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Winding up the co, but for her father to sell this hoivable He’d sold everything in the house as well—only stopping to parcel up the few personal papers left in here There were things she and Teddy ht have liked, family treasures that had sentis; she’d grown up knowing ht of her—then again, he never had But for once he’d not thought about Teddy either Not that Teddy cared—he was glad not to have any reminders of the expectation he could never live up to Except there was the last legacy froot her hair colour froiven Kitty what confidence and fun she had Great-Aunt Margot was her inspiration
Kitty ventured down the corridor towards the bubble of h the open doorway into the atrium
The lighting there was ht it was low to set the ‘mood’ and make everyone look even more attractive, but they really didn’t need the help No, the soft lighting was all about helping hide the aged, peeling paintwork and how much refurbishment and restoration work the house needed It see the house of all its ‘maximalist’ decor—all the antique furniture, vases and fine china displays had vanished, and in their place were three dozen nubile, beautiful women Every last one had to be a model Kitty’s heart puckered It eird to have all these other woed, when she no longer did
Stopping to look had been a mistake
She skirted the back of the room to confidently—but not too quickly—walk up the stairs She kept her head high, her shoulders back and sent a glilancing up after her
Faking it Making it
The voluher up the stairs she went By the tiround noise There was no one in sight up here—the entire house had yet to be taken over by puh people were present for her to disappear into, but it wasn’t yet wild enough for them to be everywhere
Despite the disappoint the stripped out interior below, she couldn’t resist pausing by theher—but when she peered carefully around it, she found she couldn’t step into the room It was stuffed with boxes and furniture So this here everything from downstairs had been shoved Her heart achedthe hallway Unfortunately, the library door was closed She hovered afrom within the room Nervously, she turned the handle To her relief it was dark inside and apparently unoccupied She knew that if she left the door open, enough light would spill from the corridor for her to find her way She shtly tiptoed to the shelves lining the farthest wall This house had several secrets that the neould never know about—her father wouldn’t have thought to tell hie over Alejandro Martinez was childish, but the way he’d waltzed in and snatched away her home made her smart
On the fifth shelf up, behind the fourth book along from the left, there was a small lever She depressed it and listened to the scratchy whirring sound as a small cavity opened up She didn’t need to take the other books out; it was only a tiny safe—only large enough for a pile of notes written by bored children, or a coil of diaetful, beloved, fool of a brother
Kitty scooped theh her She’d half expected them not to be there—Teddy’s recollections weren’t always accurate But they were hers again and she could get theht of letting Margot down—even though Margot was only alive in memory now
Sing hard, she straightened the chain and put it around her neck, angling her head as she secured the clasp and then ran her finger along her throat to ensure the choker was sitting smoothly The cold heaviness was faain
These were the only diaht them for herself, by herself She’d declared that she needed no man to buy her jewels and had lived her life in defiant independence, refusing to settle into any kind of expectation—ahead of her ti Kitty in awe
She wished the choker could be hers for good, but it was Teddy’s birthright and he’d given up everything else already Kitty had nothing to lose
She released her hair froh topknot she’d coiled it into while on the train To leave looking different from how she’d arrived was part of the plan and her hair served another purpose now—it ain and the compartment slid shut
Phase three: complete
Satisfied, she turned, ready to leave
That hen she saw it—thein the doorway She froze With the lack of light she couldn’t see his face, but she could see he held a phone in his hand And she could see how tall he was How broad How impossible to slip past
‘Hello?’ She wished she didn’t sound so scared
She wished he’d answer
Her heart took two seconds to start puain and when it did her pulse thumped loudly in her ears She hadn’t heard him arrive The floor in the library ooden and she’d been certain she’d have heard approaching footsteps But apparently this guy could enable stealthher? Had he seen what she’d done?
Apprehension fluttered in her belly
‘She wasn’t wearing a necklace when she arrived,’ he slowly erously ‘Yet she wears one now’
She froze at that accented English, at that tone She was definitely in trouble
‘If you’d get your boss for htily
‘My name is Alejandro Martinez,’ he replied, still in those soft, dangerous tones that made her skin prickle ‘I am the boss’
It was the devil himself Of course Kitty’s heart thundered
He reached out a hand, casually closing the door There was a split second of total darkness before he unerringly turned on the light
Kitty rapidly blinked at the brightness By the ti spots cleared froone and his hands free
She sed
He was very close and very tall She wasn’t short yet she had to tip her chin to look into his face His hair was dark brown and thick and he was so good-looking, he ought to have been outlawed as hazardous to any woman’s attention span Yes, Alejandro Martinez was fiendishly handsome with that olive skin, those chiselled features and those serious, assessing eyes
Nervously, she flicked her hair in the hopes it would curl around her throat She wasn’t getting past him in a hurry; there was only one exit out of this library and he’d closed the door
‘No, there’s no point trying to hide it now,’ he littered like polished onyx He slowly lifted a lock of her hair back with a lazy, arrogant finger His penetrating gaze lingered on her neck, then raked down her body—her breasts, her waist, her legs Every inch of her felt grazed