Page 73

“Let’s say my services are no longer required.”

“Papa sacked you! He sometimes has a problem distinguishing the message from the messenger.” Lela paced the small space, outrage on his behalf boiling over.

“Thanks for the support.” He grinned. “Did he sack you too?”

She spun back to him, her rage directed at her absent father. “Daughters can’t be sacked. Exiled, abandoned, abused for their irresponsibility, but not sacked.”

“Especially when they refuse to be.” He tilted his head to one side.

“What do you mean?”

“Isn’t that the secret of your success? You won’t be silenced, you won’t disappear, you show him what love looks like every day of your life.”

“He disrespected you,” Lela concluded.

“The honours were fairly evenly divided. He accused me of failing the brief. I told him he’d lied to me.”

“You’re sorry for Papa?”

“He’d spoken to you. The news flattened him.”

“Short of kidnapping her yourself and smuggling her out of the country, how does he imagine you can change the outcome?” Lela understood her father’s shock and grief, but Hamish was blameless.

“I sent an itemised invoice, and I gave him my opinion she was safe, of sound mind, and by the time any case got to court, if he wanted to fight it, she’d be of legal age,” he paused. “And that I’d represent her in said court case.”

“And you think I’m direct.” She grinned.Where have you been all my life?

“My considered opinion—which I shared free of charge—is if he didn’t suck it up, he’d do incalculable damage to their long-term relationship. I also outlined the option of suing him. I rescheduled real cases for this.” Annoyance sharpened his tone. “Apart from wasting my time, lying about children is unforgivable. Children are taken advantage of every day because they don’t understand what’s happening to them.”

“That’s why you didn’t walk away when you discovered the first lie,” Lela said, appreciating his willingness to look beyond the personalities to the needs of the individual child. “You wouldn’t take the risk she wasn’t safe.”

“I needed to see for myself she was safe,” he agreed.

“He found your Achilles’ heel,” she murmured, stepping close to brush her cheek over his. “I’m sorry he didn’t recognise your integrity for the strength it is.”

“You’re not responsible for his actions.”

“We’ve taken you away from people who needed you more.” Although, if Lela was honest with herself, she needed him. His skill meant she’d found Sophie faster. His emotional support was helping her deal with Sophie’s rejection of her.

The doorbell rang, and he pressed a kiss to her forehead. “That’ll be room service. I hope you’re hungry.”

––––––––

“ILOVE YOU, HAMISH.”

Nestled against his shoulder, his stillness, his infinitesimal withdrawal was a physical pain. Bathed in the glow of lovemaking, with her body still throbbing from his possession, Lela had felt invincible. She’d needed to share the words with him so he’d know how powerful he made her feel.

As his silence dragged on, she turned her attention to the painting on the opposite wall. It was decorated with a fragment of a Roman temple, and she learned the pattern in the ornate stone pillar, seeing how one twisting vine worked into another, grapes, flowers, small animals, meaningless decorations.

The coldness started on the inside, steadily spreading until she feared she wouldn’t be able to disguise her trembling from him, wouldn’t be glib enough to toss the uncontrollable shivering off as a reaction to his closeness.

Illalu, his scent clung to her, filling her nostrils, surrounding her in the bed, tormenting her. Lela needed to escape before she threw a Sophie-like tantrum. He’d made love to her as if his life depended on it, as if she was the most precious person in the universe.Was it all a lie, an illusion?

Certainty drained from her, and tears obscured her vision.

Each touch had shown her why she loved him—tender, passionate, committed. Every square inch of her body had been worshipped.For what?A casual pleasure? A quick fling?

“That was a mistake,” she whispered, rolling out of his embrace. For the first time, embarrassment at her nakedness washed over her. It wasn’t the bare flesh, but her confusion she wanted to hide.