gift is in the heat of her gaze and the way she lowers her lashes as though to conceal it.
‘What are you doing?’ There’s a tremble in her voice as I wrap my hand around the back of her knee, desire, not nervousness, I decide, as I take a seat on the ottoman between her legs.
‘I’m following directions,’ I murmur, pressing my mouth to the inside of her knee, keeping it there with a deep inhale. I know the scent of her intimately now, like a favourite perfume, the taste of her beckoning. Her sharp gasp twists at my insides as I reach out and drag my finger down the red silken path, her held breath becoming a sigh as I lift her knee and hook it over the arm of the chair, spreading her for my gaze. Pink, and lush, and ripe. I take the glass from her hand and bring it to my lips. Cognac, the good stuff.
‘I was supposed to be doing something nice for you.’
I watch her over the rim of the glass. Rose with the soft skin and the raw kind of beauty. Only she would think I deserve good things.
‘Oh, Rose, I do love you. But nice is the least of the things I’m about to do to you.’
‘Here.’ Rhett drops a large envelope to my desk, sinking into the chair on the opposite side. I don’t normally work from the chateau, but when Rhett called to say he had a package to drop off, I decided speaking with him in away from prying eyes would be preferable.
‘What is it?’ I narrow my gaze at him, not entirely sure why I’m asking as a fist tightens my innards.
‘The information from the PI. It came by courier this afternoon.’
Pulling open a drawer in my desk, I drop it to the darkness it deserves. ‘I assume you haven’t opened it.’
His brows pull down. ‘What do you think? You asked me not to, so I didn’t. Even though I think you’re being a colossal arsehole in not opening them yourself.’
‘For the final time, not that I have to explain myself to you, but Rose had nothing to do with what happened back in March, and whatever she was to Emile, I’ve already decided I don’t want to know.’ She isn’t my sister, and whatever fucked-up thing he thinks she’s guilty of, he’s wrong. I know it. And I have plans for the content of this envelope. At some point, Rose will need to know the truth. Or at least some of it.
‘There’s a story behind this, and you know there is. You don’t leave that kind of money to some woman you’ve never met. Someone you’ve no connection to. But I was thinking.’ He sits suddenly forward in the chair, his fingers at his darkly stubbled chin. ‘Could she be some other debt. Maybe that fucker Ben’s half-sister. Someone Emile might’ve felt honour bound to look after?’
‘Emile had no honour,’ I reply, slamming the drawer shut. ‘And whatever is in that envelope is of no interest to me.’ At this moment, at least. All the same, I make a mental note to take it into the office to be locked in the safe with the rest of the investigator's work.
‘Not even what happened to your motorbike? You were still pretty pissed off last time we spoke.’
‘Was that supposed to be provoking?’ I ask in a drawling tone as I relax back into my chair. But Rhett just stares back, his expression inscrutable. Fuck him and his poker face, even if he’s right. I’d owned that bike less than a week, but more than that, I don’t like the idea that it now belongs to someone else through my own stupidity. With a sigh, I give into the urge. ‘So, did he talk, this hardened criminal of yours?’
Rhett curls his hands around the arms. As one corner of his mouth kicks up, I know the answer. ‘Nah. The PI offered him money, but the fella got a Bobby big balls complex as if he was some fucking Don.’
‘Extortion?’
‘Pretty much.’ He shrugs.
‘So that is the end of the road.’
‘The end of the road where you fell off your bike. Or you were pushed? Did you fall off a damaged passerelle, or did someone take a crowbar to your head?’
‘Yet, I’m still here.’ I spread my hands, though I feel less than magnanimous.
‘Yep, here you are even after the bike and the boat, and even after someone used the wrong