The receptionist blinked. “Ma’am, do you have an appointment—”
“No,” I said, lifting my chin. “But tell Isaac Halt that Nadine Colton wants to see him. Now.”
They must’ve recognized my last name, after all Colton’s a rival family, because panic flashed across the receptionist’s face before she scrambled to the phone.
Minutes later, Isaac appeared — tall, severe, intimidating. His gaze swept over me, taking in everything.
He frowned. “And what’s my rival’s wife doing in my company? Did he send—”
“I need a husband,” I said.
His jaw tightened. “Excuse me?”
I met his eyes dead-on.
“Can you marry me?”
Isaac stared at me like I’d just told him the sky was green. Then he laughed.
“Let me get this straight,” he said, leaning back in his leather chair. “You barged into my building without an appointment, demanded to see me, ignored my secretary, and now you’re asking me to marry you.”
“Yes,” I said, lifting my chin.
He blinked once. Twice. “You’re still married, Nadine.”
“Not really.” I slid a thick envelope across his desk. “I already filed for divorce.”
His brows rose. “You filed this fast?”
“My mother helped,” I said simply. “So yes. I’m free. And you—” I looked him straight in the eye “—you can marry me now.”
His lips curved. Not kindly. Not mockingly. More like someone fascinated by a fire spreading across a field. “Why me?”
Because Lewis once told me to stay away from Isaac Halt. Because Lewis hated him. Because Isaac was the one man Lewis never beat, never intimidated, never matched. Because Isaac is everything Lewis pretends to be. But I didn’t say that.
Instead, I said, “I heard you were looking for a wife.”
That got his attention. A slow, assessing look swept over me.
“And what exactly,” he asked, voice dropping, “do you think you can offer me?”
“Everything.”
Isaac’s brows arched slightly.
“I’ll do anything you want,” I said. “Anything you need. Just—” I swallowed hard “—marry me.”
He pressed his fingers together. “I want a child.”
My heart paused.
“My father has been demanding one,” he continued, tone cool. “An heir. That’s the only deal I’m offering. Marriage in exchange for a child. Everything else in the contract is negotiable. But that part isn’t.”
My pulse throbbed in my ears. I placed a hand over my stomach, feeling the fragile flutter of life inside me.