Total pages in book: 108
Estimated words: 100853 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 504(@200wpm)___ 403(@250wpm)___ 336(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 100853 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 504(@200wpm)___ 403(@250wpm)___ 336(@300wpm)
I didn’t blame her. Whether or not she thought I was a murderer, she knew I’d recently been released from prison. And I’d spent most of my time since avoiding my family, especially the kids.
Ignoring me, she said to Griffen, “I’m sorry. I couldn’t find the teething gel. I looked everywhere. I’ll run into town and get more. Maybe Stella wants to go for a ride?”
I’d swear Stella smiled up at Paige around the frozen pink teething ring jammed in her mouth. Did she want to go for a ride? Or did she just love being snuggled up to Paige?
If it was the second, I could relate. I did my best to stay away from Paige. Her hair was pulled back in a bun, unlike last night when it had spilled over her shoulders in shining dark curls. She wore jeans and a blue sweater that brought out the unusual icy blue of her eyes. Griffen didn’t expect his staff to dress in uniform—though Savannah, my sister-in-law and our housekeeper, insisted on one. Paige was more comfortable in her own clothes.
I shouldn’t have had any trouble avoiding her. She kept to herself and stuck with the kids. Yet lately it seemed like everywhere I turned, there was Paige McKenna, tormenting me. Not that she knew it. She could barely meet my eyes.
Every cell in my body yearned to touch her, to get closer, to see if her hair smelled as good as it looked—or if her skin was as soft as it seemed. I’d been living like a monk in the months before my father died, and prison sure as hell hadn’t helped. Somewhere in there, my libido had gone on vacation. It had roared back to life the first time I saw Paige McKenna, the day I’d been released from prison and come home to Heartstone Manor.
Why her? It was inconvenient at best and disastrous at worst to lust after my brother’s nanny. Even forgetting that it was completely inappropriate, given that she worked in Heartstone, it was also the last thing I wanted to do if I had any hope of healing my relationship with Griffen. She was too young, too sweet, too innocent, and I had no business getting involved with any woman. Not now. Maybe not ever. I could put together a list of reasons a mile long of why I couldn’t—and shouldn’t—want Paige McKenna. Yet, as I watched her leave the room, Stella cradled in her arms, all I wanted to do was follow.
Not for you, I reminded myself. I had enough trouble. I didn’t need to go out and buy myself more.
“Sorry about that,” Griffen said. “Hope is out with Royal at a meeting. Paige and I are trying to manage the teething.”
“Teething sounds like torture,” I said, following Griffen across the room to his desk. I took a chair on the opposite side, deliberately picking the one I’d never used back when Prentice had sat behind that desk. This was now, and it wasn’t Prentice’s desk anymore—it was Griffen’s.
“So? What’s up?” Griffen asked, his tone holding a hint of hesitation.
“I’ve been thinking,” I said. “I need to do something. With the rest of my life.”
“It’s kind of a big swing,” Griffen said. “I don’t know that you have to figure out the rest of your life right now.”
I nodded. “Good point. Maybe just the next few months?” I raised an eyebrow. “I’m helping Avery out at the brewery, but—”
“That’s not a career choice,” Griffen finished for me.
“No,” I agreed. “I need to do some thinking before I figure out what I want, where a career is concerned.”
“Are you—” Griffen picked up a pen, looked at it as if he’d never seen it before, set it back down, and tapped his fingers on the desk. “Are you okay for money?” he asked.
The shame of the question curdled in my gut. “I’m fine,” I said truthfully, though I didn’t want to talk money with Griffen. Even after Cole’s exorbitant fees, I still had plenty of cash in the bank. “It’s not the money,” I said. “I need to figure out what I want to do with myself. But that’s not your problem,” I finished, cutting off the worry I saw on his face.
Griffen was afraid I was going to ask for my place in the family business. And while I wanted it—sometimes desperately—that wasn’t my future anymore. It couldn’t be. I’d lost the right.
But there was something I could do. “I want to find out who killed Dad,” I said to Griffen. His eyes widened, and I went on. “Before he died, I was digging into some of Dad’s business deals. I was looking for leverage.”
Chapter Four
FORD
“Leverage for what?” Griffen asked, sitting back in the chair, picking up the pen again, and flicking it through his fingers.