Bury the Ex, Wed the Heir novel · Chapter 11 of 24

Chapter 11: Hold the Shovel

Linnet had known Anselm was a liar and a thief.

She had never known he was this.

The night wind moved through the oak, and the ballroom lights shone gold on the grass.

"He sat in your car," she said. Her voice came out small.

"Yes. Then he went home and slept."

"And a month later he stood on your lawn and cursed you."

"To cover himself," Silvan said. "A man who screams in public that you deserve it can't be the man who cut the line."

Linnet shut her eyes.

She had loved that voice since she was nine years old.

She had believed in it twice, and it had killed her once and tried to kill her husband.

"I'm going to bury him," Silvan said, very low. "Not tonight. In front of the people he lied to, with proof in my hand. I will do it slowly, and I will make him watch."

"Then let me hold the shovel," Linnet said.

He looked at her.

His hand was steady now, and his dark eyes were fierce and quiet and awake in a way they had not been at the window of the hotel.

"You've earned it," he said.

"I've earned more than that."

She did not know which of them moved first.

She only knew that his cane hit the grass, and his hands were in her hair, and his mouth was on hers.

It was not careful.

It was hard and starving, and she kissed him back with the same hunger, her fingers dug into his shirt.

He tasted of cold air and the tea he had not finished.

He broke off, breathing hard, with his forehead against hers.

"Terms," he said roughly. "Number four. Say it, Mrs. Ravenscroft."

"I'm cancelling number four."

"That's not how contracts work."

"I wrote the first draft," Linnet said, "and I'm striking the clause. Come upstairs."

They took the back stairs, one slow step at a time, with her arm around his waist.

He was heavier against her than he would admit.

At the top, she opened the door to her room and pulled him through it.

She locked it behind them.

Moonlight lay across the bed.

He stood in the middle of the floor with his weight on the cane and his free hand open at his side.

"If I'm too much for your ribs," Linnet said, "you tell me."

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