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Rowan had had a point earlier. Why hadn't they simply offered to buy them from her?
It was something he needed to look into.
"The only family I owe loyalty to is my mother." He was a Baros, not an Andino as Cyrus had so eloquently pointed out when he called Lysander a bastard. "The woman you disrespected by taking to your bed but not the altar when you had the chance."
His father winced, eyes so like Lysander's own, going bleak.
Perhaps Rowan had been right, and the older manhadgrieved for the loss of Iona Baros. However, that loss was entirely his own doing. Lysander had no sympathy for Baptiste or his regrets.
Nor did he feel unswerving loyalty toward him. Yes, Baptiste had acknowledged Lysander as hisillegitimateson, but in many ways that had only made Lysander's life more difficult in the predominately conservative business world of Athens.
His father had never attempted to bring Lysander into the family business or his own life in any meaningful way. Expecting loyalty to a family name that Lysander did not carry was ludicrous.
If Baptiste did not want to lose his company, he had better keep a tighter rein on Cyrus as Rowan's ex than he had when he was her husband. If Rowan didn't bring them down by selling her shares to their keenest competitor, Lysander would take the company apart piece by piece.
Dismantling the deal with the Japanese conglomerate would show both men how serious Lysander was about keeping and protecting Rowan.
He'd meant his promise to her earlier. Even after their liaison ended, Lysander would keep Cyrus's revenge impulses in check where she was concerned.
"Marriage is a sacred institution," his father said, trying another tack.
Lysander gave the older man a disbelieving look. "You are saying this to me? The result of you not keeping yoursacredvows to your first wife."
Rowan's hand squeezed his. She was trying to comfort him. He did not need it. He'd long since come to terms with his own origin story. The gesture warmed him though.
She was just so damn sweet.
"You don't want me back," Rowan said to Cyrus, with unwavering conviction. "This is all about what I got in the divorce settlement. Newsflash, you aren't getting any of it back."
She'd gone from wanting to just give him the parcel of land to refusing to give him anything. Rowan had a temper that spurred intransigence, as he had learned the day she'd shown up at his gate with her intriguing proposition.
Rowan rolled her eyes when Cyrus's face went slack with shock, and she shook her head. "Did you really think I would be fooled a second time by your attempt at romance? How gullible do you think I am?"
"I don't know what Lysander has told you, Rowan, but keep in mind that he has an axe to grind with our family."
Lysander was done.
Rowan's feisty side turned him on, and he'd already been aroused by their dancing. His tuxedo jacket was hiding a raging hardon he was ready to bury in his lover's enticing body.
As if she could read his mind, or maybe her body was reacting to his pheromones, Rowan looked up at him with a sultry smile. "Time to go, don't you think, Sander?"
"Yes," he growled.
CHAPTER 17
The sexual tension in the car on the way back to Lysander's home was palpable. Rowan pressed her thighs together trying to alleviate the ache between them.
It did not work.
Lysander gripped the steering wheel with white-knuckle intensity. "Why didn't I use a driver tonight?"
"Because you like handling this super expensive, finely tuned machine?" she teased.
"I like handling you more."
"I'm flattered. I think."
"You should be. You're the only woman in that category."
