Total pages in book: 116
Estimated words: 108721 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 544(@200wpm)___ 435(@250wpm)___ 362(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 108721 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 544(@200wpm)___ 435(@250wpm)___ 362(@300wpm)
He's the only one with the power, the influence, and the interest to take over my family's holdings, and he can't say no. Even more so if I dangle Ely in front of his face. Rumor has it he has a thing for pretty, petite brunettes. It's why he attends the Pound of Flesh gathering every year. He likes them young and unattached to anything, or so I hear.
Ely, beholden to me and with her bastard family out of the picture, is the perfect bait.
8
Sebastian
Istand near the bed and strip out of my suit jacket while I stare down at her. Her beauty—that fragile, elfin sort of prettiness—is exactly what Mondrake likes. Big doe eyes that draw a man in, a cute button nose.
I draw in a deep breath. I understand the appeal.
She looks utterly breakable. Porcelain in a sea of crockery.
Once I toss my jacket over a small leather armchair, I undo the top couple of buttons of my dress shirt. It would probably be best if I change while Ely is getting ready. I blink back the haze of exhaustion lingering from yesterday, from the trip, from my fucking life. It’s time to get this shit show on the road. Gently, I shake her khaki-clad thigh.
She jolts but doesn’t open her eyes. I lean and tap her cheek gently with the side of my hand. The last thing I need is her flailing awake and hitting me in her confusion, but after a moment, it appears there isn’t another option since she’s not waking up as easily as I had hoped.
With another deflated sigh, I tap her cheek a bit harder, but not enough to put any sting into it. That must do the trick because she wakes with a startled gasp. She blinks her eyes open as she rolls over in the bed, a groan escaping her mouth as her gaze fastens on me.
“What the hell did you give me?”
I step away, putting distance between us. “That doesn’t matter. It’s time to get up. You might have a bit of a headache, but the upside is you probably won’t suffer any jet lag.”
She squeezes her eyes closed again and rolls her top half onto her belly, then pushes up to sit. “Jet lag? How long was I out?”
I check the vintage Rolex on my wrist as I finish unbuttoning my shirt. “Ten or so hours.”
“Hours?” She repeats my word back to herself, her brow furrowing with confusion.
“While I know you love to chitchat, we don’t have time for that. I need you to get ready now, because we have an hour before the event starts, and arriving late isn’t an option.”
She blinks out of her confusion, her gaze going wide-eyed as she drinks in my completely bare chest. “What the hell are you doing?”
I turn away from her to find my luggage. It would have been better to hire someone to unpack for us, too, but I don’t want anyone touching my weapons or going through my things.
“Getting ready, which is what I told you to do.”
Turning my head to the side, I gaze at her over my shoulder. Another blink, another long stare. Are you kidding me? I don’t have time for her bullshit. Whatever patience I had built up for her is gone now. I stalk back to the bed, my shirt flapping open along my ribs.
“Wake the hell up and get moving. Bathroom is over there.” I point at a door leading off the bedroom. “I’ll grab you something to wear.”
Fear trickles into her eyes, and I can see the hesitation building. “Wh-where are we?”
I take her chin in my hand and squeeze it gently. “Ely, darling, if you don’t get moving, I’m going to drag you to this event naked.”
There’s a dark layer of menace in my voice now that she doesn’t seem to be grasping.
She blinks again, and as the words sink in, she jerks her face from my hold and glances around the room. Once she spots the windows, she glances back at me, then scoots backward across to the other side of the bed, walking over to the windows. It’s a gorgeous view, and I don’t begrudge the little gasp that escapes her lips as she cups her mouth.
“Are we…is…is this London?”
“Sure is. Now get dressed.”
Of course she doesn’t listen to anything I’m saying, and I have to stalk back to her side, grip her by the bicep, and drag her to the bathroom door. “Go, or I'll be going in with you to make sure you actually listen to me.”
She cranes her neck back and looks up at me, and I see the usual haze that comes from the use of that medication. It still lingers in her system, which would be fine if I didn’t need her to be a little more alert. Her legs wobble as she steps into the bathroom, and thank the fucking lord she does. I slam the door closed behind her and release a sigh of frustration.