Total pages in book: 91
Estimated words: 87502 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 438(@200wpm)___ 350(@250wpm)___ 292(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 87502 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 438(@200wpm)___ 350(@250wpm)___ 292(@300wpm)
The rain was still pelting me as I fumbled in my purse for the keys. I found them but they slipped through my trembling fingers and fell in the mud at my feet.
With a little cry, I bent to pick them up—only to feel a hand on my arm.
“Please, let me, Vivienne.” Korwyn had a deep, gentle voice and he stooped easily to get the traitorous keys.
He still had his coat and shirt under his arm, so he was wet too, I saw. Beads of water ran down his broad back and shoulders and his hair was plastered to his head.
“Got them.” He rose at once and offered them to me.
I started to take them but then I stopped.
“Actually…would you like to drive?” I asked him. “Carter never let me much, so I’m afraid I’m a little out of practice.”
“Sure, if you want me to.” He unlocked the car and then escorted me around to get me settled in the passenger’s side.
I wondered if this display of care was genuine or for the benefit of the Pack members still watching from the funeral home. Either way, I didn’t care. It was a nice gesture on his part—one Carter had never made once in our whole marriage. My late husband didn’t believe in “babying” his wife by holding the door or pulling out my chair. He seemed to think any little act of consideration might spoil me—as though I was a tiresome child who would start whining for favors if he treated me with any kindness.
I slid into the cushioned seat of the Rolls gratefully, glad to be out of the pouring rain. The veil covering my face was wet along with all my other clothes, but I didn’t want to remove it yet. I feared what people would say if they saw me getting too comfortable with my new houseguest.
So I simply sat ramrod straight in the passenger seat as Korwyn slid in beside me into the driver’s seat.
“Whew! It’s really pouring out there.” He shut the door and pushed the wet hair off his forehead. In the dim light I could see that his eyes were brown. Also, he seemed to take up a lot more space in the car than Carter ever had. Maybe because my late husband had been a head and a half shorter than him and shriveled by age.
Korwyn was young and fit—his abdominal muscles bunched appealingly as he reached down to slide the key into the ignition. Then I realized I shouldn’t be looking there and returned my gaze to his face.
“This is a beautiful car,” he said to me. “Must be vintage.”
I nodded.
“Cars were one of Carter’s obsessions. He liked to collect them.”
Korwyn gave a low, rumbling laugh I couldn’t help liking at once.
“Nice hobby if you can afford it,” he remarked. “You’re sure you don’t mind letting me drive this baby?”
“It’s fine.” I shrugged. “I don’t like driving myself.”
Which was a lie—I hadn’t been allowed to drive enough to know if I liked it or not. I liked the freedom it gave me to get places on my own, but I was still extremely nervous behind the wheel.
“Well, I love it.” Korwyn shot me an easy smile as he turned the ignition and started the car. “Tell me—what made you decide to take a chance on me back there?” he asked, putting the car into drive. “I mean, if you don’t mind me asking.”
“It’s what Carter would have wanted,” I said automatically. I wasn’t about to tell him how Harris Murdoch had threatened me. Knowing I was desperate for him to win the Alpha Challenge would give this handsome young man far too much power over me.
“Really?” He shot me a sidelong look that seemed skeptical. “Because I thought he would hate me. I wanted to come meet him while he was still alive, but my dad told me to stay away from him. He always said Uncle Carter carried a grudge against him because of the way they parted and that he would carry one against me, too.”
That was probably one hundred percent correct but if I admitted it, I would lose the reason I had invited him into my home.
“I know he and your father didn’t get along—though I don’t know why,” I said slowly. “But I don’t believe he would have refused to take in kin.”
“Oh, you don’t know why they fought?” Korwyn shot me a surprised look. “He never told you?”
Carter had never told me much of anything, but I didn’t say that. I just shrugged.
“He was…a very private man,” I said. At least that was true—my late husband had never told me anything about his business or personal affairs if he could help it.
“Well my father wasn’t—a private man, I mean,” Korwyn said. “Look, tell me where we’re going and I’ll give you all the details, if you want,” he offered.