Dirty Aristocrat: British Billionaire Bad Boy Romance (10 page)

I picked up the fork and put a small piece of egg in my mouth. I didn’t think I could eat, but the coffee had stirred my appetite and the eggs were surprisingly tasty. The sores only hurt if I let food scrape against them. I took a bite of toast. Our eyes met. His were level.

I carefully chewed on my good side, swallowed, and said, ‘Thank you for my breakfast.’

‘I would have done the same for anyone,’ he said expressionlessly.

This was exactly why I hated this man. He could drive a preacher to drink. I put the fork down. ‘Why did you do that?’

‘Do what?’ he asked forking more egg into his mouth and chewing unconcernedly.

‘Throw my gratitude back in my face and try and turn every encounter into an argument,’ I said fiercely.

‘I don’t want you to be grateful to me and neither am I picking an argument with you. We argue because you insist on having a conversation when none is necessary.’

‘Wow! You sure know how to deflate a girl.’

He stopped chewing. ‘I’m not trying to deflate you. We are two people who have nothing in common. However, we seem to have been thrown into each other’s company for the time being. Until I find a workable scenario, I guess we’ll just have to tolerate each other, but I’m not going to pretend to be excited about the prospect, and I don’t expect you to be either.’

I jumped out of my seat. ‘Well don’t bother. I can take care of myself,’ I said furiously.

‘I made a promise to Robert and I’m keeping it,’ he said quietly.

That stopped me in my tracks. ‘You made a promise to Robert?’

He nodded.

I climbed back into the seat that I had vacated in a daze. ‘When?’

‘I used to go and visit him when you were in London.’

‘What?’

‘Yeah. He knew how I felt about you so he used to invite me around when you were gone.’

I shook my head in disbelief. ‘Oh my God. He never breathed a word about it. Not once.’

He shrugged and bit into his toast.

God, he had really good teeth. I mean like really white and really straight. I shook my head to get my thoughts back on track. ‘What did he make you promise?’

He sighed. ‘I suppose it’s not a secret. He made me promise that I would make sure his children did not hurt you. He wanted me to watch over you until you reach twenty-one. After that he said you would be able to take care of yourself.’

‘That’s crazy … he wanted you to watch over me until I am twenty-one!’

‘It may be crazy to you, but it was very important to him. He had never asked me for anything before that.’

‘Twenty-one. That’s more than a year away.’

‘I know,’ he said gloomily.

‘How long do you think it will be before you find a,’ I lifted my hands up to face level and made air quotes, ‘workable scenario’?’

He sighed. ‘Just give me a few days to think about it and come up with something workable. We don’t want a repeat of yesterday.’

My shoulders slumped. He was right. I shouldn’t be sitting here hollering at him. I should be trying to figure out how yesterday happened.

‘What exactly did you tell James?’

He picked up his mug and took a sip. ‘As a matter of fact, James is no longer working at Barrington Manor.’

‘What?’ I cried in shock.

‘I gave all your staff their walking orders.’

I stared at him in amazement and mounting fury. ‘You did what?’

‘I gave them all six month severance pay in lieu of notice. Theresa will hire a few people to close down the house and hire a caretaking couple. The gardening and stable staff will continue to maintain the gardens and grounds,’ he explained arrogantly.

‘Why?’ I spluttered in disbelief.

‘Because I don’t know who to trust and I don’t have the time to find out right now.’

I stared at him in horror. ‘So you fired them all!’

‘Yup.’

I shook my head. ‘That is unbelievably high handed, and anyway you can’t do that. You can’t make decisions like that without consulting me. You’re the executor of the estate so I need to come to you if I need to make a large purchase, but you can’t fire my staff or stop me living in that house. It’s mine.’

He shrugged casually. ‘You’re welcome to speak with a solicitor. You will find that I am able to take any decision that I think is in your interest. The house and its management also come under my jurisdiction.’

‘How is it in my interest to close down the house and fire all
my
staff?’ I demanded angrily.

He looked at me as if I was stupid. ‘Tawny. Have you fucking forgotten what happened yesterday? Someone you know and trust at the house drugged you. Effortlessly, I might add. Just think what would have happened if I had been overseas, or if I had not seen your call when I did. You would have spent the night outdoors, terrified out of your mind. You might even have frozen to death. You were blue by the time I found you.’

I subsided and covered my face with my hands. This couldn’t be happening. I needed time to think.

‘I need my wardrobe,’ I whispered almost to myself. I was thinking of that wonderful space that I used to steal into when I needed to be alone, but Ivan’s lip curled with distaste.

‘You’re rich enough to buy yourself a whole new wardrobe.’

‘I didn’t mean the contents. I meant … never mind,’ I said wearily.

‘Look, I’ve got to go out. Please don’t leave the apartment. The doctor said you could get flashbacks. I’ll get Theresa to call you and you can ask her to bring what you want. Food, clothes, toiletries, magazines.’ He spread his fingers out. ‘Whatever you need.’

He pointed towards a closed door to the left of the kitchen. ‘That’s the spare room. A new mattress will be delivered later this afternoon. You can set up in there until I figure out the next course of action.’

I glanced in the direction he had pointed. ‘Um … I know I don’t seem like it, but I am very grateful for what you did yesterday.’

‘No problem. I’ll be back for lunch. We can go out if you want.’

‘You don’t have to take me out. I’ll be OK.’

‘As you wish,’ he said indifferently, and walked away from me. I heard him go into his room and shut the door.

The eggs were cold so was the coffee. I sat on the stool and sighed deeply. What an ugly, ugly mess. Robert had been right to be worried. His children were far, by far, more venomous than I had given them credit for.

I fell asleep on the sofa an hour after Ivan left for work. I guess I must have been more devastated than I thought. When I woke up I felt horrible, depressed and kind of numb. Dead inside. And so lonely. Horribly lonely. I knew some of it would be the comedown effect of the drugs, but another part was the way life was turning out. The truth of my situation hit me. Without Robert I had no one.

No family. No friends. Not a single person in the world actually cared for me. Even Ivan made it blatantly clear that I was a nuisance to him and that he couldn’t wait to be rid of me. I was all alone in this world and now I didn’t even have a home I could go to.

Oh yeah. I seemed to have acquired a bunch of enemies too.

My head hurt.

I walked around Ivan’s beautiful apartment listlessly. Then at 2.00 p.m. Mrs. MacDonald came around.

‘Please, call me Theresa,’ she invited.

‘Then you must call me Tawny.’

‘Come and have a look at what I’ve got for you,’

She had brought some groceries, toiletries, and some clothes. A pair of jeans, a couple of T-shirts, a pair of sweats, and a shimmering cocktail dress. They were all in super bright colors that I would never have chosen for myself. It was as if she thought I was still a teenager.

‘Look, I even brought you some make up,’ she said cheerfully.

‘Thank you,’ I said politely. ‘But I definitely won’t be needing that.’ I held up the cocktail dress.

‘Oh, I believe you will need that. His Lordship is taking you to dinner tonight,’ she informed me with an approving smile.

Well, that was a strange way to find out someone was taking you to dinner. ‘No, I don’t feel up to it yet. Would you be kind enough to convey my apologies to him.’

‘Should I call a doctor?’ she asked, a frown creasing her forehead.

I shook my head firmly. ‘No. I just feel a bit down. I’d be terrible company.’

‘If you’re sure. Do you want me to get you anything else?’

‘Thank you, but no, I’m fine.’

‘All right. I have to be somewhere else, but your new mattress will be coming in the next hour.’

Once the mattress had been set up, I found sheets in one of the cupboards and made up the bed. Then I flopped into it and fell into a deep, black sleep.

I never even heard Ivan come in.

Lord Greystoke

I stood outside her door, one hand on the knob. I wanted to go in. I really did. No one would ever know if I did. I’d simply look at her and then I’d walk out. No one would be harmed. Nothing would change. I felt a twinge in my body. Fuck the twinge. What about the upheaval and the loss of control and power going on inside me? The urge was so strong my hand gripped the knob until it felt as if it would break.

I snatched my hand away.

I took a step away from the door.

Jesus, this was so screwed up. What the fuck was I doing? There was a world of possibilities and choices out there. Beautiful, willing, anonymous women who didn’t make me feel as if I was worthless without them. Women who didn’t gnaw in my blood like fucking viruses when I stayed away from them. Women who did what I wanted.

I needed those women.

Not this sick addiction for her body, her skin, her smell, her smile, her fucking lying lips.

She never wore shoes in summer. Yeah right. She always let her hair dry naturally. A little harmless Southern girl. She doesn’t fool me. Not for one cotton pickin’ second. I’m not Robert. She’s no good.

And yet I want her. So bad.

Fuck!

I should stop thinking about her. I should stay away from her. I should go out and bury my cock in other bodies. Eventually one of them will immunize me against her. Surely that cannot be too difficult to do.

Not for the man who won the title of Ivan the Terrible.

CHAPTER 13

Tawny Maxwell

B
y the time I woke up it was nearly six o’clock in the morning, but the long sleep had cured me somewhat, and I felt much stronger both mentally and physically.

I washed and dressed quickly in the sweats that Theresa had brought. They were a little big, but they would have to do for the meantime. I put my hair in a plait, and opened my bedroom door.

The apartment was dark and still. Ivan’s door was firmly shut and there was no noise from within. Quietly, I passed his door and, picking up the set of keys that were in a silver bowl by the front door, let myself out into a corridor.

I stood for a moment taking in my surroundings. It was quite spooky that I totally could not remember passing through any of it. There were only two doors with numbers on them on that floor, Ivan’s and another on the opposite end of the corridor. I passed a lift and made for another door that looked like a fire escape.

I opened it and ran down two flights of steps to the ground floor. I exited out into a classy lobby with a highly polished floor and granite walls. There was a large vase of fresh flowers at the reception desk. A man in a cheap grey suit was standing at the glass front looking out. He turned around when he heard the door open.

‘Hello,’ he greeted, his tone polite, but his stare was full of suspicion.

‘I’m staying temporarily at Apartment 5. Just going for a jog,’ I felt compelled to explain.

‘Have a good run,’ he said formally, as he moved to hold the door open for me.

I thanked him and ventured out into a dark and mostly deserted London. Unlike Bedfordshire, there was no snow at all in London. It was just cold. I turned left and began to jog down the empty street. The cold wind whistled around my ear. I made a few turns, all the while carefully memorizing road names and landmarks, and eventually ended up in Brook Street. I ran down it until I came to Grosvenor Park.

There were other joggers and people with their dogs. They smiled at me or called out greetings. I passed the familiar American Embassy building and ran further up the road until I got to Hyde Park where a group of people were practicing Tai Chi, their movements slow and graceful. I kept going until I reached the Serpentine Lake before my lungs felt as if they were on fire, and I turned around and started to retrace my steps.