Jackie Ashenden - King's Price

He shifted again. ‘Fine. I’ll make sure she’s on-board with the idea then.’

I was conscious of a slight loosening inside my chest, one that couldn’t and shouldn’t be relief, not when I’d been confident he’d agree to my request, yet felt like it all the same.

Ajax had given me responsibility for securing the King Enterprises’ potential expansion and I wanted to make sure I fulfilled that responsibility, especially given what I owed him.

Now it looked like that debt would be paid.

It was satisfying, I couldn’t deny it.

What a good little soldier you are.

But not for much longer. Once I was away from Sydney I’d get something I’d always been denied: the luxury of choice.

‘You do that,’ I said to Hamilton. ‘And if she has any issues with the marriage remind her that my house has a pool. Girls love pools.’

Slowly, Hamilton pushed himself out of the uncomfortable chair. ‘I do have a condition.’

My smile froze. ‘I’m not sure you’re in any position to demand conditions.’

‘Nevertheless, I have one.’ His gaze was very direct and very certain; he wasn’t going to back down on this. ‘You’re not to make contact with her before the wedding. And you’re not to touch her after it. It will be a marriage in name only.’

I almost laughed. ‘What? You don’t want my filthy King hands all over your precious daughter?’

He said nothing, but the look in his eyes was clear. No. He didn’t.

I raised a brow, playing with him because that was the fun part and I could never resist a show of power. ‘But what if she wants to put her hands on me?’

He flushed. ‘She won’t. She abhors you.’

‘Sure she does. When she doesn’t know me from Adam.’ I lifted a shoulder. ‘Not that I care. Like I told you, if she doesn’t want me I won’t force myself on her. But if she does...well...’ I grinned, just to mess with him ‘...I can make no guarantees.’

Hamilton’s expression became fixed. ‘She won’t. I can guarantee that.’

It was sweet how protective this pillar of the community was of his daughter. Except, again, I knew it was a sham. It was himself and the reputation of his family that he cared about, like all men of that sort. That and money. I’m sure if I’d offered him more cash he’d have had no problem with me claiming a wedding night from his precious daughter.

Unfortunately, though, telling me not to touch the girl only made me want to touch her even more.

I was perverse like that. Or a cliché—take your pick.

‘Sadly for you, not making contact with your daughter negates my need for a public love affair, which means I’m going to have to refuse your condition,’ I said, letting my grin fade, showing him steel instead. ‘You want my money then you give me the girl. That’s all.’

He didn’t like that, naturally enough, but, since he didn’t have the leverage, all he could do was bluster empty threats as I got Security to usher him out of my office.

As soon as the office door shut behind him I reached for my phone and hit Ajax’s number.

He answered with a curt, ‘Yeah, what?’

‘You’ll be pleased to know that Hamilton will give us his backing when it comes to finding investors for the new King Enterprises expansion,’ I said.

He grunted. ‘How? That prick didn’t want anything to do with us.’

‘Let’s just say I offered him a big incentive.’

‘What did you—? On second thoughts, I don’t want to know.’

‘You don’t,’ I agreed. ‘There’s one other thing.’

‘What?’

‘You need to offer me your congratulations, brother.’

‘Why?’

I turned to the view once more, my reflection staring back at me, the predatory smile on my face a reflection of the monster beneath the handsome prince. It didn’t scare me, that monster, not any more.

Your bride is going to get one hell of a shock, though.

Yes, she might.

I smiled wider. ‘Why? Because I’m getting married.’

‘YOU’VE GOT TO be kidding.’ I stared at my father in shock. ‘You want me to marry who?’

Dad had that hard expression on his face, the one he always got when he wanted his own way. ‘Leon King, of King Enterprises. The one who—’

‘I know who he is,’ I interrupted, folding my hands in my lap so he wouldn’t see them shake. ‘The whole city knows the King brothers.’

Property developers who’d made a lot of money in a very short space of time. Ex-criminals, some would say. Still criminals, said others.

I had no opinion on the subject since it didn’t interest me. At least, it hadn’t interested me. Not until my father had called me—a shock in itself since I hadn’t had contact with either of my parents for about six months—and asked me to come to his downtown office for a meeting.

I hadn’t wanted to—I had a report I had to write for my job as a research assistant at Sydney University and the last thing I felt like doing was trying to pretend I still had a relationship with my family. But he’d insisted. Told me it was important. That it concerned my sister.

That I owed them.

He wasn’t wrong. I did owe them. In fact, I’d been waiting ten years for him to call in that debt, because I’d had no doubt at all that he would. And now he had it was a relief in many ways.

Except that he wanted me to marry some total stranger in place of my sister.

‘Why me?’ I tried to keep my voice calm and level because there was no point getting emotional. I’d learned that the hard way. ‘Did Clara say no?’

Dad moved around behind his massive oak desk and sat down, giving me the cold judgemental look he’d perfected over the years. ‘Not exactly. I haven’t told her about it.’

I blinked. This whole thing was getting weirder and weirder.

Odd enough that Dad had called me out of the blue to ask me to take Clara’s place and marry some criminal, but that he hadn’t even told Clara about it...?

‘You’re going to have to explain,’ I said carefully. ‘Because I don’t understand how you can not tell Clara. Or even why you’re asking me, for that matter.’

Dad was silent, staring at me as if weighing up what he wanted to say.

I stared back. If he thought I was going to fall in line, like Mum and Clara always did, he could think again. Years ago, he’d sent me away to an aunt up north and I’d gone without protest, finishing my schooling away from Sydney society and its far-too-bright lights, burying myself in the relative obscurity of a tiny town and concerning myself only with my studies.

But I wasn’t the same person now as I’d been back then. I wasn’t seventeen for a start, and I was happy out of the spotlight. In fact, out of the spotlight was where I wanted to stay.

I had a nice, quiet, comfortable life in the labs at the university, completely separate from my family. A life I didn’t particularly want to change.

‘Fine,’ he said after a moment. ‘I have some...debts that need to be paid and King has offered to pay them for me. In return, he wants my help with legitimising the King name.’ Dad paused. ‘And to do that he wants to marry Clara.’

Debts? I shoved that question aside for the moment.

‘Why?’ I asked. ‘How is marrying Clara going to legitimise the King name?’

Anger burned in my father’s blue eyes. ‘He and his brothers are looking to break into the luxury apartment market and they need investors. So he wants me to get the business community on his side—allay fears about their past, that kind of thing.’ Dad said the words as if they tasted bad in his mouth. ‘He thinks marrying Clara will help.’

I understood. Though their father had been imprisoned for his crimes years ago, the association still followed his sons around. Not that I knew much about them, aside from the fact that they were notorious for their cut-throat business practices as property developers.