“I bought it.”

“What?” What the hell did that mean? “What?” I repeated.

“That was her plan all along.”

“Explain from the beginning.”

“When I left here after you said you didn’t want my help . . .”

I winced at that. “I hurt your feelings, didn’t I?”

He gave me this sardonic I’m a man, I don’t have feelings look, but I knew. I’d unintentionally hurt his feelings.

“I’m an asshole.”

Vaughn grinned. “You’re not. You were just upset. While you were talking with your family I started to think, why would Vanessa warn you about the dinner tonight with the Devlins? Why give you a heads-up?”

My God, I hadn’t even . . . Vaughn was right. That made no sense. Why give me time to find a way to stop her? And then, staring up at my handsome, very wealthy boyfriend, it hit me. “You.”

His expression was grim. “Me. She wanted a counteroffer.”

Nausea rose up inside of me. “She used me to get to you.”

“Bailey—”

“Oh, God, no, Vaughn, I won’t let you do this.” I stood up, holding the contract out to him. “I won’t let her manipulate you like this.”

“It’s done,” he said firmly. “And I won’t be talked out of it.”

As he took hold of my wrist and tugged me into him, the contract crushed between us, I felt something building inside of me, something huge and overwhelming and terrifying.

“My lawyer is going to draw up another contract in the morning. I’m handing the shares back over to you.”

“No.” The word was out of me before I could stop it.

“No?” Vaughn cupped my face in his hands.

My legs felt like jelly, my stomach was a riot of butterflies, and I was pretty sure even my lips were quivering.

Vaughn frowned, concerned. “You’re trembling.”

I nodded, swallowing hard past the lump of emotion in my throat. “I want you to keep the shares.”

“What? Why?”

Finally I dropped all my defenses and let everything I felt for him show. Vaughn tensed at the emotion in my eyes, and then the most beautiful sense of wonder began to fill his expression.

“I trust you,” I whispered against his lips. “I need you to know that I trust you. I know that you would never hurt me, that you would never take this place from me. So keep the shares, and do it knowing that I trust you. That I love you.”

I heard his sharp inhale, felt the slow exhale of it on my lips. “You love me?”

Scary, awesome, overwhelming joy filled me as I stared up at him. “I love you more than I’ve ever loved anyone. It scares the living daylights out of me.”

He grinned. Huge. A boyish, wicked grin that made me feel like my heart might burst out of my chest. “Welcome to my world.”

I laughed and pressed a quick, sweet kiss to his mouth. “I love you,” I repeated.

“I love you, too.” He kissed me back, this time long and deep and soulful.

When we finally came up for air I laughed again. “I didn’t think today would end like this.”

“It’s not over.” His voice was filled with sexy promise. “First, we agree that you’re taking the shares back.”

“Vaughn, no. How much did you even pay for those?”

At his shuttered look I felt my stomach drop.

“You overpaid,” I deduced. “By a whole lot.”

“Devlin was going to overpay. I had to overpay to win.”

A thought occurred to me. “She could have turned it into an auction. Made a lot of money by pitting you against one another.”

“No. She never wanted to sell to Devlin.”

“She wouldn’t have cared. She just wanted money.”

“No,” Vaughn assured me. “Your sister is a brat who has never grown up and yes, definitely resents you, but she doesn’t hate you. She never wanted to see Devlin take this from you. This was just her very clever way of getting money out of me.”

“The little brat is smarter than anyone gives her credit for.” I snuggled into him, running my hands over his chest, needing the reassurance of him beside me. “I’m still sorry she did that to you. I’m ashamed of her.”

“I know.” He rubbed my arms in comfort. “But she’s gone. She was packing as my lawyer drew up the contracts and faxed them over. When I left her room she was right behind me. I put her in a cab to the airport.”

Regret washed over me. I hated that this was the state of affairs between me and a member of my family.

“I know you’re hurting, but think of your sister’s scheme in a positive light. She got one over on Devlin. He’ll be sitting at that table in forty-five minutes waiting for the little brat to show up, wondering what the hell happened.”

I tensed.

“What?”

I looked up at my boyfriend, mirth bright in my eyes, and he grinned in response, my thoughts clear to him.

“Really?” he asked.

“Come on.” I grinned, making him laugh. “It’ll be fun.”

We left the inn after I fixed my tear-stained face and put on a nice dress. I’d given Dahlia and Mona a quick rundown of events and asked Dahlia to call my family, to explain everything was okay, and that I’d call them as soon as I’d finished my errand with Vaughn to explain all.