Accidental Knight: A Marriage Mistake Romance(26)

Several blocks later, when I park outside the lawyer’s office, she says, “I’ll wait here.”

I grab the envelope off the back seat and head out. “Be right back.”

Entering Sheridan’s office, I nod at his secretary. “Is he in today?”

“No, Mr. Sheridan had a doctor’s appointment. Should be back in an hour or two.” She holds out a hand and eyeballs the envelope. “I can take that for you.”

I’m almost reluctant to hand it over.

No idea how much she knows and doesn’t. Sheridan must trust her, though, but trust doesn’t come so easy for me. Especially when it comes to outrageous wedding schemes in small towns.

“Wait. I need to leave a note for him,” I say.

She hands me a notepad and pen. Then she stands up and walks away from her desk.

I quickly summarize the latest.

Write that Bella hadn’t known about the prenup or the damn custody agreement on the piece of paper and then slide it in the envelope.

Back in the truck, I wish I’d sealed it, but now I’m glad I hadn’t. I lick the flap and fold it back in place, swiping so it seals.

The secretary opens the door to Sheridan’s office. “You can set it on his desk. No one but him will see it.”

“Thanks.” I walk in, plop it on his desk, then walk out.

“I’ll let him know you stopped by as soon as he returns,” she says, walking back to her desk.

I nod, thank her again, and head for the door.

“Have a good day, Mr. Larkin.”

“You, too.” I exit through the door, wondering if I’ll ever have a good day again. The peaceful days of living with Jonah on the ranch are over.

Shit, even the tension, the grief, the loneliness I carried over my old man and Angie...it seems too easy compared to this. And that’s saying something.

“That was fast,” Bella says as I climb back in the driver’s seat.

“Sheridan is at a doctor’s appointment. Didn’t get a chance to talk.”

“Yeah, no surprise. He looked like he was in a lot of pain yesterday,” she says. “I hope he gets better soon.”

I start the truck and back out onto the street.

“Do you know what happened to his back?” she asks.

“An old service injury, I guess,” I say, turning onto the road that’ll lead us to the corporate office.

“Really?” She lets out a humph. “I never realized Gramps liked to surround himself so much with Army guys.”

“Sheridan was Navy, I think, but you’re not wrong. Jonah respected discipline.”

Mission men. That’s what he’d wanted and found in everything.

From the day Bella was born, he’d clearly started this particular mission and sought out men who’d finish the job long after he was gone.

I make no comment and pull into the office parking lot. It’s the biggest and most modern building in the whole town. Probably employs at least seventy percent of the town. All the people who are very concerned what’ll happen now that Jonah Reed’s gone.

Rightfully so.

Their livelihoods depend on North Earhart Oil.

I grew up in a household like theirs, where there was always worry over what might happen if the company my father worked for went under. That never happened, but the fear was constant, like a distant storm hanging over our heads, threatening to uproot everything.

I park in the same spot as always, the one reserved for Jonah, and glance over at Bella as I turn off the key.

She’s staring straight ahead, at the building, but the color has returned to her face.

I’d half expected her to walk downstairs dressed to the hilt this morning, like she had been yesterday.

Call it fucked, lusting after her in an outfit tailored for grief, but I’m only human.

That short black dress looked damn good on her. So do the simpler jeans and plaid shirt she’s wearing today.

I wonder if she threw them on to make people believe she’s like Jonah. Whether she wants to admit it or not, she’s got a tough fucking act to follow to pull that off.

Jonah Reed spent his whole life getting his hands dirty, busting competitors’ heads, pushing the lines of what any man should do to keep his grandbaby in his life.

Bella’s been pampered since the day she was born.

Everyone who works here knows that, and so do others. They’re expecting a princess who doesn’t know a decree from a donut.

She’s smarter, I’ll give her that much. And she doesn’t need to be Jonah Reed after he’d poured his life into building the groundwork, a system that mostly runs on autopilot now.

But Jonah still made the big decisions. He had the balls and the know-how to face down real, mortal threats to his lifeblood. He spent days working on those men who really worried him, and he knew how.

Bella wouldn’t know where to start with that. So it’s something I’ll have to face without her being any bit the wiser.

“Ready?” I ask.

She’s now scanning the parking lot, shifting her gaze to me. “As ready as I’ll ever be.”

I open the door, climb out, and meet her at the front of my truck. She’s scanning the parked cars again. “Looking for your parents’ car?”

She nods. “It’s a rental. A white BMW.”