Page 55 of Hunter

“The girl you’re marrying off to a man old enough to be her grandfather?” That brings me up short. She’s being doing research. I both admire and detest that quality. But I should have known this wouldn’t be laid to rest with me telling her to leave it. Bella wouldn’t go so quietly.

“I need to make a call,” I say, not responding to her question. She knows damn fine that’s who I’m talking about. Bizarrely, her open challenge makes me love her even more. The last thing I need in my life is another person willing to say yes to anything and everything I suggest.

“I’m sure you do.” She grins then, and I narrow my eyes. “I like Tilly already.”

“How the fuck would you know?”

“Because she sounds just like me. She isn’t willing to let some jumped-up man dictate her life.” I’m just pushing myself up to stand as the sentence leaves her lips. My mouth drops open before I can stop it, and it only makes her smile wider. “I hope she gives whoever you’re phoning the run-around for a while.”

“Her marriage is…”

Bella shakes her head and lifts her hand.

“I’m not interested in the positive business impacts her marriage will have, Hunter. She is a woman and a free one. She deserves to live her life as she sees fit, not to better the position of the family. Those concepts are old and outdated, and you need to change with the times.”

“I’m a modern man,” I snap back, my ego bruised.

“In some ways, maybe. You are far kinder than any of the men I met growing up. It’s clear you care about those close to you, but what about the wider net? What about those under your guidance whom you don’t truly know?”

“Tilly is and always will be a problem.” As much pride I have in Bella for standing by what she believes, it’s now becoming annoying. I have a runaway niece to find. “She needs to be back in London for New Year’s Eve.”

“Why?”

“That’s when her engagement will be officially announced at my New Year’s Eve gala. The Lombardi family are attending, and Domenico will meet his wife.”

“If you find her,” Bella says with a chuckle.

“I’ll find her. No one can disappear off grid forever.”

“From what you’ve told me, she’ll make a damn good try of it.”

I pick up my phone and leave the table. I need to call the only man I have that I know can find anyone, anywhere. Greyson is back from assignment in God knows where, and I already have a task for him. Bring Tilly home and ensure her marriage to Lombardi goes ahead. There’s too much to lose if it doesn’t.

Chapter twenty-six

Hunter's Residence, London

Isabella

The fallout from Hunter’s niece’s disappearance has been somewhat amusing to watch. For a man who is so in control and aware, being outsmarted by a twenty-something woman has bruised his ego.

The elusive Greyson, sent to track her down, had eventually managed to find her stowed away at a student party in the Scottish Highlands. But as always, nothing goes to plan, and they ran into some trouble with our Russian “friends.” From what I understand now, Tilly is in a hotel room in Edinburgh awaiting transport back to London.

With everything going on, our romance of Christmas has been subdued the last few days. Hunter tells me little things as we go about our day. His willingness to confide in me makes my heart ache. For so many years, he has carried all the responsibility on his shoulders, and even though he’s comfortably poured his soul onto paper, the reality of telling me face to face what’s going on is unsettling for him.

His guard is up. It’s a part of him I haven’t been subjected to since our recent reconciliation. He has always been so willing to talk to me, to be honest about his feelings. Since he burst into my Zumba class, his heart has been wide open. This situation has presented details he doesn’t want to disclose.

Hunter must have left early this morning, rising and getting dressed silently. It wasn’t until I woke up that I realized he was gone. Now, I’m lying in bed, staring up the ceiling deciding how to start the day. There are plenty of things I could do, days of content to create. Being so wrapped up in our whirlwind romance has left me behind, but I don’t regret it. It’s been fulfilling living our fairytale of love reincarnated.

Eventually accepting I need to get up when my alarm sounds at nine o’clock, I force myself out of bed. The house is warm even though the winter temperatures are plummeting outside. My feet hit the floor, my toes curling into the deep rug at my feet, an addition Hunter agreed to when I moaned about the cold floor.

I’m shrugging into my robe when the door slowly opens. It creaks like it does every time; I need to find some lubricant to fix that, or at least ask someone else to do it.

“Morning,” Hunter says as he strolls in. Already dressed in his statement black suit and white shirt, he looks ready for a high-level business meeting. “Did you enjoy catching some extra Zs this morning?”

“I needed it,” I mutter, standing up to join him as he crosses the room to greet me. His hands take my own, and he wraps my arms around his waist simultaneously dropping a kiss on my lips.

“I’ve been working you hard,” he whispers with a small smile. “Are my sexual demands too much for a fitness influencer?”

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