I forced my own, strange personal feelings about this news out of my head. “Why did you turn her down? It potentially could have solved all your problems.”
Irina’s frown deepened. “I willnottie myself to someone who wants to control me. It would be like jumping out of the pan to cook alive in the fire.”
“So, marriage isn’t off the table, it’s just this particular woman you have an aversion to?” I reached for my pack of gum in my pocket, sliding out a piece and unwrapping it. I offered the packet to Irina, who shook her head.
“I’d hoped not to have to make that sort of commitment … but I’m starting to wonder if that’s the only possible fix.”
“If what’s the only possible fix?” The new voice instantly plucked at my nerves like a bow string. My jaw clenched, and I glanced up, my suspicions confirmed.
“Oh! Hen, I didn’t recognise you!” Cadence gasped, and even I could tell she was lying through her teeth. “I’m here to have a meeting with Ru. I didn’t realise you two knew each other.”
Irina’s eyes met mine, a question in them that I couldn’t interpret. She smiled up at Cadence, but there was a hardness in her eyes that wasn’t there when she smiled at me. Perhaps she was worried Cadence had overheard our conversation?
“We’re old friends, aren’t we, Henry?” Irina said, reaching across the table and squeezing my wrist. And there was that pressure again. Not the gentle, stroking touch that most women used—the one that tensed every muscle in my body into fight or flight mode.
“Oh! Yes.” I had a sudden, mildly devious thought, and acted on it before thinking twice. “Which reminds me … Abernathy might have appropriated the piece of clothing you left behind last weekend.”
Irina’s attention flashed to me, white teeth showing in a cheeky grin. “Well, he’s a little pervert, isn’t he?” Her eyebrows waggled, her smile widening as my face heated.
“I’m sorry … I feel like I’m interrupting here,” Cadence interjected, arms folded. “But I did have an appointment to meet with Ru at two, and … well, you know how I like to be punctual, Hen.”
Her fingers brushed the back of my hand, that featherlight touch. I suppressed a shudder as I pushed out of my chair. Irina raised a questioning eyebrow at me.
“I should probably be going anyway,” I muttered, refusing to look at Cadence, who hovered by my elbow. “I have a few scripts to run back at the office.” I nodded in Cadence’s direction brusquely then leaned closer to Irina.
“I’m going to find a way to fix this for you,” I murmured. “I’ll be in touch.” I gave her shoulder a quick squeeze and headed for the counter.
“What do you think you’re doing?” Cadence hissed, appearing beside me as I tapped my watch on the EFTPOS terminal. “Is this what happens when you get rich? You start consorting with porn stars?”
“She’s not a porn star,” I growled under my breath. “She’s a human being who happens to make adult content, and that’s not even the most interesting thing about her. She’s a competitive swimmer, and a university graduate … and Abernathy took a shining to her, which is endorsement enough for me.”
“You cannot be serious! You make decisions about people based solely on who your grumpy cat doesn’t hate?”
Fury rose like bile in my throat. “I’ve made relationship choices based on much less than that before. A four-year long relationship based on one stoned conversation in a university dormitory, for instance. And look how that ended.”
Cadence swallowed. “You’re in a relationship with her?”
I shrugged. “I’m pretty sure my relationship status ceased being any of your business when you admitted you’d been sleeping around behind my back for the last ten months we were together.”
“You’re never going to forgive me for that, are you?” she breathed, her eyes wide and glistening. I chanced a glance behind her, finding Irina watching us intently, her chin propped up on one hand.
“It’s in the past, Cadence,” I sighed, utterly exhausted by the interaction.
“Well, can we try to move forward?” she asked, and there was that light touch again. I pulled away from her. When she spoke again, her voice was thick. “I’d like to get back to a place where we can be friends, at the very least.”
She reached out, stroking fingertips down my arm. I clenched my jaw against the awful, skin-crawling sensation, tugging my arm out of her reach.
“I need to go.” I turned for the door.
“Just be careful. I don’t trust her.”
I swallowed back the angry laugh that threatened to rip out of me and strode out onto the street. Oddly enough, trusting Irina felt easy. Trusting Cadence … well the old adage was tried and tested.Fool me twice, shame on me …
… the princess was in the middle of lessons with her new tutor when a maid raced into the room.
“Mistress, your mother!”
Cold infused every inch of the princess, freezing her to the spot. She hadn’t seen her mother in months—not since that night, and her uncle …
