The Billionaire Prince’s Stubborn Assistant by Leslie North Page 0,1

He remembered what the foreman had said about the fragility of the flooring. He entered the building—carefully watching his steps—and pushed into the darkness toward the rustling he heard coming from the back room, shining his light into corners and searching for the source of the racket.

He turned into the classroom at the rear of the house, his phone illuminating the way. In between shadows, he noticed details of the old room. A long-unused chalkboard took up most of one wall in the room where he stood. A rickety desk with a dusty book on top sat in front of the chalkboard, still inhabited with minutiae from another time. He picked up a book, its pages as fragile as dead autumn leaves and filled with the dust of the last century-plus. He turned the book over in his hands and shone the light on its barely-legible title. Something about Aristotle’s ethics.

When he placed the book down, tiny dust motes rose and glimmered magically in the light of the phone. He jumped back in surprise when a restrained sneeze escaped from beneath the desk, scaring the living hell out of him.

“Who’s there?” Edward angled his phone on the distressed hardwood floors and saw a sneaker peeking out from under the desk. He crouched down to inspect and was face to face with a pair of steel blue eyes that, for a moment, made him forget why he was there.

The woman with the eyes let out a sigh of what sounded like frustration and edged out of her hiding place.

“Well, you found me,” she said. Edward heard an edge of defiance in her voice but was so taken aback by her appearance, he wasn’t sure how to respond. Her hair shone golden in the phone light, its waves framing her face like a halo. She pushed her shoulders back, revealing a swan-like neck and high cheekbones. He had the urge to run a finger down her cheek. “So now what?” she asked. “Are you going to report me to your boss for trespassing?”

His boss? He’d dressed with practicality in mind rather than fashion for this visit, assuming he’d be led through a dusty, dirty building, so he supposed he could understand why she’d take him for a construction worker at first glance. It still stung his pride a little that she didn’t recognize his face, which had graced more than its share of magazine covers. Maybe he was too hidden by shadows. The flashlight was pointed at her, not him, after all.

Edward noticed that the woman had a backpack slung over her back. She was dressed in jeans that hung low on her waist, exposing a shaft of skin at her hips. He got stuck there for a moment then gathered himself.

“Are you squatting here?” he asked. “This is a construction site. It’s not safe for—”

Before he could finish, she turned on her heel. He knew she was going to bolt and reached out to grab hold of the backpack, thinking that would stop her. Instead, the bag slid from her shoulder, and she turned back toward him with angry eyes.

“Give that back,” she commanded, and he couldn’t help but grin. No one spoke to him this way, except for perhaps his father.

“Tell me your name,” he said.

“Why should I?” she asked and reached for her sack, but he held it away from her. She rolled her eyes at him and sighed. “Fine,” she said and tossed her hands in the air. “Empty it and just give back the bag then.”

Out of curiosity, he unzipped the backpack and shone the light inside, revealing a host of items that looked like construction junk to him—pieces of scratched wood that looked to be quarter round molding and a pile of ceramic tile. No wonder the backpack was heavy. He pulled out a weighty hand bell that boasted a long crack down its middle and inspected it.

“You’re pilfering?” he asked and she shrugged. Why would anyone want this old junk? He dug deeper into the backpack only to find more garbage. When Edward looked up from his search, he discovered the beautiful woman slipping out of the classroom door then breaking into a run toward the back door.

“Wait!” he cried and ran after her, backpack in hand.

Clem dashed into the night, sucking in the cool air of evening as she raced from the abandoned schoolhouse and into the yard behind it. What the hell was that damn construction worker doing lurking around the building in