Kristen Ashley - Penmort Castle

And at this realisation, she thought, Oh, bloody hell.

“Our coats,” Cash commanded the waiter after he paid the bill.

“Of course, sir,” the waiter replied.

Cash’s eyes moved back to Abby who was sitting across from him, her elbow on the table, her head in her hand, her fingers had sifted into her thick hair at the side and her gaze was turned to the boats bobbing at their ropes on the river.

She, he thought, looked pensive.

He, Cash knew, was angry.

There were a variety of reasons for his anger.

First and foremost, he was angry because he’d agreed not to have her until three weeks later when they went to Penmort.

He couldn’t imagine, considering the price he was paying for her, what made him agree to that ludicrous caveat.

He wanted her tonight.

He was also angry because she was what she was.

When a woman looked like her, talked like her, smelled like her, dressed like her, had warm hazel eyes that contradicted her cool composure and hinted at something deeper and more intriguing and had wildly varying, easily readable, if puzzling reactions, that woman should not be a whore.

He was also angry because it was clear she intended to keep herself distant, which was likely a necessary professional detachment, when he wanted to know her story.

That wasn’t exactly true, he knew her story.

She’d given it away in the car with her reaction to what he thought at the time was a fabrication.

Abigail Butler, body for sale, had a dead husband named Benjamin who used to be a lobbyist. She used to work for the US Air Force. Now she lived in her grandmother’s home and sold herself to men who could afford to pay top price.

What Cash meant was he was angry that she kept herself distant when, for some baffling reason, he wanted her to share. He wanted her to admit her story and explain why a successful woman would turn to prostitution on the death of her husband.

This was not in his experience a normal reaction to grief.

He wanted to know why she would do such a remarkably stupid thing. He wanted to know why, when it was clear she could attract another man and live a very comfortable life, undoubtedly earning her keep on her back but at least not debasing herself in doing it.

Lastly, he was angry at himself for giving a fuck.

Abigail Butler had a purpose in his life for one month only.

She was going to cushion him from his uncle’s idiotic intentions while Cash extricated himself from that messy situation at the same time rubbing his uncle’s nose in his many failures and securing what was rightfully his.

And she was going to satisfy him in bed as many times as he could manage in the one week she was available to him.

And then she’d be gone.

Dinner, it went without saying, had not been enjoyable.

Not that the food wasn’t delicious, because it was.

Not that her company wasn’t enjoyable, because it was, both innately (she continued to be a bundle of contradictions, cold and unapproachable, mixed with warm and amusing), as well as conversationally (she was clearly well-read and well-travelled with a capacity to listen, actively, and share, if only superficially).

Not that she wasn’t earning her pay because no one in that restaurant, witnessing her behaviour (her soft, enticing smiles; the times she’d touch his hand while speaking; when she’d lean toward him with avid attention as if his terse, impatient responses to her soft conversation were utterly fascinating), would think she was anything less than a woman clearly smitten with her dinner partner.

He’d paid six thousand, six hundred and sixty six pounds for that night with her not including the exorbitant bill for dinner and she’d earned every penny.

The waiter came with their coats and Cash stood, relieving the waiter of his burden and throwing his overcoat on his chair. He shook out Abby’s cape and moved around her so she could remain where she was. Once behind her, he positioned the heavy garment on her shoulders as she moved slightly back into his body, getting closer to him. This was not to make his task easier but a show to those watching, including the three photographers he earlier saw positioning themselves outside, that this was an act of intimacy between a man and his lover, not one of chivalry.

She wasn’t just good, Cash thought with growing disgust, she was superb.

And this made Cash even angrier.

She fastened the cape at her throat and put on her gloves while he donned his overcoat then gripped her elbow, leading her out of the restaurant with all eyes on them.

He could visualise them together. Abby was blonde, tall and elegant but tonight in that alluring dress that hinted at the body beneath it rather than brazenly displaying it as her clothing did yesterday, she showed she had a unique, individual style. Cash was dark and much taller but not overpowering her with his height as he did with most women, and men for that matter.

He knew they made an exceptional-looking couple. It was part of the package he’d paid for.

They were out into the night and he was not looking forward to the drive to take her home.

He would want to come in and make two efforts. The first would be getting her to open up to him. The second would be getting her to sleep with him.

Neither, Cash knew at this juncture, would succeed.

And Cash was used to success, failure was not an option. But he knew that would be what he’d face if he pressed her.

And he didn’t like this either.

They’d only taken two steps on the pavement when Abby, as if oblivious to the now descending photographers, curled into him. She put her hand to his stomach and he stopped at her bold touch, his head tilting down toward her.

She was smiling at him.

Not one of her composed, controlled smiles. This one was radiant and lighting up the night, as if she was happy, carefree and deeply in love.

At the sight something in his gut clenched and it was a feeling he’d never felt before in his entire life.

The feeling wasn’t painful, instead it was supremely pleasant.

Unusually caught off guard by her smile and his response to it, he didn’t react as she came up to her toes, leaning into him, her breasts pressing against his arm as she tipped her head back, her eyes slightly closed, her lips lightly parted, her entire face an invitation.

Without willing himself to do it and completely unable to stop himself if he’d tried (which he didn’t), his head bent and as she intended, doing the job he’d paid her to do to put on a show to the photographers, his mouth met hers.

The minute their lips touched hers relaxed under his, her scent filled his nostrils in an overwhelmingly intoxicating way and her body melted into his, bestowing on him a goodly amount of her weight as if she’d lost the ability to stand on her own two feet.

He accepted her obvious if somewhat surprising invitation and deepened the kiss, his hand moving from her elbow in order to wrap his arm tightly around her waist, hauling her closer to him.

Her body went rigid as his tongue touched hers.

She tasted, he realised with acute clarity, as complex and exquisite as everything else that was Abby and he felt his body begin to heat in response.

His head came up at her reaction and he belatedly saw the camera flashes around them.

Her guard was down and Cash could easily read the strange mix of wonder and alarm on her face.

Instinctively he recognised that something had changed. She might have begun this show for the photographers but it didn’t end that way.

He attributed this to the brief but remarkably affecting kiss and the cameras, which she had to know where there.

The former of the two reactions he saw on her face served to please him, dissipate his anger and bring him to the swift decision that he would not wait to have her. Instead, he’d coax her to break her own rule and sleep with him before they reached the castle.