"Overpriced?"
"No, it's not a bad deal. "I understand it's been in the family for a long time. I advised them to lease it for a while before they made up their mind." He cocked his head to the side and winked. "It would make a great honeymoon cabin."
"Isolated?" She was half listening to him while she watched Denton reluctantly leave Clarissa and glance around the crowd.
Megan stepped off the verandah onto a walkway that led through the garden. Let him look.
The agent followed her. "I even considered buying it and renting it out. It would be perfect hideaway - old log cabin in excellent condition...breathtaking scenery."
"You've been there?"
"No, I just saw the pictures. The owners said there were wild plum and cherry trees, all kinds of nuts and berries - a regular gold mine of natural food. They call it the Natural State, you know. Clean air, clear water."
"Sounds like a great retreat."
Denton had spotted them. Megan stepped forward and the heel of her sandal sank into a seam in the walkway. Pain shot through her ankle and her knee buckled. She had a brief view of Denton's face before her own plunged into the agent's chest. His strong arms caught her. She clung to him as she scrambled to regain her footing. Shifting her weight off the injured ankle, she pushed away from him.
Denton scowled at her as he stopped beside them. It must have looked anything but innocent.
"Mr. Muldrow. I'd appreciate it if you'd take your hands off my fiancé.
Muldrow's neck turned red and his eyes bugged. "I wasn't...she fell and I..."
Denton turned the scowl on him. "Never mind. Just leave us alone."
The agent scurried away and Denton immediately turned on her.
"Really, Megan. Out here in the bushes with a man you just met. What's wrong with you? Have you forgotten you're engaged to me?"
All this fuss from the man who had spent the last fifteen minutes in the arms of another woman? She frowned up at him. "I twisted my ankle and fell. He caught me. That's all there was to it."
He took her elbow and led her back toward the verandah.
"What were you doing out here in the dark with him anyway? What would people think?"
He didn't even care about her ankle. She jerked her arm away. "Frankly, I don't care what people think."
His jaw tightened and his voice was low and threatening. "You're going to have to learn to care if you want to be my wife."
"I don't want to be your wife." As soon as the words left her mouth she wished she had been more artful. It wasn't how she had planned to tell him.