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a very interesting area of study.” Christina should know; she’d studied every case history, textbook explanation and word-of-mouth example she’d been able to get her hands on. The stroke damage had healed; still, Lily had not come back to them.

      â€œYou’re gonna make a wonderful nurse someday, Nicole,” Nolen said, beaming as if she were his own grandchild.

      â€œYes, you are,” Christina agreed. She’d encouraged Nicole from the moment the girl had come around asking questions about Christina’s duties. Now the young woman was a nursing student at the university forty minutes away and helped Christina with Lily on certain nights and weekends.

      Christina went through the motions of checking Lily’s pulse while Nicole and Nolen quietly discussed some problems she’d had with her car this week.

      Christina laid her hand on Lily’s forehead, noting the normal temperature, and scanned the monitors beeping nearby through habit. But there, the professionalism ended. She leaned closer to Lily’s ear.

      â€œHe’s home, Lily.” She sighed. “He doesn’t like it, but for now, he’s here. I’ll bring him to see you soon.”

      There was no indication that Lily had heard, just the beeps of the monitors. Lily’s thin, pale features never moved; her eyes never opened. But Christina had to believe she was happy to know her son was back under Blackstone Manor’s roof. She wouldn’t be happy about her father’s machinations, though. To force two people to marry... Christina shivered as she remembered the feel of Aiden’s intense gaze penetrating the thin veneer with which she protected her emotions.

      The housekeeper’s arrival drew her from her thoughts. “So what’s this I hear about a wedding?” Marie asked, marching in, still dressed in the apron printed with the words “I make this kitchen hotter” the sixty-five-year-old wore whenever she knew James wouldn’t catch her.

      Christina wanted to groan. How had the news spread through the house so fast? Sometimes she thought the staff had the place bugged.

      â€œIt’s more of a business agreement than a wedding,” Christina said, a slight wave of dizziness rushing over her at the thought. “If there is a wedding...” She wasn’t entirely sure Aiden would go through with it, once that hot streak of defiance cooled. Could she, if it gave her the legal right to protect Lily?

      But she couldn’t share a bed with him. Surely, they could get around that part....

      â€œIt’s unnatural, is what it is,” Nolen interjected. “Two strangers entering into something as sacred as marriage.”

      â€œAnd those words of wisdom brought to you by a lifelong bachelor.” Marie grinned. “Besides, they aren’t strangers. They’ve known each other since they were kids.”

      There were flutters of panic in Christina’s chest as she remembered that last face-to-face meeting with a seventeen-year-old Aiden. She’d mooned over him from afar every time she came to visit Blackstone Manor. Sometimes the hope of seeing him had drawn her just as much as Lily’s company, but that day had taught her well how little he felt for her. Whenever she’d come near him, he’d demonstrated the same unpleasant endurance as her parents, who also looked at her as a pest that they wished would disappear. He’d called her invader many times over the years she’d hung around, aching for a bit of Lily’s attention. Yes, that was definitely how he’d seen her time here at Blackstone Manor. After that final rejection, she’d stayed as far away from Aiden Blackstone as possible.

      Nolen wasn’t letting this go. “It is unnatural, I’m tellin’ you. This isn’t a good thing. James is manipulating them, and Aiden, his own grandson, into marrying for his own damnable purposes.”

      â€œAnd what purposes would those be?” Marie asked, her hands going to her hips.

      Christina’s mouth was already open, but Nolen spoke first. “Building some god-awful legacy. As if he hasn’t introduced enough unpleasantness into this world. He threatened his own daughter if they didn’t do what he wanted.”

      â€œOh, I bet that’s all talk.” Marie looked sideways at Christina with a worried frown pulling all her wrinkles in a southern direction. “Is this true? Is he forcing you into something you don’t want?”

      This was getting way out of hand—and way more personal than Christina wanted. “No. I volunteered. And nothing has been decided yet.” But I will take care of Lily—and all of you.

      Marie went on, her frown softening a little. “Maybe our Christina is exactly what Aiden needs right now. These things happen for a reason, I do believe.”

      Christina’s heart melted with Marie’s sugar-scented hug, but she doubted anything she did would soften the hardened heart of the Blackstone heir.

      â€œYou never know what might happen in a year,” Marie said with a sly smile. “Besides, family takes care of their own. She’ll be fine here with us.”

      This conversation was almost unbelievable. If Christina hadn’t been in James’s room, she wouldn’t have believed the situation herself.

      Christina’s mind echoed with Marie’s words. A year was a short time in some ways, a long time in others. Would she come out on the other side whole? Or with a broken heart to go with her divorce decree?

      As long as Lily and the rest of her family were safe and cared for, it would be worth it for Christina. Marie was right. These people were her family, as close as she’d come to having one since her parents had divorced when she was eight. Who was she kidding? Her family had never been real.

      As a child, Christina’s sole purpose in life had been as a pawn in her mother’s strategy to extort more and more money from her father. That’s where Christina had learned what two-faced meant—her mother all lovey-dovey when Dad showed up, abandoning her at her society friends’ houses when she was no longer useful. A hard lesson, but Christina had learned it well.

      She’d promised herself when she’d turned eighteen that she’d never go back to that kind of situation; never again have no value outside of what she could do for another.

      So was she truly willing to become James Blackstone’s pawn?

      * * *

      â€œWhen are you heading back? That Zabinski woman is killing me.”

      He didn’t want to think about Ellen Zabinski right now. He had enough problems on his hands. After a solid twenty-four hours of thinking, Aiden knew what he had to do. He still didn’t want to, but this choice was inevitable.

      â€œI’m not.”

      The dead silence would have been amusing if Aiden wasn’t in such a bind. His assistant Trisha’s silence was as rare as some of the art he imported. While he waited for her to recover, he paced across his bedroom to gaze out the back window. He compared the view of the lush country yard, the gentle sway of the grass and tree branches in the breeze, with the constant motion of the city. The very sereneness made him want to fall asleep. Not in a good way. Why would he consider uprooting his busy life, even if it was only for a few months?

      A myriad of reasons not to do this rambled through his mind—work, taking a stand against his grandfather’s high-handedness, a lack of interest in the mill and a whole host of other things. Then his gaze fell on the chestnut-haired beauty strolling across the lawn to talk to the gardener. Christina smiled, stealing his breath. Her stride was sure, and those hips... As she spoke, her hands gestured with elegant grace to illustrate her words.

      He should be worried about his mom—not her nurse. But as Christina looked up into the fifty-year-old weeping willow in the backyard, exposing

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