Page 5

Mitchell, London, England

June, Present Day

“E arth to Mitch,” Lucien Donovan said as he stood in front of his senior vice president and future son-in-law’s desk.

Mitch was looking at the photos of the MBA graduates from Wharton in his alumni magazine.

His eyes had fallen on one raven-haired beauty by the name of Rebecca Alexandra Stark, who had an undergraduate degree in computer science and a master’s in finance.

Alex had said she was graduating in their last phone call, yet seeing her now, the woman she had become, he could not tear his eyes away.

She was gorgeous, and he thought she’d been gorgeous at eighteen.

What he didn’t know, and her brother would never say, was that she had gotten prettier with time.

Mitch remembered the afternoon she’d asked him to be her first lover. He would never forget the look on her face, the depth of her eyes. She haunted him.

He was proud of her. She had graduated second in her class, missed first by a nose.

He bet that really pissed her off. She was competitive like that, a trait he had always loved, especially when she bested her brother.

He and Alex had not been in the top five of their class, so Rebecca’s placement probably pissed Alex off too. Good.

“I’m sorry,” Mitch said as he shook his head, put the magazine down, and looked at the president of his company.

He needed to get a grip. His time with Rebecca Stark had come and gone years ago, and whose fault was that?

His. One hundred percent. It was the biggest mistake of his life and one that he thought of every day.

“Oh please, don’t let me interrupt. You have a lot on your mind, least of all being that three months from now, you will be marrying my daughter.”

“Yes, sir. Well, I’m not too worried about the wedding.

I think Lily and her mother are taking care of all the details.

I just have to show up in the cutaway and say, ‘I do.’ She is letting me plan the honeymoon, but we have yet to agree on a location.

” Lily had shot down every one of his ideas, although Iceland intrigued her, which, ironically, was not a surprise.

Lucien smiled. “Yes, women are like that. They love things like weddings with all the little details. How many flower girls? Should we serve halibut or salmon? Should she have a white runner down the church aisle? I believe yes to that. The fact she has kept herself intact for all these years is a testament to her faith and belief in marriage. And I know you will take care of her. I know you will be a decent husband to her in that regard.”

Mitch had to keep himself from wincing. Intact .

What an ugly word. Their lack of physical affection had always been a sore spot for him, but Lily was bound and determined not to have sex until they were married.

It had been hard, but he respected her wishes.

His thoughts drifted to Rebecca again. She looked at her virginity as an obstacle that needed to be cleared for her future.

She wanted to experience passion, and he had made sure she did.

Lily looked at her virginity as a prize to be savored.

Where did he fall on this strange scale?

Somewhere in the middle. Would the marriage be happening so quickly if they were having sex?

Truth: probably not. Her father had hand-selected him to be his little girl’s husband.

Once it had started, there was no way to stop it.

It was a runaway train, and stupidly, he’d settled in for the ride of his life.

It was too late to get off. He was sure the old man had him checked out.

Not just the initial background check when he’d been hired at Donovan Security, but something much more detailed.

“Her dress is almost ready for her first fitting,” Lucien said, “but I’m not crazy about the look. A little too modern if you ask me, lots of skin viewed through scant lace.”

“As long as Lily likes it, that is all that matters,” Mitch said.

“You’re right. She has so few opinions. It is good to support her when she does.

” Was he kidding? When Lily had an opinion, look out.

She had vetoed Fiji, Hawaii, the Maldives, and even the Caribbean.

Mitch was a little brokenhearted, as he’d always pictured that his honeymoon would be someplace warm enough that clothing wouldn’t be necessary, and they would drink lots of pretty colored drinks with fruit hanging off the rim of his glass.

Mitch wasn’t going to touch any of the slightly sexist comments his future father-in-law was making with a ten-foot pole.

He had spent a lot of time trying to free Lily from her own outdated, traditional thoughts.

He’d tried to make her understand that despite her father, she could be a smart, career woman in her own right.

She loved her charitable work, which he encouraged.

Maybe she didn’t want to run Donovan Security one day, but there were a lot of other things she could do.

She didn’t really hear or want to hear what he was saying.

Lily seemed content to want to marry him and have babies, just as her father had ingrained in her from an early age.

She would be just like her mother, whom she called Mums. What had Mitch learned?

You can’t change people. Possibly it was a cultural difference between the British and Americans, but he didn’t think so.

Mitch loved her. What was not to love? She was sweet and kind and had a very nice smile.

But she lived to please him as long as it pleased her, which he wasn’t so crazy about.

Okay, so they didn’t have a passionate love.

Those burned out quickly, right? Sure. They weren’t meant for the long haul, so it was good that it was so docile.

Sweet. Kind. Nice. These were not the words he ever thought he would use to describe his future wife, but the bottom line was—and he’d finally given himself permission to admit it—he was lonely.

He’d spent possibly one too many winters in London, and Lily had been a convenient companion and always available.

They got along most of the time. They were mellow together, or as they liked to say in the United Kingdom, they got along like peas and carrots.

And on some things—things where she thought men knew best— she deferred to him sometimes a little too much in his opinion.

He wondered what her real opinions were.

Because occasionally, like with the honeymoon, she showed a stubborn streak.

It bothered him that she was going from her father’s house to his.

He had voiced this concern to her, but she said she wouldn’t have it any other way.

The thought of living on her own terrified her.

She was a people pleaser. He just wished he’d known how insecure she was before it was too late.

Now, it was too late. He’d made his bed and would lie in it.

And at the moment, he was lying in it alone.

Now, if he walked away, it would not only shatter Lily, but it would also be career suicide.

Lucien had hand picked him in business and for his daughter.

Lucien had told him several times that he was being groomed to run the company one day.

Mitch thought it was short-sighted that the man hadn’t brought Lily in at the time he had hired Mitch.

She might be capable of running the business, or she might fail, but Lucien would never know because he never gave his daughter a chance.

Garrison Stark, however, gave his daughter every opportunity he could.

Rebecca would be capable of doing anything her brother could do.

She was a force. Mitch always loved the way she was.

She didn’t ask for permission. She’d rather beg for forgiveness.

Alex better watch out. His sister had been released from Wharton and would give him a run for his money.

“Say, I wanted to run something by you,” Lucien said.

“Shoot,” Mitch said, coming back to the present.

“As you know, we need another associate for cyber security.”

“Badly,” Mitch said.

“I thought since we have enjoyed such success getting you from the United States, we should look there for another potential associate. Maybe even place them in our New York office but have them be a bit of a hybrid worker so they can assist us in London too.”

Donovan Security protected assets. If you had a contract in a foreign country and needed a little extra security, Donovan had you covered.

Armored cars, yes. People with guns, yes.

Computer firewalls, yes. Basic security services, yes.

Advanced security services, oh yeah. If you had it and wanted to keep it, Donovan Security would make it so.

Donovan Security London worked predominantly in Europe and the Middle East. Donovan Security New York helped Donovan Security London when any of their clients were on United States soil or with things like computer networks.

Mitch handled seven clients—the largest, biggest clients who needed to know that help was but a phone call away.

Lucien didn’t announce anything until it was well underway. Mitch wasn’t stupid enough to think his input was really wanted or needed. Lucien had probably already extended an offer to some guy from Harvard or Yale. He wouldn’t think of a woman. He was too sexist for that.

“Where are you on the progress of this idea?” Mitch asked.

“I have made an offer to someone from the United States.”

Bingo. Mitch stopped himself from nodding.

“Who?” Mitch asked.

“Well, you see, I know her dad.”

Her. This was interesting in itself, but Mitch felt the little pangs of unease start with his spine and spread to all his extremities. Lucien had only ever talked of one person they knew in common. Her. It couldn’t be.