Total pages in book: 99
Estimated words: 92812 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 464(@200wpm)___ 371(@250wpm)___ 309(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92812 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 464(@200wpm)___ 371(@250wpm)___ 309(@300wpm)
“What?”
His butler stood there, expression blank.
“Miss Asherford is here to see you.”
Exactly the type of woman he’d left behind in England. He should have known that no matter where he ended up, there would be some like her though.
“Tell her I am not available and she can make an appointment for tomorrow at ten. I can see her then.”
His butler gave a nod even as his disapproving glance slid to the woman on the furniture beside him and back. So fast he may have imagined it, but he didn’t think so.
“Something you would like to add, Keating?”
“No, my lord. I shall inform her.” A bow and he left as silently as he’d arrived.
Then again, he may have knocked and I just did not hear him because I am so focused on keeping my hands off the woman beside me.
“Here you are, my lord.”
He angled his head to the right and found Fyre holding out a sheet. Taking it, he realized she’d handed it to him so he could read it, not so it faced her.
Neat, tight lettering. Easy to read, just like it was in his book. Had he any lingering doubt that this woman had been keeping his books, that would have been banished.
Scanning the page, he understood it all with ease.
“Thank you.”
Fyre started to pack up her bag and he furrowed his brow as he watched her. “What are you doing?”
“Was there something else you needed, my lord?”
So much that he couldn’t say to her at the moment. But soon, otherwise he would have the most uncomfortable set of balls on the island.
“Are we finished?”
Concern flashed over her face and he kicked himself mentally for scaring her.
“I mean, I asked you here to help me figure this out. You gave me a sheet and seem to be running away.” He rested his arms on his thighs. “Are you scared? Or did you think that once I had your key I would no longer require your services?”
“I thought you no longer required my services.”
He admired her refusal to admit to her fear. Phillip crooked a finger at her. She didn’t refuse him but he could see suspicion and walls flying up with each step that brought her closer. Hell, the knuckles on her hand holding the bag were nearly white.
“Sit back down,” he said in a calm tone. “We still have books to go over and I want to make sure I am still on your schedule to stop by and keep them. We mentioned daily.”
It killed him to see her breathe a bit easier as she moved away from him. Could he have been mistaken and she wasn’t attracted to him? He didn’t think so, but he also didn’t force women.
Slow down and take it a day at a time.
As she sat beside him once more, he struggled to hide his smile. “Do you have a schedule that shows when you are free? Or could you tell me?”
Fyre flicked the tip of her tongue along those full lips. He bit back a lustful groan and did his best to stay in his seat.
“I am sure that your schedule is fuller than mine, my lord. If you can tell me when you have time, I will let you know what would work.”
An unexpected chuckle left him, shocking not just her but also himself. Giving in to his overwhelming need to touch her, he reached out and tipped her chin up so they could see each other’s eyes.
“We can go back and forth about this all day, Fyre. I know you are used to people abusing their station. And I would be nothing but a liar if I said I had never done that before. I have. Not a part of my life I am proud of, but it did happen. It is not happening now. I am not trying to lure you into any kind of trap.”
A lie. I want to trap her. Above me. Beneath me.
He felt the loss deep in his soul when he removed his fingers from her chin. Who knew simply removing a touch from this woman could create such a vacancy within him? She didn’t look away though, and he was pleased by that.
When she gave a tiny nod and reached for her bag once more, he figured he’d made headway. Perhaps a victory.
A short-lived one. When he stared at the schedule she opened, he had to look a few times, making sure he wasn’t imagining anything. This woman was jam packed. Sunrise to sundown she had places to be.
The thing that got to him the most was that one more than one of those days, her last spot for her day was with none other than Albie Caulfield. Jealousy rose within him like wildfire and he had to bite his tongue to keep his demands to himself.