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Aiesha suppressed an involuntary shiver She wasn’t interested in being overcome with passion Unlike most woet down and dirty, but her heart and her head were never in it, only her body Her body had needs and she saw to the

But so physical with Ja in the distance She couldn’t put her finger on it, or describe it accurately, but she knew if she stepped over the boundary of becoht not just be her body that would receive him

No one but no one had access to her heart and she was going to keep it that way

His slate-blue eyes seared hers ‘How long have you been in contact with my mother?’

Aiesha held his accusing look with a defiant hoist of her chin ‘She wrote to me the year after her divorce from your father was finalised’

His brows snapped together ‘You’ve been in contact that long?’

‘On and off’

‘Butbut why?’

Aiesha had been surprised by Louise’s first phone call eight years ago With the benefit of hindsight and a little ly to the only person who had ever shown her a shred of genuine affection

Louise Challender had alanted a daughter; she was the type of woman who should have had a brood of children to love and nurture, and yet she’d been unable to have another child after giving birth to Jae to Clifford, but then Clifford wasn’t the type of man ould have been a suitable father for anyone, let alone a brood of kids He was too immature and selfish, like a spoilt child who had been overindulged and always expected everything to go his way Aiesha had seen that froht her ho since her stepfather had kicked her out a week after her mother had overdosed on heroin She’d refused to take her mother’s place in his bed so he’d turned her out of the house, but not before co an unspeakable act of cruelty that still caused her nightet Archie out of the house first

If only If only If only

Watching as her beloved dog was strangled to death in front of her had destroyed her belief in humanity Archie had only yelped the once but his cry had haunted ht since

Aiesha blinked the distressing scene out of her head as best she could She wasn’t that powerless young girl any more She was the one in control now She allowed no e on her

Clifford Challender ht wear bespoke clothes and speak with an upper-class accent but underneath he was no different fro stepfather She had proven it It had only taken five minutes alone with him in the study to set it up She had planned it to the last detail They’d agreed to in’ their affair Clifford had taken the bait—as she had known he would—with the press waiting to capture the retted that Louise had been hurt in the process

Although she had never told Louise, or indeed anyone, how deeply traumatised she had been from that last interaction with her stepfather, over time she had been able to understand why she had behaved as she had She had been so angry, so viciously angry, at the injustice dished out to her and to poor little Archie that she had coenda to cause as much mayhem as she could Like a wounded ani its best to comfort and feed her

Aiesha had apologised to Louise since and they had never reement But if Louise was bitter or still held any resentot the impression that Louise was e that had li for years for the sake of appearances

But Ja entirely

He hadn’t forgiven her for the attention she had drawn to his family Drunk on the power of payback, Aiesha had sold her story to the press Although no crime had been co other than agree to le and run wild Selling her story hadn’t necessarily been about theher set up until she canored or silenced just because she was fro side of the tracks