Page 14 of Contract Of Shame

“I guess we’d better get going,” he said. She stiffened more but nodded her head.

A quick goodnight to his friends and they were being driven to his penthouse suite not far from his work place. Scarlet stayed as far away from him as possible.

“Why did your parents name you Scarlet?” he asked. He wanted to spend more time with her in the bedroom, but he also found he wanted to get to know the woman who’d captured his attention for the past year or so. Was it really a year? Or could it have been more since she’d turned up at his office looking for work?

“I don’t know.”

“Did you ever ask?”

“I never saw the need in asking. Scarlet is my name, and the one I’ve kept for the past twenty-two years.” She still kept staring out of the window.

Did she mention her age as a way to throw it back at him? I know about our age difference, damn it. I don’t need reminding of it.

“What do you want to do in life?”

“Is there a purpose of all the questions?” she asked, finally giving him her attention.

“I just want to know more about you,” he said.

“Really? You want to know more about me?”

He nodded.

“Why? I thought men who wanted to know more about a woman would ask her out on a date, not proposition her with a contract so shameful I can’t believe I even signed it. Like you said, Richard, you only want one thing from me, and it’s not chit-chat.”

“I’ve got a family who are a complete nightmare. The only decent one of the bunch of us is Opal. She doesn’t know it yet, but she’s already been bound in a contract of marriage with someone by the name of Charles Clarke.” He opened up.

“Why would they do that behind Opal’s back?” she asked.

“Because it’s what our family do. I like the colour green; don’t know why, I just do. I prefer to drink coffee with full-fat milk, even though it’s against the super skinny theory of today. I love my women to have an opinion and not be skin and bones.”

Scarlet sat back. He wondered if she’d open up as well. The other stuff most people knew, apart from the marriage contract between his sister and a jerk and that he loved bigger, fuller women.

“You sound like you should be making requests on a dating site.”

“We’re here, sir,” his driver called as the car slowed down.

Richard escorted her inside and made sure none of the vultures from his world would swoop down and ruin her. Innocence and niceness were qualities that never lasted in high society. He made sure the boutique was scheduled for tomorrow. Richard wanted to take her shopping and enjoy the next week with her.

The receptionist handed him his key card with a smile.

At the elevator he took her up to his real home. Well, what he considered to be his real home even if it was a penthouse suite.

Richard let her in and waited for her to make the appreciative noises most women would at the lap of luxury presented to them. She made no response. Nothing held her interest. She simply turned to him and waited.

“What do you think?” he asked.

“Of what?”

“My place.”

She looked around and smiled at the works of art and the odd photo he had lying around.

“You really love your friends,” she said over one taken in college.

“We became like a family to each other. The brothers we never had,” he said. “Wayne was always so serious while Tony played at being the rebel and tried to get all the parents to hate him.”

“What were you?”

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