Unyielding (Tortured Love Book 1) by Ravenna Tate Page B

there. I won’t be long.”
    He rose and left her suite. Okay. So that hadn’t been the most romantic proposition, but that wasn’t what he did. He’d told her so. Still, this evening had been way more pleasant than she’d expected. Maybe she’d get used to the lack of romance, too?
    Right. Because that’s every woman’s dream.
    Lynda forced away the thoughts. Wishing things were different wouldn’t make them so. He was who he was, and if she wanted him to accept her and like her the way she was, she’d have to do the same in return.
    She was in this marriage, for better or worse. Papers had been signed. A deal had been struck. This was a commitment that, if she broke by filing for divorce, would ruin her family’s company. She couldn’t do that. And if she was being completely honest, she didn’t hate Merrick.
    He wasn’t mistreating her, he wasn’t holding her here against her will, he wasn’t forcing her to give up her work, and he wasn’t trying to isolate her from friends or family. Living in this apartment was the stuff fairytales were made of, although Lynda had never been into those kinds of things.
    She thought she’d had the perfect relationship with Rey. She’d been dead wrong. Maybe the perfect relationship didn’t exist? Perhaps she’d been looking at this the wrong way? Maybe what she needed to do was change the point of view, like she did when she was having trouble getting a design just right?
    A turn here, a rotation there, and the logo suddenly looked more like she pictured it in her mind. That’s how she’d approach this marriage. She’d tweak things at the corners, little by little, until it felt comfortable and solid. That she knew how to do.
    And then she’d work on putting her past where it belonged. In the trash forever, where it could never hurt her again.
    ****
    The last thing Merrick wanted to do was argue with someone right before he planned to fuck his wife, but this couldn’t wait. He didn’t want the revelations Lynda had just given him to weigh on his mind tonight.
    André finally answered his phone, and from the sound of his voice, Merrick had woken him. Tough shit. “Did you choose Lynda’s wedding dress, or did she choose it?”
    “What? Merrick?”
    “Yeah. It’s me. Answer the question.”
    “Why the fuck are you calling me this late?”
    “It’s not even eight in the evening. Answer it.”
    Merrick listened to something rustling. “I fell asleep. Is it really only eight?”
    “Stop fucking with me, André. Answer my question.”
    “I chose it, okay? She wanted something from a boutique shop in Chelsea, for fuck’s sake.”
    “It was her choice to make, not yours. And speaking of choices, why didn’t you let her have her friends in the wedding party?”
    “Because they were all like her. Arsty-fartsy types who wouldn’t know a genuine Prada bag from the fake ones sold on every street corner. What’s your problem? This was supposed to make you look good. To make you both look good. Did you expect me to let her choose women who looked like they walked over the bridge from Brooklyn that morning, or let her dress them in something she picked up at a bargain basement sale from Macy’s?”
    André had no fucking clue how wrong he was about Lynda and her taste. Plus it hadn’t been his judgment to make. “It wasn’t your job to boss her around and make all the choices. I won’t be using your services again.”
    “ What? ”
    “You heard me, André. You’re fired.” Merrick disconnected the call and then paced the great room. He had just defended his wife’s right to make her own choices, and the way she appeared to society as a whole. That wasn’t like him at all, but this situation pissed him off because it had made him look like a fool. He’d done exactly the same thing. He’d judged Lynda and made assumptions that he was slowly discovering were based on incorrect information.
    Then again, André had done exactly what Merrick had paid him