to do.”

“What now?”

“You’d better get changed.” She spins me around and shoves me back into the master suite.

“Hold on, I don’t even know⁠—”

But Lia steamrolls me before I can complain. She pulls out an outfit similar to her own and thrusts it at me as she talks about what it takes to run the ranch, from mucking stalls to feeding the livestock. When I’m decent, Lia drags me out back, pausing only to dump coffee into a big to-go mug, which is the only nice thing she’s done all morning so far.

“We’ll start cute and easy, don’t worry,” she says, patting my back and acting like she’s enjoying this.

“With a nice, leisurely stroll around the property while we get to know each other?” I ask hopefully.

“Nope!”

Ten minutes later, I’m bottle feeding a baby calf, and god help me, the stinking animal really is adorable. Its big eyes gaze at me as it drinks, innocent and trusting, and I’m only partially annoyed when it headbutts me in the face by accident and gets milk all over the place while Lia howls with laughter, her own calf ramming into her side and trying to get back to the bottle.

“It’s not so bad, right?” Lia says a half hour later as we’re collecting eggs from the hen house. “I mean, I know you didn’t choose to come here, but—” She holds up big, brown ones, each a slightly different shade. “It’s cool, right?”

“I know what you’re doing.”

“I’m not really being very subtle.”

“Look, it’s beautiful here, okay? I can’t pretend like it’s not.”

“But?” She arches her eyebrows.

“But… you’re going back to school soon, right? And when you do, I’ll still be here, because this is my life now.” I hold up a hand to stop her from arguing. “I appreciate you being nice and trying to show me around, I really do. And you’re right, the ranch is beautiful. I’m trying to get used to it still, that’s all.”

Lia nods slowly. She wanders over to a hutch beside the coop and fills a bucket with feed. Then comes back and shoves it in my hands. “Okay, I think that’s about the best I’m going to get this morning, huh.”