Fast Forward
Present Day
“Yes. Explain. Explain how you’re engaged.”
“I told you I couldn’t—”
“No, no you did not tell me you were engaged!”
Grace’s eyes became glassy, a watery line forming on her lower lids. “I never wanted you to find out like this,” she whispered.
“How the hell is that supposed to make me feel better?” He sucked in a deep breath and took a step back, his mind going to the last time they were together. “Were you engaged when we were in Minnesota?”
“No! No. The engagement is a…it’s a recent development.”
Beau’s nostrils flared, his instincts screaming at him that something was wrong beyond the obvious.
“Aren’t brides-to-be supposed to be moon-eyed over their fiancés? You look like someone just caught you with a dart in your hand.”
Grace’s eyes shot to the door, then back to him.
“Is he the reason why?” Beau asked, hands landing on his hips. “He hurts you, doesn’t he?”
A tear shot down her cheek like a sad, falling star. She brushed it away quickly and straightened her back.
“What about you?” she said, recovering the steel in her tone. “Levi? Ainsworth?”
Beau made a face at that, looking away from her and toward the window.
“I was going to bring it up eventually, but a person’s finances and being engaged are two completely different things, Grace. I never fucked around on you–”
“I’ve never had sex with Jonathan. Never.”
Beau’s expression was belligerent. “That’s quaint. Waiting until after the wedding? But that’s only a matter of time now, isn’t it?”
He turned back to pin her with a glare. “He hurts you. I can see it. Why? Why don’t you just cut him up?”
Grace’s expression turned stoic. “Everyone has reasons–”
He moved toward her, grasping her upper arms gently.
“There is no reason in this world good enough to warrant a man laying his hands on you like that,” he growled. “If you won’t kill him, I will.”
At that, Grace blanched. “No,” she gasped. “Beau– Levi,you can’t. You don’t understand.”
He hissed, bringing his right left hand up to push her black hair back. In the bright lights of the ball room, he hadn’t noticed but now, in the shadows of the room, he could see the faint swelling. The darkened arc of skin below her right eye, how her hair cleverly brushed over the faintly bruised skin her concealer couldn’t completely paint over.
“I don’t have to understand,” he said. “He’s a dead man.”
“You don’t understand!”
“Then explain it to me! But I can’t make heads or tails of a reason good enough to warrant anyone putting their filthy fuckin’ hands on you like that!”
“I– I can’t. I want to. But…there’s too much on the line. I don’t have time right now. I have to get back. He’s going to wonder why I’ve been gone so long and–”
“Let him,” Beau growled. “In fact, I’ve half a mind to march us out there right damn now and slam his smarmy fucking mouth into that banquet table. Repeatedly.”
Grace stepped away from him.
“I’m engaged. It’s done. I can’t– I can’t change it. Please, don’t say anything. Please. I know…I know what I am, okay? I know, I’ve done bad things. But this is important to me and I’ve never–”
She took a deep breath and looked in straight in the eyes. “I’ve never asked you for anything Beau, but now I’m asking you for this…”
Beau’s heart squeezed painfully in his chest, the sensation of great loss saturating every fiber of his being.
This couldn’t be it— It couldn’t be the end.
“You have to let me go,” she whispered.
