Free Worth The Price (Hart's Fall, Montana) by Delilah Hunt Page A

getting into this marriage are obvious, but you still haven’t given a good reason why you were so willing to make this deal. It’s still up for debate if you even like me. If you would have dated me. For all I know, you could have suggested this just so you’d have something over my father. So tell me, Brandon, is that what it is? Did you plan to keep me here for humiliation as a way of scoring revenge on my father? Did everyone at the ceremony know that I came to you and asked for the money, because my father is about to lose everything?”
    His chest tightened with pain. Eyes watery and vivid with the sting of betrayal stared back at him. The tautness in her cheeks told him she awaited his answer as if she truly believed he was capable of hurting her.
    “No. Apart from Clint‌—‌who’ll take it to the grave‌—‌no one else knows the truth and let’s clear this up right now. The only way Prescott factors into our marriage is that you’re the only reason he won’t be living on the streets.
    Her irises sparkled. “I take it that’s your way of trying to making me feel better. It ain’t working, Brandon and I just can’t shake the feeling that you look down on me.”
    “That’s not true.” He should have known better than allowing his insecurities to taint their first night together. “I didn’t mean a word of what I said.”
    “Then why did you bring it up?” Her shoulders lifted on a sigh. “You have no idea how scared I was. It took a full week for me to gather the courage to come to you in the first place. I was well aware you could have ordered, if not hauled me off your property.”
    “ That would never happen,” he said thickly.
    She tapped a finger to her lip in mock concentration. “That’s weird, considering I’m no different from everyone else in town you separate yourself from. Tell me something, Brandon. Were you pining for me all this time? Were you going insane with want for me?” Hips cocked at an enticing angle, she swept a hand through her hair and coiffed a fistful of those tiny curls to the top of her head. Her lips, though pouted in an exaggerated mocking of sensuality, made his shaft twitch. “Did you see all this B-cupped chocolaty goodness and know you had to have a taste?”
    The ache inside his chest became unbearable. It was heartbreaking to watch her mock herself because of the doubts he had placed within her. Brandon stuck a hand inside his pocket and matched her gaze. “I wanted you long before you came out to the ranch and I want you now more than ever.”
    Her eyes narrowed. “You want a woman who you believe will up and leave after you dole out the cash?”
    “Danika, I never said—”
    “I know you didn’t outright say it. I’m not stupid, though. I don’t want you to hold this thing between us over my head. I don’t want you to have it inside your head the money is all there could ever be between us.
    A spark of hope lit beneath his skin. “Could there be more?”
    “You tell me.”
    The challenge in her eyes ignited the shred of hope he’d tried so hard to extinguish and he should be happy… yet the niggling doubt inside his mind refused to budge. Would Danika have been willing to marry another man if he, too, had made the same terms and agreed to her twenty grand request? The question burned at the tip of his tongue. Brandon managed to swallow it back. Knowing himself, he’d only succeed in destroying the rest of the night.
    He slipped his arm around the span of her waist and gathered her to him. “I’m trying so hard to do this right with you, Cailín .”
    To his delight, she leaned into his embrace. “How about we start over, Brandon. Forget about my father. Forget about what everyone else in Hart’s Fall thinks about you…us. I want you, Brandon.” A tender kiss warmed the pulse on his neck. “I want all of you.” Eyes soft and luminous gazed up at him.
    Unfamiliar feelings and longings fluttered inside his stomach. His erection