Needs must when the devil drives, Conor reminded himself, grimacing inwardly as the ambassador reached across to shake his hand.“You have a beautiful daughter, Kaspar.”He held the stare of Karolina’s loathsome father steadily.
“Soon to be yours,” the ambassador reminded him with a sleezy curl of his lip.
Human flesh for horseflesh.Depending on your passions in life, Conor supposed that some might call that fair trade.He called it inhumanity on an unprecedented scale.Bribery and corruption ruled here.The ambassador could easily afford to buy Conor’s entire stock of ponies, but like many overprivileged individuals, he believed contacts and networking were the secret of expanding his evil empire—that and bragging rights.Having Conor in the family would be a real feather in his cap.
He noticed now that everyone around the banqueting table was staring at the ambassador’s daughter.No surprise there.Karolina was a vision in white.The ultimate irony.Was he supposed to believe she was pure, a virgin with a blameless mind?The collar around her neck signaled great wealth.Where did she think that came from?An ambassador’s salary was generous, but slaving paid better.Karolina might look like an angel with her long lustrous hair and clear dark eyes, but the apple never fell far from the tree.
“Do you like my choice of bride for you, Conor?”
How should he answer with the stare of the woman in question locked on his face?Those eyes had seen too much for Karolina Karolides to ever be described as innocent.
“She’s lovely,” he murmured, more interested in the fact that there wasn’t the slightest flicker of warmth in her father’s expression as Karolina crossed the floor toward them with her head held high and defiance flaring in her gaze.
“Lovely, you say?”Quick to anger, the ambassador’s voice rang with disappointment.“Not spectacular, then?”he pressed.
Conor smiled faintly.A deal was a deal was a deal.He felt no compunction to flatter the ambassador with some flowery comment about his daughter or pander to his overinflated ego.“The necklace is spectacular,” he conceded.
The ambassador, recognizing a fellow dealer, shot him a look man to man as he whispered excitedly, “You must have encountered many beautiful women in your time.”
“Many,” Conor confirmed.Some had been freed from cellars exactly like the dungeons located in the bowels of this embassy and were unable to sashay across a dining room floor because of the chains locked around their ankles.
“Karolina improves with knowing,” Karolides confided, leaning over to give Conor the full benefit of his stinking breath.“I’m sure you’ll break her in with no trouble and soon train her in your ways.”
“I’m certain of it,” he agreed as he moved out of range.
“You’re welcome to her.There’s no sentiment in business.”
“Indeed.” In exchange for his daughter, the ambassador had requested a number of ponies.With her flared hips, full breasts, tiny waist and slim shoulders, it seemed Conor would get a good deal.Which was more than could be said for Karolina.
Marrying him would be a disaster for any woman.There was no space in his life for love.His entire existence revolved around his tech empire, his ponies, and the special service he and the Blood and Thunder team provided to governments across the world.If a criminal proved elusive, he and his team would track them down and dispose of them as the government in question saw fit.
There was no sentiment in business, indeed.
Pushing back from the table, he stood to greet Karolina Karolides as a waiter held her chair.The intelligence in her eyes suggested she could have been much more than a bargaining chip for her father.His expression had to reflect his contempt for everything she represented.It was a shock to be met by the same feelings in hers.
No one missed the flash of passion between them.Even the ambassador confirmed anxiously, “She’ll do?”
That remained to be seen.“I’ll let you know.”He had yet to discover if Karolina had aided and abetted her father in his sordid dealings.
He flashed a glance at the hand she’d extended for him to—to what?Kiss?He declined.“Enchanted to meet you,” he lied.
“Karolina,” her father blustered, his wine-red face turning puce with the sudden realization that his plan to marry her off might fall at the first hurdle.“How beautiful you look this evening.Our guest of honor was just commenting on your appearance, weren’t you, Conor?”
As his stare clashed with Karolina’s, he felt a jolt when he realized that while the ambassador’s daughter was undeniably stunning, her stare held warning too.“Ms.Karolides,” he murmured.
“Please call me Karolina,” she invited with as much warmth as a well-sculpted iceberg.
“Karolina,” he repeated as waiters rushed to see them both seated again.
Being lodged between father and daughter made his skin crawl.Picking up a menu on the pretext of studying it excused him from conversation, but as the formalities of the banquet began, he had chance to register the fact that while her father smelled of sweat, sin, and sex, Karolina carried the unmistakable fragrance of wildflowers.
“Can I help you with something, Mr.Murphy?”
Karolina’s acid tone surprised him, but he kept up the mask of soon-to-be-husband of the woman he’d been staring at.“You’re surely accustomed to being admired?”
“Is that a sarcastic remark, or were you evaluating me as you might judge a horse?Would you like to check my teeth?”
Glancing at her father, he was relieved to see the ambassador was too busy drooling over the woman sitting next to him to overhear his daughter’s comment, or Karolina would surely suffer for her remark.“If I was considering you for my breeding program, I would have to give you a far more thorough examination.”
