Crowning His Unlikely Princess

She heard the hard edge that entered his tone and placed her hand on his arm. ‘You said that Elly is an archaeologist. Is there anything else I should know?’

‘She’s a single mother.’

‘Oh, that’s hard. Do you know what happened to her husband?’

‘No idea. She probably dumped him for a bigger fish.’

Cassidy frowned. ‘That’s terribly cynical. What makes you say that? Is it because of your father?’

‘No. It’s because of Leo’s first wife. Anastasia was a shark with red lipstick. She wanted the power and privilege that comes with being a queen but not the everyday acts of service the role requires. When she got bored she searched for entertainment elsewhere.’

‘Ah.’ Cassidy remembered the stylish blonde from the time she had visited Logan’s New York office. A shark with red lipstick was a fitting description; the woman’s blue eyes had never been still, always sizing things up. Especially Logan. At the time Cassidy had thought that her reaction had been that of any other woman in Logan’s presence, but apparently all those sexy little smiles had been a tad more targeted than that. Which was even more appalling considering she had been married to his brother at the time. ‘That would have made it uncomfortable for you whenever you and Leo got together.’

‘Extremely. I tried to warn him about her but he wouldn’t listen and over time she succeeded in driving a wedge between us. I don’t want that to happen again.’

‘It doesn’t mean that it will, though.’

‘No. But it doesn’t mean that it won’t either.’

Completely understanding why Logan was preparing himself for the worst, and why he would want to protect his brother so much after having watched him battle leukaemia, Cassidy followed him as he pushed open the squeaky metal gate.

As soon as she stepped into the garden and spied the sunflower-yellow front door, Cassidy knew that Elly wouldn’t be the kind of person Logan imagined her to be.

No polished sophisticate who had money as their number one goal would have such a happy front door, or a garden grown wild with lavender and poppies, neither would she have the well-worn gardening shoes placed haphazardly beside the front door that signified that she wasn’t afraid to get her hands dirty.

‘I know you’re anticipating the worst, but Leo comes across as a smart guy,’ she offered, hoping to reassure him as she stopped beside him on the veranda. ‘I’m sure he knows what he’s doing.’

‘Marrying Anastasia goes against that theory. And they say that love is blind. Today I plan to make sure he hasn’t made a second mistake before this relationship goes any further.’

Cassidy swallowed at the laser-like intensity behind Logan’s blue eyes, seriously glad that she wasn’t the one in the firing line. ‘And if you decide she’s not good for him?’

‘This time I’ll make sure he listens.’

‘Just...’ Cassidy waved her hands between them wondering if he would welcome her counsel.

‘What?’ he bit out with barely concealed impatience. ‘You’ve never been backward in giving me your opinion before.’

Actually, she had, but that had usually been to do with the women he’d dated and she’d determinedly told herself it was none of her business.

‘Just watch the, you know, juggernaut face, it’s very intimidating.’

Both exasperated and fascinated by his EA, who apparently was determined that she was not going to be his EA for much longer, Logan found himself tense up as he waited for the door to be opened.

He wanted this to work out for his brother and he hoped Leo was right about Elly because Anastasia had made him miserable, and as far as Logan was concerned, Leo had suffered enough in his life. On top of that, these past few days had shown him how much he had missed his brother’s friendship and he didn’t want to lose it again so soon.

Being back home, he had come to appreciate how unfulfilled his life in New York had been, driven by making deals and moving from one success to another without really taking the time to celebrate any of it.

He glanced at Cassidy as she bent to stroke the fur of a giant ginger cat. The large feline wove between her ankles, rubbing its scent on her and purring with delight at the attention.

He knew how it felt. Right now he wanted to ditch lunch, bundle Cassidy up, stick her on the back of the moped and haul her off to the closest bedroom.

Usually after he’d spent the night with a woman he was unaffected by whether he saw her again or not, but the thought of not seeing Cassidy, of not touching her, made his gut tighten with an emotion that felt peculiarly like dread.

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But he was going to have to push that aside if he was serious about fulfilling his promise and proving that with a little self-control and discipline they could easily get their relationship back on track.

Looking at her now, her gorgeous curves encased in denim and a purple gypsy blouse that he was almost certain was concealing a black bra, he wasn’t at all confident that he could—or that he even wanted to.