Page 25 of Power and Possession

“Fine.” She slouched in the car and looked out the window as we passed Parliament and headed out of the city.

“There’s one more condition,” I said, licking my lips. “Whenever we are in public, you will act as my mistress.”

“What the hell? Absolutely not!” She whipped her head back towards me, a mixture of horror and stubbornness etched on her face.

I chuckled. “You’ll be at my beck and call. Pretend to adore me. Act enamored. It shouldn’t be too hard after the night we had together.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me. There’s no way I could ever pull that off. I’m not an actress.”

“Just pretend I’m naked,” I said smugly, remembering how much she’d enjoyed my body. “You didn’t seem to have a problem with it before.”

“You’re a pig, and that was a mistake. It won’t ever happen again.”

“We’ll see,” I said, increasing my speed as we sped out of the city.

We arrived at Lord Stanley’s manor an hour after his party started. I never got to an event early, preferring to blend into an already established crowd.

A parking attendant waited for me to hand over my keys, but I shook my head. He gestured over to a large area behind the stone guest house, and I parked my car in line with the others.

“Is no one allowed to touch your car?” Ashlynn asked, unbuckling her seatbelt. In a flash, I was on her side, opening the car door for her. “Apparently I can’t even open the door,” she said, sliding out of the vehicle.

“Manners, Miss Phillips,” I quipped, offering her my arm.She looked at my hand as if it was a snake about to bite, but then she sighed softly and linked her arm in mine. I corrected her and placed her arm on my forearm. “That’s the correct way.”

She shrugged and looked ahead at the manor. It was a large estate, similar in size to mine in France, albeit lacking the massive underground storage vault I kept at my country home. Judging from what I’d scoped out already, the security here was also much more lax.

The house itself was a stone monster, with red and gray bricks and giant turrets towering over every angle. The lawn was impeccably manicured, and I’d once heard a rumor that Lady Stanley frequently entertained one of the gardeners in her private rooms, no doubt accounting for the immaculate care of the lands. Tonight, the gravel path was illuminated by hand-lit lanterns hanging from iron poles every few feet, leading to the house.

“Woah. That’s the biggest house I’ve ever seen,” Ashlynn whispered.

“Mine is bigger.” I couldn’t help but boast, especially considering how much I hated Stanley.

“No it’s not.”

“You’ve only seen one of my houses.”

She turned towards me and opened her mouth, but we were accosted the second we crossed into the back garden.

“Lord Wethers!”

“Bollocks,” I murmured as an older woman clad in a bright pink ball gown raced over. She slowed once she took in Ashlynn, who looked radiant against the glowing lights.

“Who is this lovely young woman?” she asked, closely observing Ashlynn with her beady eyes.

“My fiancée,” I replied smoothly, deciding right on the spot to upgrade Ashlynn’s role. There was no way I’d let people think she was just my mistress. I was going to possess her in every way possible. I could see her mouth slacken out of the corner of my eye, and I shifted her a bit behind me so that her reaction wouldn’t be as noticeable.

“Oh my, fiancée?”

“Where are my manners? Miss Phillips, this is Laudie St. Patrick, Duchess of Manchester. Laudie, this is Miss Ashlynn Phillips.”

I stifled a smirk as I watched Laudie wait for Ashlynn to curtsey before her. The longer the time passed, the redder Laudie’s face became. It was all I could do not to burst out laughing at the social blunder and Laudie’s inability to grasp that it wasn’t going to happen.

Finally, Laudie excused herself, and I could hear her tittering about Ashlynn’s lack of propriety.

“Okay, what the hell did I do wrong?”

“Language, Miss Phillips.”

“Don’t you mean Mrs. Steele? And who the hell is Wethers?”

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