The Possessive Lord's Contract Wife

Damien watched the carriage until it passed through the gates. Only then did he turn to his right, striding towards his horse.

"Where are you going?" Zayne asked, following close behind.

"To meet with my aunt. If I don’t move now, I’ll miss her. Stay here if you want," Damien said, mounting his horse with swift precision. "I shouldn’t be gone for long."

"I’m coming with you. We might be on your land, but I don’t trust your aunt at the moment not to set you up. I’ll dismount at a good distance so she can’t see me, and I’ll come to you should you need help," Zayne insisted, attempting to mount the horse beside him.

Damien pushed him back with irritation. "That I am not against, but why are you trying to mount my horse? There are plenty of others. Did you not come here on your own?"

"I did not think we had time to spare to bring and saddle my horse. It might also make some noise, so allow me to go with you. Now is not the time to argue," Zayne said, swinging himself up onto the horse. "There isn’t any shame in relatives riding together."

"We are not relatives."

"We are about to be family once I have married Iris. You cannot avoid what is coming, Damien. Now, let us leave," Zayne said, his eyes fixed forward with anticipation. He hoped Hayden would arrive to get rid of him.

Damien sighed, not eager to have Zayne riding with him, but since time pressed upon him, he rode off from the front steps.

Damien rode until the estate shrank behind him. Ahead stretched the grassy lands between his home and Camille’s, with guards patrolling to keep the nearby families safe.

Zayne dismounted at a distance, slipping into the shadows, hidden from view. He crouched low, prepared to intervene should Damien’s meeting turn hostile.

As Damien approached, Camille was already off her horse with a guard holding the reins. She looked poised as she always did.

Camille was pleasantly surprised to see Damien arrive alone, but she did not let her guard down.

"Damien, who do you have waiting in the shadows to kill me?" Camille asked as she stepped forward. "Is there a gun pointed at me now? I know you wouldn’t have come alone, so I brought my guard. Is there an attack waiting?"

"No," Damien replied, dismounting and tying his horse to a nearby tree. "If I wanted you dead, I wouldn’t give anyone the chance to steal that moment from me. I didn’t bring you here to harm you."

"I am yet to believe you, Damien. The last time we saw each other, I could have died if not for my child arriving," Camille said, still shaken up by the memory.

It was a moment neither could forget.

"Walk with me," Damien said, his gaze lingering on her guard. "I truly don’t mean harm, and we will not go out of his sight. It wasn’t easy for me to decide to meet with you."

"Surely, you understand why I don’t want to be too alone with you, Damien. Our relationship isn’t as it was before," Camille said cautiously.

"It isn’t, and it will never return to that point. But I have come to you to go a step forward for Jane’s sake. She is the one caught in the middle, and the only way for her to find some normality again is for us to speak. You may keep your distance while we walk," Damien offered.

Camille peered back at her guard. His presence was not only for protection. She wanted someone to listen to their conversation and be a witness should she need to take matters to court.

"I will walk with you, but at a distance," Camille agreed.

She kept more than an arm’s length between them. "I am surprised you would speak to me again, even if it is for Jane’s sake. I know you too well, Damien, and I am led to assume you are plotting. I wish I could believe otherwise."

"It feels that way because I have not forgiven you yet. I cannot ignore what you said about my family and how you behaved. You know it isn’t easy for me to forgive and forget. I must be careful to protect myself and my siblings," Damien said, keeping his tone calm to bring a sense of safety.

He peered down at Camille, noticing how she believed him.

"I am well aware of how you must be, but it wounded me to see how you treated me after all I did for you. I should not have struck Jane, as I would not have liked it done to my children. I will apologise to her, but I also expect an apology from her," Camille demanded.

"I cannot force Jane to apologise. That will need to be settled when the two of you sit together. I will admit my behaviour wasn’t suited to your home, where your children could witness it," Damien confessed.

"It is good that we have some understanding. I am not proud of my actions as of late, so I was grateful to hear you ask to meet. But it surprised me that you did not involve our spouses," Camille said, still unsettled by Eloise’s absence. "My husband should be here, as well as your wife."

"There has been plenty said which leaves me uncomfortable with bringing her near. I have spoken with Hayden in private, and some of what he said has troubled me. Forgive me for saying this, but I feel his troubles go beyond what has happened of late," Damien said, laying the trap for Camille.

Camille looked up at him, startled by how his thoughts mirrored her own. She had doubted herself, but hearing Damien voice the same unease was confirmation she was not imagining it.

"How so?" Camille asked as she toyed with her fingers in an effort to calm herself.

"I get the sense he is trying to take the estate from me and claim it for himself. He seems like the sort to think my parents’ deaths were an opportunity for him, but I must be wrong. He must be well aware of how much you loved my father," Damien said, his gaze shifting away just as Camille reached out to stop him.

"Are you trying to claim that he harmed your parents? That is not possible," Camille said, unwilling to let the thought take root.

"I cannot claim it, because he was home with you, and he came to the estate many times to comfort us. Still, you must get him to change how he acts," Damien urged. "His only saving grace was being home with you that day while my parents were in the accident. It is as the court reported."

"As the court reported?" Camille repeated, startled. She had never heard this before.

Her mind raced back to that dreadful day when the news came. She remembered Hayden being away in the morning. His absence was unexplained and his return too conveniently timed, but she thought nothing of it since she had just lost her dear brother.

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