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‘It’s okay. I’ve been entertained. What’s the “J”?’ she asked. She smiled at his obvious confusion and held up his bookmark, pointing at his initials.
‘James.’
‘Never would have guessed.’
‘Really?’ he asked with amusement.
She laughed, a teasing glint in her eye. ‘I would have thought it would be some sort of haughty archaic name, passed down.’
He wasn’t taking the bait. ‘Sorry to disappoint.’ He pulled her throw-covered legs over his lap, holding her against his body. ‘I wanted to talk to you about tomorrow.’
‘Work?’ Emma asked, frowning.
‘Work.’
Alex had been picking apart everything she had said to him over the past few days. A picture was beginning to paint itself, of exactly what she was facing. And the reality of the matter was that when Emma went back to the office she would be facing the wrath of her older sister. Unfair as it was, Lauren was, in effect, her boss. And the look he’d seen on her older sister’s face at the masquerade—while amusing at the time—meant that Emma would be facing an untenable situation tomorrow. A situation Alex felt somewhat responsible for.
He never involved himself in the careers of the women he dated, that was true, but he also never got them fired. From what Emma had said of Lauren, it seemed she was waiting for an excuse to be rid forever of the smart younger sister who was very capable of upstaging her but never did.
Emma sighed heavily. ‘I’m not going to stress about it, Alexander. Whatever happens, happens. I doubt Lauren is going to retaliate on the day her promotion is announced.’
‘So you’re just going to stand there and pretend you’re happy for her? Even though you were overlooked again?’ He could feel his anger rising.
‘Yes, because I’m happy for Maddie. At least a part of me is.’
‘The other part knows you deserve better.’
Emma shrugged. ‘I don’t know what I deserve,’ she finally responded. ‘Better than my family, but that’s a low bar.’
He narrowed his eyes. How could she not know what she deserved? She was aware of how hard she worked. Knew what she wanted. Craved the opportunity to be given a chance. So how could she not know? Unless it wasn’t so much not knowing what she deserved as it was not knowing her worth.
‘Emma...’ He made his voice low. Quiet. ‘Why don’t you think you’re good enough?’
Emma didn’t answer and looked away.
Alex wouldn’t be ignored. He held her chin in a firm grasp, forcing her to look at him. ‘What happened? You’re not leaving here until you tell me.’
Why should she?a voice at the back of his mind asked him. The answer was simple. He wanted to know. Whether he needed to know was immaterial. And Alex always got what he wanted.
‘It’s nothing. Stupid, really.’
‘Tell me anyway.’ He knew he’d made it clear that he wasn’t going to let it go.
She sighed. ‘Not long after I had started working, I dated someone. I wasn’t interested in anything serious, but he said all the right things, and did all the right things, and for a moment I contemplated what it would be like to have something real with him. Then he met Lauren. Started ignoring my texts and calls. I found out he’d been seeing her. He chose her. It had always been her. I was just a means to an end.’
Fool.How anyone could choose Lauren over Emma was baffling to him. She was by far the most stunning creature he had ever seen. He—Alex, master of control—could barely control himself around her.
‘Emma...’
‘It’s fine. It’s in the past. But I should have expected it because my father didn’t ever want me either.’
‘What do you mean?’ Alex was having a hard time reining in his temper now.
‘The reason my father hates me so much is because I was—as he so delicately put it—“a mistake my mother refused to fix”. He didn’t want me.’
A growl left Alex’s throat. His eyes turned to shards of ice.
‘You have to understand my father is someone who has a plan and sticks to it. Anything outside of that isn’t tolerated. Deviations are viciously and swiftly dealt with. He’s always been that way.’
