Chapter 6

SIX

I don't know what I was expecting.

It's not that I had imagined Laurel immediately saying yes and jumping at the chance to marry me, but I didn't expect her rejection to cut as deep as it did.

I'm sitting in my office, but all I can think about is the woman I asked to be my wife working three floors below.

"Explain it to me again," Micah mutters, tapping his finger on the screen of his phone. He hasn't looked up once since he sat down fifteen minutes ago. "What exactly did you say to her?"

"I asked her to marry me, and she said no." I massage my forehead with my fingertips and read over the contract Micah brought in with him, looking up long enough to gauge my brother's reaction.

He stops tapping and finally looks up. "Did you ask her to marry you, or did you tell her to?"

"What's the difference?" I ask, dropping the paper.

"It matters. You honestly didn't believe she would say yes that easily, did you?"

"I was honest with her and told her the conditions which were placed on me to secure the company. She's a businesswoman; I thought she'd understand. Or at least consider it."

I'm only giving my little brother half-truths. Laurel is more than a businesswoman, and on more than one occasion I've seen her lead with her heart rather than her mind. She's smart, but the kindness in her gorgeous eyes is difficult to ignore.

Women like her don't simply marry for money or notoriety. She deserves more than a transactional marriage.

I look at my brother, hoping he'll offer me words of wisdom, but he doesn't.

"What am I supposed to do?" I ask him, hoping I can dig some advice out of him. It's not as if he's an expert when it comes to marriage. As the youngest out of the three of us, and the one who travels the most, I've never seen him with a woman for longer than a few weeks.

"I don't know." He shrugs. "Not that I'm saying it was never a possibility, but the idea of you being married is a foreign concept. I never thought we'd be in the situation we're in now."

"Neither did I." I sigh.

"I'm sorry, brother. I can't imagine what it's like to have to convince a stranger to marry you. Let alone to be married to one."

I hide the truth behind a chuckle. "Yeah."

"Do you know much about her?"

I curl my fingers into a fist under my desk. "Not really." I lie. "I know she's a headstrong lawyer. Her record is great, but her working for her uncle isn't doing her any favors. I also did a little research into her brother. It seems he's going to be in prison for quite some time and he's facing some heavy charges."

"What about her parents?"

"They died three years ago in an accident." I shrug. "I didn't read the article, only the headline." I swallow, wishing I had a drink in my hand to drown the feeling coming over me.

"Huh." Micah rubs his chin in thought. "Seems our family has a lot in common with the Branfords, then."

"It appears so." I toss the paper into Micah's lap and cave, standing to pour myself a drink. "I'm useless here until I get this situation figured out."

"There was nothing in Dad's will that didn't say you couldn't help me with our offshore accounts.".

He's right. Micah deals mostly with our international clients. It's probably why our father left all the properties overseas to him. It makes it easier for him to acquire more clients when he has more of a presence over there.

"I'm not going to be of much help, even if the will didn't prevent me from advising you." I sigh, downing half my drink.

Micah stands and slides the contract back into his leather-bound folder. "I have a flight to catch, anyway. I need to get this out to London before we lose out of the deal altogether." He gives me a sympathetic smile. "I'll text you when I get there."

I give him a smile in return, and once the door shuts behind him, I refill my drink and sit back behind my desk to click the button on my desk phone.

"Yes, Mr. Harding?" my assistant Olivia's voice comes through the small intercom.

"Do you have any messages for me?" I ask her, imagining what Laurel might be doing in her office, half undressed.

"Um. No, sir. Were you expecting a call? I can make a note of it so I can let you know as soon as I hear from them."

"No," I'm quick to answer. "It's fine, but I'd like it if you could clear my schedule for the rest of the day." I let go of the button and realize there wasn't much of a schedule for Olivia to clear. I can't get a single contract signed or client agreement until I solve the issue of being married.

Our entire company is at a standstill. I wonder if my father ever considered the repercussions of putting such a heavy stipulation on my inheritance.

The silence in my office becomes too much to bear and the memory of being in Laurel's office yesterday bleeds into my thoughts.

Her skin was smooth and warm. An unfamiliar feeling snuck its way into my chest, jump starting my heart as if it were on the brink of collapsing. The jolt didn't last long, disappearing as fast as it grew to life.

I slide back in my chair, my eyes falling to my desk. The past several years have been spent grinding and proving my worth to my father. I spent countless days and weeks, pushing aside the pain of losing my mother. My world spun on its axis that day, spiraling out of control, and I wanted nothing more than to forget what it was like to feel. Caring no longer mattered when I found myself trapped in a world where she no longer existed.

Until I met her .

While taking a sip from my drink, I crack open my desk drawer. Wisps of air brush along the delicate purple feather resting beside a black velvet box. I rub my thumb over the box, attempting to bury my thoughts once again.

The way Laurel's skin prickled as I whispered into the hollow of her ear.

The hope in my mother's voice as she told me what she wished for me.

I slam the drawer shut and down the rest of my drink before I give the memories a chance to swallow me whole.