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CHAPTER 15
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2024-10-29 19:42:56“A… what? A movie première? Are you kidding me right now? Is there a candid camera in my office?”
Griffin’s PA, Agnes, inched as she stood on the other side of his desk, and he realized he’d said almost those exact words to his sister at almost this exact time the day before.
Once again, he’d been having a great morning, and again it was shot to… Okay, so it hadn’t been that great a morning, with Gloriana waking up late and a police detective waiting around in his home until she did so, but it was definitely ruined now.
He cut a hard look to Gloriana, who stared back impassively at him from the white sofa.
“Uhm… N-no, sir,” Agnes stuttered.
Griffin glanced b
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“I have to do the red carpet thing, then answer a few questions from the press, and then we can go in,” she murmured over the noise of the crowd. Griffin nodded, but his eyes were on the actor, and Griffin found himself deliberately stepping into Gloriana’s personal space to let the heart-throb know she was off-limits… That she was his for… well, for the time being. Her eyes widened quizzically, but the actor got the message, throwing his chest forward in a display of machismo. They took each other’s measure for a beat, and then the actor gave a typically Mediterranean shrug.‘Hey, man, don’t sweat it.” He laughed, backing down when it became obvious that Griffin wouldn’t.“I was just giving a hand to this sweet
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“I really enjoyed the movie,” Griffin said, breaking the heavy silence between them. Gloriana didn’t look at him but continued to stare out of the window as his chauffeur drove them through the glistening London streets. It was late, and after two hours of sitting next to Griffin in a darkened movie theatre, she felt uptight and edgy. The awareness she had been trying to keep at bay by pretending to read that hateful play for most of the day had exploded the minute his lips had touched hers on the red carpet. No doubt he’d felt sorry for her after her earlier disclosure, but that didn’t stop her from wanting him to touch her because he wanted to, not out of some misplaced duty to look out for her. Not out of pity… Never out of pity.
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She closed her eyes and swallowed hard. The night of Em’s party, she had dressed for him, watched him, noticed him watching her, and then, on the back of a couple of fortifying glasses of vintage champagne, she had asked him to dance… and melted into him… forever. The way he held her on the dancefloor and after that… She loved the feel of his strong arms around her, the sense of rightness that would have led her to do anything with him that night. And right now, she felt exactly the same way. Which just didn’t make sense. None of this made sense. But… does it really have to?“One.” Gloriana opened her eyes and shook her head.“Griffin, please… Don’t be ridiculous. Th
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Gloriana groaned with relief when she felt his hands smooth over her thighs and pulled her dress up around her waist, her legs automatically widening to accommodate his seeking, curious hand. His movements seemed as unsteady as she felt, and they imbued her with a sense of power. Unable to keep her mouth off him, she bent her head and licked along his neck, breathing in his earthy masculinity.“Griff, please… I need you,” Gloriana begged, her voice sounding hoarse. Another saner voice was telling her that later she’d be embarrassed by such uninhibited pleading. But her body couldn’t care less about later on. It was caught up in the most delicious stupor and straining for something that seemed just out of reach. Then his fingers w
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‘Fine.’ She had been going to say ‘it was fine’, Griffin thought moodily the next morning as he stared at the grey London skyline. The color reflected his dismal mood perfectly. But last night hadn’t been ‘fine’. It had been amazing, sensational, mind-blowing! The most intensely involved sexual experience of his life, in fact. And Griffin hated that. Griffin hated that he hadn’t had the wherewithal to go slow, and hated that he hadn’t been able to take her into his arms afterward and carry her up to his bed and make sweet love to her again. Slowly this time, more carefully… He released a pent-up br
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“Don’t push it, Gloriana. You weren’t exactly forthcoming with the truth when I questioned you.”“That’s because I don’t find it beneficial to bash my head against a brick wall, Griffin.” She saw a muscle tick in his jaw as he gazed at her from under hooded eyes.“Tell me why I found you hiding a joint under Em’s mattress when you were fourteen.”“Wow… I thought you were apologizing…” she countered.“I did.”“You should work on it…” Griffin said nothing, his expression coolly assessing. It was a look Gloriana had come to recognize. It meant that he fully intended to get his own way.“Don’t use your courtroom tactics with me, Griffin,” she said frostily. “They won’t work
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Gloriana closed the last page of the play and stared vacantly into the open fire John, the family butler, had lit for her earlier that night. The writer had captured a side of her parents she hadn’t known about. He had focused on their struggles and their hunger for fame and what had driven it, rather than just the consequence of it. The result was an aspect of their lives Gloriana knew about from her mother’s diaries but which the press rarely focused on. It was an aspect that always caused Gloriana to regret who they had become. She had expected that reading the play would instill in her a renewed sense of disgust at their wasted lives, and it had, sort of, but what she hadn’t expected was that it would fill her with a sense of yearning for them still to be around. For a chance to get to
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She smiled and the almost shy look she cast from under her lashes caught him in the solar plexus.“That’s nice to know.”“That’s only because I’m not here all that often,” Griffin teased.“I don’t believe you. And you’re spoiling it again,” Gloriana scolded, picking up on the falseness behind his words.“Come over here… Come by the fire,” he murmured, mentally rolling his eyes at the stupidity of that suggestion. But she did, and he poked at the fire while she found a comfortable position on the rug.“What was it like growing up in your world, Griff?” she asked, watching him carefully as he sat down opposite her, his drink dangled over one knee. Griffin didn’t like talkin
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“Parents often don’t see the impact they have on their children when they aren’t happy within themselves,” Gloriana offered softly.“No,” Griffin said shaking his head. “And it certainly put me off wanting to risk my heart with another person, but…” He looked down at Gloriana’s small hand enfolded in his, not even having realized that he had reached out to her.“The other night I accused you of using your past as a shield, Gloriana, and I’ve only just come to realize that I do the same thing. I’ve put up barriers to my emotions my whole life because my mother’s love was so unpredictable and my parents’ relationship was so unstable and I don’t want to do that anymore. Actually, that’s not completely true.” Griffin looked up sheepishly.
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Her feelings for Griffin were too real and too raw for her to even attempt friendship with another man at this point. Clearly, Griffin’s ego was still affected, if the way he was studying her was any indication.“Phillip? Fine, I expect,” Gloriana answered. Griffin scowled and brought her hand in tightly against his chest. His other hand was spread wide against that sensitive spot in the small of her back. He was holding her so closely now Gloriana could hear the brush of her tulle skirt against his trousers. Gloriana swallowed and concentrated on holding in the quiver that zipped up her spine, completely forgetting what number she was up to. ‘Damn it! One, two, three…’“Are you counting?”
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Trouble with a capital T, Griffin reminded himself the following morning as he stood beside Kostas in morning suit and top hat at the entrance to the Gothic cathedral, making small talk with yet another expensively dressed wedding guest. It was a splendid day, except the sun had come out to grace Emeline’s big day and brought half the paparazzi in the Western world along with it. No doubt the combined news of Gloriana’s near arrest and subsequent release and the many royal attendants at Emeline’s wedding was causing them to swarm like cockroaches. The local law enforcement was also out in force, to keep intruders at bay, as well as a top London security firm that looked as if it employed some of the men from Gloriana’s premiere. And if Griffin
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‘What the hell was she talking about?’ Griffin asked himself frowning. ‘As if I give a damn about Isabelle’s lineage… or her, for that matter.’“Forget Isabelle Pearson. She’s irrelevant right now.”“She’d no doubt be upset to hear you say that.” Griffin frowned again. This conversation wasn’t going at all as he’d planned. He declined a glass of champagne as a passing waiter stopped, and determinedly turned his back on an Italian count he’d befriended at Harvard.“You know… Since we have this moment alone, I’d like to thank you for your help in solving my case. The detective told me everything you did,” Gloriana said politely.“It was nothing… Don’t mention it,” Griffin replied and wa
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‘Where the hell is she?’ Griffin scowled as he leaned against one of the sideboards in the main drawing room, sipping from a glace of Scotch and talking with one of Kostas’s cousins while awaiting the remaining guests for the rehearsal dinner. A waiter discreetly circulated amongst those already present, and Griffin glanced through the open double doors to where a lavish dining setting, resplendent with antique crystalware, awaited twenty-four of Emeline and Kostas’s close friends and family for the rehearsal dinner. Griffin knew he should’ve been in a better mood, given that his kid sister was marrying one of his oldest friends the following day, but he wasn’t. After his run-in with Emeline this morni
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He’d never woken up having held a woman all night before. In fact, he usually tried to find a plausible excuse not to wake up with one at all, and Griffin didn’t mind admitting that having Glow snuggled against him like a warm, sleepy kitten had scared the hell out of him. If he’d thought the first experience with her had been mind-blowing, then last night had been indescribable. She’d been completely abandoned in his arms and he… Suffice it to say it had been the most complete, the most intimate experience he’d ever had with a woman, even more unsettling than making love to her five nights ago. Griffin had tried to sneak out of bed, but she’d woken when he was halfway into his jeans. He’d turned when he heard the bedcovers rustling to find her leaning up on one elbow, the linen
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“I’ll be right back, baby,” he murmured against her mouth, and Gloriana flopped back against her pillows as Griffin quietly closed the bedroom door behind him. She’d almost felt sick earlier when she’d woken in the early morning light to find Griffin trying to slip out of her bed without waking her. He’d pulled on his jeans, a frown marring his perfect features, and then he’d noticed her watching him. He’d looked remote, but then, his eyes had devoured her and he’d walked over and let his lips show Gloriana just how much he wanted her.“‘I’m going to make you a cup of tea’,” Griffin had whispered, and she’d smiled and trailed her hand down his naked chest. She didn’t really want tea, just h
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Gloriana stared at Griffin and willed the ground to open up and devour one of them. She’d been having such a nice time and now he’d gone and ruined it.“You… don’t know what you’re talking about,” she whispered, trying to ignore the lump in her throat to subside. She stared at the fire and realized she was about to cry. She never cried, and she wasn’t about to start in Griffin’s presence.“Gloriana…’ Gloriana quickly scrambled to her feet, holding her hands out in front of her as Griffin made to do the same.“I’m…” The words wouldn’t come and she turned to flee, but Griffin caught her.“I can’t let you l
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She smiled and the almost shy look she cast from under her lashes caught him in the solar plexus.“That’s nice to know.”“That’s only because I’m not here all that often,” Griffin teased.“I don’t believe you. And you’re spoiling it again,” Gloriana scolded, picking up on the falseness behind his words.“Come over here… Come by the fire,” he murmured, mentally rolling his eyes at the stupidity of that suggestion. But she did, and he poked at the fire while she found a comfortable position on the rug.“What was it like growing up in your world, Griff?” she asked, watching him carefully as he sat down opposite her, his drink dangled over one knee. Griffin didn’t like talkin
