Page 9 of The Prince's Secret Daughter
She blushed, remembering the moment. “We were…in bed,” she said, looking away as she remembered. He’d been…well, she might have been a bit less articulate than usual.
“You never told me anything about moving, Helen!”
She walked over to the sofa and sat down, her anger melting away. Helen was suddenly exhausted. “Yes, I did,”she countered. She stared down at her hands. “You were complaining about the size of my bed. And how you…um…couldn’t…uh…” she stopped, twisting her fingers as she recalled the reason why. She blushed at the memories. “There wasn’t enough room on my bed for what you were doing to me.”
He stared at her for a long moment, thinking back to those heated, passionate nights. They’d been wild for each other, voracious. And every time they came together, the sex had been explosive.
“I don’t remember that.”
She shrugged. “Perhaps if you’d bothered to call me, I might have given you my new address.”
He stared at her, remembering the chaos of that time. Five years ago, his brother had needed help. Khal, his oldest brother and ruler of Lativa, had needed help. But Helen couldn’t know all of that. The three brothers had divided up the responsibilities of running the country and…well, things were much better now in Lativa. Thinking back five years ago, Raj knew Helen wouldn’t understand. Instead of explaining, he turned away, running a hand through his hair. “Things were…difficult back then.”
She snorted and he understood what she meant. When he turned back to her, she was staring at her hands again. “What happened today?” he demanded, his voice softer. Nothing was resolved. He’d still missed out on four years of his daughter’s life. But…maybe there was more going on than just…whatever had happened.
Talking about today seemed like an easier, if just as complicated, subject.
When her shoulders drooped, Raj had to fight to stop himself from going to her and pulling her into his arms. She looked so defeated, sad, and overwhelmed. He needed to remind himself that he was angry with her. That this woman had kept his daughter from him for five damn years!
“I’ve only been working for Grishom and Grishom for two weeks. They hired me away from my previous company with the promise of a twenty percent salary increase and more industry recognition.” She sighed, running a hand through her hair, tucking stray wisps behind her ears. “They said they’d let me take charge of a project. Be the lead.” She leaned back against the soft cushions, staring up at the ceiling. “To date, I’d only been allowed to be second on deals. At my previous firm, I was the one that came up with ideas and researched the right partners, but my old firm never let me pilot the proposals. It was a man’s world and they didn’t like the idea of a woman besting them.” She paused to grimace and roll her eyes. “So, when I had the opportunity to move to a different group that would allow me to head a project, I jumped at the opportunity.”
She snorted in disgust and Raj still wanted to hold her.
Helen sighed, her frustration clear. “For the past few days, I’d had the sense that something about this project was off. So, this morning, I did a bit more research. I discovered that the building has litigation pending that could substantially put any future profits in jeopardy. Plus, a satellite view of the area showed me that the surrounding buildings weren’t nearly as updated as the images that we’d included in the proposal showed.”
His eyebrows rose at that. “They doctored the photos?”
Helen shrugged. “I have no idea what those men did,” she admitted. “When I brought my information to Paul before the meeting, he told me that I wasn’t to bother my pretty little head about silly things like lies.” She snorted again. “Those are my words, by the way. Not theirs.” She lowered her head, sighed, then dropped her hands before continuing. “Then Nathan shoved a fresh cup of coffee into my hands and told me that I was supposed to be the bait that diverts you whenever you start to ask questions that they don’t want to answer.” She looked up at him, then looked away again. “Nathan suggested that I show a bit more skin to distract you.”
There was a long silence. Raj stared at her, remembering what it was like to be seduced by Helen. She’d been so soft and passionate. The woman sitting nervously on the edge of the sofa now was…still breathtaking. But there was a hard edge to her.
He thought of Joran and Tila. His sister-in-law had been angry, confused, and resentful for a long time after his brother brought her back to the palace. But somehow, those two had worked out their differences.
Sighing, Raj tried to organize his thoughts. But there were too many flying around in his head.
“Angela is really my daughter?” he asked, needing that point to be confirmed.
Helen’s mouth opened and closed. He wondered if she was going to tell him the truth. Would she lie about something so important?
When she looked at him this time, there was nothing deceitful in her gaze. “Yes. She’s your daughter.”
His whole body relaxed. He’d known it, but he needed Helen to confirm it. His brother would probably require a paternity test, but Raj didn’t. As soon as his bodyguards had led the tiny girl into the waiting SUV, Raj had seen the similarities in her features. The dark hair and the eyes were a dead giveaway. Angela also had his cheekbones and the angle of his jawline. Helen’s hair was a soft brown, not black like his. And Angela had dark eyes, unlike Helen’s blue. Angela’s jaw was more square while Helen had a cute, stubborn chin.
Angela’s nose was an adorable button, but Raj suspected that it would soon become thin like his as she aged.
Damn! He had a daughter! This definitely wasn’t how he’d seen his day going!
“I’ll need to get a new job,” Helen blurted out. “I’m pretty sure that I’ll be fired as soon as they realize I’ve told you the property deal is a scam.”
Raj blinked, his attention coming back to the present. “Scam?”
She lifted her eyes and Raj could see the exhaustion in those blue depths. “I don’t know what the Grishoms are trying to pull, but the fact that they drugged your staff, and tried to drug us to get the commitment papers signed is a pretty good indication that they are doing something illegal.”
Raj’s lips thinned and he nodded sharply. “Clearly,” he agreed sarcastically. His eyebrows drew together. “I thought Grishom was one of those rising stars within the investment industry. What’s going on with him?”
She shrugged. “I’d actually never heard of Paul Grishom until about a year, maybe two years ago. He always worked deals with his son, Nathan. They just appeared in the Chicago financial scene and…after a while, it was as if they’d always been the leaders of the industry. They started showing up at the important social events and were just…there! Acting like they were in control of every profitable deal.” She paused, trying to make sense of something. “Now that I think about it, no one really knows where they came from. But suddenly, the news was reporting all of these huge deals that the Grishoms were putting together with investors.”
“But they call themselves more than just real estate agents,” Raj pointed out. “If that’s all they were, I wouldn’t have taken notice. It was the rejuvenation aspect of this proposed project that caught my attention.” He paused, his mouth twisting slightly. “And the appeal of working with a new team on a project.” His tone was self-deprecating now.
