"Just because I didn't say anything about this whole arrangement doesn't mean I agree to it."
Katherine moved near Martin stared at him right in his eyes.With tears almost flowing she asked ..
"Martin, you're asking me out of your house? Are you being serious?"
He looked up at her—really looked.
Her eyes were wide, wounded, but he knew that expression. He'd seen it in boardrooms, in negotiations, in every carefully staged moment between their families. It was the look she wore when she wanted sympathy without earning it.
"I'm being very serious," he said.
She laughed—short, disbelieving.
"I am your wife-to-be. Treat me nicely."
Martin's laugh was colder.
"You are not my wife-to-be. You are my father's merger. Valentine's signature on a contract. My mother's hope for grandchildren who carry the right bloodline. You are a plan. Not a promise. And I never signed it."
