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He continually flashed to their picnic, where she’d shattered beneath his touch. Her gasp, the arch of her back as she’d come against his hand, the way her eyes had become nearly luminous with her desire and passion.
His body ached for hers. He readjusted himself and continued staring out the pane of glass that had not gotten any warmer throughout the day.
“My lord, you have a visitor.”
He had no desire to see anyone if it wasn’t Fyre and he knew that wouldn’t be the case. Covering up his yawn was harder than he’d thought it would be. But he did, turned, then waved at Keating to bring this person in.
It wasn’t who he had expected. He had figured that her brother, Elonne, would be showing up but it wasn’t him. It was Albie Caulfield.
The man swaggered in like he was more powerful than everyone believed. Hell, perhaps more than he believed, but Phillip wasn’t impressed. At all.
Did it help that this man was after the woman he wanted? Nope, just made his disdain worse.
“Mr. Caulfield. Must be something important to get you out on a day like today. To what do I owe the honor?”
Silence stretched as Albie removed his hat and walked to a chair before the desk. Phillip sat after he did, not offering him a drink or anything of the sort. Didn’t matter to him that the man was wet from his ride here.
“I have come to return your invitation and to speak to you about another matter.” He cleared his throat. “A bit more delicate.”
God, he wanted to punch him in his face.
“And where is the invitation?”
“I gave it to your butler. Accepted of course.”
“Of course,” Phillip replied dryly. “And this other matter?”
He licked his thin lips and shifted on the chair. “It is about Miss Gwen.” A bit more shifting. “Have you seen her this week?”
Annoyance unfurled in his gut, stretching its tendrils to hit as much of him as it could. Then grew.
“I hardly think you are in a position to ask who I have seen this week. But to answer your impertinent question, no, I have not.”
Anger and something else flashed across Albie’s face. “She has said she is unable to add more of her time for me. I did not think you had seen her.”
Phillip wanted to lean forward, reach over the desk and throttle this man. He did neither. Going against his body’s demand, he leaned back in his chair and steepled his fingers like he was bored. In truth, it was the only way he could keep from leaving Albie Caulfield a bloody pulp.
“Just because I do not see her, does not mean she has not shown to do her work. Mr. Caulfield, your obsession with my employee has passed the line of being a nuisance.”
Caulfield narrowed his eyes. “She worked for me first.”
Phillip waved away that claim. “She is too kindhearted to tell people no, unlike myself. I know that you and her brother are trying to trap her into working only for you. Kind of like you are buying her. She has told both of you no and yet you persist.” Now he leaned forward, resting his hands and forearms on the desktop. “She is my employee and always has a place here, so when she comes to you and tells you she is no longer doing your books, you will take that and be a gentleman, bowing out of her life.”
“You think her brother will approve you getting a hold of her? We all know what members of the peerage think of women and how little respect you have for them.”
“This coming from a man who I see with his hands up the skirts of a whore at a pub, all the while professing to care about another?” Phillip shook his head. “My personal relationship with anyone is not your fucking business and you would do well to remember that. And do not forget that yes, I am a member of peerage, and my reach is far greater than yours.”
“Are you threatening me?”
An indolent shrug. “A threat would be for someone who was a worthy opponent. That, Mr. Caulfield, was simply a statement of fact.” He got to his feet. “Now, if you will excuse me and see yourself out. I have more things to do for this party to be ready.”
Albie also stood. “You are not rescinding your invitation?” Shock and a slight hint of worried suspicion tinged his question.
“No reason to. You, as a businessman and fellow plantation owner, are still welcome to attend. The more delicate matter between us is done. I have told you where I stand on it.”
“What if she agrees to my courting her? Will you back off?”
Anger grew wings and flew. “No.”
The man blinked a few times, like he hadn’t expected that word to leave Phillip’s mouth.
