Her mother called him careless, and that was it exactly. He didn’t hurt others because he was an asshole. He hurt them because he was careless.
That didn’t make it okay. It didn’t mean his rough edges couldn’t cut her. They had already. So she should run, right? Cut him loose and count herself lucky.
She looked at the pile of takeout boxes. Yes, he could be careless, but he could also be incredibly considerate.
Telling Gemma to take off her coat for photos on a freezing night… and then tripping over himself to make sure she had everything she needed to stay warm today.
As if he’d realized his mistake and made sure he never did it again. Which was better than any apology, right?
I don’t know Mason, but I get the feeling he’s a lot more complicated than he seems.
Gemma looked at the photo still on her laptop, the two of them at the beach, Mason smiling his real smile, Gemma smiling hers.
Cut him loose and count herself lucky?
If only it were that easy.
MASON
Mason thought he had this book figured out. Okay, yes, Laird Argyle was clearly based on him, but that was okay because it was what they called a redemption arc. Mason had read romances before, and it was one of his favorite storylines. The heroine sees past the worst in the hero and helps him become a better person, worthy of her love. Worthy of her trust, really, because that was even more important.
This meant, following the pattern, that Lilias was the heroine. You take a guy who can be a jerk, and you pair him with a woman who won’t put up with that shit, a woman who doesn’t gently show him the error of his ways but kicks his ass until he wakes up.
This was probably why he liked this kind of story so much. Because it reminded him of Gemma, who’d never taken his shit.
But that wasn’t how this story went. Laird Argyle sniffed around Lilias, only to be firmly rebuffed. It seemed he hadn’t really been all that interested in her anyway. The true object of his desire was… Edin?
In Edin, Argyle apparently saw a sweet innocent virgin who would…? Hell if Mason knew. Clear up the venereal diseases hemust have caught dipping his wick in all those women before the age of condoms?
Apparently, it was one of those stories where the love of a good woman makes a man better. Those stories were bullshit. His mom had been a good woman, and she’d loved his dad, and look where it got her. Mason’s father just took advantage, walked all over his mother, and made them both miserable, dragging Mason down with them.
It seemed that Lilias’s role was the voice of reason. She kept trying to tell Edin that she was making a mistake. Sure, Laird Argyle loved his children, but that wasn’t enough. He could be a strong warrior and a good lord without being a complete douchebag.
Edin didn’t listen. She was in love. Or at least in lust, because that’s when the sex started. And, hoo boy, once it started it didn’t stop.
At first, Mason had fast-forwarded. If Argyle was him and Edinwasn’tGemma, it felt really awkward “watching” Argyle and Edin have sex. But eventually he was able to separate himself from Argyle and enjoy really hot sex scenes that made him temporarily forget he’d been the role model for an asshole.
Even knowing that romances required a happily ever after, Mason couldn’t help hoping that this happily ever after would involve Argyle’s untimely demise, freeing both Edin and Lilias to make proper matches in book two. After all, Lilias was continuing her crusade to stop Edin from marrying Argyle, and it seemed to be working. Maybe—
What the fuck?
Lilias just fell off a cliff.
Mason sped up the audio. He’d already started listening at 1.5x speed, except for the sex scenes, which sounded really weird in chipmunk voices.
Lilias had definitely fallen off a cliff, which meant Edin would nurse her back to health, and in their time together—away from Argyle—Lilias would convince her—
What thefuck?
Lilias was presumed dead. She fell off the cliff into the ocean anddied?
Now Mason was fast-forwarding because he couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Lilias was dead, which didn’t make Edin realize her friend had been right all along. It didn’t even make Argyle realize he was a jerk and vow to change. Lilias’s death only removed the obstacle between Edin and Argyle, which allowed them to declare their love and make plans to marry.
There was no ass kicking. Not even a gentle nudge in the right direction. The only change was that Argyle wasn’t just “not an asshole” to his kids. He’d pulled Edin into that sacred sphere. She was special, and so he would no longer be an asshole to her, and what the hell was that?
Not the story he’d expected.
Not the story he’dwanted.
