Page 20 of The Rented Bride

She opened her mouth to reply, then her eyes suddenly shimmered with moisture. “You’re going to fault me for wanting to be successful in my chosen field?” She shrugged. “You’re a wealthy man. But that doesn’t mean I expected a free ride for the rest of my life.”

“Free ride?” His cell phone rang, but he ignored it and said, “Is that what you call having a baby and staying home for two years?”

“I can do that and run Blood Silk.”

He nodded. “But you can’t be a mother—a good mother—and make three movies, the first of which starts immediately, according to the Wall Street Journal. You didn’t have to make promises, Lindsey. My marriage proposal wasn’t conditional upon you getting pregnant right away. If you recall, that was your idea.”

His cell phone rang again. He reached into his pocket, then paused when Lindsey said, “All you did was talk about your grandfather and how much family meant to him—especially a great grandchild.”

The cell rang a third time. “You’re right,” Trent said, as he pulled the phone from his pocket. “Granddad is the only real family I have, and I’m about to lose him.” His chest tightened at the admission. “I did consider him when thinking about our future. But I never deceived you.”

She stepped toward him. “I didn’t deceive you either, don’t you see? The negotiations with Blood Silk was business. You don’t tell me all your business deals.”

“Business deals that don’t conflict with our relationship.”

She laid a hand on his arm. “Trent, baby—”

He backed away. “It’s over, Lindsey.”

“You don’t mean that. You’re hurt. You’ll get over this when you see how well we work together. You can help me build Blood Silk. One day, we’ll take over Horizon. We’ll produce the biggest blockbusters to hit the big screen. Imagine what we can do together. Your resources and my connections.”

Fury hit like a tsunami. “We’re done.”

His cell phone cut in with a bugle tone playing taps. Trent jarred. The second line was strictly for emergencies. He tapped the screen, then pressed the phone to his ear.

“This is Trent. What’s wrong?”

“Forgive the intrusion,” Doris O’Brien said. “We didn’t want to alarm you, sir, but we couldn’t locate you in the ballroom and we couldn’t reach you on the regular line. Your grandfather is asking for you, and I wanted to let you know that he’s looking a bit overtired.”

Fear rammed through Trent. “I’m on my way.” He ended the call then pushed past Lindsey.

“Is he okay?” Lindsey took two steps to follow him.

“That is no longer any of your concern.”