My hottest Billionaire a Boss

Four

So perhaps you’ll explain just what you’re doing here. What is it you

want?’

‘What do I want?’

Edward made a pretence of actually considering the question, looking

around him with a thoughtful, assessing expression on his stunning face.

‘Well, I wouldn’t mind a house like this for a start. I always thought it

was amazing when I worked here—and that was before I’d ever seen

inside.’

‘It’s not for sale!’

This time, tormented by unease, she’d spoken too quickly, snapped too

hard. She’d given too much away and she knew by the way that those

brilliant black eyes narrowed sharply that he’d caught every trace of the

discomfort she was trying to hide from him. He’d caught it and, she was

beginning to suspect, had a strong suspicion of just what was firing it.

‘Not to the likes of me, hmm?’ he questioned softly, the words coming low

and deadly like a striking snake. ‘Is that it, Liza? Is that what you

mean? That the House can only belong to some purebred

European with aristocratic blood in his veins? Not some former Athens

street urchin who’s fit only to groom your thoroughbred mare, to clean

the mud from her coat when you come back from a ride around the

estate and then to polish the tack ready for your next ride?’ ‘I never said…’ Liza blustered, horrified that he should even believe

her capable of any such thought. ‘I…’

But Edward hadn’t finished with her.

‘Or was that disappointment in your tone?’

‘Disappointment?’

‘Did you think that I was going to say that I wanted you? That that was

why I’d come back—because I couldn’t get you out of my mind? That

from the moment I kissed you all those years ago, I have always wanted

you, always dreamed of you, always determined to have you? And now

that I’ve made my fortune, now that your father can no longer come

between us, I’ve come back to claim you, to take you as my bride?’

‘No! Never! No way!’

Her voice was high and shrill—toohigh and shrill, she read in his face—

and with every note it rose higher, with every violent shake of her head

in emphasis, she was betraying the way that he had got to her. The way

that, just for a terrible, weak, unguarded moment, she had actually felt a

small, shivering thrill at contemplating the possibility he had laid before

her.

‘I can’t think of anything I’d want less!’

His swift smile caught her on the raw. It was cold, mirthless, icy—a

flashing gesture of triumph, without a trace of warmth in it anywhere, and not the tiniest gleam of light in the dark depths in his eyes. Somehow

she knew she’d fallen right into the trap that he’d set for her—a trap she

hadn’t even noticed he’d been laying.

‘Don’t you think that would sound more valid if you’d pointed out that

you’re engaged to be married?’

For a moment the cold question stole away any words from her mind. How

had he…?

Of course—he’d spotted her ring. But the way he made her feel—the way

he obviously intended to make her feel—was that he believed her fiancé

should have been uppermost in her thoughts. Which he should, she

acknowledged, a terrible sense of embarrassment and guilt running

through her.

She should have refuted Edward’s suggestion with a furious,I’m not

interested in any man other than my fiancé! Julie’s name should have

been the first on her lips.

And that, she felt, was the trap that Edwards had planned—hadexpected

her to fall into. Just the thought made something icy-cold slither nastily

down her spine.

‘So tell me, where is your fiancé today? I would have thought that he

would want to be here to support you at this time.’

Liza bridled at the note of condemnation in his voice. Once again she

wished that Julie had been here to refute the other man’s obviously

critical opinion of him, just as she had wished that Jety would see what she saw in her fiancé rather than always being suspicious of his motives.

‘He had urgent business that called him away. Otherwise he’d have been

here like a shot. And he wouldn’t have left my side for a moment.’

‘To protect you from the unwanted attentions of former servants who

don’t know their place?’ Edward drawled cynically, every word riddled

with disbelief. ‘Then it’s just as well that that’s not why I’m here.’

This, Liza suspected, was her cue to ask him just why he was here,

but it was a cue she had no intention of taking up. Quite frankly, by now

she didn’t care what had brought him here today and she didn’t want to

find out. All she wanted was for him to go, to take with him the

desperate, uneasy, guilty, uncomfortable feelings he’d roused in her

simply by walking back into her life, and leave her in peace.

And she hoped and prayed that she would never, ever see him again.

With an effort she switched back to the icy politeness she’d adopted in

the first moments she’d seen him—was it really only a couple of hours

ago?

‘Well, I’m afraid I’m going to have to ask you to leave. Everyone’s gone

home…’ She indicated the empty room with a wave of her hand, taking a

step back and half turning, so that his path to the door was completely

free, totally unobstructed. ‘And so should you.’

Once more those narrowed eyes seared over her face, then flicked away

to look at the open door, before coming back to lock coldly with her

uneasy blue gaze. ‘I think not,’ he said firmly, his tone making it plain that he was not

prepared to tolerate any argument. ‘There’s no way I’m going anywhere.’

‘But…’

Liza glanced swiftly round, looking for Nikcs, but the butler had

disappeared. And she had to wonder whether the older man would be able

to manage to eject the powerful European whose imposing shoulders spoke

of an impressive strength. The way that Edward’s powerful legs and feet

were planted so firmly made her think of a commanding tree that would

never be easily uprooted.

Her head felt as if it were spinning, but whether from panic or anger she

had no way of knowing.

‘Mr Edward, I have to tell you to leave!’

‘Miss Liza, you are not in a position to tell me to do anything,’ he

tossed back, the bite of cold anger making her breath catch in her

throat. ‘Not any more.’

‘I—’ Liza began when she heard a soft step behind her.

‘Mr Edward…’ It was Hilton’s voice and when she spun round it

was to find the lawyer standing close behind her. ‘I’m sorry I wasn’t here

when you arrived. I trust you had a comfortable journey. To Liza’s total consternation, Hilton was holding out his hand towards

the European, a smile on his face.

‘Mr Edward was just leaving…’ she managed but much of the strength

had gone out of her voice as her confidence started to seep away. She

had forgotten that Hilton had told Nicks to wait for Edward. That he

had been expecting him.

Beyond the window, the rain had stopped but the slow, ominous passage

of a dark cloud across the face of the weak, struggling sun made her

tremble in sudden uncertainty. There was something going on. There were

undertones here that she didn’t understand.

‘Shall we get started?’

To her horror, Hilton was addressing Edward, not her, and there was

something in that that was more than just a bond between the two men in

the room. Hilton’s approach was—respectful—professional.

‘I have all the papers in the library.’

‘But…’ Somehow Liza found the strength to speak even though a

growing sense of fear and apprehension was threatening to close off her

throat. ‘But this is a private matter between you and me, Hilton.’

She’d got that wrong, she knew as soon as the words were out. She could

read her mistake in Hilton’s face, in the coolly knowing expression in

Edward’s eyes. This was not just between herself and Hilton. Edward

was somehow involved, though she had no idea how and why. ‘Just what is going on?’

It was Edward who answered her.

‘I suggest you join us in the library,’ he declared with cool arrogance.

‘You’ll find out everything there.’

And, without even a second glance at her face, he turned and walked

from the room, Hilton at his side, their long strides taking them across

the room, away from her, while she stood and stared in blank

bewilderment. It was almost, Liza thought anxiously, as if Edward was

the owner of the House, when everyone knew that she was the

nearest thing that Jety had had to living family. Forcing her legs to

move, she hurried after them, the sound of her heels tapping on the

polished floorboards beating out the same sort of staccato tattoo as the

uneven, jerky beat of her heart.

‘I thought you wanted to talk to me about my—about Jety’s will!’ she

declared as she burst through the door into the library after them. Her

noisy arrival made Edward glance up from the tray on a table set in the

wide bay window where he was pouring himself a drink from the jug of

water that stood there too. ‘That is surely none of Mr Edward’s

business.’

‘It is now.’

Edward’s tone was quiet but so definite it was almost like a slap in the

face, making Liza’s head go back sharply as he watched her. She was definitely rattled now, he noted with grim satisfaction, seeing

how her blue eyes had widened in her pale face. They were huge, dark

pools above suddenly ashen cheeks and, though she tried to cover up her

concern, he could see the anxiety that clouded her eyes. Even the sleek

chestnut hair had tumbled from the clips that she had used to hold it

back and was now falling loose around her neck, a stray strand catching

on her cheek.

She looked so much more like a real woman than the ice queen who had

greeted him on his arrival and who had just tried none too subtly to eject

him from the house. But he knew that the image was nothing but an

illusion. The lady of the manor mask might have deserted her at the

moment but as soon as she gathered breath it would be back in place—

temporarily at least. But he had news for her that would soon shatter

her belief in the way her life was going to work out, the role she was

destined to play. The plans she had.

He was going to enjoy stripping them from her once and for all.

‘Mr Edward needs to be here for this,’ the lawyer put in carefully,

grimacing as he saw the glare that Liza directed at him.

‘And are you going to explain why?’

‘Would you like a drink?’ Edward inserted smoothly, lifting a bottle of

wine from the tray.

The look she turned on him should have shrivelled him into dust where he

stood—or, at least, he knew that was what she wished for. He took a

particular satisfaction in not shrivelling at all but meeting her blazing

eyes head-on. ‘Do I need one?’ she shot at him and he felt his mouth curl into a smile in

response to her angry question. She looked like nothing so much as a

small, elegant cat hissing and spitting at an unwelcome intruder into her

territory.