King's Treasure (Oil Kings Book 3) by Marie Johnston (great novels .TXT) 📗

surprised, but the news otherwise had no bearing on his demeanor. But he didn’t know how wealthy my family was.

“People like him know. Just like you should know better. If it’s not the money, it’s the . . .” He waved his hand, his face deepening from red to purple.

Xander stepped in. “Savvy has a lot more to offer than her wallet or her looks.” He took my hand again and it was all I could do not to hide behind him. His words probably made things worse, but I appreciated the effort. It was already more than any previous date had done.

Chief zeroed in on Xander, like my new husband was an enemy sniper hiding in the backyard. “And what is it, exactly, that you do?”

One of the men hanging out in the entry of the restaurant wandered out, his gaze drifting over me.

Gentry King. The man I’d worked so hard to impress yesterday was about to witness Chief humiliating me. I hoped he was too busy and disengaged from the daily details of his work to realize the professional Sapphire Abbot he was supposed to have met with yesterday had shown up today married to a guy her dad hated.

Mr. King wasn’t any different than his pictures, but his presence packed a punch. He was almost as tall as Xander, his shoulders just as broad, but his expression was much less hostile than Chief’s. No doubt he was putting two and two together and figuring out I was Chief’s daughter. I wouldn’t have believed the power he held over Chief if my father didn’t visibly calm down the instant Mr. King stepped closer to us. This account was extremely important to Chief. My mini-crisis was averted. He’d hold himself together through the meal, but I’d get another berating afterward.

Mr. King’s gaze left me and landed on Xander. His brows rose, his eyes filling with curiosity, but also brightening, like he was happy to see my husband. “Xander? What are you doing here?”

Before I could muddle through how Gentry King knew my new husband, Xander said, “Hi, Dad.”

Xander

What the hell was Dad doing with this trumped-up jackass?

But as I answered Dad, Savvy’s hand went limp. I let it fall away—it was either that or tighten my grip and crush her bones to hold on to her—but when I glanced at her, I froze.

Her eyes were full of dismay when she turned to me. “You’re a King?”

“And you’re my treasure,” I said automatically. Hadn’t she caught my play on words earlier?

Did she not know my last name? I struggled to recall when we’d each shared that detail. The ceremony wasn’t as clear as it should have been. We’d both had a lot to drink but we hadn’t been stupid drunk.

“You . . .” Walter Abbot blinked back and forth between me and his daughter. The next time his gaze landed on me, it was like he saw a whole new person. He was seeing Xander King now, a kid from a family that owned an oil empire. He switched his lighter blue gaze to Savvy, a smile playing over his lips, his eyes shining. “You married a King?”

“Married?” Dad echoed.

Fuck.

I didn’t want to break the news to my family like this. “I haven’t had a chance to call you yet. To call any of you.” Dammit. Were all my brothers still in town? I was torn between triumph that I wasn’t the one to fuck up the trust fund, and desperation to show them that I was serious about this girl. She wasn’t a means to an end. I wasn’t using her.

Dad’s wife, Kendall, exited the restaurant and another man I didn’t recognize wandered out after her. Were we making a spectacle or were we just that late?

Kendall’s keen gaze evaluated the group as she stopped at Dad’s side. She flashed me a kind smile. “Xander, I didn’t think we’d see you again before we left.”

Dad’s smile was tight, only as polite as necessary. The smile I was used to when he discussed me and my lack of accomplishments with others. It was a mix of perpetual disbelief and disappointment that I hadn’t done more with my life coming from the family that I had. “Xander was just going to introduce us to his new wife.”

“Oh.” Kendall blinked, her eyes going round. “Oh.” I hated how she said it with frank understanding. Kendall and Dad thought I’d only married Savvy to meet the terms of my trust. Maybe it was a little true. It was a shitload of money. But the thought denigrated Savvy more than the Chief did.

I put my hand on Savvy’s back and she jerked straight. It was a tense situation, but she seemed unhappier with me than with her father. “Savvy, this is my father, Gentry King, and his wife, Kendall. She works for King Oil as well.”

Kendall grinned, leeching some tension out of the air. “So nice to meet you, Savvy.” My stepmother was only a couple years older than me, but she was a good fit for Dad. Aside from running the company, he’d been as aimless as me before he met her. “Have you had a chance to introduce her to the others?”

“Others?” Savvy squeaked.

“My brothers.” I had told her all about them. Mostly stories about us growing up and the death of my mother when I was eleven.

“Right.” She nodded stiffly, clasping her hands in front of herself. I briefly met Dad’s eyes. It was enough to see the simmering disappointment. He was a romantic and while he didn’t want to see the money from my trust go to someone else, he also didn’t like the idea that I was using someone.

I didn’t either. I was determined to make this a real marriage. I’d never met anyone like Savvy. I’d never been with someone I couldn’t get enough of physically. With others, walking away had been easy, and I never needed to nurse my wounds for long if the breakup hadn’t been my idea. But with