Their father had been a master at manipulation and both he and Leo had gone from loving him to fearing him to turning away from him and, finally, to loathing him. Especially when his affairs had become public knowledge, hurting their mother and embarrassing them all.
And now Leo had fallen into the same trap. Being caught with a woman who wasn’t his wife. No matter how innocent it had been, it was still a big deal.
‘Just...’ He heaved out a sigh. ‘Just don’t do anything yet. Don’t make any solid decisions while you’re emotional. And definitely do not put out any statements.’ His mind was already turning, working through ideas of how they could stem the fallout from the scandal his brother had inadvertently created. ‘I’ll be in Arrantino by nightfall. Morning your time.’
‘If I’m not here to greet you, I’ll make sure Margaux is completely up to speed on what’s happening.’
‘I don’t want to speak to your private secretary,’ Logan growled. ‘I want to speak to you.’
‘I’ll try.’ Logan could already hear that his brother was distracted.
Ringing off, Logan took a moment to stare into space. King? There was no way he wanted to become King. It was a poisoned chalice he’d always been glad he’d never had to take on.
Cassidy cleared her throat, her gaze taking in her boss’s flexed shoulder muscles as he steadied his breathing.
She’d never seen him so disturbed before, and she felt an unexpected shaft of compassion for him. She had felt like she’d had her life turned on its head this morning, and now it seemed like his was about to do the same thing.
He turned toward her, his expression steely. ‘How much of that did you get?’
Feeling awful that she’d overheard any of it, she shrugged diffidently. ‘Your brother intends to abdicate and you don’t want to be King.’ You also think love is a waste of time, and you don’t seem to be a fan of your brother’s soon-to-be ex-wife.
‘That’s pretty much it. Throw in a divorce, a woman on the side, and a hungry pack of journalists and you’ve potentially got a national crisis.’
‘Wow. And I thought my morning had been bad. What are you going to do?’
‘Talk him out of it.’
Cassidy sighed. ‘You always seem to know what your next move is. One of the things I admire most about you is your ability to make a decision on the spot. I wish that was one of my superpowers.’
‘Superpower?’
‘Things I excel at.’
‘Your superpower is running my office. Which I’m going to need you to get on top of right away because we need to fly to Arrantino. Tonight. Hopefully we’re only looking at a twenty-four-hour turnaround but you’ll need to rearrange the rest of my week in case it’s not.’
‘Okay, right.’ She frowned. ‘I’ll send an email to postpone tomorrow’s meeting in Boston. Then first thing tomorrow I’ll see what can be delegated and what has to be rearranged. Do you want me to call Ben to reschedule the flight?’
‘I already sent him a text requesting that we fly out as soon as he can log a new flight plan.’
‘Okay, then I’ll...’ Cassidy paused. That was the second time she’d heard him refer to both of them. ‘We?’
‘Yes.’ Logan checked an incoming text on his phone. ‘l need you to come with me.’
Cassidy blinked as her brain slowly processed his words. ‘But I can’t go with you.’
Logan’s head snapped up. He looked at her as if she’d never said no to him before, perhaps because she hadn’t. ‘Why not?’
She thought about the conversation she still needed to have with her sister, and her obligation to take care of the twins two evenings a week while her sister studied at night school. ‘I have obligations. Commitments.’ She smoothed her hand over her sodden hair. And if this trip did by chance go longer than twenty-four hours her sister wouldn’t be happy. Not with her final exams about to start.
‘Yes, you do have commitments. To me. And right now I need you.’
‘You need me to run your office, which I can do better from New York.’
‘I decide where you’re best fit to serve me, Cassidy, not you.’
Up until now Cassidy would have said that she didn’t have a temper, but she was so exhausted from all the issues she’d had to contend with today that she could feel it rising. And not once in the time she had worked for him had he ever spoken to her in such an imperious tone. It made her think of a spoiled, rich prince getting everything he wanted. Which no doubt he had done.
Having grown up in the opposite of the lap of luxury, she couldn’t even imagine how it would feel to have every one of your needs met whenever you desired it. Unfortunately her boss didn’t share that experience. Which was no doubt why he showed so little emotion whenever one of his ex-girlfriends rang up begging for a second chance. Which he never gave. Once you were off Logan de Silva’s list of intimate contacts, you were off. From what she had seen, he was a man who cared very little about anything other than winning his next billion-dollar deal, and she sometimes envied him that because she cared too much about everything.
‘Well, I’m sorry but I can’t just drop everything to be at your beck and call. When I first started working for you I explained that I would need advance notice if you ever needed me to travel with you.’ Which so far he hadn’t. ‘And leaving to go halfway around the world in five minutes hardly counts as even short notice.’
‘And might I remind you,’ he said with lethal softness, ‘that when you signed on as my EA I explained that I pay above and beyond the average wage because I specifically require you to be at my beck and call, and you were more than happy with that at the time.’
The dark look in his eyes made her feel hot and bothered. She was still uncomfortably aware that he was standing in front of her half-naked, her eyes constantly drawn to the pelt of dark hair that curled over the top of his singlet. She couldn’t seem to stop herself from imagining how he would look naked.
She was also uncomfortably aware that what he said was true. But all she could think about was how she was going to tell Peta that she wouldn’t be around this week when her sister had to take her final exams. It must be another one of Murphy’s laws that when something horrible happened, it happened at the worst possible time.
Silence stretched between them with such savage intensity it completely took the wind out of her sails. She’d never been good with confrontation, which was why she was so good in her role as peacemaker in her family. It was her other superpower, along with her ability to compartmentalise situations and move on.
Knowing by his expression that he wouldn’t take no for an answer, she grimaced. ‘You’re right, I did agree with your requirements when I took the job, but...’ She faced him as one might face an angry lion in a small enclosure without a whip or a chair. ‘I’ll have to make a call first. Peta needs me more than ever this week.’
Logan came toward her, all power and languid grace, and for a moment she didn’t think he was going to stop. Her eyes widened as she was assailed with the unexpected vision of him wrapping one of those large hands around the back of her neck and drawing her up on her toes to kiss her. Heat travelled swiftly up through her body, making her tingle in all the wrong places.
Breathless, she waited for what would no doubt be the kiss of her life to happen, but of course it didn’t. He stopped an inch from touching her. ‘As I said, so do I.’ The look he gave her could have cut glass. All signs of the vulnerability she had glimpsed when he’d been speaking to his brother had completely disappeared. ‘And my needs take precedence over Peter’s. I’ll have Gordon drop you home so you can shower and change and then I’ll collect you in an hour. Be ready.’
His gaze flicked slowly down over her body and back up and Cassidy became very conscious that she must look like the Wicked Witch of the West with her hair drying in clumps and wearing one of his sweatshirts
that was miles too big for her.
Then he was gone, leaving her to stew in silence.
She wondered if he was ever like this with his dates. But if he was they wouldn’t be crying on the end of the phone when he broke up with them, they’d be rejoicing.
Like this he was domineering and exacting. There was only one way and that was his. Usually she didn’t mind it. Usually she went with it.
Usually when she didn’t feel like her life was falling apart at the seams. It made her want to tell him just where he could take his demanding attitude and what he could do with it when he got there. Which would shock the heck out of him because, while he encouraged her to give him her opinion on matters of business, he would never encourage her to outwardly defy him.
And she was sure if that ever happened he’d be the juggernaut he always was, speeding over whatever roadblocks were in his way like a souped-up supercar. Cassidy, by comparison, was more like a moped, dodging life’s pitfalls as best she could with only one cylinder.
Logan stepped into the shower and doused his head under a stream of hot water. He didn’t know what had shocked him more, the fact that Cassidy had said no to him or that she had a lover called Peter.
A shaft of something akin to jealousy speared through him and he knew why that was. She was the best EA he’d ever had. There was no way he wanted her falling in love, getting married, going off to have babies and leaving him.
Was she already in love with the guy? Is that why she was so keen to leave on time two nights a week and baulked at working weekends?
He thought about the way her bright green eyes had widened as he’d invaded her personal space. For a moment he’d been overcome with the urge to keep going and power her back against the wall until he had her flattened against him, and the intensity of that urge had been the only thing that had stopped him.
Had she felt the inconvenient chemistry between them?
Had she wanted him to claim her?
Logan swore softly and stuck his head back under the stream of water, turning it to an icy blast.
He had not found himself at the mercy of his baser instincts since he’d learned that giving in to passion and losing control was what had nearly brought his father unstuck. It was certainly what had eventually broken them as a family. Even calling themselves a family was a stretch. They’d been an institution that had performed for the public like trained seals, both parents putting duty ahead of everything else.
And he wouldn’t ruin things with the best EA he’d ever had by confusing desire with a heightened state of adrenaline. Which was all that had been.
First the shock of finding her in his apartment like a half-drowned kitten and then being confronted with all that gloriously wild hair he’d itched to bury his fingers in. Who knew she’d been hiding that from the world?
Did she hide it from Peter as well, or just him?
Why do you care?
Irritated to find his mind once again charging down a path he had no intention of allowing it to go, he put the brakes on all thoughts of Cassidy’s unruly appearance. It had happened, but it was over.
The sooner he saw her again in her usual sedate office attire the sooner he could forget he’d ever seen her any other way.
Professional. Sensible. Unflappable.
So no more imagining himself peeling open her lacy bra. No more wondering if her hair would be silky soft beneath his fingertips. And definitely no more arousing himself by wondering how her body would fit against his as he pressed himself into her.
Like now.
Cursing again, he pulled on jeans and a pullover and questioned his instinctive decision to take her with him to Arrantino. Perhaps she would be better staying back here in his office, taking care of business while he was gone.
But as soon as the thought formed he discounted it. The fact was he needed Cassidy with him because he had no idea what he was about to face, or how long he’d be gone. He was hoping it would only be a twenty-four-hour turnaround. Fly in, drum some sense into his brother, say hello to his mother, and fly out. Simple. Easy.
But if for some reason simple turned to complicated it would be far more efficient to have Cassidy with him than sending urgent messages to a different time zone and wondering how long it would be before she processed them.
But for that to happen she had to be completely on her game. She had to be back to her usual measured self.
And for that matter, so did he.
In her own words it had been a horrible day, capped off with a horrible night. His current adrenaline rush had nothing to do with Cassidy and everything to do with his brother’s announcement that he wanted to abdicate. He wouldn’t, Logan would see to that, but it had thrown him. Put him in in a heightened state of awareness. Like a warrior of old about to go into battle. All his senses were switched on and that was the only reason he had felt any form of arousal for Cassidy.
Feeling as if he had everything in hand again, he organised a change of clothes for himself and texted his driver to see if he’d returned to pick him up. The sooner he got to Arrantino and back, the better.
CHAPTER THREE
CASSIDY HAD TO jiggle her key in the lock a bit to open the old door of her clapboard rental and when she did she found the twins doing their homework on the coffee table, watching the latest reality singing show.
They waved an absent-minded hello, their eyes glued to the TV, as Peta came out of the kitchenette, wiping her hands on a dishrag. ‘You’re late tonight. I was getting worried.’
‘Sorry. I sent a text.’
‘An hour ago.’ Peta followed her into the bedroom. ‘Is everything okay? You look like you’ve just climbed out of someone’s bed. And whose sweatshirt are you wearing?’
She had almost forgotten the shirt and blushed even though there was no reason to. ‘It’s Logan’s.’
‘Your boss?’ Peta frowned as Cassidy reached into her closet and pulled her ancient suitcase down from the shelf. ‘Why are you wearing your boss’s shirt, and where are you going?’
‘Arrantino.’
‘For how long?’
Cassidy glanced over at her sister’s disgruntled expression as she quickly folded a work blouse into her suitcase. ‘I don’t know. A day or two.’
‘A day or two?’ Peta frowned. ‘I need you to take care of the girls this week. I’m in the middle of my final exams.’
‘I know.’ Cassidy hated that she was putting her sister out, and she genuinely loved taking care of her nieces. ‘I thought maybe Dan could do it if I’m not back. Or Miss Marple across the hall.’ Not that the twins liked her very much, other than when they deliberately confused her by pretending to be each other. ‘I’m really sorry, but there’s nothing I can do.’
‘There is.’ Her sister slapped her hands on her hips. ‘You could say no.’
Cassidy thought about reminding Peta that her job as Logan de Silva’s assistant was the only reason they could afford to pay their current rent, and the reason Peta had been able to attend beauty school while paying for her twins to get a decent education, but didn’t. She didn’t want Peta to feel guilty about Cassidy providing for them financially when she genuinely loved her job, and her sister and her twin nieces even more.
‘You don’t say no to Logan de Silva,’ she said.
‘Then quit. You initially took the job in the bank because it paid so well, but you’re not really utilising your project management degree to the fullest. Maybe you should put some feelers out to see where that can take you.’
And one day she would. She’d move on from this job and expand her professional scope but that time wasn’t when she might have to trawl through real-estate ads looking for a new place to live.
‘You know your boss says jump and you say how high?’ Peta added. ‘And you still haven’t explained why you’re wearing his shirt.’ Her sister gave her
an assessing look. ‘There’s nothing going on between you, is there?’
‘Of course not!’ The very idea was a joke. ‘I’m wearing his shirt because I got caught in the rain.’
‘Thank God.’ Peta exhaled a relieved breath. ‘I don’t want to see you get hurt.’
The fact that her sister thought she would be the one to get hurt in such a preposterous scenario stung a little. ‘Maybe he would be the one left broken-hearted,’ she said loftily.
‘Get real.’ Peta laughed, folding a skirt Cassidy had placed on the bed and adding it to her suitcase. ‘He’s a prince and a billionaire. I think we both know who would come out worst if anything did happen between you.’
And that stung a lot. It wasn’t as if she harboured any secret illusions where her illustrious boss was concerned. She knew he was out of her league. And really she wasn’t even sure she wanted to meet anyone. The few times she had dated had been a disaster she didn’t care to repeat.
But for Peta to also just assume that she wasn’t capable of attracting a man like Logan if she actually wanted to hurt more than it should. She’d sustained her sister in every way that she could over the years and a little bit of support in return wouldn’t go astray.
‘Lucky I’m not that foolish,’ she said, blindly grabbing underwear from a drawer.
‘Just be careful,’ Peta cautioned. ‘I’ve heard the way your voice changes when you talk about him and it worries me. You’ve been so content to do his bidding since you started working for him and I’ve sometimes wondered if you’re not a little bit in love with him, Cass.’
‘In love...?’ Cassidy zipped her suitcase closed with a little more force than necessary. ‘That’s absurd.’ She wasn’t in love with her boss. If she was ever going to fall in love she wanted it to be with someone she had half a chance of being with, not with a prince who had an appetite for supermodels. Being five feet five and homely, that wouldn’t be her.
She sighed. How did things change so quickly? Yesterday she’d gone to work, stopped at the dojo where she practised martial arts for two hours twice a week and helped the twins with their maths homework after dinner. Her private life ran as seamlessly as her professional life and she was happy with it. There were no complications and no nasty surprises waiting around the corner.
Crowning His Unlikely Princess (Mills & Boon Modern) Page 3