His to Command

“Kate, what did she tell you?”

Kate wrapped her arms around herself and started to pace. “She knew where everything was. She knew her way around the kitchen and how to work the sound system. She knew about the dungeon.” She stared up at Matt. “She knew this house.”

Ileana had managed to make Kate feel like the outsider.

“We were friends before we dated,” Matt said, “and even after we broke up, she was the head of my legal team. She was often over here to discuss contracts, or for social gatherings. She also helped me furnish the place.”

A tremor crawled along Kate’s spine. Suddenly, Ileana’s presence seemed to surround her. No wonder the furniture felt a little more formal than she would have expected for Matt. Had Ileana picked out all the furniture? Had she picked out this bed? Had she chosen the linens?

How often had she and Matt made love in that bed? Had Matt spoken soft words of love in her ear?

“She said you dated a lot longer than a few months.”

His eyebrows arched. “Really? How long did she say?”

“She said you were still together when you saw me in the mall a few weeks ago.”

“And you believed her?”

She shrugged. “No, not exactly. I mean, I didn’t know what to believe, and she didn’t seem to care if I believed her or not.”

“Of course. She knows that would work better. Drop a few comments. Lead you where she wants you to go.” He scowled. “Just enough to sow the seeds of doubt.” His lips compressed. “Kate, I thought you’d finally come to trust me again.”

“I did.” She sucked in a breath. “I do.”

It was true. She’d even gotten past her hesitation at the dungeon door beca

use, deep inside, she knew Matt would never purposely hurt her.

“And I understand that if you had a more serious relationship with Ileana,” she said, “you might feel there was no reason to tell me. You and I aren’t in a romantic relationship, so it’s really none of my business, and it would make things awkward between us. You might feel it would hurt me to know about it.”

“Kate, I’m not hiding anything from you. I was never in a serious relationship with Ileana.”

Kate’s throat clenched and she forced her gaze to meet his. “Then why did you propose to her?”

“What? That’s crazy. You can’t actually believe that.”

Her eyebrows arched. “What about the ring?”

“The fact I have a ring doesn’t prove—”

“She showed me pictures of you sliding the ring on her finger.” The look of joy in Matt’s eyes in that picture still haunted her.

He paused, his brows drawn together in bewilderment. “A picture?” He frowned, then sighed. “Right. I asked her to come with me to pick out a ring because I wanted a woman’s perspective. While we were shopping, she asked the salesman to take some pictures of her trying the ring on. It wasn’t a picture of me proposing.”

“Oh. So, there’s someone else?” Her heart clenched at the thought. But of course he would have been dating other women over the past two years, so it made sense that he would become serious about one of them.

His expression closed up. “That’s not important. The point is, I’m not involved with Ileana, and I definitely never proposed to her. Nor do I intend to.” He locked his gaze on hers. “I didn’t lie to you.”

She stared at him, not sure what to think. Who was this other woman and why didn’t he want to talk about her? And if he had another woman in his life, why was he spending this time with Kate? Having sex with her.

Unless the woman had turned him down.

“I believe you,” she said.

“Good.”

“Matt, this other woman—”