The Bride He Replaced novel · Chapter 7 of 24

Chapter 7: The Terms

I called the number on the back of the card at nine that night.

He answered on the first ring.

"Westergaard."

"It's Hannah Draycott. I have conditions."

"Good," he said. "Name them."

We met the next morning at a diner on Halsted that Bea had picked, because she said a woman should negotiate with a stranger in a booth with a pie case beside it.

Bea sat three tables away with a crossword and kept glancing over it.

Duncan was already there when I came in, in a plain grey shirt with the sleeves pushed to his elbows.

He stood up when he saw my stomach, then sat down again when he saw my face.

I slid into the booth across from him.

The waitress poured me a decaf.

"First," I said. "I am not a tool, and I won't be lied to. If you lie to me once, I walk, and I tell Marguerite Teasdale where you sleep."

"Fair."

"Second. Anything I learn, I choose what to do with. You don't decide for me."

"Fair."

"Third. When I'm in a room with Miles and Camilla, you are not my bodyguard. I speak for myself."

"You did that fine at the microphone."

I looked at him.

He did not smile, but something moved around his eyes.

"I have rules, too," he said.

"Go on."

"One. I escort you to anything the Teasdales invite you to. They can't throw out a woman on a man's arm as easily as they can throw out a woman alone."

I did not like that.

I also knew he was right.

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