His Unwanted Bride: The Knight Bride Series, #2

By Chloe Kent

He doesn't want a bride, but if it means consummating the marriage to help his brother find answers, then so be it.

When his older brother's brand new wife is critically attacked at her bakery, Silas takes it upon himself to find out who the responsible party is. But the one man who can give him an answer demands something in return. He wants Silas to take his daughter as his bride.

Arabelle Davenport's life is turned upside down when her father suddenly and without a reason marries her off to a man she's never met before. Silas Knight. Cold. Dark. Dangerous. And earth-shatteringly gorgeous. He also says upfront they'll never be friends and Arabelle soon finds herself stuck in a marriage as his unwanted bride.

This dark romance can be read as a standalone.
Not recommended for sensitive readers.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Chloe Kent
• Release date: Jan 18, 2024
• ISBN: 9798224181988

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CONTENTS

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

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Chapter One

Silas Knight lowered his head, clenching his jaw as he did so. He and his brothers had not been raised to show any kind of emotion, not when everyone and anyone around them could be a potential enemy. That was the kind of life they were given and they were either considered the prey or the predator.

They chose to be the predator. Always the apex. Always the alpha. That’s who they were. The Knight brothers. Parker. Silas. Elliot.

A rush of hot blood surged through Silas at the sight of Parker, their oldest brother. The resemblances between the three of them ran strong so seeing their over six feet tall sibling with his dark almost black hair bearing the evidence of his fingers threading angrily through the strands, his green eyes dark with wrath but sunken with worry, felt to Silas and Elliot as if they were looking at themselves. And that made Silas want to smash things. Break necks. Seek vengeance until satisfaction replaced his fury on his brother’s behalf.

Both he and Elliot, the youngest Knight brother, had never seen Parker this way before. If they were the apex of all things, it was because Parker had made them so when he had taken on the role as their guardian and protector when he had been a kid himself.

But to see their usually stoic sibling barely holding his fury and his fear in check, destroyed them both, and Parker Knight was afraid of nothing. Except now.

What they had always believed impossible for all three of them had happened to Parker. He had claimed a woman as his own and he loved her more than anything in the world.

Everleigh Rose, now Everleigh Knight was the light of Parker’s life. His universe. His soul. He had waited three years to take her as his bride. Everleigh might not have known it, but she was Parker’s from the moment he had set eyes on her.

They’d had a very unconventional marriage ceremony but then again nothing about any of them would be considered conventional in the least to the rest of the world.

Now three months later, after a whirlwind of a honeymoon on a cruise ship Parker had bought specifically to... well capture his wife, Everleigh was now laying upstairs in their mansion in a bedroom that had been converted into a hospital room.

She had around-the-clock care, from a slew of nurses and renowned doctors catering to her medical needs and Parker was nothing but a bear whose growl had the potential to decapitate anyone who came in his way.

Five days ago she had been attacked in her place of work. Everleigh ran a bakery, taking over from her mother who had passed away years ago. Parker had supplied her with bodyguards and had insisted she hire two more helpers as well who were trained military men and who Parker trusted explicitly.

But even they couldn’t have completely stopped the attack from happening, not when it had happened with no warning and no reason. Not when it was

a sniper, hidden in a building across the street from her bakery, a nondescript civilian no one would have guessed was a hired hitman.

The bullet had gone clean through her body, without puncturing any major organs, and that was only thanks to her bodyguards who sensed something was wrong moments before and tried to get her to safety.

With prompt medical care and the best doctors, Everleigh was going to survive the attack. But it was touch and go for their baby, which both Parker and Everleigh weren’t aware of until a doctor delivered the news to Parker while his wife lay fighting for her life and that of their unborn child.

She still wasn’t completely out of danger, but the doctors were confident she was going to fully recover under their care. They also were protecting their lives and knew if Everleigh didn’t make it, no one else taking care of her would either, not under Parker’s watch.

The caliber of the gun used caused low-velocity injuries except if it were aimed at her head which was where that bullet had been positioned if it weren’t for her bodyguards moving her out of danger's way.

Unfortunately, that made tracing the weapon that much harder and they were unable to pin it on any of their business associates. Granted their business associates were men who acted above the law. They themselves were the American Mafia, feared globally and that meant they had collected an array of enemies along the way. The only reason someone would try to hurt them was if they had a death wish.

They had barely stopped Parker from torturing and killing every one of their known enemies and their so-called allies as well until the culprit gave himself up and spewed out the names of their accomplices.

But that would have started a war and shown the Knight brothers as weak and reckless, something that would destroy their credibility. It was a precarious position to be in. They had to yield destructive but measured power without waving their guns around in what would be interpreted as madmen tactics even though the situation called for it. But that reaction would guarantee to put all their lives in danger, including Everleigh’s, and both he and Elliot would rather die than let that happen to the woman their brother loved.

Silas couldn’t fully understand what it must have been like for Parker. He had never been in love so he couldn’t experience the heart-wrenching turmoil that his brother was living through.

Talking Parker down had taken time and patience and there were moments when both Silas and Elliot felt they were failing. They had promised their older brother they would take care of it. They would bring him the people involved and he could do whatever he wanted to them, but they emphasized that Everleigh needed him, there with her. At her side.

Parker had saved their lives on more occasions than they could count and this was the least they could do for him. He relented at last and Silas and Elliot had dived into finding out who was responsible.

The evidence was sparse. The make of the gun had been too common to be linked to any mafia family. They had investigated quietly, had roughed up a good number of men on their enemy list, and came up without a name.

They started to spread their terror insidiously, while they remained at the table of their associates with pleasant smiles on their faces.

They had demonstrated their deadly power with a subtle hand and created a sense of unease wherever they walked but the fact that it wasn’t that easy to draw out the guilty party proved the attack on the Knight family went higher up and could involve men that were on their same level. Equally dangerous. Equally powerful.

But they had an upper hand and that hand was vengeance. Vengeance could make them the most ruthless of all. And if they couldn’t get answers, they were going to adopt Parker’s style after all and start a full-out war. That was until someone came forward.

I’ll do it.

Silas whipped his head up and locked his gaze with Elliot. They had both spoken at the same time, both offering to take one for the team.

I’ll do it, Silas said more forcefully, holding Elliot’s gaze until his younger brother nodded. The responsibility should be Silas’. He glanced at the high-resolution printed images of the girl scattered on Parker’s desk.

Big brown sparkling eyes, long dark silky hair, and a perfect face structure that under different circumstances might have stirred him. Her full lush lips were spread out in a dazzling smile as she looked into the camera, her glossy skin a radiant shade of pink.

Arabelle Davenport. Twenty-three. Daughter of Henry Willis Davenport. Ex-English aristocracy.

And soon to be his bride. But not because he wanted her. But because his family was being wrested into the marriage.

Silas, Parker began, a haunting look shrouding his face, his eyes brimming with a rage so ferocious it seemed to suck the color out of his skin.

Consider it done, brother. Silas rose from the chair, buttoned his suit jacket then closed the distance between them. He met Parker on the other side of his desk in his study. Elliot got up from his chair as well.

Silas put his hand on his brother’s shoulder and looked him dead in the eye.

I got this. We’ll have a name soon and vengeance will be all yours.

Parker’s jaw rippled as he battled his emotions.

No other words needed to be said. There was also no point in wasting time.

Henry Willis Davenport and his lawyer had been seated in another receiving area in Parker’s mansion, guarded by three bodyguards even though both men were elderly. They trusted no one.

Silas called one of the bodyguards and a few minutes later, Davenport and his lawyer were escorted into Parker’s study.

It was Elliot this time who put a hand on Parker to stop him from ripping the man apart until he got the information he needed.

To say it was a weird situation was an understatement. Davenport had inherited his father’s debt and his poor status which were the result of one too many sketchy deals which had gone horribly wrong for the Davenport family. Henry apparently wanted nothing more than to align himself as a man of stature again with his peers and a marriage connection of note would certainly achieve the task.

While he may have amassed a few enemies in his lifetime, he also still did some dirty work for the Russian, Mexican