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Her lower lip trembles before she firms it. “No. Look, what you did for me today, I appreciate it. But don’t do it, again. Please. And I don’t want all this. I’ll go to the Ball as your assistant if you want, but not as your date. I’ll wear a dress that suits my station, but I won’t let you cover me in thousand dollar dresses and real diamonds.” She seems to be trying to get control of her emotions. “That’s your world, not mine. I don’t want any of it.”
I can feel her slipping through my fingers, her rejection stinging me.
She shakes her head. “I’m your PA. Nothing more, nothing less. I don’t want anything further than that. I can’t afford to be an amusement to you, Mr. Starr.”
I see the regret in her eyes, and I see the way she’s putting up walls one by one, determined to protect herself and her small world from she perceives as a threat to her.
“It’s not what it seems, Kendall,” I murmur.
Without looking at me or uttering a word, she walks out.
Over the next few days, there is a rigidness in my everyday interactions with Kendall. She’s more polite, her temper reigned in, and while I know that there’s a way around this, my hurt and anger prevent me from doing anything.
“Miss West,” I buzz her intercom. When Kendall walks in, I tell her, “A Miss Reina Sheffield will be arriving in the afternoon. Please show her in.”
“I don’t have her on your schedule.” She frowns, studying the schedule on her notebook.
“It’s not business related,” I reply.
Her reaction doesn’t disappoint. A tightening around her mouth and a flash in her eyes, before she nods. “All right.”
When she leaves, I lean my head back against the headrest of the chair and close my eyes.
I haven’t rescinded my invitation for the ball and Kendall knows it. Maybe she’s wondering if I’m looking for another date.
The smile on my lips is of savage satisfaction.
Good.
Reina is tall, beautiful, her every movement, her every step, graceful, to highlight her best feature.
When Kendall shows her in, her face is carefully blank.
Reina’s lips curve into a smile as she greets me, “Darling, I thought you’d never call.” She steps towards me.
I stand in greeting, letting her snake her arms around my neck, reaching out to brush her lips against my right cheek. From the corner of my eyes, I see Kendall turn her head to the side as if the very sight was unbearable to her.
A clenching twist in my chest as I look back at the stunning Reina who’s as vicious as the queen of snakes, and smile. “Would you like something to drink?”
She runs a finger over the side of my face, her words husky, “Maybe in a while.”
The implication in her words is clear.
Kendall says quietly, “Is that all, Mr. Starr?”
I turn my head to meet her gaze, and I see nothing, a careful blankness, her back ramrod straight, as she holds on to her tattered pride, and I can’t help the gentleness in my voice, “That’ll be all, Miss West. Thank you.”
She’s out the door in the next heartbeat.
I stare longingly after her, cursing myself for doing this to her. I turn my attention back to the simpering Reina, whose beauty means nothing but a means to an end. I disentangle her from me and let my lips curve. “Let’s talk, Reina.”
The surprise in her eyes is followed by swift calculation as she purrs, “Yes, lets.”
When I exit the office a few hours later, with Reina right behind me, I see a familiar woman whom I recognize as Jane Starling; she had conducted an interview for Voyd magazine a few days ago.
She’s involved in a heated discussion with Kendal
l who’s looking stern and disapproving. “I’m afraid I can’t do that. The terms of the contract were quite clear. Whatever you publish has to be approved by me. Otherwise, Lucas Black will sue you, your company, and your pet dog, while he’s at it.”
