Hunt dropped a kiss onto her shoulder before massaging her shoulder blades. “You looked sad earlier. Everything okay?”
How long had he been watching her? Adie wanted to look at him but his hands on her back, thumbs digging into her spine, kept her facing forward.
“Adie, is everything okay?”
Oh, right, he’d asked her a question. “Yeah, fine. Just tired.” Not wanting to lie, she added, “And a little pissed.”
“Why?” Hunt asked, strong hands working her glutes.
“A client told me today that she was leaving for the Seychelles, and that her eight-year-old daughter was staying home with her nanny and housekeeper. Then she tells me that she supposes she should—her words not mine—buy the kid some presents.” Adie snorted her displeasure. “Her daughter was such an afterthought. It was like she was making arrangements to kennel her dog. I guess it just struck a very big nerve.”
“Tell me why?”
Adie turned to face him, placed her hands on her hips and lifted her shoulders to her ears. She had the brief thought that she was as naked as a newborn but immediately dismissed it, feeling completely at ease with Hunt because he’d told her, over and over again, how much he loved her body.
And, because she was sure they were friends as well as lovers, Adie felt comfortable enough with him to explain.
“To understand, you’ll need a little backstory.” Adie pushed her hair off her face. “When I was four, my mother left my dad and took me to Europe, where we moved from castle to villa to apartment, living off her trust fund and her friends’ charity. My mom was vivacious and pretty and entertaining and people were always happy to have her. Me, not so much. And, not wanting to piss off her hosts, my mother kept me hidden away from the action. She was there to party, to entertain and be entertained, so I rarely saw her. In fact, most of my childhood memories are of my mother’s back, watching her walk away.”
Hunt didn’t speak, but his eyes radiated empathy. Empathy she could deal with, if she’d seen pity she would’ve stopped talking.
“My father demanded custody of me, mainly because he mistakenly thought it would anger and irritate her. He was shocked when my mom agreed, very quickly it had to be said, and I was shipped back to England. Not wanting to look after me himself—I’d disrupt his life too much—he decided I should stay with my grandmother, at Ashby Hall, the family seat.”
“That must’ve been quite an upheaval.”
“It wouldn’t have been so bad if they’d allowed my nanny to come with me, but no, my grandmother said she’d look after me.” Adie pulled her bottom lip between her teeth and bit down hard until Hunt tapped her lip with his finger and told her to stop it.
“There’s more,” Hunt stated.
There was.
“It turned out that my grandmother wasn’t thrilled to have me. They hired me another nanny—she was okay—and my dad did come back to Wales occasionally, mostly on the weekends, to see me. But then he met the first of many mistresses and I was forgotten.”
“Jesus, Adie.”
“When I was eight, my grandmother died and my mother came back to Ashby Hall to live—she and my father never divorced—and that’s when the blame game started... I was the reason why my dad never came home, the reason their marriage disintegrated. She should never have had me.”
“If I ever meet your mother, I might just choke her,” Hunt growled, his gray eyes incandescent with rage.
“You think that now, but within five minutes of meeting her, I guarantee she’ll win you over. My mother is the most charming person you’ll ever meet,” Adie told him, placing her hands flat on his chest.
“Anyway, the reason why I’m telling you this is because you noticed I was sad and I am. Somewhere in Germany, there’s a little girl who is feeling lonely and unwanted at Christmastime and, because I know how hurtful that can be, I want to choke the life out of her mother, my client.”
“Don’t work with her again,” Hunt told her, frowning. “Drop her.”
“I can’t do that!” Adie protested.
“Sure you can...” Hunt’s thumbs slid up and down her hipbone. “You’re in demand, Adie and that means you can pick and choose your clients. You don’t have to do everything for everybody. Choose the people you want to work for, hike your prices so you become even more exclusive and ditch the people you find annoying. Or offensive. Or who irritate you.
“Trust me, the more exclusive you become, the more in demand you’ll be. Rich people like what we can’t have,” Hunt told her, bending his head to kiss the side of her neck. “And talking about wanting...”
How was he always able to make her feel better, to settle her? Hunt was able to push away the harsh memories and lighten her spirit. He was dangerous...
Hunt’s finger skated over her lower lip and Adie glanced at his waterproof watch and winced. “You have guests arriving in forty minutes, Sheridan and I have to dress, do my hair and slap on some makeup.”
“I’ve seen you dress in a hurry and know it will only take fifteen minutes,” Hunt told her, moving his hand to her breast, his thumb gliding over her nipple. “There’s plenty of time for what I want to do.”
“And what’s that?”