Simply Sensual (Simply 3)

This was his last opportunity. His last chance to win—or lose—the woman he loved. Considering she seemed to have her mind set against him, he doubted anything he said now would make a difference. But he couldn’t live the rest of his life without trying.

“It was never just a job. From the second I saw your picture…”

“You saw my picture?” She shook her head. “Never mind. Emma’s been foisting my photo on eligible males for as long as I can remember. Go on.”

“From the minute I saw your picture, I was invested. I warned myself to back off, to let the case go, but I couldn’t.”

“The money.”

“My mother, the money, and yo

u. All three got tangled together. She needs more care than I can provide right now. It’ll take six months to a year of cases I wouldn’t normally touch to make a large enough cushion to set her up in the home of her choice.”

Unexpectedly, Grace placed a hand on his arm. A heated tingling set up residence on his skin. “You love her. I can understand that.”

“I’m not sure you can. You grew up in that mansion. I grew up on the other side looking in. I understand now that even without money I got the better end of the deal—because I had love and you didn’t.” He covered her hand with his. “You had to perform for your father and still didn’t get the love that should have been unconditional, the love you deserved. But you had money. And servants.” He let out a groan. “And my mother was one of them. Can you imagine what that’s like? A woman who spent her life as a mother—a stay-at-home mother—suddenly finds herself a widow with little money. So, she turns to the only thing she knows—housekeeping for others. And those others weren’t as kind to the help as I suspect Emma is.”

* * *

Grace shuddered, recalling her father’s bellowing at ‘the servants,’ as he called them, belittling them for unimportant things not done correctly.

“And I knew how badly she was being treated and that she put up with it to support me, us. But I couldn’t do a damn thing about it until years later.”

Grace watched Ben’s face contort with remembered pain and she felt not only for him but for his mother, a woman she’d never met. She understood his frustration at his youth and inability to do anything but watch his mother suffer to make his life better. She understood, too, that everything he did now was to compensate and make up for things he hadn’t been able to change back then.

But that was the past while Grace was the present. And she’d been the one to pay for Ben’s atonement. “I understand why you took the case. I don’t understand why the minute our relationship became intimate you didn’t come clean.”

He ran a hand through his hair. “That’s where things got tangled. I’d promised Emma secrecy. By virtue of taking the case, my professional ethics had to come first. And I know how lame it sounds now, but it’s the truth.”

She listened in silence, so he kept going.

“There was also the attack and the threat. If I’d told you that I was working for Emma, you’d have kicked me out of your life. No way would you have let me close enough to make sure you were safe. I couldn’t take the risk with your life.”

“Because Emma was paying you to keep me safe.”

“No! Because I cared too much to let you walk the streets alone and unprotected.” His dark eyes held her captive and begged for her to believe.

She stared back, unwilling to be the one to break eye contact, wishing he’d pull her into his arms and knowing she’d break away if he did. As much as she wanted to believe him, she couldn’t get past the fact that he’d been paid for every bit of interest he’d shown in her life. Taken to the extreme, he’d been paid by a family member she loved to sleep with her. And it hurt.

“So, let me get this straight. You didn’t tell me because you owed Emma your loyalty and because you wanted to protect me from a threat on the street.”

“That’s right.”

She kicked at the sand in the box hard, not caring that it sifted onto Ben. What was a little more dirt on his hands? “No, it’s wrong. Because, let’s face it, you took money from my grandmother and you felt a responsibility toward her. You took the money for your mother, to whom you also feel responsible. You, your mother, and my grandmother. Every person in this scenario taken care of… except me.”

She hated the self-pity in her voice when it was the last thing she was feeling. Much stronger were anger and betrayal, hurt and pain for a love gone bad. One that obviously never existed. Not on his side, anyway.

At least she could give him credit for not lying about feelings that didn’t exist.

Hurt and disbelief flashed across his handsome face. “It wasn’t like that.” He stood and shoved his hands into his back pockets. “Summed up badly, I made a bad decision in the name of ethics, Gracie.”

“I respect your ethics. I don’t respect the lies.”

“And I don’t respect the fact that I couldn’t keep my damn hands off you.” He reached for her, grabbing her shoulders and pulling her close. “I still can’t.”

“I’m not sure if that’s a compliment or not.”

His hands traveled down her arms and up again. His body heat was potent as was his sexuality—and the love she still felt, regardless that her feelings went unreciprocated.