Isabeau leaned in with her eyebrows knitted together. He’d never seen such a fierce look in her eyes. “I won’t let anyone hurt you. Do you understand? And if anyone does say anything, you don’t listen. Their unqualified, unsolicited opinion means nothing. And it especially means nothing to me.”
As much as he wanted to argue, he could see by the set of her jaw that she wasn’t backing down. “All right.”
Whatever he was about to face was worth it, just to see the smile she awarded him. “It’s not going to be as bad as you think, and it’s probably not going to be as great as I hope. It’ll be somewhere in the middle, and we’ll handle it together, okay?”
How was so much sunshine packed into a woman so petite? But there she was, blazing like a ball of light, burning away years of loneliness. “I’m ready if you are.”
They exited the car, and Rowan instinctively tried to hide his face behind his hair as they walked into the courthouse. Once they were through security, they continued to the clerk’s office and got in line. With it being a Tuesday, it didn’t feel as crowded as he’d pictured.
“People are staring at me,” Rowan said.
“I know, and I’m sorry.”
“It’s not your fault.”
Rowan felt a tug on his shirt and looked down. A little girl, maybe six years old, was staring up at him. “Mister, what happened to you?”
A woman dashed to the little girl. “I’m so sorry. Normally, she’d be in school now, but it was a teachers’ workday.”
“Wait,” Isabeau said and squatted down. “What’s your name?”
“Vanessa.”
Isabeau took Rowan’s hand and pulled on him. “Come down here,” she said.
Rowan squatted down next to her. “What are you doing?”
“This is Vanessa. How old are you, Vanessa?”
“I’ll be seven tomorrow.” The little girl grinned.
Isabeau gasped. “Oh, well, happy early birthday.”
“Thank you. Is he your friend? What happened to his face?”
“Isabeau,” Rowan quietly growled as his heart raced.
She ignored him and continued. “He is my friend, and he’ll be my husband in a few days. He was in a car accident, and he was hurt very badly.”
The little girl nodded and looked at Rowan. “Oh, was it scary?”
Rowan’s pulse felt like it was humming. He hated questions about himself, but she was an innocent little girl. “It was,” he said.
“You have pretty hair,” Vanessa said.
Isabeau snickered. “He does have pretty hair, doesn’t he?” She slid her fingers through it. “It’s so soft and long.”
That was a first. He’d never had that sort of comment directed at him before. It was also a strange sensation to have someone combing their fingers through his hair, especially when that someone was Isabeau. “Thank you,” he said as he shot Isabeau a glance.
“Is…is his skin okay?” Vanessa asked.
“It sure is, see?” Isabeau brushed the back of her hand down the side of his face. He would have flinched away, taken her hand and pulled it from his face, but it would have made an even bigger scene. “I like his face.”
Rowan wanted to scream. Isabeau was drawing too much attention to him. And aside from that, there was no way she really thought that. He’d begged her not to lie. “Isabeau, please.”
“Vanessa, people have hurt him in the past, but you aren’t going to do that, are you?” Isabeau directed the question to the little girl as she caught his gaze.
“No, my friend at school was burned too. His mommy and daddy were having a cookout, and he got too close to the fire. That’s why I asked if his skin was okay. Isaiah’s accident wasn’t very long ago, and sometimes it still hurts.”
Rowan swallowed hard, trying to dislodge the lump in his throat. “I’m sorry your friend was burned.”
“It’s okay. I like his face too. Some of the other kids are mean to him, but I tell them they’re jerks. When I moved to my new school, he was the only one who was nice to me.” She smiled and took her mom’s hand. “I’ll tell him I met you so he doesn’t feel so bad anymore.”
Isabeau and Rowan straightened. “You have a sweet little girl,” Isabeau said.
“Thank you for talking to her. Her friend Isaiah will appreciate it,” her mom said.
“I hope her friend is better soon.” Isabeau smiled.
Before Rowan could say anything, the clerk called their names. Once they had the license, they quickly went back to the car. The second the door shut and Rowan was alone with her, he faced her. “What was all that?” How could she do that to him? Talk about him like he was normal when there was nothing normal about him.
“All what? She was a curious little girl. By talking to her, you showed her that you were a person with feelings. You’ve helped someone. There is a little boy somewhere in Dallas who is hurt, scared, and wondering if he’ll ever be okay, and that little girl is going to go back to him with hope. Hope that just because something awful happened doesn’t mean it’ll always be like that. You did that, Rowan, and it was a wonderful thing you did.”
“But telling her you liked my face? Touching my face like it was nothing?”
Isabeau looked at him like he’d grown four heads. “And Vanessa liked her friend’s face too. Do you think she was lying about that?”
“I think she was being nice because he was nice to her and he was her friend. But you and I aren’t friends. We’re barely acquaintances. I need you to stop…stop saying things like that. Especially when I know they aren’t true.”
She leaned back as though he’d slapped her. “You don’t get to decide for me how I think of you. What I see when I see you. I decide that. Me. Not you.” She scooted closer to the door. “I won’t let your behavior dictate what kind of person I am or how I behave in return.”
“I was upfront from the beginning about what you should expect. I’m not looking to make any friends.”
Isabeau angled herself away from him. After a moment, she whispered, “Did it ever occur to you that I might need a friend?”
She needed a friend? Right. “I’m sure you have plenty of friends. You don’t need me.”
They rode the rest of the way to the house in silence, for which Rowan was glad. He knew he’d upset her, but she’d upset him too. Lying to not only him, but a little girl as well. No one in their right mind liked his face. He was burned, and there was no fixing it. Of course, he’d looked into plastic surgery and decided against it. What was the point, when he knew he’d never look the same?
When they reached the house, Isabeau hopped out of the car, and just as he exited, she pointed her face up at him. “I do not have plenty of friends. Beauty doesn’t get you friends or happiness or peace. It gets you attention. My so-called friends who said I could call anytime, day or night, and they’d be there weren’t there. I called. I screamed. I begged. But I was alone, except for Kelsey, and she was here in Dallas. It was me against him.” She slapped her hand over her mouth as tears streamed down her cheeks.
Rowan blinked. Her against him? What did she mean by that? “You against who?”
Her bottom lip trembled. “You don’t want to be my friend, so why should I tell you.” She spun on her heels, dashed to her car, and sped off.
He gaped after her, trying to put together what had just happened. How could she have no friends? What could have happened to her to make her friends abandon her? She begged? What did all of it mean? Whatever happened, clearly the background check had not been as thorough as it should have been.
But what really gripped his heart were her tears. The hurt in her eyes, like she’d been wounded. And that was a feeling he was familiar with. And he was the one who’d done the wounding, which didn’t sit well with him. He’d never thought he’d be the one inflicting the same hurt he’d experienced right after his accident.
His so-called friends had been there for him until he’d been hurt. Then one by one, they’d all d
isappeared because it was too difficult for them to look at him. Difficult for them. They weren’t the ones living with the memories of being trapped in the car, the flames eating his skin, and the equally painful aftermath. His friends had abandoned him too…and he’d treated her the same way they’d treated him.
Again, he found himself needing to apologize to her. His only fear was that he was going to run out of chances to apologize.
Chapter 7
Three days. It had been three days, and the only reason Izzy hadn’t taken longer before she faced Rowan was because she didn’t want Ulysses asking why. She’d talked to Kelsey about what happened. Kelsey tried to talk her out of going through with it, but Izzy couldn’t do that now that she’d signed the contract. There wasn’t a clause that allowed her to get out of the marriage just because the husband-to-be was mean. They’d also agreed that Kelsey wouldn’t come with her when she returned since Izzy wasn’t sure how he’d react. Well, that wasn’t true. She knew how he’d react—poorly.
It was hard to say goodbye to the little apartment she’d called home for the last five months. Even harder was knowing she wouldn’t see Kelsey every day, but they promised to talk as much as they could. Plus, it wasn’t like Izzy was being held captive. She could come and go as she pleased.
As she pulled her car into the garage, she swallowed down the building awkwardness she felt. What was Rowan going to say to her? Would he speak to her? She had blown up and fled the scene of the crime. Plus, she’d ignored the few times he’d called. She didn’t know what to say to him.
Before she could fully get out of the car, Rowan stepped inside the garage, and she froze as her heart pounded. What she couldn’t deny was that she liked him. She did like his face, and he wouldn’t change her mind.
“Isabeau, I know you’re upset with me, and you have every right to be, but I want to apologize for my behavior, even if it seems to be a pattern at this point. I was wrong to speak to you that way. Wrong to assume things about you that I had no right to assume. I promised myself I’d never treat anyone the way I was treated, and I broke my own promise.”
She’d told herself that whatever apology he might offer, she’d accept it and keep her distance. The butterflies in her stomach vehemently disagreed, and she couldn’t ignore how giddy she felt. He’d apologized, and it was sweet. “I do like your face, and you have to stop telling me I’m lying when I’m not.”
“It’s illogical, and I’m struggling to comprehend it.”
Izzy shut the car door and walked to him. “You’re assuming that beauty is logical. That the way we see things is the same. We don’t even see the colors the same way.”
“But this isn’t a color. This…this is ugly, and that is universally known.”
“Says who?”
He hung his head. “Me,” he whispered.
How could she get through to him? Maybe she could show him one of her scars. She unbuttoned the top two buttons of her blouse.
“What are you doing?” he asked as he averted his eyes.
She pulled her shirt aside just enough to show him the gnarly red gash right above her heart. “Does this look lovely and stunning to you?”
His jaw dropped, and as his shock faded, his eyebrows drew together. “How did you get that?”
“It doesn’t matter how I got it. I have it.”
“But you can hide it.”
She swallowed hard as she recalled the first time she stood in the mirror after being attacked. All the jagged cuts and bruises. “Just because I can cover it with my shirt doesn’t mean it goes away. I know it’s there. I know it’s ugly. And a little over a year ago, it wasn’t there.” She buttoned her shirt. “Hidden doesn’t mean gone. It means you carry it alone until you share it. Being brave enough to share your hurt with someone else is lovely too.”
“What do you mean, ‘It wasn’t there a little over a year ago’? Was it the him you were fighting against that did it?”
She lowered her gaze. “Maybe if you stop calling me a liar long enough, I might tell you.”
“All I can do is try. I’m not exactly what you call a people person.”
Izzy laughed. “That’s funny, but it’s not true, and you know it.”
He smiled. “So, we’re okay for now? You still want to go through with this?”
She nodded. “I considered running, but I believe I signed a contract. I don’t recall reading a clause that said if the groom acts like a jerk, you’re free to quit.”
His incredibly dark eyes held hers. “I wouldn’t force you to marry me, no matter what contract you signed.”
“I know, which is why I’m going through with it.”
“Do you need help getting your things to your room?” he asked as he stepped around her, walking to the trunk of her car.
“Yes, if you don’t mind,” she said as she walked to the passenger side and pulled out two garment bags. “Is it set in stone that I have to stay in that room so far away from everyone?”
He pulled out her luggage and closed the trunk. “It’ll give you the most privacy. It’s one of the nicer rooms on the second floor.”
“Oh, well, thank you.” There went the hope that maybe she could move closer to him. “I’m sure it’ll be fine.”
As Rowan passed by her, going to the door, he took one of the garment bags from her. “My uncle has a minister coming this evening at sundown. He and Retta have set up a small ceremony spot in the gardens. You’re free to dress however you want.”
“Okay. I brought a few dresses, just in case. I had no idea what or how it would be like.”
“I’m sure whatever you wear will be lovely. At this point, I’m certain you could pull off a potato sack.”
Izzy snorted. “Thank you for the compliment, but it wasn’t nice to make me laugh like that.”
He chuckled. “It was fun for me.”
She bumped him with her shoulder. “Meanie.”
Once they reached her room, dread pooled in her stomach as she set her garment bag down on the bed. So far away. So big and open, and there were doors and places for things to hide. A shiver ran down her spine. “Maybe we could turn the heat up a little on this side.”
“I’ll make sure that happens.”
“Thank you.”
“If there’s anything you need, let us know. Anything at all.” He paused as he stopped by the bed. “I’d really like to get your things in Oregon out of storage. Even if you don’t think you want to unbox anything, I’d like you to have them.”
Oh, to have her things. But could she handle seeing them? Kelsey said she’d had everything cleaned, but what if they missed something? She fingered the collar of her blouse. “It’s U-Store-it. It’s right off the 205 near Happy Valley.”
“Okay,” he smiled. “Think of it as a wedding present.”
“But I didn’t get you anything.”
“You’re giving me this house, and that’s more than enough.”
She shook her head. “No, I’ll have to think of something.”
He stepped closer to her. “I’m fine, really. I just want you to be comfortable. That’s all.”
Taking a step toward him, she hugged him around the waist. “Thank you for offering to get my things.”
Slowly, he wrapped his arms around her. He smelled good, he felt good, and she felt so safe with him. Yes, he’d been grumpy and had yelled, pushing her away, but not because he had an ugly heart. He had a hurt, rejected heart, and he wasn’t used to someone caring about him.
Before she was ready, he pulled away and walked to the door. “Thank you for doing this. I’ll never be able to thank you enough.”
She followed him and took his hand in hers. “You’re not as unlikable as you think.”
“I’ll see you in a few hours,” he said, a smile curving his lips. Lips that she was noticing more and more. Wondering how soft they were and how they’d feel on hers. Something she’d thought she’d never want again.
“Okay.”
The door clicked shut. Now that she was alone, the room felt even more cavernous than before. But it was okay. The house was far off the street. A code was needed to get through the gate, and she was safe because Rowan wasn’t that far away. She had her cell phone too. Everything would be okay, and being this far away from him meant that if she did have a nightmare, she wouldn’t wake him up. No telling what he’d think if he found her screaming her head off.
Walking to the bed, she pulled out her phone and dialed Kelsey. She’d promised to call when she got to the house.
“Hey!” Kelsey said. “Is everything okay? Do I need to beat anyone up?”
Izzy flopped down and sank into the plush covers. She might have nightmares, but she’d be having them in comfort. “Everything’s fine, and, no, you don’t need to beat anyone up. He was actually waiting to apologize to me.”
“Did you tell him to stuff it?”
She laughed. “No, he thinks he’s ugly and that I’m lying when I say I like his face. Kelsey, I like him.”
Kelsey gasped. “Even just saying that is a big deal for you.”
“I know, but right now, I just want to be friends with him.”
“Well, Iz, I guess it’s a good a thing you actually like your soon-to-be-husband.”
“I would like to be friends with him. I feel safe around him, which is so weird because I don’t know him that well. I can’t explain it, there’s this…”
“Pull? If that’s the case, you really need to tell him what happened. Now, so that he understands if you suddenly shy away.”
“I’m not.”
“Izzy, you need to be careful. Not just for him, but for your sake too. It sounds like you could fall for this guy, and I don’t want to see you get hurt.”
Kelsey was right again. If Izzy hurt him, he’d never trust anyone again. Not after being tossed away by his friends. But telling him everything right now? She didn’t know him well enough to do that. “I won’t. And I’ll be careful not to hurt him either. I promise.”
“You know I’ll need to meet him one day.”
“I know, but give me time to get through to him.”
The Beast’s Fake Marriage Page 5
