Page 7 of Fergus

“You have a favorite pillow?” Fergus repeated incredulously.

He’d slept in some pretty shitty places during the years he spent in the military, when having any sort of pillow would have been a luxury. A pillow was a pillow as far as Fergus was concerned.

Tell that to your luxury bedding and bamboo pillows the French designer told you “you simply must have” when you redecorated the house in Paris two years ago!

“You’re missing the point,” Thea snapped in irritation.

“Which is?” Fergus knew exactly what the point was. He just enjoyed watching the flare of angry color in Thea’s cheeks. Partly because it was better than the pallor, but mainly because it enhanced the pure gold of her eyes.

“That someone broke into my apartment and then lay down on the same bed where I sleep every night!” She looked ill just from talking about it.

“Then took your favorite pillow when they left,” Fergus stated evenly.

Her eyes narrowed to golden slits. “Could you stop focusing on the pillow and concentrate on the fact that someone broke into my apartment? It’s creeping me the hell out. The money and Lev’s insistence that I marry him are making it difficult for me to know who I can trust. Which is why I decided I not only needed to talk to an expert about my personal security, but also someone who I know can’t be bought or coerced by Lev.”

“Me?”

“Yes.”

“Lucky, lucky me! I’m sorry.” He held up a placating hand when she looked ready to explode into anger again. “But there are lots of capable security companies in London you could have consulted with. My cousin Rufus’s son-in-law is a member of the family-owned Kingston Security. Rufus and Magnus are both now based at the London offices of Wynter Security, and I’m sure either of them would have been happy to talk to you.” Rufus and Magnus were both a lot mellower since they married.

Thea shook her head. “I don’t know or trust your brother, cousin, or his son-in-law.”

“You don’t know or trust me either.”

“I might not know you, but I trust you.”

He gave a derisive huff. “I can’t imagine why you would.”

“Because everything I found out about you says you’re a decent and honest man. I believe that to be true because, despite deep provocation for you to behave otherwise, you were never less than a gentleman toward my mother and her machinations.”

He snorted. “And that’s your criteria for classing me as being trustworthy and a decent and honest man?”

That color stained her cheeks again. “Yes.” She sighed. “The money… Inheriting that money from my mother, Andrei’s money, even though I have no intention of ever spending any of it, makes it difficult to know who I can trust and who just wants to use me because they think I’m wealthy.”

“Because you are.”

“Only on paper. I told you, as soon as I can convince Lev he’s wasting his time trying to force me into marrying him, he’s going to accept the money back so fast, I’ll probably get whiplash.”

Fergus narrowed his eyes. “Are you referring to anyone in particular when you say people want to be with you because of the money?”

She seemed to hesitate for a second or two before giving a shake of her head. “No, I just… It’s difficult to explain, but my life no longer feels like my own with all that money sitting in a bank account with my name on it. I feel…wrong-footed, self-conscious that everyone knows about it. It’s making me suspicious of everyone and what their motives might be for wanting to know me. Yes, I know the name for that is paranoia, and that it could also account for me thinking I have a stalker,” she added self-derisively when he gave her a pointed glance. “I put it down to that too at first, but the break-in at my apartment and the…theft,” she said carefully, “told me I’m not imagining things.”

Fergus still wasn’t sure what he thought about all this. “Was your mother and Yegorov’s marriage a happy one?”

“I don’t think so, no,” she answered cagily.

“Because Andrei Yegorov wasn’t a nice man.”

“No.”

“Was he nice to your mother?”

“I…don’t believe so.”

“You don’t think so and you don’t believe so…?”

She shrugged. “I didn’t see them enough after the marriage to be able to give an opinion.”

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