Chapter Sixteen
Steele
I led her to one of my cars, ignoring my usual driver so I could drive us myself. The more people who knew that my planned affair with Ashlynn Phillips was fake, the better chance it would fail. I opened the car door for her, and she slid in gracefully, like she had been doing it all of her life. I found her to be a little rough around the edges for a socialite here in the United Kingdom, but her high living in the United States at least provided her with class and dignity. Although, I thought, smiling, she did cuss like a seaman.
“Something funny?” she asked, her beautiful face furrowed into a classic glare. She glared at me so much that it was hard to remember what her face looked like without her mouth frowning.
I didn’t answer her, and instead pulled out of my garage, heading up the ramp to the street level. Terry, my chief of security, nodded from his position in front of the garage as I drove down the pebbled driveway and onto the streets of London.
Ashlynn kept fiddling with the necklace she wore, and I wondered if it was the fact that I’d presented her with it, or if she wasn’t used to the weight. Designed for Queen Mary, it was incredibly valuable, and one of the few pieces I’d acquired legitimately. The diamonds came from the best mines in Russia, and it was a collar just as much as a necklace.
Finally, her nervous energy got the better of me. “Could you please stop fidgeting?”
“Seriously? You dress me up like a doll and then put a million-dollar necklace on me after locking me in your basement like a dog, and you expect me to just flip a switch and pretend everything’s fine? Especially considering we slept together and then I was kidnapped—”
“Technically, there wasn’t much sleep involved—”
I caught her fist as she swung at me, the car swerving a bit. I placed her hand in her lap, moving my eyes back to London traffic.
“Where are we going, and why are you taking me?” Her eyes sparkled with curiosity, and I couldn’t help but let my eyes roam over her curves. The dress she was wearing was one-of-a-kind, the type of dress you had to know someone in order to procure. And, luckily, I knew just the right person. It fit her even better than I’d anticipated, and I’d had trouble controlling my reaction when I first saw her in it. She had a natural beauty, but once she was dressed in jewels, she looked like royalty. She’d fit right in with the other women at the party, if only she’d fix her horrible American posture and clean up her language. Men could get away with foul jargon in my elite social circle, but women couldn’t.
“I’m going to make a deal with you—if your father doesn’t come through and gives me what I want, I’ll let you earn off the debt he owes me.”
Her entire face reddened, and I knew a slew of profanities were checked just on the other side of her lips.
“Excuse me? Work off his debt?”
The light changed to red and I stopped the car, looking over at her, trying to frighten her as much as I could with my intense gaze. “I don’t care how it comes about, but I will recoup what Phillips has taken from me—both financially and socially. You are going to work your way into the circle of women at this party, and report to me any information you can find—I mean absolutely anything. I want to know who’s sleeping with who, who’s addicted to pain pills, who’s squandering money. You’ll do this for me, and once I determine you’ve found something useful, I’ll let you go. If you agree, I’ll let you out of the guest room, give you small amounts of freedom. If not, you’ll go back in the basement and no amount of screaming will save you, and you’ll sit and deteriorate until your father turns himself over to me. You pick.”
The second I mentioned the basement, the blood in her face drained and I knew I’d won.
“Fine.” She slouched in the car and looked out the window as we passed Parliament and headed out of the city.
“There’s one more condition,” I said, licking my lips. “Whenever we are in public, you will act as my mistress.”
“What the hell? Absolutely not!” She whipped her head back towards me, a mixture of horror and stubbornness etched on her face.
I chuckled. “You’ll be at my beck and call. Pretend to adore me. Act enamored. It shouldn’t be too hard after the night we had together.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me. There’s no way I could ever pull that off. I’m not an actress.”
“Just pretend I’m naked,” I said smugly, remembering how much she’d enjoyed my body. “You didn’t seem to have a problem with it before.”
“You’re a pig, and that was a mistake. It won’t ever happen again.”
“We’ll see,” I said, increasing my speed as we sped out of the city.
We arrived at Lord Stanley’s manor an hour after his party started. I never got to an event early, preferring to blend into an already established crowd.
A parking attendant waited for me to hand over my keys, but I shook my head. He gestured over to a large area behind the stone guest house, and I parked my car in line with the others.
“Is no one allowed to touch your car?” Ashlynn asked, unbuckling her seatbelt. In a flash, I was on her side, opening the car door for her. “Apparently I can’t even open the door,” she said, sliding out of the vehicle.
“Manners, Miss Phillips,” I quipped, offering her my arm. She looked at my hand as if it was a snake about to bite, but then she sighed softly and linked her arm in mine. I corrected her and placed her arm on my forearm. “That’s the correct way.”
She shrugged and looked ahead at the manor. It was a large estate, similar in size to mine in France, albeit lacking the massive underground storage vault I kept at my country home. Judging from what I’d scoped out already, the security here was also much more lax.
The house itself was a stone monster, with red and gray bricks and giant turrets towering over every angle. The lawn was impeccably manicured, and I’d once heard a rumor that Lady Stanley frequently entertained one of the gardeners in her private rooms, no doubt accounting for the immaculate care of the lands. Tonight, the gravel path was illuminated by hand-lit lanterns hanging from iron poles every few feet, leading to the house.
“Woah. That’s the biggest house I’ve ever seen,” Ashlynn whispered.
“Mine is bigger.” I couldn’t help but boast, especially considering how much I hated Stanley.
“No it’s not.”
“You’ve only seen one of my houses.”
She turned towards me and opened her mouth, but we were accosted the second we crossed into the back garden.
“Lord Wethers!”
“Bollocks,” I murmured as an older woman clad in a bright pink ball gown raced over. She slowed once she took in Ashlynn, who looked radiant against the glowing lights.
“Who is this lovely young woman?” she asked, closely observing Ashlynn with her beady eyes.
“My fiancée,” I replied smoothly, deciding right on the spot to upgrade Ashlynn’s role. There was no way I’d let people think she was just my mistress. I was going to possess her in every way possible. I could see her mouth slacken out of the corner of my eye, and I shifted her a bit behind me so that her reaction wouldn’t be as noticeable.
“Oh my, fiancée?”
“Where are my manners? Miss Phillips, this is Laudie St. Patrick, Duchess of Manchester. Laudie, this is Miss Ashlynn Phillips.”
I stifled a smirk as I watched Laudie wait for Ashlynn to curtsey before her. The longer the time passed, the redder Laudie’s face became. It was all I could do not to burst out laughing at the social blunder and Laudie’s inability to grasp that it wasn’t going to happen.
Finally, Laudie excused herself, and I could hear her tittering about Ashlynn’s lack of propriety.
“Okay, what the hell did I do wrong?”
“Language, Miss Phillips.”
“Don’t you mean Mrs. Steele? And who the hell is Wethers?”
I refused to respond to both of her questions. “Laudie was irritated because you didn’t curtsey to her.”
Her eyes narrowed, and I found it hard not to focus on her lips as she pressed them together tightly.
“Curtsey? As in bow? I don’t bow to anyone.”
I grabbed her by the waist and pulled her close to me, my mouth against the shell of her ear. “You don’t have to bow to Laudie, but I’ll have you bowing to me before the night is over, love.”
She twisted out of my grasp, but it was too late. I could already see the desire in her eyes, watching as her breathing increased and her eyelids fluttered.
I grabbed two glasses of champagne from the nearest server, and passed one to Ashlynn, steering her to the edge of the garden. The entire area was bathed in a warm glow from the torchlights, and tables with crisp white linens and elaborate centerpieces were strategically arranged on the lawn. There were at least a hundred men and women, each with impressive pedigrees scattered about, joking and laughing as they complimented themselves on their money and power. It was the type of gathering I loathed, but this wasn’t a social call; it was business. My eyes darted around the back of the manor, and I saw a server coming out of the kitchen with a large platter of appetizers.
All of a sudden, I felt Ashlynn tense beside me. Her eyes were focused on a couple in the corner, heading towards us. I recognized them instantly. The Harringtons.
Edward moved closer, his wife sharp on his heels. I braced myself for this moment, anticipating the elation I’d feel knowing I’d taken Lord Harrington’s mistress and not only that, made her my fiancée.
However, as Lady Harrington’s face crinkled into a look of recognition and then disbelief, my excitement faltered. Edward would have certainly kept his mistresses’ identity a secret, but it was obvious that both Harringtons knew her.
“Ashlynn,” Lady Harrington said sharply, looking at her with disappointment. “Is this how you repay us for providing you with decent employment? You quit and don’t even give notice?”
“You left us in a tricky spot. We missed countless events, not to mention how upset the children were.” Edward stared at her like a misbehaving child, rather than a hot piece of ass.
Then it clicked. Ashlynn was working for the Harringtons, not sleeping with Edward. She was their nanny. That fact alone made me respect her more, even though it meant I couldn’t taunt my possession of her. When I heard she was staying with the Harringtons, I’d instantly pictured her as another one of Edward’s dumb and clueless whores.
Ashlynn’s face turned ashen, and she stumbled on her words, trying to come up with a reasonable explanation for her abrupt absence, or, perhaps, tell the truth in hopes they’d help her.
“I’m afraid Ashlynn’s father is very ill,” I said smoothly, the lie rolling easily off my tongue. “I told my fiancée I’d have my assistant handle her position with you, but something obviously got missed. I’ll have to have a talk with her. These things need to be handled delicately.”
“Fiancée? I didn’t even know you were dating.” Lady Harrington frowned, obviously irritated that she’d somehow missed this juicy piece of gossip.
I put my hand on the small of Ashlynn’s back. “We’ve been very private, haven’t we, love?”
I felt Ashlynn tense the second my skin touched hers, but she recovered quickly. “Yes, very private.”
Edward nodded. “Well, I hope we’ll be invited to the wedding. The children would be crushed to miss it.”
“Absolutely,” I said, nodding my head as they moved on to speak with another couple.
Still silent, Ashlynn grabbed another flute of champagne and chugged it rather inelegantly.
“Thanks to you I lost my job,” she said.
I ignored her comment, and then pulled her closer to me, and this time she didn’t flinch at my touch. “Here’s the deal, Ashlynn. The owner of this estate, Lord Stanley, has something that he has no business owning. I need you to find out where he’s keeping it.”
“And what exactly is this item?”
“A four-hundred million euro painting.”
“Oh, is that all?” she replied sarcastically.