Total pages in book: 80
Estimated words: 75705 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 379(@200wpm)___ 303(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75705 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 379(@200wpm)___ 303(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
“Is there anything else that you need help with, miss?” she asked.
“No, I can bathe myself.” The words may have come out a little too harshly, so I immediately followed them with, “Thank you so much for your help.”
“Of course, miss,” she said and dropped into a short curtsy before leaving the room.
That was odd.
I’d had a maid my entire life, and none of the staff had ever curtsied to me. Then I thought back to the butler and realized he had an accent and was an actual legitimate English butler.
Even the suit Lucian put on I was pretty sure was English. There was something about the subtlety of the check pattern in the dark gray, and the cut not only hugged his body perfectly so that it looked tailored, but there was also something in the way it was cut closer to his body, and how the shoulders seemed larger and yet still tapered perfectly to his waist.
He was not a small man by any stretch of the imagination, but his suit still gave him a sleek silhouette.
I shook those thoughts out of my head.
If he was an anglophile, that was the least of my concerns. His other quirks like making me love the things that I should hate and making me feel warm when everything else left me frozen—those were the things I should be more concerned about.
He’d only left me a moment ago, and the cold was already starting to creep in.
As soon as Suzette left, closing the door behind her, I dropped the ruined sheet to the ground and went to step into the steaming water.
Just as I feared, I didn’t feel the warmth.
The water was hot. I could see how it pinkened my pale skin, but I couldn’t feel anything but that icy grip starting to enclose my body again.
As quickly as I could, I scrubbed my body clean of his touch, hoping that ridding myself of his fingerprints would somehow clear my mind of the fog of hormones and lust.
I leaned back in the water. Even if I couldn’t enjoy the warmth, I could at least enjoy the luxurious scents of the oils. The notes of vanilla, tonka bean, and jasmine floated around me, and I tried to focus on those luxurious scents. I ignored the fact that he was the one who had picked them out for me.
“Ten more minutes, miss,” the butler called from outside of the room, his accent more pronounced now that I was listening for it.
“I will be out when I am ready and not a moment before,” I responded.
Suzette may not have earned my annoyance, but the butler could deal with it. He huffed something under his breath, but I sank beneath the water so I couldn’t hear it. I needed to block him out, I needed to block everything out and think.
Lucian Manwarring wanted to marry me.
He hadn’t asked, he’d informed me.
Just like he’d informed me that my father was broke, that I was broke, and that I had to live reliant only on his goodwill.
I couldn’t believe it. I knew people with our status could easily lose fortunes. I knew people like my father could hide the loss of money for a certain amount of time, but I just couldn’t believe it.
My father was shit at keeping secrets.
Whenever he had a surprise for me or my mother, we knew something was up. Granted, he didn’t talk to us about business situations, but if he was broke, he would be worried about it, and we would know.
I didn’t understand how I was in this situation.
Could it be my fault? Should I have started working?
Or could I have done something of value instead of waiting for my life to begin once I got my inheritance?
I was twenty-six, one of the only girls in my friend group who wasn’t already married.
Maybe that was my big mistake.
Waiting around to inherit my trust. Assuming I had plenty of time to choose an influential husband who aligned with my vision of the future. One who could help me get the right charity board appointments. One with the right political connections to influence legislation. One who was willing to become a power couple for change.
When I was eighteen, I should have insisted that my father set up my own corporation. That my trust fund be transferred into my name so I had assets of my own that couldn’t be touched by anyone else.
That was always the plan, but I thought I had time. I should have had time. That time was taken from me by that drunk limo driver, and I would hate him forever.
Hating him wasn’t going to get me out of marrying a man who was literally my best friends’ father.
It wasn’t going to get me out of this situation where I was forced to sleep in his bed every night, facing the dirty things that turned my body on. That made me feel hot, euphoric, and then so dirty.