Page 15 of The Heiress Masquerade (Dollar Princess #2)

After waiting nearly the entire morning for an opportunity to speak to Harrison, Aimee finally got her chance when Mrs. Holbrook went downstairs to the shipping department, while Molly and Deidre were off running errands. She quickly ducked into Harrison’s office without bothering to knock on his open door.

“I have a plan about the ledgers,” she said, hurrying over to where he was sitting at his desk, scribbling on some papers.

He glanced up from his work and raised an eyebrow. “Dare I ask?”

She perched on the edge of his desk, trying not to think about the kiss they’d shared yesterday, which was hard, given it had been constantly replaying in her head since. But that was only because it was her first real kiss, not because of the kiss or the man himself. At least, she kept trying to tell herself that. “Robert mentioned going to lunch with me today, so I thought I’d use the opportunity to superciliously find out what he knows about the alterations.”

“He’s not going to lunch with you today. He’s far too busy after the meeting I had with him and Ben this morning trying to rectify the situation.”

“You had a meeting with them about it, without me?”

“I did.”

“But I was the one who discovered the issues. I should have been part of it.”

“I didn’t see the need for you to be there.” He leaned back in his chair.

“Of course you didn’t.” Aimee threw her hands in the air. “Trust you not to think a woman could assist. Even though it was a woman who discovered the issue in the first place!”

“It has nothing to do with whether you can assist or not, but more to do with my wanting to assess Ben and Robert, without you there to distract me.”

“I distract you?” She didn’t know if that was a good thing or not.

“Yes. You’re constantly annoying and interrupting me, so of course you’re a distraction.”

“You’re quite the comedian. But you don’t suspect either Ben or Robert, do you?”

“Not really.” He gave a half shrug and then sighed. “But you never really know the secrets someone is keeping, even someone you trust.”

She felt a stab of guilt from his words, knowing if he ever found out her secret, he’d be furious, which was probably too tame a word for it.

“Wilheimer is downstairs!” Ben said, interrupting them as he rushed into the room. “His interpreter says he’s demanding a meeting with you now, not this afternoon.”

“He’s obviously found out about his loans being called in.” Harrison didn’t seem concerned with the news. “Very well then, we’ll have the meeting now.”

A few minutes later, Harrison had organized for Miss Mitchell to show Wilheimer and his men to the boardroom, while Mrs. Holbrook fetched Mr. Stanton and Ben was getting his notes from his office, leaving Aimee alone again with Harrison.

“What should I do?” Aimee asked.

His eyes swiveled over to her and narrowed. “You can stay here and look after the office.”

“You can’t be serious. I’ve come here to learn all I can about my uncle’s company, not twiddle my thumbs. Please let me attend the meeting, too. I promise I won’t say a word.”

He paused and stared at her in what she assumed most would think an intimidating manner, but she didn’t budge an inch, and instead raised her chin.

“How can you possibly assist when you said you won’t say a word?”

“I speak fluent German so I can pay attention to what’s said and done, and we can discuss it after.”

He was silent for a few seconds. “Fine. You can come to the meeting.” He bent his head down toward hers, until his lips were mere inches away from her own. “But that’s it. You will not interrupt, interfere, or do anything to make your presence known. Do you understand me?”

“I do.” Aimee gulped as she felt the heat radiating from him, and a shiver of excitement ran down to her toes.

“You’d better understand,” he murmured, his tone suddenly softening as he leaned in closer to her.

Aimee felt her breath hitch, his mouth inches from her own. Would he kiss her again? She licked her suddenly dry lips and was fascinated when she noticed the pulse at the base of his neck starting to thump rapidly.

Was he, too, feeling this strange pull toward her, as she felt toward him? Almost like her body had a mind of its own and was urging her to close the distance between them. But darn it, she couldn’t do that. She had to prove to her father that she was more than capable of taking over the company from him, and an office flirtation would never prove to him how serious she was. Though he would never find out about it…

“I won’t say a thing,” she finally managed to whisper back.

Time stood still as they stared at each other, only inches away, but then Harrison blinked, cursing lightly under his breath.

“You damn well better not,” he said, rather stiffly. “I will not have this deal jeopardized. And I do literally mean you’re not to say a word. If you so much as—”

Aimee couldn’t help herself; she closed the distance between them and pressed her lips against his, kissing him with all the pent-up frustration she was feeling. Then she pulled back from him and grinned. “What an effective way to silence someone.”

The muscle in his jaw twitched. “You kissed me to silence me?”

It felt wonderful having the upper hand for once. “It worked, didn’t it?” Really, she’d done so just to get the feeling out of her system, hoping that that would be an end to her thoughts of kissing Harrison. Though it hadn’t worked as she’d intended, she still wanted to feel his lips against hers. Damn it! She had to keep what was important to her in focus, rather than the man’s lips.

“My dear lady,” he all but purred. “If you want to silence someone then you need to kiss them more effectively.”

Before Aimee knew what he was about, his lips were against her own, kissing her with such passion that his kiss from yesterday all but faded in comparison. Her body came alive under the sweet onslaught, her heart skittering and her breath catching in her chest as his tongue caressed and tasted hers, tempting her as little else had.

Lust, hot and heavy, cascaded through every single part of her body, pushing aside all the reasons she knew she shouldn’t be doing this. She wound her hands around his neck, pulling him more tightly against her, as their kiss deepened into something wild and dizzying. Something she didn’t want to end, despite her head knowing it was a terrible idea.

A low growl rumbled deep in his throat, and his hands slid around her skirt, cupping her buttocks, then gently squeezing them as he pulled her firmly against his hard length.

She moaned at the feel of him. Never had she felt so wanton, her body begging for his touch, craving it even.

“Um, Harrison?” a voice, and an accompanying knock from the doorway, interrupted them.

They both froze, and then with a curse, he dropped his hands from her and spun around to the door.

Aimee glanced over and saw a petite and beautiful lady dressed in a light blue Worth day dress, her pale blonde hair swept effortless up into a chignon, with a beautiful blue bonnet perched daintily atop. She appeared the epitome of effortless elegance, though she couldn’t fully disguise the hint of upset in her eyes as she stared at Harrison then swung her gaze over to Aimee.

Instantly, Aimee knew the woman and Harrison were involved, and her heart sank. Then, she got angry. Furious in fact. How dare he kiss her if he was already seeing this woman! The nerve of him, but could she really expect anything less?

“Jane,” Harrison said, dragging a hand through his hair. “I hadn’t been expecting you…”

Aimee never thought she’d see the man squirm, but clearly having his paramour catch him kissing another woman was enough to make even the great Harrison Stone flustered. Just as he deserved to be, the cad.

“So I see,” the woman replied, with a smile. “And who is this?” Jane’s gaze swung over to Aimee, and though her smile didn’t slip, there was loathing in her eyes.

“This is Yvette Jenkins. She’s Thomas’s niece, and here to train as a secretary,” he replied. “Miss Jenkins, this is the Countess of Whitley, a…friend of mine.”

Aimee had to restrain herself from scoffing. A friend? What a load of nonsense. There was more than simply friendship between him and this woman, who was staring at Harrison like she owned him.

“It’s nice to meet you, Lady Whitley,” Aimee replied, lying through her teeth.

The lady inclined her head at Aimee, but instead of repeating the sentiment, she turned to Harrison, dismissing Aimee out of turn.

“Did you forget we had a luncheon date today?” Lady Whitley asked Harrison, her voice refined yet sultry, which Aimee assumed many men would be entranced by. The lady also seemed happy to pretend she hadn’t found him in a compromising position. If Aimee were in her place, she would have already pulled out her derringer and threatened the man’s nether regions for daring to dishonor her so. She still might, she was that upset with him.

“Damn it, I did forget,” Harrison swore. “I’m sorry, Jane, but I have to attend a meeting right now for the Wilheimer deal. We’ll have to reschedule lunch.”

“You’ll still need to eat,” the lady replied, an enticing smile on her face. “And I can wait until you’re done.”

“It could take a while,” Harrison replied, having all but forgotten Aimee was even there.

She felt like throttling the man and couldn’t wait to give him a piece of her mind when they were alone.

“That’s fine. Now go and sort out what you need to. I’ll wait here for you, for as long as I need to.” She directed her last comment straight to Aimee, and Aimee knew she wasn’t just talking about waiting for him for lunch.

That was fine with Aimee. She had no plans to ever kiss Harrison Stone again.

“Very well,” Harrison replied, before glancing to Aimee. “Come along then, Miss Jenkins, we need to get to the meeting.”

“Of course, Mr. Stone ,” she said with caustic sweetness, following him out his office and into the outer room. And just as she was about to launch into a scathing attack, Mrs. Holbrook came rushing through the door.

“Ah, there you both are,” Mrs. Holbrook said. “Everyone’s waiting in the boardroom, and I came back to collect Miss Jenkins after I realized I’d left her here. If that’s all right with you, Mr. Stone, that she attends?”

“I’ve already told her she can,” Harrison said, his eyes never once looking at Aimee. “Provided she doesn’t say a thing.”

“I’ve already said I won’t,” Aimee replied. And she wouldn’t, not unless she had to.