Arranged: An Array Series (Book #1)(35)

I strolled to the door, not able to listen to any more of this. “I hope that was it.”

“No, that was not it!” my father bellowed from behind me, but I didn’t stop moving. No one was going to order me on who the hell I was going to marry because I wasn’t going down the road. “Garrett!”

“Too the fuck bad,” I said, opening the door. “Don’t bring this type of shit to me again.”

“Walk out that door, and I’ll just go to my next plan.”

I looked over my shoulder at him. His face was red, clenching his fist at his side. “What’s that?”

“Trust me,” he noted with a hint of warning. “You’ll like this plan a lot better.”





Ava





Chapter 16





George and I warmed our hands by the blazing fire in his study. Our morning ride greeted us with a chill that stalled in my body. But I welcomed it, keeping my mind off the way Garrett’s eyes and the heat of his hands burned into my skin.

“Sit.” George pushed a chair behind me. I sat and rubbed my hands together.

“Remind me to carry my gloves in my saddlebag from now on.” I leaned forward to capture more warmth. The blistering heat on my skin fighting the lingering prickles of cold. George nodded and sat on the rug beside me, crossing his legs.

“Can we talk about Madelyn?” His voice was solemn. I glanced down at him, his fingers rubbing at his temple as the flames of the fire played along his face.

I nodded. “Of course.”

He sighed heavily, hunching down on his elbows resting on his knees. “Since I must stop courting her, I don’t know the easiest way to go about it. If I knew it’d come to this, I wouldn’t have started courting her. Madelyn is kind and—”

“I know,” I replied softly, touching his shoulder. “I would just explain it to her, so she’d understand.”

“No offense, but as a woman, I don’t see her giving me a handshake after I cast her off.”

“We are very emotional, hell-bent creatures who hold grudges.”

“She won’t understand. I wasn’t in love with her but one day…it may have possibly grown into more.”

“I’m sorry, George. We never seem to get what we want, do we?” He shook his head, keeping his eyes locked on the glowing fire.

“Do you know how many times I’ve wanted to run away from here?” He paused for a moment, bowing his head. “Not just because of the forced marriages and my father wanting to control my every move, but for the freedom. The freedom to fuck up and not have thousands of lives depending on me to make the right decisions.” He peered over his shoulder at me. “To be able to just live. Live a normal existence.”

I saw the frustration in his eyes. “That’s how I felt at the orphanage; the same suffocation and need to break free, but we will get through all this. Madelyn will understand, in time.”

She’d need to; she would never marry George if Edward was against it. Madelyn would have no problem finding a husband. She was elegant and intelligent, something a man would seek out in a wife.

George, on the other hand, didn’t have that luxury. He needed more. His wife would need to be rich, politically stable, healthy, and, a bonus, appealing.

The study door squeaked open, bringing our attention to a man standing in the egress. “Sorry, George, I didn’t know you had company.” The stranger held a stack of papers and before I could get a good look at him, George stood and walked to him.

“No need,” George replied. He gestured to me. “As you well know, this is Ava Barlow.”

The blond stranger walked deeper into the room. “The notorious Lady Barlow.” He pushed the papers against George’s chest and bowed. “It’s a pleasure meeting you. George has told me so much.” I began to rise to greet him, but he held up a hand, flashing his dimples at me and shaking his head. “No please, sit.”

Sitting back in my chair, I noticed he was taller than George and his nose was slightly crooked. He pulled up a chair nearby to sit across from me.

“I’m William Reddington.” He straddled the chair and rested his arms on the back of it. “And I’ve heard many stories about you and your antics. I must say, I idolize your strategies of terrorizing the staff and rebelling against the rules.”

“My cousin,” George informed, examining the data in his hand.

“Twice removed,” Reddington winked. I looked between the two of them—same sandy blond hair and oval face but while George shared his brother’s blue eyes, Reddington had chocolate brown.

George scoffed and rolled his eyes. “The only time you were twice removed was when we were kicked out of that gaming hall.”

Reddington rolled his ice blue eyes. “Why would you bring that up on my first meeting of the Lady?”

George shrugged, not peering up. “Because it’s true.”

Reddington glanced back at me and grinned. “And now I own that gaming hall.”

Besides the resemblance, I saw the difference in the personalities. George was carefree but careful. Goodness, he harassed me every time I went off and played a prank on the new maids. Reddington didn’t have a crown in his near future, which allowed him to be more reckless, maybe even mutiny himself over the order of society. That intrigued me.