a's

asted exactly

st the table so hard the coffee cup

argot's precious china cup, pooling on the w

y I was very familiar with. The vein in his temple had already starte

m. They were all s

e table, the legs of his chai

uld see the muscle twitching beneath the skin a

have sacrificed so that you could have a life? This marriage isn't about you, Isla. It never was. The H

word like it wa

ering so hard I could feel it in m

my face still. It was the one thing th

e my father, she e didn't

h a careful, deliberate click against th

ing Arthur had just shouted. Her voice was calm, almost pleasant inf

They were cold, just like they a

u? No money that isn't tied to this family. No education worth mentioning. No career, no connections, no future of your own making." She paused, letting each word se

rd Declan without

continued, "you are far more foolish than I gave you credit for. And if you continue with

ng in the air

ing. But she had never said it quite like this, in front of everyone,

e then I kept m

ard me, her expression soft, her brow cre

y arm gently, then tilted her

feeling okay? You hit your head pretty hard yesterda

ightly. To everyone else,

alling apart was exactly what she wanted, and she couldn'

hand on my arm a

He hadn't raised his voice or slammed anything. H

oke, his voice was

air, one arm draped lazily over the back of it. "Are you tr

asking out

s was about his pride and about the image he had

en by someone he considered beneath him, w

, his eyes narrowing just slightly, "there are better

t look in his eyes again like I was something

s easy to

g my chair back and the

early, making sure every single

t marryi

s end of the table, coming around toward me,

and he had always used that to his advan

his fists clenched

opped halfway to

ifted in his chair, his expression som

still raised. His face was twiste

k or flinch. Neith

adily and stared dir