Ward's Castle

HENDRIX

“Since you are stayingfor the summer, we need to set ground rules.” I unstop a snifter of Scotch and pour two glasses before realizing that Lila is only eighteen. I’m not used to having another adult around me at home. Usually, it’s only Beau and me. I combine the contents and take my drink over to one of the two wingback chairs in front of the fireplace. I gesture for her to take the free one.

She hesitates but comes close enough to rest a hand over the back of it.

“So now I’m staying?” There’s a tiny bit of bite in her tone.

I don’t like it. It makes me view her as older, accessible when she’s anything but.

“I can’t enroll you in college now as it’s the summer. Classes don’t start until the fall.” I called the admissions office of the Ivy nearest us, and they informed me that they would be happy to admit Lila, but there was little for her to do at the campus this summer. She is too old for summer camps and too young for summer college classes. “Beau wants you here.”

“Good, because I planned to stay anyway.”

“We’re in agreement then. As for the rules, there will be no males here besides Beau and myself. No dating as I don’t want any negative influences around Beau. You are, of course, allowed to leave the house, but you must take Jessup with you—”

“Jessup?”

“She’s a bodyguard and driver I’ve hired to watch over you.”

“You mean spy on me.”

I view her over the rim of my glass. The illumination from the table lamp is highlighting all of her features from the high planes of her cheekbones to the trimness of her waist and the gentle flare of her hips. There’s substance to her figure. A man could hold her and not be afraid she would break.

I inhale deeply and gather myself. “I mean protect you. You are the ward of a wealthy man, and that makes you a target.”

“No one in this city knows who I am,” she argues. “I was in the system and ran away. You created a new identity for me and Beau. We’re strangers. No one is going to target me because of you.”

I arch an eyebrow. “So you plan on lying about who you are, hiding your association from me and Beau?”

“No. God. You are twisting everything I say.” She runs an agitated hand down her long hair and takes a deep breath herself. “I want to get a job this summer. I don’t care what I do, but I want to make my own money. I want to take Beau to the zoo and to the beach to fly kites. I want to not think about classes or grades and just generally want to have fun.”

My chest tightens as she lists out the simple pleasures she’s never really had. Maybe I made a mistake sending her away. No. I had to. I’m not equipped to raise a teenager, especially one like Lila.

“You can do all those things with Jessup.”

Lila lets her head roll back as she contemplates my reasonable request. “Fine. I am not arguing anymore, but I don’t understand why I can’t have boys around. You’re dating.”

“I’m what?”

“Dating? Beau said he smelled perfume on you. He didn’t like it, by the way. He said it smelled bad.” She sniffs like the odor disgusts her.

I dip my nose to my shoulder and take a whiff and come away with a nose full of Marina’s heavy scent. I press my lips together unhappily. “I attended an opera.”

“Were you on the stage, too?”

Lila sounds jealous, which is obviously a misread by me. I’m tired and about to make a mistake. I set the untouched Scotch to the side and get to my feet. Lila takes a step back. A hunting instinct surges inside of me. What if I lunged at her? Would she run? How fast could she go? How sweet would it be when I caught her? Would she struggle as I took her to the ground?

This time when I inhale, my breath is unsteady. “You should go. Right now. To your room.”

She stares at me, wide-eyed, like a doe in the wild that I stumbled across. A tasty morsel just waiting to be devoured. “Now!” I shout.

The boom of my voice jerks her into motion. She turns and runs out of the room, leaving behind nothing but the smell of her apple-scented lotion.

My knees turn to water, and I have to brace myself against the sofa table to keep upright. This girl has me in turmoil. My peaceful, planned existence has been turned upside down ever since I found her in the basement of my building two years ago.

I shoved her into boarding school as fast as possible to preserve my sanity, but she’s back, of age, and more tempting. I drag a shaky hand across my mouth and shove myself upright. I am Hendrix Mason. I built an empire with nothing more than my will and my own two hands. I will not give in to this…whatever it is. I won’t even put a name on it. I won’t define it because to do so would give it substance that it can’t have.

Lila is my young ward, and only the worst kind of person would take advantage of her. Better that I make her hate me than to allow her to get close.

That said, there is no reason for there to be any man in her life. I refuse to examine the reason for that. I just know that if I ever see her with a man, I’ll kill him and lock her up in a room in this house and never let her out. As I told her when I found her, she belongs to me, and I will never allow another man to lay a hand on her. Never.