The Privileged and the Damned
Kimberly Lang
When wealth, power and politics cross paths with the criminal underworld… Ethan Marshall, grandson of a former senator, is handsome and charming – and he’s lusting after Lily Black! Working for the Marshalls as a stable manager, Lily has the ideal job for the first time in her life – she loves working with the horses on the beautiful Marshall estate.Whilst Lily’s attentions are soon drawn to the very fine Ethan, her past holds dark and criminal secrets…which could bring the Marshall family to its knees. The gorgeous playboy is determined to win her affections, but should Lily do the right thing by her family, or the right thing by the Marshalls?When Dynasty meets Dirty Sexy Money – these men are rich, ruthless & irresistibly bad…
Praise for Kimberly Lang
‘This enjoyable tale about a pair who think they’re embarking on a sexy fling that soon turns serious treats readers to all the emotions, and all the highs and lows, that love entails.’
—RT Book Reviews on
The Secret Mistress Arrangement
‘A sizzling tale of lust developing into love …’
—www.cataromance.com on
Magnate’s Mistress … Accidentally Pregnant!
‘Talented author Kimberly Lang delivers a fresh, up-to-date story filled with strong characters and enough sexual tension to set hearts a-twitter. Entertains with witty repartee and sizzling passion.’
—www.cataromance.com on
The Millionaire’s Misbehaving Mistress
About the Author
KIMBERLY LANG hid romance novels behind her textbooks in junior high, and even a Master’s programme in English couldn’t break her obsession with dashing heroes and happily ever after. A ballet dancer turned English teacher, Kimberly married an electrical engineer and turned her life into an ongoing episode of When Dilbert Met Frasier. She and her Darling Geek live in beautiful North Alabama, with their one Amazing Child—who, unfortunately, shows an aptitude for sports.
Visit Kimberly at www.booksbykimberly.com for the latest news—and don’t forget to say hi while you’re there!
Also by Kimberly Lang
Redemption of the Hollywood Starlet
The Power and the Glory
The Girls’ Guide to Flirting with Danger
What Happens in Vegas …
Boardroom Rivals, Bedroom Fireworks!
Magnate’s Mistress … Accidentally Pregnant!
The Millionaire’s Misbehaving Mistress
The Secret Mistress Arrangement
Did you know these are also available as eBooks? Visit www.millsandboon.co.uk
The Privileged and the Damned
Kimberly Lang
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
To Jayk and Erica, who should really teach classes on how to raise awesome husbands. I can’t thank you enough for mine.
CHAPTER ONE
GOOSE tossed his head and danced sideways, jerking Lily’s attention back from her reverie just in time to see him angle her dangerously close to a low hanging branch. She ducked at the last second and steered him back to the path. “Behave yourself, you spoiled horse.”
Goose merely snorted in response.
It would be her own fault if Goose’s bad attitude unseated her. She knew better than to let her attention drift—Goose simply loved to challenge a rider and see who was really in charge—but the peace and beauty of the Marshall estate was hypnotic at times. When combined with the gentle cadence of Goose’s walk as he cooled down from his run, it was hard not to let her mind drift away.
All those people who paid money for fancy yoga classes or time on a shrink’s couch just needed to spend half an hour doing exactly this. They could quit twisting themselves into pretzels to meditate or digging up their daddy issues in search of peace. This was free therapy.
No, it was better than free; the Marshalls actually paid her. It was crazy, but true, and she thanked her lucky stars every single day that she’d landed here. It was perfect.
They were almost to the river, and Goose began to trot as the break in the trees grew closer. She could see the early-morning sunlight glinting off the water, and she turned her face up to the sky to let it warm her skin as they crossed the treeline. Goose walked straight to the water’s edge and waded in, and only a sharp tug kept him from going directly to a depth guaranteed to soak her only pair of boots.
“Not this time, Goose. I’m on to your tricks. I’m not walking around with wet feet all day again.”
As if he understood, Goose made a sound suspiciously like a disappointed huff, then lowered his head to drink. Pulling out her own water bottle, she took a moment to enjoy the view of the sun peeping over the mountains in the distance while she drank.
The Marshall estate—Hill Chase—was a little slice of heaven on earth. It was close enough to D.C. to allow easy escape and respite for the various family members immersed in politics and government, but it felt light years away from all that. It was also a business unto itself—as well as the family’s home—and Lily did her best to just blend in with the scores of other employees. She took a deep breath of the clean air and blew it out, and the knowledge she’d been too cautious to really accept settled on her shoulders like the sunshine.
Her social worker had told her this day would come. Lily hadn’t believed Jerry then, but now …
She really could start over. She already had, she corrected herself. The Lily she used to be was fading more and more every day, and the Lily she was now had finally begun to feel like the real her—like she’d been trapped inside a box and was just now able to freely move and breathe.
She shook her head to clear away the fanciful thoughts. While she’d be perfectly happy to spend all day right here, she still had two more horses that needed their exercise and a long list of other chores waiting for her at the stable. “Come on, Goose. Let’s go.”
“Already? You just got here.”
Lily nearly jumped out of her skin at the voice, and her water bottle dropped out of her hand to land in the shallow water next to Goose’s feet. She twisted sideways in the saddle to locate the owner of the voice and found a man swimming just a few yards away, only his head and shoulders visible above the water.
“Sorry. Didn’t mean to scare you.” The man’s grin belied the apology.
“Just startled.” That much was true. The estate was private, and no one knew she was here anyway, so she had no cause to be scared. Plus, as Goose’s head jerked up he whinnied, seeming to recognize the voice. A second later the horse began to wade deeper toward the man, completely ignoring her scolds and attempts to stop him.
Thankfully, the man met them halfway, and she was able to tuck her feet up closer to the saddle and out of the water. Goose’s big head lolled in pleasure as the man rubbed his nose, the reunion causing them both to ignore her for a moment.
And she needed that moment. The man was now close enough for her to recognize him: Ethan Marshall, one of Senator Marshall’s many grandsons. She’d heard he was just back from an extended trip overseas—hell, the whole estate was abuzz with the news—and though she’d seen plenty of pictures, those pictures were nothing compared to reality.
All the Marshalls were genetically lucky—honey-blond hair, deep green eyes, strong jawlines under high cheekbones—but Ethan seemed to have won the lottery, combining those individual features into something more … more … Just more. Thick hair—curling just the slightest bit around his ears—dripped water onto broad, tanned shoulders. There, the droplets joined with others to run in rivulets over a set of lovely pecs and abs before meeting the water lapping his waist.
She jerked her eyes back up. Mercy. The man was gorgeous enough to give a girl heart palpitations, and when he looked up from Goose to meet her eyes and smile—seemingly aware she’d been checking him out, much to her mortification—the full effect was enough to cause her to sway in the saddle the tiniest bit.
“I’m Ethan Marshall.”
“I know.” Eyes up. No gawking. “It’s nice to finally meet you.” She backed Goose up a bit, to relieve the strain on her thighs from holding her feet out of the water, but Ethan didn’t follow. He looked at her expectantly and she searched for something else to say, but her brain was misfiring a bit now that she had his full attention. “Welcome back.”
“Thanks. And you are …?”
Her cheeks heated. Idiot. “Lily. Lily Black.”
“Well, it’s nice to meet you, too, Lily. How many times did Goose soak your boots before you figured him out?”
“Three.” He smirked, and she shrugged. “I’m a slow learner, I guess.”
“Well, Tinker will do the same thing, too, if you didn’t know that already.”
Tinker was Ethan’s horse, a huge white stallion with a mischievous streak worse than Goose’s. “Tinker dumped me completely in the river on my second day.” At Ethan’s smile, she made the rest of the confession. “He then took off and left me to walk back to the stable.”
Ethan laughed, a warm yet totally masculine sound that made her insides feel a bit gooey. “I heard about that. Didn’t know it was you, though. Maybe I should apologize.”
“Why?” His small shrug said a lot. “Did you teach him to do that?”
“It kept my brothers and cousins off my horse when I wasn’t around.” The unrepentant grin was slightly infectious and kept her at ease with the conversation. How long had it been since she’d had a friendly discussion about absolutely nothing at all? It was a nice feeling—even if it was a strange one, rusty from disuse.
“Your horse is rotten. It’s a good thing he’s pretty.”
He winked at her, catching her totally off guard. “I’ve heard the same is said about me.”
The statement could have been full of smug assurance of his good looks, but the tone made it sound self-deprecating. Unfortunately, it also had her eyes going back to the acres of tanned, sculpted skin. “Pretty” was a gross understatement of the man’s very ample charms.
Goose was pulling against the reins, trying to move back out to the deeper water and Ethan, thankfully giving her something to concentrate on since she’d lost track of the conversation due to her wandering eyes. Goose snorted and shook his head, but she wasn’t giving in. Not in front of Ethan Marshall. She didn’t want him thinking she couldn’t handle the horse.
“I think he’s just happy to see you, Mr. Marshall. He’s normally much better behaved with me.”
“Ethan,” he corrected. “Just Ethan. There are way too many Mr. Marshalls around here to keep up with.”
Lily felt her face warm, but it wasn’t with embarrassment this time. “Okay. Ethan it is.” When he smiled this time, it caused a little shiver to run over her skin. That, along with the restless movements of Goose, brought her focus back where it belonged. “Um, I should probably get back to the stable. It was nice meeting you.”
Ethan nodded. “And you, Lily.”
She turned Goose back toward the shore and saw her water bottle in the shallows. “Mr. Marsh—I mean, Ethan—could you grab that bottle for me?”
“Nope.”
She twisted around in the saddle to face him. The smirk on his face made her wonder if she’d totally misjudged him. It was a relatively simple request. Was his ego that big? A high-and-mighty Marshall was too good to retrieve a water bottle for one of the staff?
“I wouldn’t normally ask, but I’m only wearing half-chaps, and if I get down my boots will fill with water.”
Ethan shrugged a muscular shoulder. “Sorry. Can’t be helped.”
Maybe he was that smug after all.
The smirk grew worse as he crossed his arms over his chest. “I’m sure you didn’t notice, but I’m only wearing water at the moment.”
Lily felt her face heat again as the full meaning of his words filtered though. She’d been carrying on a conversation not six feet away from him—and he’d been naked the whole time? Her eyes—she just couldn’t help it—retraced their earlier path down his chest and stomach to the waterline, which she now knew covered …
Ethan’s chuckle caused her to jerk her head up and twist in the saddle so quickly her neck spasmed and Goose protested. “If I go get it, one of us could be embarrassed …” He trailed off, leaving no question as to which one of them it would be.
Oh, dear Lord. She was already embarrassed enough. Focusing her eyes on the shoreline, she saw a pile of clothes on one of the rocks. Dammit. Why couldn’t she have noticed that just a little sooner? She’d been ogling the man’s chest and stomach, and only inches below the waterline was … Her cheeks felt like they were on fire now.
“Still want me to get it?”
There was laughter and challenge in those words, and then she heard splashes, like Ethan might be making his way to shore after all.
“No!” She paused and cleared her throat. “I mean, never mind. I’ll get it.” Without looking at him, she dismounted, grabbed the bottle, and mounted again in record time. She dug her heels into Goose, feeling the water slosh around her toes, and set him into a trot. She didn’t really care if it looked like the cowardly retreat it was; she had to get out of there before she died of embarrassment.
The sound of Ethan’s laughter followed her, and it was all Lily could do not to kick Goose into a gallop.
Naked.
He’d been naked the whole time.
Distance from the scene of the crime helped her calm her heart-rate, but with that calm came unease. Ethan found it funny right now, but would he still find it amusing later on? What if he told others—like his grandmother? Mrs. Marshall wouldn’t find it one bit funny.
Could she get fired for this? The thought chilled her. More than just the job, she loved—needed—the security of Hill Chase. It gave her a place to live and peace of mind. The thought of losing that because she’d been blinded by charm and a chest and not noticed he was skinny-dipping …
He was naked the whole time.
How will I ever be able to look him in the eye again?
Naked.
How could I have known?
It was an accident.
Lily lifted her chin. Exactly. An accident. No harm done. So the chances of losing her job were very, very low. She had to quit jumping straight to The Worst-Case Scenario all the time. The next time she saw Ethan—and it was guaranteed she would see him sooner rather than later, since the stable wasn’t that big—she’d pretend it didn’t happen. That would be the grown-up thing to do. Surely he’d like to forget the whole thing ever happened too.
So would she, but every time she closed her eyes she could see …
Nope. There would be no forgetting for her. Ethan Marshall wearing nothing but river water would be an image she’d take with her to her grave.
And, actually, she was really okay with that.
“Want to tell me what the hell that was all about?” Brady asked as he swung up onto Spider’s back later that afternoon.
Ethan bit back a laugh as he checked the stirrups and mounted Tinker. Using his best innocent voice, he played dumb. “What was what about?”
“Lily tripping all over herself back at the stables and turning that amazing shade of red.” Brady gave him that Big Brother look. “What did you do to her?”
“I’ve been here less than twelve hours. What makes you think I could ‘do’ anything to her?”
Brady snorted. “This is you we’re talking about.”
Lily’s reaction when they’d walked into the stable had been almost comical. She’d taken one look at him, blushed the color of an overripe tomato, and nearly dropped the tack she carried. “Maybe she’s always like that.”
“I have to assume not, because she’d scare the horses otherwise.”
“You assume? I thought you made a point of knowing everything about everything.”
“I’ve barely spoken three words to her since she started working here.”
Tinker and Spider walked slowly through the wide stable doors into the sunshine, and Ethan slid his sunglasses on against the glare. “Too good these days to talk to the hired help, are you?”
“Back off. It’s not like I’m here all the time. I have a job, too, you know.” Ethan heard the mild frustration and tiredness in Brady’s voice. He was hip-deep in the political machine that practically defined their family—and had for more than forty years. Apparently it was wearing on him already. “She’s barely spoken three words to me either. She’s not the talkative type. Very shy.”
Based on earlier today, Ethan would believe Lily was a little on the quiet side, but he wouldn’t have guessed she was overly shy. Spider and Tinker were impatient and ready to run, but had to be held to a slower pace as he filled Brady in on their meeting in the river.
“And she didn’t realize it?”
“Not until I told her.”
“Oh, that’s bad,” Brady said through his laughter. “You really should have told her sooner. No wonder she’s all flustered now.”
“She’ll get over it.” When Brady didn’t immediately agree, Ethan reined Tinker to a stop. “What?”
“Maybe you should apologize to her.”
“For what? What did I do?”
“Besides not telling her you were skinny-dipping sooner in the conversation?”
“We’re adults—”
“It doesn’t matter. You’re staying here for the next couple of weeks. That—” he tilted his head back in the direction of the stable “—can’t continue. Give the girl a break. If you don’t, you’re a sadist every time you come to the stable.”
Brady had a point. Although renovations should have been finished a week ago, the workmen still had his condo ripped apart. Hill Chase would be his home base until they finished. And, while he doubted the work that had piled up in his absence would leave him much free time, he fully intended to make the most of any he managed to scrape out. He’d be around the stables a lot in the near future. If Lily was that flustered about their meeting, it would be cruel of him to let it continue.
Brady’s phone rang and he fished it out of his pocket. A glance at the number had him rolling his eyes. “I have to take this.”
Ethan nodded. Campaign season was about to go into full swing, and their father was in a hell of a fight to keep his Senate seat. Personally, Ethan didn’t care if the current Senator Marshall kept his seat, but Granddad—whose Senate legacy was a plank in his son’s platform, and probably the only reason Douglas Marshall had won in the first place—cared very deeply. And while Brady’s sense of duty managed to outweigh his own feelings toward their father, Ethan’s didn’t. He couldn’t bring himself to help his father, but out of respect for Granddad he managed not to hinder either.
But Brady, as one of the senior staffers, would be even more swamped than usual between now and the election. Ethan was actually surprised he’d gotten away today even for a short visit. Campaigns and politicking didn’t take Sundays off.
Brady let his reins go slack, and Spider walked over to the side of the path to nibble on grass while Brady dealt with whatever the problem was. Tinker tugged on the reins, impatient to get going, but Ethan held him steady, waiting for Brady. He was home, finally, and happy just to be here. He wasn’t in a real rush to get anywhere right now.
Over in the next paddock, he saw Lily leading Biscuit slowly by the halter. He hadn’t known Biscuit had been injured, but the white wrapping on her foreleg and the slow, even pace Lily kept were clear indications the horse was on the mend from something.
Lily looked small standing next to Biscuit—he hadn’t been able to truly tell her height this morning from her position on Goose’s back. The dark green T-shirt with the “Marshall Stable” logo was a bit loose, almost camouflaging her curves, but she’d rolled the sleeves up over her shoulders, exposing nicely toned arms. The T-shirt was tucked into a pair of snug-fitting jeans that outlined the muscular thighs and calves he
had noted earlier, before disappearing into the half-chaps.
Lily seemed to be talking to Biscuit, the action causing her long black ponytail to sway slightly, and Biscuit bobbed her head occasionally like she agreed with whatever Lily was saying. As if she felt the weight of his stare, Lily suddenly turned and looked over her shoulder, those black eyebrows disappearing behind her bangs when she saw him watching her.
Brady was still barking into his phone, and it sounded like he would be for at least a few more minutes, so Ethan turned Tinker in Lily’s direction. He could go ahead and get that apology out of the way.
Surprisingly, Lily met him at the fence. She looked up, shading her eyes against the sun, and though her cheeks looked a little pink, the earlier fluster was gone. Maybe the flush was from the heat.
“Is something wrong?” Concern showed in her big brown eyes as she looked over at Brady. “I thought y’all were going riding.”
He dismounted. “We are. Brady’s dealing with something at work right this second, so I came to apologize.”
“Apologize? For what?” She seemed genuinely confused.
“For this morning—”
Lily shook her head. “I think I’m the one who owes you an apology. I’m terribly embarrassed—”
“So I gathered.”
“I’d been trying to figure out how to apologize to you and then you walked in … Well, it caught me off guard.” Lily wasn’t quite meeting his eyes now.
“Well—” He was cut off as Tinker bumped him aside and nuzzled Lily’s shoulder, catching her ponytail and tugging on it. “Hey!” He scolded the horse.
Lily smiled as she scratched Tinker between his eyes—his favorite spot. She knew his horse well, it seemed. “It’s okay. You goofus,” she murmured affectionately to the horse, flipping her hair back over her shoulder out of Tinker’s reach.
Brady had pegged Lily wrong. She wasn’t terribly shy, only quiet. Just like he thought. Since Brady hated to be wrong, Ethan couldn’t wait to rub that in. He relaxed into the conversation. “I thought you said he was rotten.”
“Oh, he is. To the core.” Tinker was reveling in the attention, even butting Biscuit aside when she tried to horn in on Lily’s affection.
“He certainly seems to like you. And Tinker doesn’t like many people.”
“He knows I’m a sucker for a charming pretty boy. We got off to a bad start that day at the river, but he won me over, and we get along just fine now. Don’t we, boy?” she cooed at the horse.
“Then there’s hope for me, too,” he teased.
Lily froze for a second, then her brown eyes met his fully for the first time since that morning. A tug pulled at the corner of her mouth. “Are you comparing yourself to your horse?”
Oh, no, Lily wasn’t shy, and that knowledge sparked something in him. He waggled his eyebrows in a leer. “In many ways.”
Lily’s mouth fell open at the innuendo, but she recovered quickly. “So the rumors are true …”
He cleared his throat, a tiny bit worried. “Rumors that …?”
“That you’re a charming pretty boy, rotten to the core.”
That caused him to smile. “Guilty as charged.”
“At least you’re honest about it.”
“Honesty is important, don’t you think?”
She paused briefly. “Usually.”
How strange. “Only usually? Not always?”
The briefest of shadows crossed her face. He’d have missed it entirely if he weren’t so focused on her. “Life’s too complicated to draw lines like that. Sometimes a small lie is better than the truth.”
“I’d have to disagree with you, Lily.”
“Really?” She tilted her head sideways. “You believe in one-hundred percent honesty all the time?”
“Yep.”
She scoffed. “That’s not something I expected from you.”
He stiffened automatically, but tried to keep his voice merely curious. “And why is that?”
“You do know your family’s in politics, right?”
His loud bark of laughter had both horses looking at him in as much surprise as Lily. “Ergo my extreme desire for honesty above all else.”
She laughed as well. “Then I’ll keep that in mind.”
Brady and Spider joined them at that moment. “Well, this is certainly an improvement from earlier.”
Ethan could hear the tease in Brady’s voice, but Lily flushed and her voice dropped anyway. “Sorry about that, Mr. Marshall.” No wonder Brady thought she was painfully shy.
“No worries, Lily.” Brady winked at her, and the spurt of anger Ethan felt surprised him. “I’m sure it was all Ethan’s fault.”
“Gee, thanks.”
Brady shrugged. “Hey, the truth hurts sometimes.”
Both he and Lily laughed, leaving Brady looking confused. Finally, he shook his head and gave up. “You ready, E?”
“Yep.” He swung up on Tinker and adjusted the reins. “See you later, Lily.”
“Have fun.” She waved as they left.
Brady looked distracted as he kicked Spider into a trot.
Tinker automatically adjusted his speed to catch up. “Everything okay?”
Brady blew out his breath. “Just the usual messes. I’m going to have to head back tonight.”
“Nana will be disappointed.”
He shook his head. “Not as disappointed as she’ll be if I don’t go back to straighten this out and we lose this election.”
“Maybe he needs to lose.”
Brady sighed. “He’s a lousy father, and a sorry excuse for a human being most days, but amazingly enough he’s a damn good legislator. He learned that much from Granddad.”
The contradiction didn’t sit well with him. “Still, I don’t know how you do it.”
“I look at the bigger picture, Ethan.”
“There’s a bigger picture?”
“Yeah, it’s called the greater good. Dad isn’t afraid to champion the tough issues or stand up for the little guy. He’s doing good things, and I have to support that.”
“I’ll have to take your word for it.”
Brady smirked. “Does that mean we can count on your vote?”
“Do you want the truth?”
Brady answered without looking at him. “Not really.”
“Then I’ll just keep my mouth shut.”
“There’s a first time for everything.”
“Wow.” Ethan put his hand on his chest in mock anguish. “Not feeling the love today.”
“Like I said, there’s a first time for everything. And it didn’t look like it was from lack of trying, either.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
Brady’s look was steady. “Lily,” he challenged.
“You wanted me to apologize, and I did. End of story.”
“If you say so.” Brady’s lips twitched. “You know, I never really noticed her before. She’s quite cute. Nice legs. Shame I have to go back to the city tonight …”
Ethan knew when he was being needled, but it didn’t counter the sudden unpleasant and completely irrational need to knock Brady off his horse. Brady’s laugh only exacerbated that need. As if Brady read his mind, he dug his heels into Spider and the stallion leapt forward. Tinker reared up on his back legs, ready to go, and Ethan let him give chase.
It was good to be home.
Lily watched the two men banter as they rode away, the brotherly affection and annoyance obvious in equal parts. When Tinker took off in a gallop, her breath caught in her throat. Granted, the horse was beautiful, impressive, but the man on his back was far more so. Ethan looked like he’d been born in the saddle, moving easily with the horse and looking like some kind of centaur as he closed the gap between him and his brother easily. She could hear shouts and whinnies, and then the horses and their riders disappeared into the woods.
Over the past three months she’d figured out most of the Marshalls. They were a big family, with plenty of the private drama that came from the sheer number of them. There was also plenty of public drama—not unexpected, considering their wealth and power. Something always seemed to be swirling, whether it gave the tabloids their headlines or the eleven o’clock news its lead item or just had one or more Marshalls closeted in the former senator’s study. They often fought amongst themselves, but they closed ranks and presented a unified front when attacked from the outside.
It was nice, yet odd at the same time. She really had no frame of reference to help make sense of it, either.
And now, just when she thought she was starting to figure it out, Ethan appeared on the scene, totally unlike what the rumors had led her to expect, and completely changing the energy she felt on the estate.
Energy radiated off him and made her tingle in unusual ways. And, while it still flustered her a little to have those green eyes on her, she had to secretly confess that the fluster wasn’t all that bad a feeling. It made her feel … “Alive” wasn’t the right word, but it was close.
Rumor had it that he would be staying on the estate for a while. Something about his place being refurbished and unable to be lived in. She’d probably be seeing more of him—she pushed back the mental image of the more she’d almost seen this morning—and the fact she didn’t mind at all felt like a big step forward.
Too bad he had that whole thing about honesty.
CHAPTER TWO
THE growl of his stomach pulled Ethan’s attention from the reports his assistant, Joyce, had emailed last week. The ones he’d pretended not to get. A glance out showed the estate was fully awake now, from the gardeners in Nana’s roses under his window to the stable, where the horses were being turned out and the farrier’s truck was pulling in.
Since the family as a whole and all its various members seemed to have remained financially solvent during his absence, nothing required his immediate intervention. He stretched, then closed the laptop and set it on the antique writing desk next to the window. The sun was shining—a very nice change from London’s seemingly constant overcast skies—and there was no way he was going to waste the day closed up in his room.
The hall of the family wing was quiet now, but that could—and probably would—
change at any moment. Hill Chase was the hub for their family, and everyone floated through here eventually. He’d even had an email from Finn this morning, claiming he’d fly in next week on his birthday for a visit now that Ethan was home. He’d wait to tell his grandparents, though, until his younger brother was actually in Virginia airspace, as there was a very good chance Finn would change his mind at the last minute.
He could smell coffee and fresh bacon as he came down the stairs, but once in the foyer he saw the light on in Granddad’s study, and veered in that direction instead of the kitchen. The mahogany doors were open, and he could hear the clatter of a keyboard. Odd, since Granddad was practically a Luddite to begin with and, unless his arthritis had miraculously gotten better, typing at that speed was not possible for him.
Still, it was a bit of a shock to see Lily behind his grandfather’s enormous desk, a pencil gripped in her teeth as she looked between the papers in front of her and the screen. Today, her hair hung in two braids down her back, and the effect made her look so innocent he was hit by a twinge of discomfort at the starring role she’d had in one of his dreams last night.
“Good morning,” she said, the words a little distorted by the pencil. “I’m almost finished with these …” Another clatter and a click of the mouse and the printer hummed to life.
“Morning,” he answered, and Lily jumped, turning sharply and catching the pencil as she spit it out.
“Ethan! I thought you were the Senator—I mean, your grandfather the Senator, not your father …”
“Well, I’m neither of them.” He moved to the desk. “What are you doing?”
“Reports.”
“And you don’t have a computer in the stable office?”
Lily started to roll her eyes but caught herself. He stifled a laugh. Seemed he’d hit a bone of contention without even trying.
“Of course we do. It’s just that the Senator …” She paused and bit her lip, like she was searching for the proper phrase. “Well, he’s very particular in the way he likes certain things done.”
“That’s a nice way to say it.”
“It’s his stable. So I do it his way.” She smiled slightly. “It’s not that big of a hardship or anything.” Pulling the papers from the printer, she stapled them and put them in a folder in the center of the blotter. Then she started gathering up her things and pushed the chair back. “But I’m done now, if you need the computer …”
“Nope. I just heard someone in here and came to see.”
“Are you planning on taking Tinker out today? He’s due to get new shoes, but I can make sure he’s ready when you are.”
“Maybe later. Don’t worry about it, though.”
“Okay. But call down to the stable if you change your mind.” With her stack of file folders and ledger books and those braids, she looked like a student heading to class.
“How old are you?”
Her eyes widened. “I’m sorry, what?”
Nice move. “Never mind.” He pointed to her coffee cup. “Need a refill? I’m headed to the kitchen myself.”
“Um, okay. Thanks.” She didn’t move, though, and he must have looked at her oddly. “I’ll have to follow you. I don’t know how to get to the kitchen from here.”
“Still learning your way around?” he asked as she fell into step beside him into the foyer.
“Kind of. I’ve only gone to the kitchen through the garden. Never from …” She trailed off and stopped, staring wide-eyed, and he looked around to see what the problem was. He didn’t see anything.
“Lily?”
“Sorry, I’ve just never seen anything like it.” Amazement filled her voice.
“Like what?”
“That staircase.”
He looked, but all he saw was the marble staircase winding its way up like it always did. “Yes. It goes to the second floor.”
She shot an exasperated look his way. “It’s like something from a fairy-tale castle.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. Like Cinderella could appear at any moment.” She sounded so reverent he felt a little bad for teasing her.
He leaned closer. Lily smelled like fresh citrus, a clean scent that seemed to fit her perfectly. He inhaled again to enjoy it before he whispered, “Don’t tell Nana, but right after those banisters get waxed you can pick up some real speed on the last turn.”
“I bet—” the statement started out light, but became thicker as she turned her head toward him “—you c-can.” She cleared her throat and stepped incrementally away, but not before he saw her eyes darken. Her tongue slipped out to moisten her bottom lip, and an arrow of heat shot through his stomach. She took another small step back and pasted a weak smile on her face. “Sorry for the delay. Lead on.”
Right. He gave himself a strong mental shake, and they covered the rest of the distance to the kitchen in mildly uncomfortable silence.
As they got to the door, Lily picked up speed, pushing through with a chipper “Morning, Gloria. I bring you someone in need of feeding.”
“Ethan! I was wondering when you’d come down.” Gloria wrapped him in a hug that smelled like cinnamon and coffee before kissing him soundly on the cheek. “I’m sorry I wasn’t here yesterday to welcome you home.”
Gloria had ruled the kitchens at Hill Chase for as long as he could remember. She looked him over with a critical eye. “You’ve lost weight. Is there no food in London?”
“None like yours.” Behind Gloria, he could see Lily refilling her mug from the carafe, smirking as Gloria clucked over him.
“Of course not,” she said, preening. “Go sit and I’ll fix you a plate.” Without even looking over her shoulder, she added, “You too, Lily.”
Lily froze in her attempted escape. “I’ve eaten already, Gloria. I just came for the coffee.” She held up her mug and moved to the door. “So I’m going back to the stable now and will see everyone later.”
Gloria sighed as she set an overflowing plate in front of him and filled his cup. “I swear, Lily’s nothing but skin and bones.”
As someone very appreciative of Lily’s curves, Ethan would disagree with that statement. Silently, of course.
“That child doesn’t eat enough to keep a cat alive,” Gloria clucked.
Just the opening he needed. “Lily’s hardly a child. She’s what? Twenty-five?” he fished.
Gloria took the bait. “More like twenty-two or -three. She’s just so sweet, though, it makes her seem even younger. And don’t think I don’t know what you’re doing, either.”
Ethan swallowed a mouthful of biscuit. “What?” he asked innocently.
“I’m wise to you. You leave Lily alone.”
Lily had a champion already. “You make it sound like I’m planning on doing something terrible to her.”
“Not on purpose, I know. But Lily’s a good girl and doesn’t need you messing with her head.” Gloria pursed her lips. “Or her anything else, for that matter.”
“I was simply curious as to how old Lily was. Now I know.” He vaguely wondered what Gloria knew that had her so protective of Lily. Even from him. “Is there more sausage?” he asked to change the subject.
Predictably, Gloria’s need to feed took over and she immediately went to the stove. “I’m afraid you’re on your own today. The Senator and Mrs. Marshall left early this morning to go to the Weatherlys’ to see the new foal Spider sired. It was planned before they knew you were coming, but they knew you’d probably have plenty to keep you occupied.”
He did have plenty to do: a ton of emails waiting for his attention, and a dozen phone calls he should make. But they’d waited this long; another day wasn’t going to make that much of a difference. A whole day of doing nothing important sounded very appealing. “No problem. I’m sure I can find something to amuse myself.”
Gloria slid the sausage onto his plate and frowned at him. “And never in your life has that sentence not equaled trouble.”
Lily knew the moment Ethan entered the stable. The energy felt different. It sounded just as silly today as it had yesterday, but she would swear it was true.
Maybe it was just because she happened to be mucking the stall next to Tinker’s when the horse perked up and started whinnying.
In twenty-four hours she’d managed to develop quite a crush on Ethan Marshall. It was silly, to be honest, but true nonetheless. After all, what wasn’t crush-worthy about the man? As long as she accepted it for exactly what it was, then there was no harm in it. She was a realist; she knew how the world worked and her place on the food chain. It was no different, really, than a crush on some movie star equally unobtainable.
Still, though, it felt rather nice; just another emotion she hadn’t let herself experience in a long time.
She heard Ethan greet his horse, and the way he talked to Tinker made her smile. These horses were family pets—not for competition or show—and as far as she knew there wasn’t a Marshall in the bloodline who wasn’t completely horse-crazy.
Screwing the lid back on the bottle of motor oil, she stepped out of Duke’s stall, drawing Ethan’s attention and a lazy smile of greeting that made her stomach flutter a little. Then the bottle caught his attention. “Duke’s cribbing again?”
“Yeah. I swear that horse needs therapy. Or antidepressants. Nothing we’re doing seems to help, so I’m trying to at least make his stall taste bad before he chews it to bits.”
“Finn says he’s coming out next weekend. Maybe that will help settle Duke down.”
Finn, she knew, was Ethan’s younger brother. The wild one who lived out in Los Angeles and produced movies—whatever that entailed. “Couldn’t hurt. Maybe Duke just misses him.” Tinker was butting against the stall door, wanting out. She patted his nose. “You are next for new shoes, so stay put.” Realizing that Ethan probably wanted to ride, she added, “Sorry. We’re a bit behind. Things are a little crazy around here today.”
“When are they not?”
“Very true.” She put the oil bottle on the ground and picked up the stall pick. Going back into Duke’s stall got Ethan out of her line of sight and let her stomach settle. She started spreading the clean bedding over the floor. “If you want, I can call up to the house when Tinker’s ready,” she said over her shoulder.
“It’s not a problem.”
Ethan spoke from right behind her, causing her to jump. She turned, surprised he’d followed her in, only to get confused when she saw the pitchfork in his hand. “Urn …” Surprise and confusion turned to complete jaw-dropping amazement when he started banking the bedding into the corners like a pro. “Um, what are you doing?”
Ethan looked at her like she was a little slow.
“I mean, I know what you’re doing. What I want know is why you’re doing it.” In here.
“You said things are crazy today, and I thought I’d help.”
Ethan Marshall. Mucking a stall. Two things that did not go nicely together in her head. “What if you get caught doing my job—”
“Honey, I’ve mucked these stalls thousands of times.”
“Really?” She was too distracted by the movement of his powerful shoulders as they forked another load of bedding to say much more.
“Yes, really.” He shot her a grin. “In fact, I’m probably better at it than you are.”
Like that was something Ethan would put on his résumé. “I’ll take your word for it, honestly.” Confusion reigned, and Lily struggled to make sense of the scene before her. “Look, if you’re waiting for Tinker—”
“It’ll do me some good. I spend too much time behind a desk these days. I’m getting soft.”
“Soft” was definitely not one of the many adjectives she’d choose to describe Ethan. Biceps strained against the fabric of his T-shirt as he worked, thigh muscles contracted and flexed under faded denim that hugged a really nice, tight … Lily moved to stand in front of the fan and closed her eyes as the air rushed over her face.
“You okay?” She looked over to see Ethan had stopped working and was now watching her, eyebrows pulled together in concern.
“I’m fine.” She poked at the bedding with her pick, moving it around aimlessly, unable to really focus.
“The summer I was fifteen, the stable manager’s niece came to work here. She might have been older than me, but she was the most beautiful girl I’d ever seen.” He leaned on the pitchfork. “She knew it, too, and told me how impressed she was by my mucking technique. I mucked more stalls that summer …”
“To impress her?” Because good looks, charm and money weren’t enough? The girl had to be crazy. She couldn’t imagine a teenage Ethan would be lacking in any of those attributes any more than he was now.
He laughed ruefully. “She just wanted someone else to do the work, but, yeah, I thought I was impressing the hell out of her every day.”
Could she get fired for letting Ethan do her job? That was something she really couldn’t afford to risk. “If I tell you I’m impressed, will you stop?”
“You don’t want help?”
“Really not. I’d prefer to do it myself.”
Ethan looked at her strangely, but set the fork aside. “Then be my guest.”
Lily breathed a small sigh of relief. “Thank you.” Maybe her crush on Ethan wasn’t as good an idea as she’d convinced herself. She was making an utter ass of herself.
Instead of leaving, however, he leaned against the wall, like he had all the time in the world and no place better to go. She tried to pretend he wasn’t there and just finish up, but Ethan was simply impossible to ignore. Tinker stuck his head over the wall and nuzzled against his shoulder, and he lifted his hand to pat the horse absently. “So, where are you from?”
Damn. It was a perfectly innocent question, but she still hated it. It was a gateway to more questions. “Mississippi.”
“That explains your accent. What part?”
She tried to sound nonchalant, shrugging and falling back on practiced answers. “We moved around a lot, so nowhere particular.”
“What brought you to Virginia?”
It was as far as I could get before the money ran out. Swallowing against the curl of nausea, she struggled this time to keep her voice light. “A desire to see a different part of the country.”
“It must be tough to be so far from your family, though.”
She bit back the snort. He might see it that way. “Can’t be helped, so I’m dealing with it.”
“Gloria says you took the apartment over the office.”
Focus on what you’re doing. Maybe he’ll get the hint. “Uh-huh.”
“And do you like living here at Hill Chase?”
She could hear the teasing impatience in his voice at her distracted, vague answers, but she was getting impatient to end this conversation. “Not to be rude, but can I ask why you’re asking all these questions?”
His eyebrows went up in surprise, and she regretted the sharpness of the question. “Being friendly?”
There’s friendly and then there’s freaking me out. “Why?”
“Maybe I’m just a friendly guy. Is that a problem?”
Yeah. “I realize we got off to a weird start, but please don’t feel like you have to be nice to me or anything. I just work here.”
Ethan was silent for a moment. Maybe she’d gone a little too far. He finally nodded. “Then I’ll leave you to it.”
“Thank you.” Lily grabbed the empty wheelbarrow and rolled it away, feeling Ethan’s stare on her back as she left. Once outside, she parked the wheelbarrow by the wall and sagged against the building.
She’d just been horribly rude to her boss’s grandson, but she couldn’t help it. Why, exactly, she didn’t know. It wasn’t like no one had ever asked her those questions before. They were simple enough conversation, nothing really out of the ordinary, and until now she’d been able to fake her way through. There was something about having Ethan ask her, though, that made it harder.
Clarity arrived a little too late, and she banged her head against the wall gently. Her little crush wasn’t harmless at all.
Thank God Ethan wouldn’t be staying long at Hill Chase this time. She’d just have to make her way through it as best she could. And by his next visit she’d have it—hell, everything—better under control.
Ethan watched Lily turn the corner, the tension in her shoulders so fierce it had to be painful. She was acting like a few simple questions were the equivalent of the Spanish Inquisition. He looked at Tinker. “What is Lily’s deal?” The horse rolled his eyes. “You don’t know either, huh?”
However, anyone who thought Lily was shy was blind and possibly stupid. That much he knew for sure now. Lily simply didn’t want to talk, and that was a far cry from being shy. He fully understood the feeling; he’d just never been on the receiving end before.
The correct thing to do would be to leave Lily alone, respect her privacy, and forget the way those big brown eyes moved over him like a breeder evaluating a stud.
That last bit was unlikely, since just the memory was enough to make his skin burn. And that made the chance of him doing the other two “correct” things also rather slim.
More importantly, he didn’t want to. Something about Lily’s fresh-faced earthiness intrigued him. Unlike the over-polished women from the country club Nana kept pushing at him, Lily seemed real. And, unlike the women who wanted him for his name or his money or his status, Lily acted like those were marks against him. Lily was different and she posed a challenge—
two things he suddenly, and oddly, found irresistible.
His phone vibrated in his pocket as a text came in.
Need you to make an appearance at fundraiser Saturday. Black tie.
Not likely, he thought, and deleted the message.
As if Brady knew what he’d done, a second message appeared.
The Grands will kill you if you don’t show.
Boy, Brady was really pulling out the big guns. First some lecture on the “greater good” to appeal to his sense of reason, and when that didn’t work going back for the bigger ammunition of Nana and Granddad. He suddenly felt the need to visit Finn in California on Saturday. No one expected Finn to play nice, to put on the happy family face for the donors and the voters, and Ethan envied that. At the same time, things had been much harder for Finn: he’d been too young to understand what was really going on, and his and Brady’s attempts to shield Finn had only made things worse in the long run. As far as dirty laundry went, it wasn’t enough to derail the campaign in any way, so while it wouldn’t serve any purpose ever to air it, it still galled him to play along.
He deleted Brady’s second message and put the phone away. Ignoring the unpleasant, pretending it didn’t exist, putting a positive face on … That was just the Marshall family way.
And he was, as everyone liked to remind him, a Marshall.
But at the same time …
He pulled his phone back out and sent Brady a short message: No.
Two hours later, Lily felt like the biggest idiot on the planet. But not because of her little crush. She could deal with that. It was embarrassing, but not shameful. And it was the shame driving her feelings of idiocy right now.
She’d overreacted. Taken everything in the wrong context. Let her own feelings and fears color what, in retrospect, was obviously completely innocent. Ethan, it seemed, really was just a friendly guy. While Tinker was off getting shod, he wandered around the stable, talking to everyone from Ray, the stable manager, to the guy delivering feed, and pitching in to help with whatever that person was doing at the time. At one point she walked around a corner—thinking he had left already—only to find him amusing the barn cats with a frayed piece of rope.
Quite the idiot, indeed. And now the mental self-flagellation was giving her a headache. To make the whole thing even worse, a glance at the clock said it was only just past two. This ridiculous day was barely half over. She needed aspirin.
The fact a room came with the job had been a big plus when she’d applied, and was even more so today. A couple of minutes alone would help the headache as well as give her a chance to regroup.
But it seemed this day wasn’t finished messing with her head just yet, because of course she had to run right into the cause of her headache. Dammit, the Marshall estate was practically the size of her hometown—why did she have to see him every time she turned around?
Lily attempted what she hoped was a casual, non-committal yet friendly nod as she passed, but when Ethan returned it the quirk of his lips had her picking up her pace, mounting the stairs and climbing them two at a time. Honestly, she didn’t care what he thought.
Halfway up, she missed a step. She grabbed for the handrail, but didn’t quite manage to stop her fall.
Her foot went through the riser space, sending pain shooting up her leg as the wood stair dug into her shin and her knee twisted. Falling sideways, she saw stars as her head banged the handrail.
A second later she felt hands on her shoulders, steadying her, and she was able to catch her breath. She knew without looking who her savior was. This day couldn’t possibly get any worse.
But then Ethan was tilting her chin up, his eyes scanning her face for damage, and she had to rethink that idea. “You okay?”
“Yeah. Just clumsy.” Embarrassment combined with close proximity to Ethan had her face feeling sunburned.
He helped her untangle her leg and pulled her gently to her feet. She winced as she put weight on her leg, and Ethan frowned. “Let’s get you inside and assess the damage.”
“I’m fine,” she protested, only to end up sputtering as Ethan bent slightly and hooked an arm under her legs. A second later she was cradled against that chest she’d been admiring yesterday—and it felt even better than it looked. She inhaled, liking the simple smells of sunshine and man and soap, allowing herself to enjoy this feeling for just a brief moment. Her skin heated, but she wasn’t sure if that was her or the warmth of his skin seeping through his shirt.
He climbed the remaining stairs easily, as if she weighed nothing, and turned sideways to carry her into the apartment. As he eased her down onto the bed, moving pillows behind her so she could lie back against the headboard comfortably, Lily felt her heartbeat stutter.
“Just a bang. It’s fine.” Granted, she did feel a little addled, but it had nothing to do with hitting her head. In fact, she was starting to get used to the feeling.
Ethan crossed to the little kitchenette in two steps, and Lily realized how tiny her apartment really was. He seemed to fill the entire space, making it feel even smaller. Returning a second later with a wet paper towel, he dabbed at a place above her eyebrow, and the stab of pain surprised her.
The hissing sound she made caused him to frown. He fished in his pocket and produced a cell phone. “I’m calling a doctor.”
“That’s not necessary. I’m okay. Just a little banged up. No big deal.”
Ethan didn’t seem convinced, but he put the phone away. “We’ll see. Do you have any ice packs?”
“Not up here.”
“I’ll go down to the office and get some, and a couple of bandages, too.” The ease with which Ethan took charge was oddly comforting. “Do you need help getting your jeans off?”
Shock cut through her. “Excuse me?”
“We need to look at your leg too.”
Lily looked down and saw blood seeping through the fabric over her shin. Suddenly the throbbing pain intensified. “I can handle it.”
“Then I’ll help with your boots.” Before she even processed what he was doing, or could form a protest, her cropped boots were off and Ethan was almost out the door. “I’ll be back in a second.”
She was still reeling in various stages and kinds of shock, but she had no doubt he’d be back in no time. Ethan seemed to want to play knight in shining armor at the moment. And, while she wasn’t exactly the average damsel in distress, she had to admit it was kind of nice to be fussed over a little.
Especially by Ethan.
That didn’t mean she wanted Ethan’s help removing her clothes, though, and she shimmied out of her jeans as quickly as she could, wincing as the denim peeled away from a raw-looking scrape that nearly covered her entire shin. This was the last straw: even if she had to give up eating, she was buying new boots with her next paycheck. Tall ones. She was tired of wet feet and banged shins …
The sound of feet on the stairs brought her back from her mental grumble, making her realize that she was nearly naked to the waist and that her T-shirt barely reached the tops of her thighs. She reached under the pillow for her pajamas and slid the short bottoms on just as Ethan opened the door.
He carried cold packs from the freezer, and the stable’s bright red first aid kit. Her heartbeat kicked back up again. Maybe she had hit her head harder than she thought …
He dropped the red bag on the bed next to her. “Towels?”
She pointed to the closet.
He was efficient and oddly professional as he wrapped a cold pack in a small towel and indicated she should use it on her head. Another towel went beneath her leg before he produced a bottle of saline from the first aid kit. “This might sting a little,” he warned.
“You don’t have to—ouch!”
“Wimp,” he teased, and grinned at the dirty look she shot him. “How’s the head? Any blurriness or double vision?”
“Nope.” She pulled the towel away from her forehead and noticed the blood on it. “Boy, I’m really a mess. I don’t need stitches, do I?”
“It’s just a nasty scrape. Keep the ice on it. Anything else hurt?” Ethan dabbed at her shin with gauze.
“That does,” she gritted out. “Look, I’m okay—really. I appreciate the help, but I can take care of it.”
He waggled his eyebrows. “And give up the chance to fondle your leg? No way.”
It was such an odd, out-of-place comment that the absurdity of it made her laugh out loud. Ethan grinned. She sat back against the pillows and put the ice pack on her forehead. She wasn’t concussed, and she wasn’t imagining things. Ethan was actually flirting with her. In the privacy of her apartment. While she wasn’t really wearing all that much …
Maybe he was just the kind of guy who flirted with every woman who crossed his path. Maybe it was just part of that whole “being friendly” thing. She really shouldn’t read anything into it—after all, hadn’t she already made that mistake once today already? It was still fun, though—except for the blood and pain part.
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