Page 24 of Iron Blade

“I was passing by a flower shop, and they made me think of you,” he said casually. “I finally figured out what your perfume smells like. It’s these orchids, no?”

He was right, but I didn’t want to tell his smug ass that.

“So, you bought me a thousand orchids.”

I had to say it out loud, hoping that he would hear how insane that was!

“Aye.” His voice was low and rumbling with that ancient affirmation. “A thousand orchids, to remind you of me.”

My tiny office was covered in white. It looked like it had snowed in here, with all the stark white blooms.

“I can’t possibly keep these in my office!” I wanted to yell, but couldn’t really put my back into it. “I don’t have a place to work. What am I supposed to do here?”

Eoghan’s chuckle in my ear sent a warm tingle down my neck. Even my nipples shamefully hardened at the sensual sound.

“Then give them to your friends, love,” he said coolly. “Display them in the gallery, take a few back to your apartment, or toss them out. Do as you please. They’re a gift.”

A gift that I could throw out? No, that sounded wrong. No one could possibly be that casual. No one could be that laid back.

“Why do you want me to think of you?” I asked, suddenly afraid. Of what? I wasn’t sure. Of his intensity and his obsession. Of how easily I was falling for it.

“Isn’t it obvious?” I could imagine him smirking through the phone.

It was obvious, I suppose. What could a man want with a woman, after all? They weren’t complicated creatures.

“And… if I fuck you, will you leave me alone?” There was a bitter edge to my voice. I had wanted to sound casual, and unaffected, but the idea he’d hit-it and quit-it made my jaw clench.

“What man made you think this way?” The playful tone of his voice melted away and was replaced with something darker. He sounded… dangerous. As dangerous as Cosima said he was. “Who made you feel like a conquest? Give me a name.”

He was already dead.

“No one.” I lied.

“I will find out, Miss Kekoa. You do him no favors by lying to me.”

“Why are you threatening people on my behalf? Why are you doing all of this? What have I done to… to…” To get the attention of the devil himself?

He didn’t speak for a few beats. But I could hear him breathing. So, I waited.

“You called me Master.”

“I called you a Master,” I said, rolling my eyes.

“Doesn’t matter. You sealed your fate the moment you showed me that you know art. Truly know art.” My heartbeat against my ribs, trying to burst out. “You’re a rare thing, Miss Kekoa.”

“Am I the first woman who’s told you no?” The more intense his voice got, the more I wanted to defy him. The more I didn’t want to be in his spell, or his charisma.

I was a bit of space trash, getting stuck in the gravity of his large sun. If I didn’t change course, then I’d burn.

“Yes, you are.” I was surprised when he gave me an honest answer. “But that’s not why I’m sending you a thousand orchids. It’s because you’re going to be my wife.”

I rolled my eyes. Marriage again. What was with this guy?

I had never known a bachelor - especially a rich one - to be so casual about matrimony. What was his fucking damage?

“You remind me of The Kiss.” His words took me by surprise, but I was starting to understand him a little. He meant a painting.

“The Klimt?” I asked, meaning Gustav Klimt, who famously portrayed a kiss in the Art Nouveau style. A man adoringly cradled a woman’s face as he kissed her cheek, surrounded by gold and flowers.

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