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Phillip filled his friend’s tumbler once more. Then he walked back and started once more on his around-the-room path.
“She is not even living with her brother now. She moved.” He tunneled his fingers through his hair.
“I know where she lives.”
Phillip strode to his friend. “Where?”
“If I tell you, what are you going to do?”
Run over there. Hold her. Kiss her. Get her to understand that there is something between us.
“What difference does it make?”
Lucien set his glass down and leaned back. “Sit down, Phillip.”
He recognized his friend’s tone and listened. Not that he wanted to. What he really wished to do was beat the information from his friend then go satisfy his need to see his woman.
“What?”
“You need to be careful how you tread here. Tell me you are aware of this.”
“Are you telling me you do not think she is good enough for me because she is not royalty like your wife?” The words were growled and dangerous.
“Not even close to what I am saying. This has nothing to do with her upbringing or her family line.”
“Then what?” He tossed back the remaining liquid in his crystal. “What am I missing?”
“A lot.”
He scowled at his friend. Lucien, however, didn’t even flinch under the stare.
“I have known you pretty much our entire lives, Phillip. These are not words I say lightly.”
There was a level of seriousness in Lucien’s tone that worried him. Phillip sat on his irritation and waited for his friend to continue.
“You know what went on with my wife and me.”
He nodded, ashamed he had been part of their issue when finding their happily ever after.
Lucien, as always, knew where his mind had gone. “You are family, Phillip. Ciara loves you like a brother. There is no need for you to continue to hold on to any guilt over that. We have forgiven you, you have to forgive yourself. It has been years.”
“Hard for me to just let it go like that. You are my best friend and I did nothing to help you win your woman. I did the opposite. I tried to sabotage it.”
“Let it go. This is important.”
Phillip tugged on his hair before dropping his head back. “What am I missing?”
“You know how we had you come here to help Trace.”
“Of course, that was what prompted me to buy this place. We had to rescue him and his woman.”
“An act that was not too long ago. There are still plenty here who have their opinion of where people not with our skin color should be. You cannot be obvious with your intentions if there is no plan to protect her. She would be in danger.”
Phillip covered his face with his hands and groaned in frustration and anger.
“I know this. It does not do a damn thing about making me want to stop offering her something safe.” And if he thought about it, he wanted her protected. This had become far more than just being obsessed with the woman. He wanted to keep her protected from the harm and evil in the world.
“And this is what Ciara has always seen in you, Phillip. She knew there was more to you than the side you enjoyed showing in London.”
“I have not been privy to any more discontent between the races. Not since that general was hauled off.”
“It is there, make no mistake. If it was not, that man would not be so concerned about his sister.”
Phillip sneered. “That man, and I use the term loosely, is trying to sell her. She is the one who did my books, he couldn’t handle it, but he thinks he has the right to tell me he will be working on them once more while he pawns her off on some lecherous bastard who wants nothing more than to bend her over the nearest table and take her innocence from her.”
“I heard you say it all earlier. Does not mean the situation has changed.” He smirked. “And I would wager my entire estate you would love to bend her over the table as well.”
Fuck yes!
“What the hell am I supposed to do then? I am trying to protect her!”
Lucien rose and walked to the window, where he looked out for a charged moment of silence.
“When I woke up in that cabin, I was at a loss to make sense of Ciara. Sure, she had saved me, but she was not anything like the women I associated with. Not even the women I kept.”
He pivoted back to Phillip. Waiting for his friend to speak on, Phillip just gestured with his hand when Lucien appeared lost in thought.
“It took a while.” Lucien gave a wry grin. “Far longer than it should have, for me to realize that she had no model I could follow. She had not been born in a society that tried to form her in a certain way. She had not been on the streets looking for a handout or a way to improve her station. Ciara had everything she wanted.”
