Read Online Improperly Wed by Anna DePalo - Free Book Online Page A

a legal accounting, but then you’d only be entitled to a portion of the cash value from the sale of the estates to a third party.”
    The rat. Colin would rigorously litigate. She should have known better than to try to best Colin at his own game. Business moguls like him kept schools of corporate lawyers well-fed.
    â€œWhat about the property that you acquired through your business during our nonmarriage?” she challenged. “Wouldn’t that be considered marital property subject to division in a divorce? We don’t have a prenuptial agreement.”
    â€œSince our marriage has been brief and defunct from day one—” he didn’t say thanks to you, though Belinda felt the words as an accusation “—it’s unlikely that a court would view those as up for grabs. In any case, I assume your first priority would be trying to get back the Wentworth estate.”
    Belinda tried to keep the defeat out of her shoulders, because he was right.
    â€œIt seems we’re at an impasse.”
    â€œYou’ve obviously given this thought,” she accused.
    â€œQuite, but then three years is a long time to ruminate…about having a wife without conjugal rights.”
    Belinda felt the flush crawl up her face. “What makes you think I give a fig for what happens to some old buildings and parcels of land an ocean away?”
    â€œOh, you do,” he returned silkily. “The Mayfair town house and the Berkshire estate are where you spent your childhood.”
    Belinda bit her bottom lip.
    â€œI only observed you from afar,” Colin added mockingly, “but I was aware enough of your comings and goings to understand that much.”
    He was right, damn him.
    She recalled running through the halls of the Mayfair town house when she was four or five, and later, learning to ride a horse on the Berkshire estate. And then there had been the innumerable dinner parties. She’d watched her mother get ready for them by donning an expensive gown and selecting the jewels from the family safe. When she was still an adolescent, she’d been invited to join those dinner parties. It was where she’d first met artists of national and international importance and learned the love of art that she’d turned into a career.
    Still, she knew enough not to give away too much. “What do you want?”
    â€œI want the woman I married. The one who made decisions for herself, instead of following in her family’s footsteps. For a wife like that, I might be willing to come to some sort of compromise about the disposal of my properties.”
    â€œI’m not into rebellion enough to be your wife.”
    â€œOh, you’re more of a rebel than you think,” Colin returned smoothly, stepping closer.
    Belinda lifted her eyebrows in mock inquiry.
    â€œOne can even say your move to New York, distancing yourself from the other Wentworths, was a small act of rebellion.”
    She felt strangely exposed.
    â€œIt’s your choice,” Colin said. “You can choose to be a Princess Leia or a Han Solo. You can choose to be a stick-in-the-mud and annul our marriage for another safe and family-approved husband, or you can be someone who lives life according to her own terms. Which is it going to be?”
    â€œFrankly, it’s like being offered a bargain by Darth Vader,” she tossed back, covering her sudden confusion.
    Colin’s eyes crinkled, and then he laughed.
    Belinda swallowed. Despite her flippant response, Colin’s words hit close to home. But then, what did he know of her life? She wasn’t a stick-in-the-mud, damn it. She was just responsible.
    This conversation was enough to make a girl long for some shopping therapy.
    â€œWhat’s in this for you?” she asked.
    â€œI told you. I’m cultivating an investment.”
    She fought the urge to stamp her foot in frustration. “I don’t know what that