sensitive subject, which is just fine with me.”
“You’ll still be taking a risk,” she warned me.
“It’s a risk I’m willing to take,” I answered. “I can steer Nicole around the people who might be bold enough to ask, and introduce her to the ones who won’t. She’s not officially working for me, Mum, so she hasn’t signed any kind of nondisclosure.”
Her voice was softer as she asked, “Do you really think you need it, Damian?”
“I can’t risk it,” I replied. “This isn’t just about me—”
“I know, I know,” she interrupted. “You gave Dylan your promise. I just keep wondering when you’re going to see that your brother has used that promise to manipulate you, Damian.”
“Do you really think I don’t know that?” I asked. “He’s taken advantage of the fact that I gave him my word, but I still can’t throw him to the damn wolves. Dylan is my twin. If our positions were reversed, he’d have my damn back. I know he would.”
Mum sighed. “He probably would. And I’d be telling him the same things I’m telling you right now.”
“Dylan seems like he’s starting to come around, Mum. He’s stayed put in Beverly Hills, and out of trouble.” I’d talked to Dylan every day, and I was starting to sense some remorse. “If I level with Nicole, I’m almost certain she’d insist that I put the blame where it belongs. She’s a straight shooter. I think she’d back out of the whole plan, and want to clear my name.”
“Then she’s a sensible woman,” my mother replied.
I smiled as I moved to the kitchen to drink the tea I’d brewed earlier. “Very. You’ll like her.”
“I have a feeling you already like her,” Mum guessed.
“Guilty,” I confessed readily. “She’s probably one of the most remarkable women I’ve ever met.”
I wasn’t even going to pretend that I didn’t care about Nicole. Mum would spot that lie before it ever came out of my mouth.
“Why do I get the feeling that bringing her here isn’t all about recovering your reputation?” she asked suspiciously.
I grinned as I picked up my cup of tea. “She’s beautiful. Outspoken. Brilliant and educated. Can you blame me if I want to spend some time with her?”
“It’s not normal for you, Damian. When have you ever cared about anything except your family and Lancaster International? I think you really care about this woman.”
How did a son tell his mother that he wanted to shag a woman so badly that he felt like his balls were going to fall off if he didn’t?
I had no idea how to explain that to the woman who had lovingly raised me, so I replied, “I already admitted that I like her.”
“And does she feel the same way?” Mum asked.
I leaned a hip on the kitchen counter. “I hope so.”
I heard my mother expel a deep breath. “So maybe she’ll forgive you when she finds just how much you’ve hidden from her.”
“I’m hoping she’ll never find out,” I explained. “She’ll have to return home to the States when this is over, and I’m hoping Dylan will shape up and come back to London after that, so there won’t be any need for Nicole’s agency to put out any major fires again. Ashworth Crisis Management can just do regular brand improvement for us in the future.”
“And what happens to your relationship with Nicole?” she asked softly.
“We stay friends, I hope.” Even as I said those words, my whole being protested, but I tried to shove those feelings aside.
“And you’ll be okay with that?”
I raked a hand through my hair in frustration. “Do I have a choice?”
At the moment, I felt like my back was against the wall. I wanted Nicole, but if I told her the truth now, she was inevitably going to hate me for lying to her about Dylan.
Honestly, I wasn’t sure if I was more afraid of Nicole’s reaction, or the fact that we had absolutely no nondisclosure signed to keep her from outing Dylan.
Bloody hell! Maybe I’d always tried to never tell her a direct lie, but wasn’t all the shit that I didn’t tell her just as bad?
I wanted the woman’s trust more than I’d wanted anything for a very long time, yet I didn’t deserve it.
How fucked up was that?
The line was silent for a moment before Mum finally answered. “You do have a choice, Damian. If you could put your damn duty and obligations to your brother and Lancaster International aside long enough to see your options. Don’t