Read His to Keep: A Billionaire Romance (His to Have Book 3) for Free Online

guess I’m going to break the news to Cat that we’re going to spend a weekend with her father. Maybe I should let you do that.”  
    “You’re on your own,” Damien says. “She’ll be fine with it.”
    “Yeah, me, Richard Carlisle and live ammunition. What could she possibly have to worry about?”

CHAPTER 8

    CATHERINE

    Stepping out of Blake’s car into the crisp autumn air, I wonder how in the world I agreed to this. A hunting retreat in November, in Vermont. It’s early afternoon, and the temperature is hovering in the mid-40s. By night, it will be below freezing, and there’s a good chance of snow. I can see my breath as I look up at the lodge. It’s an imposing stone structure, a ten thousand dollar a night rental with a dozen bedrooms and enormous lead paned windows that open to an imposing view of fields and mountains.
    I wonder how long this building has been here, how many parties it has seen, how many breakups and reunions. Blake grabs the bags out of the back seat of his Porsche and strides up beside me. When Blake told me we had been invited to go shooting with my father, I thought he was joking. It took me two days to agree to this and another week to decide that it was for the best. It would be an opportunity to make sure my father wasn’t planning anything, and it would give me an opportunity to see if my father and Blake could manage to be civil with each other.
    Hunting . When Blake told me my father had invited us hunting, I wondered which one of them had lost his mind. My father had always regarded hunting as beneath his station, a game for fat men in orange vests, but as we walk up the steps to the grand front entrance of the lodge, I understand what he was going for. This isn’t about hunting at all. It is about announcing that he has money again without appearing to throw it around.  
    It is also about sending a message to Blake. This is about old money, about having something Blake can never have.   We won’t be deer hunting. It will be something more patrician than that. If he’d had the time, I’m sure my father would have shipped in horses and hounds and announced a fox hunt complete with red jackets. Our first step into the lodge only confirms my suspicions. The entryway leads to an enormous staircase that doubles back beneath a large stained glass window.
    There’s already some kind of gathering going on in the lounge to the side of the main foyer. Even through the french doors, I can smell the sweet twang of cigar smoke. I convince Blake to go upstairs first. An old retreat in the country. Houseguests I’ve never met. Money. Resentment. Firearms. It feels like the setup to a murder mystery. We find our bedroom and let ourselves in. I step into the bathroom while Blake pushes ahead. I hear his laughter before I’ve even shut the door.
    “What is it?” I ask.  
    “You’ll have to see it to believe it.”
    A moment later I join him and shake my head in disbelief. My father has given us a room with two twin beds. “Seriously?” I can’t help but ask.
    Blake laughs. “You have to hand it to him,” he says.
    “Are you mad?” I say.
    “No, I just find it amusing. We’ll figure things out. Besides, there’s always a chance that this goes so poorly that we’ll leave before tonight anyway.”  
    “You’re the one who asked me to come,” I tell him.
    “Let’s go downstairs and see what your father’s up to,” Blake says. “I’m sure he has more in store for us.
    Back downstairs, I see a few familiar faces. There are old acquaintances of my father, parents of friends who were nowhere to be seen when we’d hit hard times. Now that my father had some semblance of wealth again, they were all too glad to flock back to his side. But most of the faces are new. From what Blake’s told me, they’re investors in and clients of his company. There’s a chance my father’s using this weekend as an opportunity to start establishing a power base within Blake’s