Chapter 926 Prying for Answers âAre you sure? Even if youâre ill, itâs my duty as your fiance to be very concerned.â Brendan narrowed his eyes. âOr are you sulking because Iâve been neglecting you?â
As he spoke, he quietly drew his distance closer and closer to Charlene until his face was only several inches away from her. âI mulled about it for a moment and decided that, yes, Iâve been unfair to you.
We are to be married, after all. Iâll be staying here for the night.â
That offer would have sent Charlene straight to rapture if it had happened at literally any other time. At that moment, though? It just made her so panicked she was on the verge of breaking down.
âNo!â
She rejected him so immediately and urgently that Brendan stared at her.
â1-1 mean, what about Miss McKinnon? Sheâs still here in the mansion! I thought about this and, you know, itâs inappropriate to do this to her when sheâs pregnant with your kid. We still have a lot of time together, but hers is running out. We should, you know, be the bigger people, right?â
Something lit up in Brendanâs eyes. âYour kindness might be wasted on her.â âI donât mind,â Charlene smiled weakly and did all she could to put on a convincing act of compassion. âMiss McKinnonâs small-
hearted because she knows she can never be your wife. But Iâm different. Iâm your significant other and the future mistress of the Brighthall family. I need to embody grace and graciousness.â
Brendanâs gaze turned profound. âYouâre doing so much. Thank you.â
Charlene gnashed her teeth through the agony. âNo, not at all. Go! Keep Miss McKinnon c-companyâ¦â
Brendan shot her one last look and left. Charlene trembled in rage as soon as the door clicked into the frame. Worried that throwing a tantrum in her room would attract attention, she could only hide in her bathroom and sweep every item unfortunate enough to be in her line of sight to the floor.
She looked in the mirror and saw a worn-out woman staring back at her. Her eyes turned red. She had sacrificed so much-so she needed a win! She could not afford to lose!
As Brendan came out of her room, Deirdre was nibbling at the food behind the dining table. He joined her, and neither of them spoke.
It was only after she returned to the first floor that Brendan did his usual routine of breaking into her room through the window.
âWhat are you doing!?â she cried, bewildered. The thought of barricading her windows just kept getting more and more seductive.
Brendan lowered his head and kissed her before rubbing his lips against the edge of her supple lips.
âPrying for answers, of course. Wasnât that what you were hinting at?â
Deirdre was livid. âHinting at what? I didnât hint at anything at all!â
He ignored her flimsy denial. He carried her fragile body in his arms and gently set her on the bed. âOh, really? Then whatâs with the hesitation during our call this afternoon?â âWell, itâs about-â Deirdre almost said it aloud before forcing the words back into her throat at the last minute. She had no hard proof that Charlene had sex with other men.
âAbout what?â Brendanâs eyes were twinkling with a mischievous smile that eluded even himself. As he studied the young woman lying below him, he could not help but tease her.
Deirdre was hard-pressed to answer him and made her frustration obvious by shoving him away. âCanât you just pretend it was a whim? Like, maybe I knocked myself in the head and said something stupid in that momentary concussion? Just get out already. Have you already forgotten all about that time Mrs.
Engel found you hiding in my bedroom, huh?â
Brendan hugged her even more tightly. âAh, but itâs Charlene who told me to keep your company today.â âSay what? Charlene!?â Deirdre was aghast. âAre you messing with me!?â
What could make Charlene, obsessed with the goal of pulling Brendan away from Deirdre by any means necessary, agree to let him into her room!?
âNo, itâs true,â he replied. âI actually offered to stay with her for a bit as reparations for ignoring her these few days. But she was surprisingly very against it. She was even adamant that I stay with you instead, saying that we have ample time to be together while your time with me is finite.â
Brendan pressed his cheek close to the young womanâs ear and exhaled quietly, letting his breath roll into her ear and neck. It felt like the grazing of a featherlight touch or the act of being covered by a wispy shroud. Every tickle his breath elicited was pulsing with sensuality.