Total pages in book: 86
Estimated words: 80919 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 405(@200wpm)___ 324(@250wpm)___ 270(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 80919 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 405(@200wpm)___ 324(@250wpm)___ 270(@300wpm)
For the first time in my life, my mind was still.
It wasn’t buzzing about the next person who was coming after me.
I wasn’t strategizing how to destroy someone for having the audacity to inconvenience me. I hadn’t even thought of ways to have my father removed as head of the family all morning.
It was just me and my wife-to-be cuddled in bed.
She was safe and happy, and I was content.
Now I had been notified that my father was here and wanted to speak to me, and he knew I was home, so there was no way to make him fuck off. He was still head of the family, for now, and it was simpler to let him think he was still in charge. Besides, if Henry had entered this room, it was clear he had tried to make my father leave and it hadn’t worked.
As carefully as I could, I slipped out of bed, trying not to disturb Amelia.
She immediately reached for me, and the cutest little line appeared between her brows when she couldn’t find me. A strange ache bloomed in my chest, and I wanted to crawl back into bed. Instead, I took my pillow, still warm from my body and still smelling like me, and slid it over to her.
She immediately pulled it in close and fell back into a deep slumber.
I’d be back in this bed as quickly as possible, so I slid on black silk pajama bottoms and a robe. With any luck, the casual appearance would help my father realize it wasn’t a good time to visit.
“He is waiting in the study, sir,” Henry said. “And I finished that report you asked for.”
“Thank you, Henry. Go home and spend some time with your family.”
“Sir? It’s nine a.m. on a Saturday.”
“Exactly, go home. Take a day off. That’s an order.”
“Yes, sir. I’ll see you tomorrow.” He turned to leave, and I called out to stop him.
“Make that Monday, Henry. I’m taking the weekend off. You should do the same.”
“The entire weekend, sir?” He stared at me, blinking like he had misheard me.
“Keep your phone handy in case I have a question, but don’t count on me calling you,” I said. He looked at me like I had lost my mind and opened his mouth like he was going to say something, then thought better of it.
“Have a good weekend, Mr. Manwarring.”
He headed toward the front door while I went to my private study. It was one of the few places my father knew I didn’t like him in, which of course was why he was there. I wasn’t even surprised to see him sitting in my desk chair. He held a cup, so he was drinking my coffee, his filthy polished Italian leather loafers on my desk right above my keyboard.
The old man was pushing me too far.
“Luc, there you are. You took your time. It’s already nine a.m. You should have been up hours ago.”
“I was otherwise occupied.”
“Yes. That was quite a show. I don’t think I have ever seen that old bat’s face turn so many colors.” He smacked the top of my desk as he laughed. “It was about time someone took a firm hand with her.”
“Yes, well. I needed to ensure she knows that Amelia is mine now, and she won’t be used as a spy in my home.”
Amelia telling her mother my secrets had never even crossed my mind, but my father wouldn’t understand that I wanted to protect her because I felt something deeper for her. The most Lucian Manwarring had ever felt for a woman was an erection.
Until Amelia, I had thought I was the same, but she had stoked something more inside me. I didn’t know if I would call it anything as innocent as love. We had made love last night, but that wasn’t the right word for how I felt.
What I felt for her was darker, primal, and possessive.
Maybe it was the only way I knew how to love, to covet her with the same ferocity I coveted power.
Still, my father wouldn’t understand that, and trying to explain it was an exercise in futility I didn’t have the time for. The longer I stayed and talked to him, the longer I was away from her.
She was my priority right now, just getting back to her.
I took the steel decanter of coffee Henry prepared every morning from my father and poured my first cup of the day. Henry always prepared the finest French roast coffee. I took my first sip as I settled into one of the other leather chairs in my office, as if it was business as usual. “Did she sign the contract?”
“Yes. The bitch ranted and raved for about another twenty minutes. Astrid finally calmed her down by asking what you meant about cows.” He let out a boisterous laugh.