known the moment he cashed that check that it would come back to haunt him. That money was tainted. Dirty. And yet, that same money had changed the trajectory of his whole life. He wouldn’t apologize for making the best of a shitty situation.
Instead, he smiled. He knew that would get to her. “What’s the matter, Morgan? Did you think you were worth more than that? Should I have asked for a million to keep quiet about our indiscretion? I’m sure dear ol’ Daddy would’ve paid anything to get his little princess out of that mess. Tell me, did you panic when you realized the consequences of what we’d done? Did you wait for me to fall asleep that night and call him to come get you?”
“Of course not,” she snapped. “I don’t even know how he found us, much less how he knew we’d gotten married.”
River shook his head. “I’m sure he tracked your cell phone and credit card records, knowing every step you took. You might’ve thought you were an adult living your own life, but he just let you believe that. Trevor had you on a short leash the whole time.” He chuckled to himself and looked around at her well-appointed office. “And now you work for Daddy. He probably invented this whole job just for you. You probably live in one of Daddy’s houses and charge up Daddy’s credit cards. Sounds to me like he’s still got you on that leash.”
Morgan’s eyes narrowed at him in anger. “You shut your mouth. You don’t know anything about the dynamic between my father and me.”
“Don’t I?” he challenged. “The woman I met at that bar by the university was confident and independent. She wanted to go out into the world and make a difference. The girl who crawled from my bed with her tail between her legs was someone else entirely. Would you care to explain that to me since you think I don’t understand what happened on our wedding night?”
Morgan’s pale skin flushed with a crimson undertone along her chest, throat and cheeks. It reminded him of his younger blushing bride. And their wedding night where the blush traveled lower than the low V neckline of the blue silk blouse she was wearing now. Then her jaw flexed tight to hold in the angry words she probably couldn’t wait to spew at him. She looked like she was about to blow.
“My father cares very much about me,” she managed to say between tightly gritted teeth as she gripped her collar and held it closed to block out his prying eyes.
“No. I cared about you. I loved you. You’re just a prop in your father’s perfect family presentation. You have to fall in line or you’re cut from the spotlight.”
“Not everyone wants to be in the spotlight, River. I would’ve much rather lived a life of my choice in the shadows than a life crafted for me on my father’s stage.”
River shook his head. “I don’t believe you for a second. At any time, you could’ve stood up for yourself. You could’ve stood up for me. For our marriage. But Daddy’s money was too important to risk on a future with some poor boy with a little promise but no education. If he’d cut you off, what would life have been like for you? You would’ve had to really work for a living and make do without servants like the rest of us poor schmucks. Or from what I’ve heard, the way you would’ve been raised if you hadn’t been switched in the hospital.”
River watched the blood drain from her face. He went too far mentioning that whole thing. He’d read about it in the papers, but he was sure she was still working through it all. He shouldn’t have let all his emotions out at once. They’d been bottled up for years, festering, with their only outlet being his company and building it to be the best it could possibly be.
“It would’ve been easier if I hadn’t been switched,” she said in a voice barely louder than a whisper. “When you have nothing, there’s nothing to take away.”
“I’d heartily disagree on that point. I’ve lost plenty.” Morgan’s green-gold eyes met his for a moment before she looked away uncomfortably. “It may not have seemed like much to you, just a rebellious fling with an unsuitable boy, but it was everything to me.”
Morgan sat silently, a frown transforming her face into a guilty expression. Her gaze dropped to the blotter on her desk. “We need to stop this. It isn’t going to change the past, so we might as well put it behind us and try to be civil.”
“Of course.” River pressed his fingertips together thoughtfully. “I wouldn’t want to cause a scandal for the Steele family. Again.”
“River...” she warned.
“Like I said before, I want this project to be a success. We have some important work ahead of us. So you’re right, we can’t let our past interfere. Truce?” He arched his brow at her in a challenge. He knew he could behave, but silencing her sharp tongue might prove more difficult.
Morgan breathed a sigh of relief and her practiced smile returned to her face. She seemed confident in her abilities. He almost missed her anger once it was tamped down. At least that was a real emotion.
“Truce,” she said and offered her hand across her desk.
Tentatively, River reached out and took it. Instantly a sizzle traveled up his arm and down his spine, exploding in his groin like a shockwave of arousal. He pulled away as quickly as he could and buried his hand beneath the desk to rub the sensation off his palm and onto his pant leg. It had been like that the night of the party, too, making him both eager and cautious about touching her again.
They might be calling a truce on their fight, but the connection between him and Morgan was far from over.
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