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Out of breath, exhausted by mind-blowing sex, he lay beside her, and shut his eyes. For a second, he thought he was dreaming. She was too good for him. So much better than he deserved. And for the first time in a month, he wasn’t thinking about being locked in a basement in Iraq, wondering what he could have done differently to save Bryan as well as himself. For the first time in a month, he felt… like himself.
* * *
Katie stretched languidly in her bed, like a pussy cat with a belly full of warmed milk. Memories of the night before danced through her mind and she smiled contentedly. She wasn’t a virgin, but woah, she’d never known sex could be like that. David Trent was mind-blowingly amazing. The way he’d held her, kissed her… the moment he’d finally entered her and she’d felt, ludicrously, like she was home. How could a virtual stranger bring out so much pleasure?
She thought back to her university days. For a photography major, she was pretty staid compared to her artistic friends. One night stands had never appealed to her. She’d waited until she’d met someone she thought she loved. And what an idiot she’d been to believe his smooth lies! At least David had spelled it out for her before they’d gone to bed.
She could definitely handle another two weeks of this. She rolled onto her side and propped onto her elbow. The view from her window was one she’d never tire of seeing. The ocean, as far as the eye could see, angry and brooding today, with dark, foaming waves crashing into one another. The rugged coastline ran to the left, and if she squinted, she could see the entrance to the rabbit warren of smugglers cave that had made the area famous.
“Holy crap!” She jumped up as she realized how much lighter it was than it should have been. “What time is it?” She reached across and snatched up her phone, shocked to see it was more than two hours after her alarm was supposed to have gone off. “No, no, no, no!” She leapt out of bed, knocking her head on the beam of the ceiling in her rush. She swore sharply and ducked into her ensuite. Within minutes, she’d showered and dressed in a pair of jeans and a black sweater – a sort of informal uniform for her days at Wadeford House.
She took the stairs two at a time and was about to burst into the kitchen when her son’s voice stopped her.
“Did you meet any real life princes?”
A rich, throaty chuckle and Katie’s heart turned over. “I did indeed. He was a sheikh, and he wore a long white robe, and had servants who did whatever he wanted.”
“Woah.” She could tell her son was clearly impressed by this. She guessed David was recounting stories of his time in the Middle East. She wanted to know more about that, too.
She pushed through into the kitchen, coloring violently as her eyes scanned the dining table that had been the scene of last night’s passion. “Good morning,” she said croakily, not quite able to return David’s inquisitive look.
“Mummy! Did you know Mr. Trent has been all over the world?”
“Isn’t that wonderful?” She murmured. On the stove, she could see two frying pans, one with tomatoes and one with eggs. “You’re not cooking breakfast?” She didn’t think she could blush any deeper but she was mortified. “Maxie, go get your school bag. We’re running late today.”
As soon as Maxie had left, she looked up at Marcus. “I’m so sorry. My alarm didn’t go off. I usually get up at six.”
Marcus’s good looking face smiled down at her and, with one check to make sure Maxie wasn’t nearby, he leant down and placed a small, quick kiss on the corner of her mouth. “I turned your alarm off.”
“You … you did?” She frowned. “Why?”
“Well,” he wrapped his arms around her waist, confounding himself with how easy it was to be intimate with this woman. “As I’m your only guest right now, and I am quite capable of making breakfast myself, I thought you could use the sleep in.”
She made a noise of frustration and moved to step out of his arms. He felt strangely cold when she did. “David, that’s very kind…”
“Actually, it’s completely selfish.”
“Selfish how?” She knitted her brows together, watching him warily.
“Your energy is a valuable thing. Especially to me.”
“If you’re implying that you need me to be match-fit for our nocturnal activities, then you’re making a big mistake, buster.” She lowered her voice. “This is my business and I’ve worked my butt off to make a success of it. You might think you’re being helpful but it’s insulting to me. My personal life has never interfered with my responsibilities at Wadeford House.”
“Hey, hey.” He raised his hands in the air, palms towards her. “I admire the way you do it all yourself. But why not use help while it’s around?”
> “No way. This is my job. Would your principal let you come in late just because you’d had fantastic sex the night before? That’s not how it works in the real world.”
Actually, being that he ran his own company, he could pretty much do whatever the hell he wanted. This extended break was a case in point. He made a mental note to check in with his assistant just as soon as he could, to let her know he’d be away a little longer than he’d originally thought. “You’re right. I’m sorry. It was … arrogant of me.”
She shook her head, surprised by his quickness to apologize. “I know you were trying to do something kind, but this is my job. I take it seriously.”
He crossed the room and lent down, pressing his lips to her forehead. “And I admire that.”
She smiled up at him, brightly now. “What are you going to do today?”
Apart from dealing with the hundred or so emails he’d had blinking at him when he’d turned on his phone that morning… “I’m going to need to buy some clothes. The damned airline’s lost my luggage.”
“Airline? Aren’t you based in London? Where did you fly from?”
