Page 33 of Covert

But the truth stuck in her throat, because the thought of disillusioning this man she’d come to care for… she couldn’t do it.

So yet again, she opted for the partial truth rather than a full-blown lie.

“You don’t know my brothers. The five of them are a constant pain in the butt. They’ve always teased me, especially about boyfriends. So seeing me with you, it’s their warped sense of humour to tease me in front of you.” She faked a laugh, hating that she continued lying to him considering how close they’d grown. “And I’ve already explained the marriage thing. If I spend more than two seconds in the company of any man, he’s my ‘betrothed’. Sick, huh?”

She swallowed, needing to ease the dryness of her parched throat. She’d never been good at lying but with this much practice, she would soon be an expert. “As for the princess thing, same reason. My brothers and their friends have always called me that because I hate it.”

Dylan stared, as if trying to read every telltale line on her face. Thankfully, the final boarding call for their flight boomed from the loudspeaker and she bent to pick up her hand luggage, breaking his intense scrutiny.

“You certainly have an interesting family.”

She breathed a sigh of relief, knowing he’d bought her concocted story for now and hating every minute of it.

“You call them interesting. I prefer whacky, annoying, and insane.”

He laid a restraining hand on her arm as she turned away. “Don’t underestimate the value of family. They are the most important thing in the world.”

Sam didn’t respond. She didn’t need a lecture on family values from a man who wouldn’t understand what she’d been through growing up. It had been difficult enough being a teenager, without the added pressure of some obsolete royal title being bestowed on her like a prize she should treasure yet didn’t want.

Let him spout a whole lot of platitudes about family. In her opinion, nothing he could say would change how she felt.

“Let’s get back to Melbourne,” she said, knowing the further away she got from the far-reaching influence of the Popov’s, the better.

22

If Dylan thought meeting Sam’s brothers might encourage her to open up to him, he’d been wrong.

Despite his attempts to draw her into conversation about her family, her childhood, or anything remotely personal since, she’d thwarted him at every turn, leaving him with the distinct impression she had some deep, dark secret.

And now, as her three-month trial period drew to a close, he was no closer to knowing anything about the woman who had snuck under his carefully erected barriers against emotional involvement.

He wanted to make her position as his personal assistant permanent. It would be the perfect solution, providing him with a valuable asset to his business while giving him an opportunity to explore his unfamiliar, growing feelings.

He couldn’t deny it any longer.

Despite her attempts to keep him at arm’s length since their return from Sydney, he wanted her.

Not just in the physical sense, but on a deeper level. He wanted Sam Piper in his life. By his side. In whatever capacity she wanted to be.

He genuinely liked her yet, wouldn’t go as far as to admit to the other ‘L’ word.

He couldn’t acknowledge that word or the helpless feelings it reinforced—he’d lost his father because he’d been too pig-headed to admit to that emotion, yet he’d be damned if he associated ‘love’ and ‘Sam’ in the same thought.

Not yet, anyway.

So, that left him with only one option.

Offer her a permanent position as his personal assistant and see what developed between them.

Luckily, he knew the perfect way to persuade her to accept his offer.

23

As they entered the gates to Budgeree, a strange sense of belonging enveloped Sam.

She stared out the passenger window, wishing she didn’t feel this way. It would be hard enough walking away from Dylan next week, without the added complication of yearning for a lifestyle she could never have.

Not that she harboured any desire to live on the land before now—she’d been a city girl her entire life, eagerly escaping her family’s acres in northern Queensland to live the high life in Brisbane. Though that probably had more to do with breaking the shackles of the Popov’s rather than any burning desire to live in the city.

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