Then he stomped towards her, clad in a plain black pair of board shorts that she hated on sight, purely because they got between her and what she wanted to see again. “You’re back,” he announced, although he didn’t seem too mad about it.
“Evidently.”
“No respect for private property, I see.”
“Maybe the whole Earth was put here by the good Lord for all His children to enjoy,” she countered. “So who’s to say what belongs to you and what doesn’t?”
“Maybe the local magistrate would disagree with you.”
She held both hands out before her, wrists together, as if preparing to be handcuffed. “Arrest me and we’ll find out.”
Instead, he came to within a foot of her, and her body went crazy. When she remembered what she had done in bed last night, thinking of him with every stroke of her fingertips, she flushed harder. Would he be able to tell?
“What is your name, mademoiselle?”
“Naisha,” she answered boldly. “What’s yours?”
“William Dubois, son of the cinquième Comte d’Ambly des Ayvelles.”
“A Count, huh?”
A smile flickered across his lips. “Not as long as my father is in the land of the living.”
She tilted her head and held his gaze with hers, knowing she was flirting like mad, but not caring. “So, how does one greet royalty? Do I curtsy? Kiss your hand?”
“You don’t need to kiss me,” he responded. “This isn’t the eighteenth century. But as a landowner, I reserve the right to demand a toll. In exchange for my permission to cross my estate.”
She shocked herself by her daring. “And what sort of toll would that be?” she flirted.
“A kiss,” he said, and drew her to him.
That was the moment Naisha lost her heart.
Naisha shut off the steamy shower and stepped out of the stall, sucking her teeth in aggravation. That was then; this is now. No use going over memories that would only hurt her. The charming young Lim of her past was no more. This older William had married his brother’s girlfriend, sired a child, and was happily living his life in his family’s castle. He didn’t need her, and she didn’t need him. This was where their paths diverged.
Permanently.
Sometimes, being a father meant doing stuff you didn’t really want to do. And sometimes, being a man meant you had to suck it up, swallow your pride, eat some crow and any other cliché William could think of to describe this morning’s mission.
He walked into Jacyn’s office with his shoulders squared, dressed for business and armed for battle. He nodded at the receptionist, who shot to her feet with a welcoming expression on her face.
“They’re in the meeting room, Sir,” she said. She made to lead him there, but he stopped her with an upraised hand.
“It’s fine,mademoiselle.Thank you.”
He’d gleaned from Alex that there was to be a short re-shoot this morning for Jacyn’s new series of ads, and that Naisha would be there. He knew that, given the way they’d parted just a few days ago, he’d be persona non grata in her eyes, but he had to do what he had to do.
That’s what happened when an eleven-year-old ruled you with an iron fist.
As soon as he walked in, all heads turned towards him. There were two men, who he guessed were the photographers, along with Jacyn and Naisha. The second she spotted him, she straightened defensively, like a gazelle at a watering hole, waiting to see if the approaching lion would just take a sip of water and leave, or whether he would pounce.
“Liam,” said Jacyn pleasantly. “How nice to see you.”
“And you as well,” he responded politely, automatically. But his eyes never left Naisha’s face.
“Was there something you wanted?” Jacyn asked, looking puzzled and a bit uneasy about the sudden tension in the room.
“May I speak with you?” He spoke directly to Naisha, with an apologetic nod to Jacyn.