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“It didn’t work because he’s here.” A heavy sigh deflated my chest.
Ethan shook his head. “You’ve got Carson looking over you, at least.”
“That’s something, I guess.” I sighed while playing it cool. Ethan didn’t need to know how much I pined for my security guard.
My mother stepped through the revolving doors, with her arm linked in Carrington’s for all the world to see.
“Has anyone spoken to our mother about that woman in the car?” I asked.
Ethan shrugged. “Declan was meant to.”
A server circled with a tray of champagne, and I almost leapt at him.
It had been a harrowing time with Bram tagging along. He even jumped on my flight and acted like a first-class arsehole by demanding endless drinks. When I spotted him at a bar close to the hotel, I hurried past before he dragged me in. Bram couldn’t speak French, and he would have pinned me down.
Carson stepped through the revolving door at the same time as Declan, and then he stopped to say something to my brother. Wearing a tux, my bodyguard looked good enough to ravage.
He let his gaze wander over and trap mine, then his eyes turned into fingers, doing things to my body that screamed X-rated. My knees liquefied, and a pang of desire rushed through me. Was that electricity fizzing through the air?
Everything about Carson reminded me of sex. Hot. Screechy. Deep, hard sex that left me legless and beat any drug I’d ever tried. Only now he’d become my addiction.
How painful not being able to sleep with him these past few nights. If only he’d let me in again. I didn’t mean to tell him about the sex tape. I’d been drinking. But at least he now knew. I just had to hide the sordid details from him.
We moved into the function room, which, going on the embellished ceiling, was a former ballroom. Through arched windows, Paris shone like a priceless diamond, especially with the Seine and Eiffel Tower splashed in golden light.
Playing his role of security guard to perfection, Carson kept his distance, so I joined Declan instead.
At his feet, Cian propped up his model of the Eiffel Tower, and Julian sent his little car rolling along, voicing engine sounds while knocking the structure over. It was all very cute, and for a minute there I forgot I was at the opening of our family's five-star hotel.
Standing close, my mother chatted in fluent French with some local celebrities and dignitaries.
Theadora came over and kissed me. She raised the layer of my ruffled silk dress. “This is gorgeous.”
“Thanks. I picked it up at this sweet boutique around the corner from the hotel.”
I regarded her in a red sheath with a rose-sculptured neckline. “You’re looking stunning, as always.”
“It’s something I picked up here as well. The boutiques are to die for.”
I smiled. I had to agree there. Paris was a favourite shopping destination.
Declan was laughing with Carson when I joined them. If only to get a whiff of my security guard, I breathed him in deeply for that hint of bath soap, cologne, and male scent. I would have smothered myself in that smell if I could.
“Did you have a word with Mother?” I asked Declan.
He puffed. “Why is it always me? Why can’t you? I’ve only just finished talking to that dick, Lord Pike, who couldn’t care less about his son blackmailing you, by the way. Even my mention of lawyers and police didn’t seem to worry him.”
Frustrated and defeated, I shook my head.
“Get Carson involved. He’ll sort it out,” Declan said just as the man who’d stolen my heart walked away.
“I don’t want him seeing the tape.” My voice trembled. “I’m a fucking nervous wreck.”
Declan draped his arm over my shoulder for support when a noisy laugh rang through the room. People stopped and stared at Bram, making his grand entrance and wearing an “I’m here, look at me” satisfied smirk. Stirring the crowd, he seemed to dance as he walked.
That nonconforming, poke-tongue at convention was what had attracted me in the beginning because there was a little of me in there. I’d always had a dislike for the stiff conventions of our lot. Even as a girl, I preferred to play outside with the farmers’ kids than hang around in my pretty dresses and smile sweetly at the guests.
But with that dark heart of his, Bram now terrified me. He’d imprisoned me and had stomped all over my soul.
