Rebels and Lovers Read Online Free PDF

involved some delicate negotiations with the Englarian Church, whose farming cooperatives were a key producer. To be so summarily removed because he needed to appear at parties …
    “But—”
    “The reality is,” J.M. continued, “you haven’t taken a vacation in quite some time. Years. Take six months off. Enjoy your new bride. Start a family. Your brothers and I can handle everything else.”
    But … I don’t love Tavia. And she doesn’t love me
. In desperation, the truth surfaced. This wasn’t a guess.Devin and Tavia had discussed the basis of their relationship, because she, too, was under pressure from her family to marry. Her relationship with Devin, their attendance at various handball competitions, their occasional nights together, were essentially damage control lest either set of parents hook them up with a partner neither could stand. At least he and Tavia didn’t usually annoy each other. They had similar goals, similar outlooks on life.
    He’d talked to her immediately after Jonathan’s call yesterday. They agreed they had no problem being engaged, because it honestly wouldn’t change their schedules much. She had her job in corporate legal in her family’s business, her social circle, her friends. He had his. They’d get together for the next handball tournament, then likely not see each other for several weeks.
    But six months—six months with no office to go to, no reason to challenge his mind, someone else handling Baris–Agri and Webster. Nothing but him and Tavia and the constant queries about babies … No. He wouldn’t—
couldn’t—
live like Ethan and Hannah, whose four children had to deal with a drunk, philandering father and a clinging, neurotic mother. All products of a loveless corporate merger termed a marriage.
    A sharp trilling broke into his panicked thoughts.
    Jonathan pulled out his pocket comm, then frowned at the comm’s small screen. “Excuse me.” Jonathan rose and headed for the patio. The doors slid open silently when he was a few steps away, then closed just as silently behind him.
    Devin focused on his father. “With all due respect, Father, I think Tavia and I should be the ones setting a date for a wedding.”
And for everything else
.
    J.M. shrugged, but his dark eyes were unwavering. “I’m sure you feel we’re rushing you, but there are other things you must consider, things beyond your mother’s emotional state.” J.M. pushed his breakfast plate away, then folded his hands on the table, pinning Devin with his gaze. “The Embersons have an excellent relationship with Darius Tage. Their very lack of social prominence, as compared to ours, has kept them out of the political realm until recently. Yes, we’ve had Tage as a houseguest here, but we’ve also had Mason Falkner. Many times. Too many times, I’m sure, for Tage’s liking.”
    Devin willed all emotions from his face and his body. Mason Falkner, onetime Imperial senator from Dafir, was now the new head of the Alliance.
    “But Falkner wasn’t the Empire’s enemy when he was a guest here,” Devin pointed out. “And the Alliance will be granted legitimate political status by the council.”
    “That doesn’t matter to a man like Tage. What does matter is that Philip is now under Falkner’s command, heading Falkner’s fleet. Inferences could be made that the plot to have the Calth and Dafir sectors secede from the Empire were hatched in this very house, because Philip was also here some of the times Falkner was.”
    So were dozens and dozens of other people. His parents’ parties were gala affairs.
    The suggestion that a rebellion was planned under this estate’s roof was insane, almost paranoid. “I understand what you’re getting at, but your solution is illogical. If my marrying an Emberson is an attempt to keep us safe, then why not insist Jonathan and Ethan divorce their wives and we all go seduce Tage’s daughters and nieces?” Devin couldn’t remember if Tage hadany