agitating my body. It just made me all the more irritated at him. “Maybe I should tell my father about what happened at the pool. I’m sure that’ll make him change his mind about replacing you.”
He smiled slowly.
Oh my God, I nearly died right there. He was that sexy. If I didn’t detest him as much as I did, I would have—God, I don’t know what I would have done. Then he opened his mouth and all I wanted to do was stab him in the groin.
“Sure, tell your dad. Tell him how you followed me into the men’s changing room and how you couldn’t take your eyes off my dick. You stared at it as if you wanted to lick it.”
My mouth dropped open in shock. “That’s not true,” I gasped.
“No?”
“I mean, yes, I followed you into the changing room, but you make it sound as if I chased you there to see you in the nude. I followed you because I was angry. And I certainly did not look at your dick as if I wanted to lick it.”
He shrugged carelessly. “Good for you. You like fairytales.”
“I don’t want you to be my bodyguard, so just leave. I’ll speak to my father and demand a replacement.”
He touched his cap mockingly. “I’ll really appreciate it if you could do that.”
With a murderous glare, I turned around and stormed away. When I arrived at my bedroom door, I turned around to see the rude bastard remained behind me. Blatant as you please. Following me. “Didn’t you hear what I said?” I raged.
“I take my instructions from your father,” he replied calmly. “Want me to stop following you? Get your father to tell me to.”
I was on the verge of exploding with anger, but the fact he acted so cool and unaffected made me determined not to show him how upset I was. I took a deep breath and found some semblance of calm. “Fine,” I replied sweetly. “But are you going to follow me in here too? I’m going to take my clothes off and lie naked on the bed. Is watching me in that state part of your job description?”
Something flashed in his eyes, but it was gone so quickly, I must have imagined it.
I opened my bedroom door and violently kicked it shut.
Whoa! Stupid decision. The door was a heavy antique and probably weighed as much as a car, and I’d probably broken my toe. Trying my best to muffle my cry of pain at the agony, I hobbled into my room and collapsed on my bed in despair. I curled into a ball and clutched my throbbing toe with both my hands. In the space of twenty-four hours, my life had become unrecognizable.
I tried to understand why he had taken such an instinctive and immediate dislike to me. I had done nothing wrong to him. Perhaps he was so dismissive because I was born into such extravagant wealth and privilege and he had to work hard for everything he had. Maybe he had judged me unworthy of his respect or even courtesy because he had prejudged me and slid me into the category of rich bitch, which of course, I wasn’t.
Still, I was well aware of the well-used cliché; any girl born into unfair wealth must be a spoiled little Princess. I scowled. The very thought of anyone thinking of me as a spoilt brat annoyed me.
I’d been able to escape that taint in London, but it seemed I had been firmly and inflexibly returned to my default status of being the do-little princess in the tower.
Well, I wasn’t going to accept that and neither would I accept the fact that everyone thought they could so easily allocate me a husband and a life they deemed fit. Not from my father and not from Angelo Freaking Barone.
None of this was a joke.
I was a human being, with emotions, desires, aspirations and fears just like everyone, but I was practically fighting for my life here. I could never have imagined it wouldn’t be out in the world but within the confines of my own home. Feeling absolutely drained from all of the drama and surprises, my eyes began to sting with tears. It reminded me of how I had felt the first night I climbed all alone into my cold, narrow bed in my new boarding school in England.
Chapter 13
Sienna
“Hey, when are you going to be here?” Christina asked.
I tried to swallow the lump in my throat. “I