Free Darkest Fire by Tawny Taylor Page B

until after he was out of earshot before heaving a highly exaggerated sigh. “Rin, what are you doing?”
    Rin flopped into a nearby chair and pretended to be carefree. “I’m waiting for our food.”
    “That’s not what I’m talking about, and you know it.”
    “Fine.” Because she’d missed most of the episode of CSI that had been playing, and couldn’t follow it, she scooped up the television remote and started clicking through channels. “I’m keeping my end of the bargain.”
    Now it was her sister’s turn to pace the floor. “You’re going to be so sorry you did this, and it sucks because you did it for me.”
    Rin shook the remote at her sister. “I’m not convinced yet that it’s the huge mistake you seem to think it is. Look at this place.” She did a Vanna White, standing up and sweeping her arm in a wide arc. “We’re living in a freaking mansion. Not that what happened to you was in any way good, but if I hadn’t been in this town looking for you, and willing to listen to Drako’s proposal, I would never have married a man like him. What were my prospects back at home? Honestly? This isn’t bad. I’ll be getting money every week to spend any way I like—”
    “An allowance.”
    She shot her sister a grumpy-faced scowl. “No, it’s not an allowance. I deserve every penny that man will be paying me.”
    “Then you see yourself as a whore.”
    “No! No.” How would she make her sister understand? She went to her sister and made sure she was really listening. “This is no different from an arranged marriage, or a marriage of convenience, like you’ve read in those romance novels you’re so fond of. And before you tell me they were set in the nineteenth century, that marriages of convenience don’t exist anymore, I say bullshit. You and I both know women who’ve married men they didn’t love, just so they could have financial security.”
    Her sister blinked, drawing Rin’s attention to her eyes, which were growing red and watery again. “I never thought you’d do it though. You had so much more going for you.”
    Rin hugged her weepy sister, suspecting some of her tears were more about the hell she’d been through than what Rin had done to get her out of it. “Who says I have to give up all my dreams just because I’m married? If anything, this marriage should allow me to pursue what I want. I won’t have to work some menial job to pay the rent. That frees up all kinds of time for other things.”
    Lei stepped away from Rin, crossed her arms over her chest, her body language telling Rin she still wasn’t listening. “I can see where you’re going with this. But still, Rin, I see that look in your eye. I know you’re scared, uncertain.”
    “Things will get better with time. It’s all very new. Drako and I both need time to adjust, to understand each other.” The doorbell rang, and Rin, after waving her sister to follow her, headed toward the front of the house. “I don’t want you to feel guilty. In fact, it’ll kill me if you don’t support me in this. Please, Lei. Please. . . .” She stopped at the front door, turning to her sister. “Forget why I got married. For both our sakes.” Before her sister could respond, she pasted on a happy face and opened the door, greeting the delivery guy with a friendly, “Hello.”
    She hoped, as she accepted the food from the teenager on the porch, that she wouldn’t need to hone her acting skills, or that she wouldn’t spend the rest of her days living a lie. It would be hell trying to hide the truth from Lei.
    But if that was what it took to make her sister happy, then that was what she’d do.

    “An unexplained illness has brought at least a dozen people to a local emergency room—”
    Drako hit the power button on the remote, cutting off the news broadcast. He needed quiet, to think, to remind himself what was important, and what would happen if he forgot. A knock interrupted his thoughts before he’d gotten past