The Millionaire's Arranged Marriage by Tina Martin Read Free Book Online Page A

sad, how I ended up on the website. So I tell him, “They say desperate times calls for desperate measures, and if giving me away in marriage would ensure my family lived in sanitary conditions, then I was willing to do it.”
    “What do you mean?”
    “Well, I was poor. In many ways, I still am. But anyway, growing up, myself, my Father and two sisters lived in very old, houses...houses that should’ve probably been abandoned, but that’s all we could afford. These houses didn’t even have bathrooms and running water.”
    “Really?”
    “Yeah. Really. We were dirt poor. So my Father found the website, and he thought the man I was being placed with was a stand-up guy. He doesn’t know how bad Dilvan treats me. I never told him. Actually, Dilvan doesn’t allow me to call them. I can only talk to my family when I visit Padma.”
    Tyson shakes his head. “That’s a shame.”
    I feel him looking at me, staring while I eat and suddenly, I no longer want to chew.
    “What else has Dilvan done to you?”
    “ Um...”
    “How’s e r’thang?” Beatrice asks, as she opens the door, barging into the room and our conversation. “Would you like more soup, Tyson?”
    “Yes ma’am. Your soup is amazing.”
    Beatrice smiles big. “Mrs. Padma say you make a mean soup yourself, Tyson.”
    “Yeah, but it’s not as good as yours,” he tells her.
    Beatrice blushes. She loves it when people compliment her cooking.
    “What ‘ bout you, Gabrielle?” Beatrice asks. “More soup, honey?”
    “No thanks, Beatrice. It is delicious, but I’m stuffed.”
    “Okay, shug. Tyson, I’ll be right back wit’ your bowl.”
    Beatrice leaves again, but is back quickly with a bowl of hot clam chowder for Tyson.
    He talks more, and I say he talks because I barely said a word to him. I just listened as he went on and on about the work he was involved in. He said he helped Padma with her charities and assisted with other things she needed help with.
     
    * * *
     
    After dinner, I’m so sleepy, I can no longer keep my eyes open. So I nod off, though I’m not fully asleep. It’s still difficult for me to sleep in this room because it’s not my room, and because Tyson is here, watching me.
    My eyes open when I hear his footsteps pattering against the wooden floor. I have flashbacks for a moment, thinking it’s Dilvan coming to hurt me again. I curl up in a ball and pull the bed covers up tight around my body. Then I realize it’s not Dilvan’s footsteps. It’s Tyson.
    Tyson sits on the bed next to me, adjusts the covers and say, “You can rest easy tonight, Gabrielle. I won’t hurt you. I promise.”
    He smiles. I don’t know him that well, but for some reason or another, I know I can trust him when he says he won’t hurt me. He’s here to help me instead.
    So I breathe easy. I will sleep well tonight. Tyson will protect me. Padma sent him to make sure I was okay, and I’m sure he would do his job.

 
     
     
    CHAPTER 9
     
    Dilvan
     
    - - -
     
    “Nice restaurant choice ,” Isabella said, as Dilvan pulled the seat out from the table for her, being a complete gentleman.
    He’d heard about JiRaffe Restaurant before, knew it was an elegant place to dine, so he’d made reservations for them.
    “I know you have good taste,” he told her.
    “How do you know that?” she asked playfully, sending him a striking smile, almost blushing.
    “Just a well, educated guess,” he replied.
    “You guessed right.”
    “You look very beautiful tonight,” he told her, his eyes rolling down to her cleavage. She’d exposed more than an average woman would have, probably because she was accustomed to being scantily clad. It came with her profession.
    “Thank you.”
    “You’re welcome.”
    “So let’s see what’s good here,” she said, picking up a menu, holding it in front of her face, then peeping around it, smiling at him.
    Dilvan found her playfulness appealing.
    “I don’t eat meat, ” she added, “So I hope they have