“I have something for you, Mrs. Worth.” I cut her off, not wishing to keep her any further. What Ash had to say was important, and I didn’t wish to involve Mrs. Worth if I could help it. I shifted through a stack of papers I’d had drawn up and handed them to Mrs. Worth. “The top form is the terms of your employment, and the second is the confidentiality agreement. Please take them home and fill them out. If you bring them back, I will assume that you have accepted the position.”
Ash stared at her, his expression unreadable. It was best that she not know of our personal association, although it was hard to imagine how that would play out since he visited me quite often. She stood and gathered her things. “Very good, Mr. Moran. I will be back tomorrow morning, first thing. Thank you for the opportunity.” She cast one last glance at Ash, terror in her eyes. “Inspector.”
“Mrs. Worth.”
“You know my name.” Her hand shot to her chest, and the papers she held almost slipped from her fingers before she clutched them to her stomach.
I would think she was hiding something if I didn't know better. Was she a doxy disguised as a respectable woman? Did it truly matter? She was a skilled typist and I wouldn’t fault anyone for trying to gain respectability. “Yes, I just said your name, hence why Inspector Ashton knew your name.”
“Yes, Mr. Moran. I will see you later. Inspector.” Her color high, she exited the room without saying another word.
The second the door closed, Ash moved to my desk and rested his hip on the shiny surface. We had been in a physical relationship for many years with the caveat that once one of us found a prospective bride, we would stop sharing intimacies with each other. After he fell in love with Suzette and I proposed to Elizabeth, he and I stopped being intimate. Now that both women were no longer in our lives, that barrier had disappeared.
“She seems rather a nervous sort.” Ash lowered his lashes, his gaze settling on my mouth briefly.
“Actually, no, but you are right, she looked a bit flummoxed.” Which seemed out of character, although I had only met her an hour before. I sat down and tried to ignore the familiar spark that ignited in the pit of my stomach at his proximity. Cutting my carnal ties with Ash had been harder than either one of us had anticipated, thus I hesitated to pick up where we left off.
“People are often intimidated by the uniform,” he said with a shrug. With his strong shoulders and angled jaw, Ash still tempted my resolve. But his friendship was more important to me than a rump-ride, thus I was determined to keep him at a distance, no matter how painful the cost.
Chapter Three
Inspector Liam Ashton
“Nervous or not, Mrs. Worth is very pretty.” I ran my finger along Moran’s beard-roughened jaw. Per usual, he looked exhausted, probably because he never seemed to sleep. He lived and breathed literature, as did I. Books were my lifeline to sanity, whether I was writing them or editing other authors’.
“She is my secretary, therefore, she is off limits to you.” Moran gave me a stern stare and batted my hand away. While he had just turned thirty, he acted like an old grump.
“So you have said. Are you trying to convince me or yourself?” I laughed at the blush that touched his cheeks at my teasing and settled my hand on my hip. Our friendship had endured the test of time, but wasn’t without its challenges. “How long has it been since you fucked someone other than your own hand?”
“That is none of your affair.” Eyes narrowed, he worked his jaw.
It was hard on both of us to maintain a platonic friendship. Since his engagement was over and Suzette had left the country two months prior, nothing was stopping us from resuming relations save for Moran’s dictate. I respected it, although I didn’t like it.
“So, a long time?” I wasn’t about to let him off the hook, nor was I above ribbing him. He spent too many hours with hishead buried in a manuscript. “Mrs. Worth is a married woman. Perhaps she might welcome an affair.”
By the adamant jut of his jaw, he didn’t like my line of questioning. “She is widowed, in addition to being my secretary.”
“How many secretaries have you gone through in the past year?” Winter had settled in, and the year was almost over. I lifted the letter of introduction on his desk and scanned the contents. Mrs. Worth used to work for the honorable Miss Eloise Namath. I released a derisive snort. From the title, Eloise was the daughter of a baron or a viscount. Of course, the title was deceptive. Was she honorable in her actions towards others? Experience had taught me not to be overly optimistic. “I could count at least two in the past two months.”
“It’s December, so I believe she’ll be number eleven.” He scratched at the underside of his jaw and shook his head, a wry smile twisting his lips. “None of them had enough skills to last more than a month. I am not an easy person to work for, so the last man said. Apparently, he had no spine to speak of. Mrs. Worth seems to be made of sterner stuff.”
“You just hired her yet speak highly of her.” I watched Moran for signs of emotion to my observation. He had a way of hiding his feelings behind a bored mask. As a third-generation member of the Metropolitan Police Department, I had learned to read people quite well. Having been promoted to inspector last year, my senses were now more in tune with the subtle nuances in people’s actions than before. I noticed a spark of desire reflected in his eyes, which meant he wasn’t immune to me. While I often thought about suggesting we resume our affair, ruining our friendship over a cock-sucking seemed foolish and short-sighted. We had both made the difficult decision to remain platonic because being together wasn’t conducive to our deep desires to have a family, which required that we marry a woman.
“She is very proficient at typing and grammar.”
