no longer invisible. A diamond-frosted mirage that blended fantasy and fact, making me doubt if she’d always been royal. If she’d always been so, so far out of my reach.
Roy Slater stumbled toward her.
Skittles took off, zipping out the door.
I tore from my desk to intercept him, to stand between him and what was mine. Crossing my arms, I snarled, “Deal’s off.”
“What?” His face contorted. For a second, it looked as if he’d cry with desolation, but then rage painted his true colours. “We had an agreement!”
“An agreement I’m breaking.”
“You can’t do that.”
I leaned toward him, my fists curling tight. “You’re on my island, Slater. Watch your goddamn tongue.”
Eleanor’s presence itched me from behind. Her heat. Her power. Her proximity. Tiny lightning bolts shot under my black suit, finding the cave where my heart used to reside. I could barely stand upright. Could hardly function as a man. The longer I stood in front her and fought for my right to keep her, the more I slipped into an animal.
A male at the height of his musk, wanting to mate, ready to destroy any competition by whatever means necessary.
Calvin joined us, making our standoff a trio. “Sinclair, can I talk to you for a moment?”
No fucking way was I moving.
I glowered at my second in command. “We’ve said all we need to. Get the helicopter. Slater is leaving.”
“Not without her,” Slater snarled.
“Leave now, you go with your life. Try to argue and you’ll die.” I hadn’t meant to reveal my cold-blooded side. Hadn’t meant for my voice to show that it wasn’t an empty threat.
I knew what death tasted like.
I’d delivered it in my past.
Killing this man would not keep me up at night, but losing Eleanor…I’d never sleep again.
“You’d throw your life in jail just to back out on a deal?” Slater snapped. “You’d kill me, all for a girl you rent to others?”
My hand lashed out, finding his throat like a bullet with a laser sight.
I squeezed.
Hard.
Eleanor’s voice slipped over my shoulder, freezing all of us. “How much, Mr. Slater? How much did you offer to pay for me?”
I ripped my head around to look at her. She’d moved from behind me to beside me, her eyes narrowed on my fingers around my guest’s throat. She didn’t look at me. She acted as if I was inconsequential.
I’m not fucking inconsequential!
I squeezed harder, making it impossible for Slater to speak.
Calvin’s hand landed on mine. “Stop. Let’s talk about this.”
I don’t know why or how, but I released, uncurling my burning fingers from Slater’s throat and shaking out the urge to kill.
Slater turned his attention to Eleanor, his gaze turning liquid with lust. “One million. I offered him a million to take you home.”
If I had a gun, I would’ve shot him in the heart. I would’ve taken sadistic joy in watching his blood stain my tiles.
Pika flew in from the garden, searching out my shoulder. His little talons barely landed before he squawked and took off again, sensing the animosity in the room.
Both him and Skittles wanted nothing to do with death teasing in the corners.
“A million,” Eleanor whispered. “Is that the going rate for a whore?”
Slater flinched. “A whore? I’m not buying you as a whore. No way.”
He went to touch her, but I shoved him back with a fist in his solar plexus.
It took a moment for him to cough and wheeze, sucking in oxygen to continue. “I want you as a wife.” He flatly ignored me, even after my punch, his gaze imploring her, making my head swim with violence.
Goddammit, I couldn’t do this.
Calvin wrapped a fist around my arm, keeping me in place when I advanced on him. I could strike him. I could pin my wrath on Calvin and then on Slater—I had more than enough to go around, but Eleanor bypassed me, going to stand in front of Slater.
I swallowed a groan, drinking in the sight of her back.
Her long, long hair kissed her ass, falling seamlessly into the jewels of her gown. Flowers decorated randomly, begging me to pluck them out and push her onto all fours.
“A wife?” Shock echoed in Eleanor’s question. “You’re buying me, not as a whore, but a wife?”
Slater nodded. “I’ll marry you when we get home. No pre-nup. No restrictions. My wealth is yours. I’ll give a million to this asshole, but the rest will be yours.” He spread his hands in surrender. “Your only rule would be that you’d have to stay with me. Forever. You’d