‘But—whitney, what’s going on?’ He looked at her with narrowed eyes.
‘Ask Hawk,’ she sighed. ‘He has all the answers. Although he’s a little reticent about giving them,’ she added bitterly.
‘Stop talking in riddles,’ Martin snapped.
‘I resign—is that clear enough?’ She glared at him fiercely.
‘Very clear,’ he spluttered. ‘Although it doesn’t tell me the reason why.’
She shook her head. ‘I don’t have to give that.’
‘What about working your notice? Whitney, you can’t just walk out—’
‘I’m sure Hawk will forgo my notice,’ she scoffed. ‘Take it up with him,’ she dismissed carelessly. ‘He could write the story better than anyone!’
‘This is ridiculous,’ Martin said exasperatedly. ‘Are you telling me you’re walking out on a perfectly good job because you’re angry with Hawk?’
Her eyes flashed. ‘I’m more than angry with him,’ she scorned. ‘I despise him!’
‘Now you know that isn’t true—’
‘The man has treated me as no better than an idiot since we first met,’ she told him furiously. ‘I want nothing more to do with him; I don’t even want to work for him!’
‘Whitney—’
For the second time that day she walked out on someone in the middle of a conversation, her head held high as she walked through the room full of her fellow reporters, keeping a tight control on her emotions as she had since Geraldine had so unwittingly revealed the truth about her father that Hawk had chosen to keep from her.
But once she reached her home she couldn’t hold back the tears any longer. Her father, the fun-loving man she had loved so much, had died because he had become addicted to the drugs Alex Cordell supplied to him. Oh, she realised that if her father were determined to obtain the drugs, as only an addict can be, that he would have got them from someone else if Alex Cordell hadn’t sold them to him. But that didn’t stop her hating the man with a violence completely alien to her. And she despised Hawk for letting her find out the truth in such a way.
She heard the banging on the door downstairs as if from a great distance, her mouth tightening, her body stiffening resentfully as she guessed it had to be Hawk demanding entrance in such an arrogant manner. She had no intention of talking to him, so—
She came abruptly to her feet as she heard the splintering of wood and a loud crash as the forced door flew back against the wall.
Her eyes were wide with apprehension as Hawk’s body filled the doorway.
And then she chided herself for showing him anything but contempt, flames shooting across the room at him from her violet eyes.
He seemed to relax a little as he saw the antagonism in her eyes, strolling casually into the room, looking for all the world as if he hadn’t just forced his way into her home by breaking her door down. ‘Half of London seems to be concerned about you,’ he bit out.
Hawk was verbally attacking her; that was the last thing she had been expecting!
‘I’ve had Geraldine on the telephone telling me what a fool I am,’ he continued grimly. ‘And Martin shouting across my desk at me that I’ve ruined not only your life but your career, too.’ He looked at her with narrowed eyes.
Whitney glared at him. ‘Why couldn’t you have told me about my father? Why did you—’
‘Because I love you.’
‘…let me go on thinking—?’ She broke off dazedly as his answer penetrated her anger. ‘What did you say?’ she gasped.
Hawk winced at her obvious disbelief. ‘I said I love you.’
She watched him warily now. ‘I don’t believe it,’ she finally told him forcefully. No man in love with a woman could have treated her the way Hawk had.
‘No,’ he accepted heavily. ‘Although it’s the truth. I’m too damned old for you; I have one unsuccessful marriage behind me; but I do love you.’
Whitney still looked at him with suspicion as she began to pace the room, stopping briefly to look at him before resuming her pacing. ‘I know how my father died,’ she rasped.
‘I know,’ he nodded. ‘And I’m sorry you had to find out the way you did.’
‘You could have told me,’ she accused. ‘Years ago.’
He was suddenly very pale. ‘How do you tell a fifteen-year-old who had just lost the only parent she had left, and whom she obviously adored, that, because he had to be a winner, the only way he could still race with the pain he still suffered from the accident that nearly killed him the year before was to take drugs to drive out that pain?’
‘Drugs helped him do that?’ Whitney gasped.
‘For a while,’ Hawk nodded grimly. ‘And then he started taking them because he couldn’t get through a day without them. I tried to get him to stop but he wouldn’t listen to me. His reflexes became so dulled by the drugs in the end that by that last race he didn’t even try to turn the corner, he just went straight into the wall and the bike went up in flames.’
Whitney shuddered at this graphic account of her father’s self-destruction. ‘You still shouldn’t have kept it from me. I was old enough—’
‘If you had been you would never have become my ward,’ Hawk scorned. ‘The first time I held you, at the school, after telling you about Dan, I knew I could be a danger to you. I was supposed to be a father figure to you, and all I could think about was making love to you!’ he groaned self-disgustedly.
‘You never showed that by a single word or gesture,’ she protested.
‘You’ll never know the willpower it took not to,’ he rasped. ‘Geraldine wasn’t fooled for a minute. She took one look at us together and knew exactly what was happening to me. I suppose because she knew I didn’t love her she was able to recognise when I did fall in love,’ he said grimly. ‘It wasn’t just the age difference that stood between us, there was my marriage, and for a while I tried to get that back on a normal footing. It was a fiasco; I didn’t want Geraldine, just as I haven’t wanted any other woman but you the last seven years. Geraldine was angry at this second rejection, wasn’t averse to using that anger to turn my feelings against me.’
Whitney frowned at his bitterness. ‘What do you mean?’
He shrugged, his hands thrust into his trouser pockets. ‘I made the mistake of giving her tangible proof of my love for you!’
Whitney became suddenly still, her anger having faded long ago. ‘How?’
‘For three years I had you as my friend, my companion, and—and when the time came to let you go I—I found I couldn’t do it. Don’t look at me like that, Whitney,’ he snapped as she frowned her confusion. ‘Don’t you realise? There was no age of twenty-one mentioned in your father’s will, only the age of consent, which we all know is eighteen. I kept you in my house, as my ward, three years longer than I should have done!’
Her brow cleared as the significance of that washed over her. It had been shortly after her eighteenth birthday that Geraldine began to go her own way in the marriage, when Hawk had seemed to withdraw into himself. Geraldine had said earlier that she had set out to keep them apart; had the knowledge of what Hawk had done been the method she used to achieve that? But how? It still didn’t make sense to her.
‘Hawk, you had to know by then how I felt about you, that guardianship or no guardianship I would have continued to live with you anyway if you had asked me.’
He sighed. ‘I knew you imagined yourself in love with me—’
‘It was never imagined!’ she denied hotly.
‘It didn’t make any difference.’ He shook his head. ‘Geraldine was angry about my feelings for you, as she had a right to be. She wanted to live her own life, within the confines of our marriage, and she told me that if I attempted to divorce her she would name you as my lover. I didn’t care for myself, but I couldn’t have your life ruined because of a love you had no knowledge of.’
What Geraldine had done to keep her marriage intact until she decided to end it had been cruel, but even as she
realised that Whitney acknowledged that probably any wife, in the same circumstances, would feel bitter enough about her husband’s love for a younger woman to do the same thing. Whitney had a feeling she would be capable of such cruelty if the husband were Hawk!
‘Surely all that changed once she decided to marry Tom Beresford?’ she accused.
‘I was deeply involved in catching Alex Cordell by that time, too deeply involved to want you anywhere near him,’ he said grimly.
He had explained so much of what had hurt her over the years, and yet he still couldn’t seem to accept that she was no longer a child to be protected, from himself or anyone else. ‘I could have worked with you on that instead of fighting against you if you had only confided in me!’
‘You did help me.’ His gaze held hers, his eyes very golden. ‘For two days—and two unforgettable nights!—you loved me.’
‘It wasn’t just for two days, or two nights,’ she protested. ‘I’ve always loved you, and I always will. And you let me go on thinking you were still in love with Geraldine.’
‘In the circumstances it seemed the best thing to do—’
‘Best for whom?’ she exploded indignantly. ‘You? Because it certainly wasn’t best for me! I’ve been living in misery this last year thinking that you didn’t want me in your life now that your duty was done!’
‘I couldn’t keep you with me at the house once Geraldine had gone.’ He shook his head.
‘My God, do you realise that each time we’ve made love I thought I was a substitute for her!’
‘I never loved her,’ he told Whitney softly. ‘Not even at the beginning.’
Whitney nodded impatiently. ‘She told me the circumstances behind your marriage. But you should have been the one to explain that, to tell me about my father, too. How can you say you love me with one breath and yet still treat me like a child that needs protecting from life the next?’
His mouth twisted. ‘My marriage to Geraldine happened long before you came into my life. As for telling you about your father, I didn’t have the right to deprive you of that illusion, too!’
‘You would rather someone else did it!’
‘No,’ he groaned. ‘I had hoped you need never have to know the truth about that. You loved the man, Whitney,’ he reasoned forcefully. ‘Maybe I was wrong, but I didn’t feel there was any need to ruin the memories you’ve always had of him.’
He hadn’t been wrong, she knew he hadn’t, knew that now she knew the truth about her father’s accident she would never feel the same about it again.
‘None of this explains your absence from my life this last week,’ she accused, still angry about that at least.
‘No,’ he sighed, running a hand through the thickness of his hair. ‘I took advantage of you aboard the Freedom—’
Her disbelieving laugh interrupted him. ‘I practically threw myself at you!’
‘Not that first time—’
‘All the time,’ she rebuked.
He shook his head. ‘You were frightened—’
‘Not enough to make love with a man I didn’t love!’ Her eyes flashed.
Hawk sighed. ‘Maybe you won’t believe this, but I couldn’t have stayed away much longer,’ he admitted. ‘While you were just the beautiful young woman who was once my ward—and that I loved beyond comprehension!—I could live with it. But once we made love—! I can’t stay away from you, Whitney!’ he groaned achingly. ‘You’re as necessary to me as the air I breathe.’
‘And what happens now?’ She glared at him.
He shrugged. ‘I think that’s up to you. Geraldine may have been acting out of pain and anger, but she’s right about the speculation there will be if you marry me.’
‘She would still carry out that threat?’ Whitney frowned.
Hawk shook his head. ‘That bitterness is gone, at least. But our story would be newsworthy, Whitney. I can just see the headlines now: “Beautiful Young Ward Marries Man Who Was Her Guardian”.’ His mouth twisted.
‘Would it bother you?’ She watched him closely.
‘God, no,’ he dismissed derisively. ‘It’s always been your reputation I’ve been concerned about. If I could have you as my wife I wouldn’t care what they called me!’
‘You’re arrogant, domineering, irritating, totally inconsiderate—but I’ll still love you until the day I die,’ she choked. ‘And scandal or no scandal, I intend to marry you.’ She met his gaze unflinchingly as he raised his brows mockingly at her own domineering arrogance. ‘If you refuse, I’ll tell everyone you seduced me!’ she warned.
‘It isn’t nice to remind me of the weakness I have for you,’ he drawled, his eyes glowing.
‘It’s your choice,’ she challenged, tension holding her body taut.
His expression softened, his arms moving possessively about her. ‘I’m fifteen years older than you, have made more mistakes in my thirty-seven years than I care to think about—most of them concerning you, it seems.’ He frowned. ‘I really will try not to protect you so much, Whitney,’ he promised gruffly. ‘But it’s difficult when I just want to wrap you up in cotton wool.’
She knew it would take time and patience for Hawk to realise just how independent she had become this last year, but she also knew that he would finally come to realise she was his partner in life and no longer a responsibility. A few more nights together like the ones they had spent on the Freedom and he would be in no doubt of her maturity!
‘You still haven’t answered my proposal,’ she reminded.
‘If you want me I’m yours,’ he told her intently. ‘I’ve always been yours!’
And strangely she knew that he had, felt as if they had always belonged together. It had been a stormy crossing to this point in their lives; she could only hope that the years ahead would be smoother for them.
Although she wouldn’t count on it. They promised to be the happiest years of their lives!
* * * * *
Now, read on for a tantalizing excerpt of New York Times bestselling author
Maisey Yates’s new release,
THE PRINCE’S CAPTIVE VIRGIN
The first book in her new Once Upon a Seduction…series!
Ruthless prince Adam Katsaros offers Belle a deal—he’ll release her father if she becomes his mistress! Adam’s gaze awakens a heated desire in Belle. Her innocent beauty might redeem his royal reputation—but can she tame the beast inside?
Read on to get a glimpse of
THE PRINCE’S CAPTIVE VIRGIN
CHAPTER ONE
Once upon a time…
BELLE LOOKED UP at the imposing castle and tightened her coat more firmly around her petite frame. It was surprisingly chilly tonight on the small island country nestled in the Aegean Sea between Greece and Turkey.
Of course, when she had first heard of Olympios she had been put in mind of the Mediterranean. Bright white homes and searing blue skies and seas. And perhaps, in the daytime, that was what it was. But here at night, with the velvet darkness settled low around her and that damp air blowing in from the ocean, it felt like something completely unexpected.
The fortress in front of her, on the other hand, was almost far too expected. It was medieval, and nothing but the lights flickering in the window gave any indication that it might be part of the modern era. Of course, she could expect nothing less from a man who had gone to such great lengths to seek revenge on a photographer.
A man who had captured her father in the act of taking pictures and imprisoned him to get revenge for something as innocuous as photographs that were set to be published without his permission.
Belle supposed that she should be afraid. After all, Prince Adam Katsaros had proven to be unreasonable. He had proven to be inhumane. But she was bolstered by the same rage that had infused her veins from the moment she had first heard of her father’s fate, even now.
It seemed that she was insulated from fear, which was strange considering she’d spent a lot of her life feeling afraid of almost
everything. Of losing her father and the haven she’d found with him after her mother had abandoned her when she was four years old. Of the potential inside herself to become a tempestuous, selfish creature driven by passions of the flesh, as her mother had been and probably still was.
All that fear was gone now. Had been from the moment she had first boarded her plane in LA, all the way through her layover in Greece, and through the flight that carried her here to Olympios.
She could only hope that her bravado lasted.
Tony was going to be so mad when he found out she’d done this. Her boyfriend of nearly eight months had always wanted to be more involved in her life. But she resisted. Just like she’d been resisting serious physical intimacy. That was part of all her fear stuff.
She’d never had a boyfriend before, and she was accustomed to her space and her independence. Surrendering any of it just didn’t sit well with her.
Which was an ironic thought, considering what she was prepared to do here today.
She was surprised to find that the palace was more or less unguarded. There was no one about as she walked up the steps that led to a rough-hewn double door. She was tempted—not for the first time since her arrival on the island—to check and see if her phone calendar had been set back into the last century. Or, perhaps, a few centuries ago.
She lifted her hand, unsure as to whether or not one knocked on doors like this. In the end, she decided to grasp hold of the iron ring and pull it open. It creaked and groaned with the effort, as though no one had dared enter the large, imposing building in quite some time. However, she knew that they had. Because only a few days ago her father had been brought here. And—if rumor was to be believed—he was being imprisoned on the property.
She took a cautious step inside, surprised by the warmth that greeted her. It was dark, except for some wall sconces that were lit across the room. The great stone antechamber possessed nothing like the sort of comforts she would have expected from a palace. Not that she was in the habit of being admitted into palaces.
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