Page 47 of Unwillingly His

“Is there?”

“Is there what?”

“Is there anything pressing that you need me to do today, sir?”

“As a matter of fact, there is. You need to be here and ready to leave with me at noon.”

“Where are we going?” she asked.

“If I had wanted you to know where we were going, I would have told you.”

“Yes, sir,” she said, staring back down at the plate.

I took a sip of my coffee. It really was the best blend. I had the beans flown in from Marrakesh. Batcha coffee was the only coffee I drank, and I could tell by the way her eyes lit up when she took a sip of it herself, Stella liked it too. And that told me a very valuable truth. She could not afford to be poor.

Her tastes were already too delicately honed to a life of excessive pleasures to ever survive the working class.

“I’m not going to go through an entire list of do’s and don’ts, but there are certain things that I will be expecting of you.”

She didn’t say anything. She just set her coffee cup back on the table, folded her hands in her lap, and waited.

“You are to accompany me to events, to be on my arm presented as my ward. You know how these events are. You know how to behave, and I expect you to behave as such. If you have any questions about what is and isn’t inappropriate at any given event, look for one of my daughters. They will tell you exactly what I expect.”

“Yes, sir.”

“You are also to stay out of my business. That means you don’t pry into conversations that you do not belong in. If I am having a conversation with a business associate while you are on my arm, you should be talking to their wife or their daughters, or looking around and not listening. Those conversations are not for your ears, is that understood?”

“Yes, sir.”

“In return, you get a roof over your head. You are able to buy whatever you want, and then as I mentioned earlier, in six months we will announce our engagement. Then you will have another five months to plan the wedding. I believe your new card was given to you?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Good. The event we’re going to later is not formal. It will be outside, more of a garden party. Buy what you need. Do what you need to do to be presentable by noon.”

“Yes, sir.”

She was trying to go for malicious compliance. Saying only what I told her she could say. She could do that all day long. Every time the word sir came from her lips, my cock twitched.

“Good girl,” I said before I drained my coffee and stood to head to work.

I had a meeting in twenty minutes, and I had to get into my office at the financial district. There was some business I preferred not to handle in my home.

Hamilton was already waiting by the door with the travel mug of my coffee as well as my copies of the paper which I would skim over in the car.

I stopped when I reached Stella and watched.

She sat there, her arms neatly folded and her breakfast barely touched.

“Do not leave this table until your plate is empty.”

“Yes, sir,” she bit out through clenched teeth.

With a chuckle, I rewarded her reluctant obedience with a kiss on her forehead, confident in her complete submission to my demands.

CHAPTER 20

STELLA

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