Page 38 of Power and Possession

I found the library and instantly made myself at home. There were floor to ceiling bookshelves, and a padded window bench in one corner. A few sofas were in the middle of the room, with a mahogany coffee table. Oddly enough, there was a beautiful chess set, set up in the middle of a game. I sat on the couch and looked at the board, the pieces themselves finer than anything I’d ever seen. They appeared to be made of crystal, and I was pretty sure it was a baccarat set. Of course, leave it to Steele to own a half-million dollar chess set. But what intrigued me more was that it appeared as if someone had recently been playing. I didn’t peg Steele for an intellectual, but he was cultured, so a fondness for chess wasn’t too out of left field.

I stood up and did a quick survey of the books. There was pretty much every classic I could think of, so I pulled outThe Canterbury Talesand then decided to go back upstairs and grab my mom’s afghan.

There was no one in the hall, and no one bothered me as I made my way up to my borrowed bedroom. I pulled the afghan over my shoulders, and I instantly felt better. It was stupid, but having the blanket made me feel like my mom was with me, somehow. I tried to imagine what she would make of my situation. Would she be frightened for me? Would she have forced my father to act quickly? Did she know the details of my father’s dealings? My heart thudded with sorrow, making me miss my mom even more. Unfortunately, I’d never know the answers to these questions, but it was hard for me to believe thatmy mother would marry my father, or stay with him, if she had known this side of him.

I walked back into the library and picked up my book. The couch looked inviting, so I cuddled up with my afghan and tried to lose myself in a good book.

I was back in New York, sleeping in my bed in the penthouse. I could feel eyes upon me; someone lurking at the bottom of my bed. When I opened my eyes, a man with a huge black mask was standing over me, slashing at me through the blankets.

I woke up with a jolt, completely disoriented. I hadn’t had any type of stability for the past couple of weeks, rarely waking up in the same place for two days in a row. I sat up, recognizing the room around me. I must have dozed off while reading. The library was dark, but the fireplace illuminated a few feet in front of it, bathing everything in a soft glow.

To my left sat Steele. He looked regal sitting in the armchair next to the sofa, his dark hair slicked back and a smart black suit fit tightly across his massive shoulders. His eyes were a rich blue in the flickering firelight.

“Sleep well?” he asked, his voice carefully modulated.

I didn’t answer. I wasn’t even sure what I would say to him if I wanted to talk to him. Which I didn’t. I grabbed the fallen book off the floor and replaced it in the bookshelf, pulling my afghan around my shoulders even tighter. I headed for the door.

“Ashlynn.” Steele said my name with the conviction of a prisoner’s last plea.

I didn’t want to turn around. I didn’t want to acknowledge him. His earlier words had hit me hard, and he’d made my life feel like a farce. I’d always felt unimportant in my everyday life, but hearing Steele confirm it practically broke my heart.

But I wasn’t strong enough to refuse him.

I turned slowly on the spot, eyes downcast. If I looked intohis pretty blue eyes while he told me pretty little lies, I’d end up where I didn’t want to be.

“Ashlynn, I’m sorry. I don’t even know where to start. I won’t apologize for taking you, because I’m quite certain that if I hadn’t, you’d be in the hands of the Irish mafia. And even if you hate me, I find it hard to believe that you’d prefer their company to mine.”

I expected him to make a dirty joke. To talk about how I couldn’t resist sex with him. But he just went on.

“If I could go back and change things between us, I still wouldn’t. You might want to deny it, but we have such a volatile chemistry that I feel swallowed whole by it. I don’t regret being with you. I only regret that we can’t continue.”

A part of me knew what he said was the truth. I’d been attracted to him from nearly the moment he took me. And since that time, my lust for him had only grown. I even felt something for him. I was sure it wasn’t love, but compassion, maybe? His actions were intolerable, but based on the glimpse of his earlier life that he’d shared with me, he worked with what he had and made a life for himself.

He took my silence in stride, and then stood up from the chair. As he passed me, I could smell his scent, masculine and strong, and it instantly brought me back to the bedroom. I pushed my feelings down—locked them away in a box to never see the light of day.

When he got to the doorframe, he stopped.

“Be ready by 7:00.”

Steele definitely had a thing for black. While not nearly as fancy as the dress I’d worn to that fateful party, it was still sexy and provocative. Plunging in the front and bare in the back, I felt quite scandalous as I teetered on my heels. The dress covered my feet, and my soles were almost healed, but the doctor had stopped by and given me some more antibiotics for my ankle,and, much to my protest, a birth control shot. I cowered in the corner of the room, rattling on about women's rights while the doctor held the needle, irritated. He threatened to go get Steele to hold me down and then I finally acquiesced, knowing that once Steele got involved, I really wouldn’t have any choice.At least I still had the illusion of choice, I thought, when I rolled up my sleeve.

I wanted to ignore Steele’s demands—not put on the dress, forgo my makeup, and toss my hair into a messy ponytail—but I’d already planned out my evening. This time, I wasn’t going to sit back and play Steele’s devoted fiancée. No matter what the venue, I’d find someone to help me escape.

I didn’t wait for Steele to come fetch me. Starting now, I was no longer just lying in wait for my father to rescue me. I’d get proper help this time, and even if I had to drain my trust fund, which I’d never wanted to touch, I’d hire private security to keep me safe afterwards. Standing at the bottom of the stairs, I waited for Steele, feeling more confident now that I was resolved to try and run again.

Steele came down the stairs, his tuxedo pressed and his shoes shiny. He held a small box in his hand, and I groaned when I saw it was jewelry. I wasn’t sure who he was trying to impress—the members of his society circle, or me. But, either way, I wasn’t buying what he had for sale.

When he reached the bottom of the stairs, he gave me his usual intense stare before opening the box. I gasped, and then tried really hard to cover my reaction.

Inside the box was the largest ring I’d ever seen. A light pink stone was in the center of the ring, easily four carats, with channel-set diamonds running along the band. My fingers itched to snatch the ring, but I stood still, feigning indifference.

Steele reached for my hand, and I felt the same amount of heat that I always experienced when we connected. He withdrew the ring from the box and placed it on my ring finger, on my left hand.

“It’s a loan,” he said, twisting the ring so it sat upright, “so don’t get any ideas. If you’re my fiancée, you need an engagement ring.”

I snorted, suppressing the urge to ogle the ring in the light. It was a pink diamond. I did appreciate jewelry, and heck, I was still a woman. Even if it was a ring for a fake engagement, I wanted to enjoy it. Heaven only knew if I’d ever get an actual proposal one day.As Steele’s prisoner, it was highly unlikely he’d let me date anyone else, I thought with a snort.

I followed him out to the car, still silent. This night’s car choice was a Porsche. Steele pulled the car out of the garage and down the gravel road of the driveway, towards the city.

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