“Something for Easton. Please tell him—Hey!”
Before Kenzie could get a complete sentence out, Lurlene had opened the box containing the diamonds. The high-pitched squeal of delight grated on Kenzie’s already raw nerves. “I knew I recognized that box. What were you doing with these?”
Kenzie faced her. “Are you trying to say something?”
Lurlene had dismissed her and was drawing the earrings out. “I bet these could pay my rent for a few months.”
Kenzie gasped.
“Give them back to Kenzie, now, Lurlene!”
Kenzie spun around. She hadn’t heard the elevator ding, so distracted by the greedy woman and wondering if she were a common thief. Easton calling her by her name said she wasn’t.
Kenzie put a hand on her hip and eyed him. “She said she’s Mrs. Tremaine. Care to explain?”
He sneered. “You were never allowed to take on our name. This is the woman my father stupidly married six months after my mother died of cancer when I and my brother were fourteen.”
Kenzie looked from one to the other. She had at first suspected Easton of sleeping with Lurlene, but from the palpable disgust he displayed, she doubted it.
“Why are you here,” he ground out, “dressed like that?”
Lurlene pouted. “Aw, come on, Easton, sugah. How can you be that way when I was waiting for you? Come give Mama a hug.”
Kenzie hauled her bag up from the floor and started toward the elevator. “I think maybe I should leave.”
Easton blocked her path. “You stay. Lurlene, get out, and I will instruct the doormen never to let you in again.”
“But it’s late. A delicate and beautiful woman out alone isn’t safe.”
“That’s your problem, isn’t it?” He flared his nostrils, eyes narrowed. Kenzie had never seen him so pissed off. “What did you think would happen? That I would see you dressed like that and be overcome so much I would fuck you, maybe get you pregnant so you can have an heir? Grandfather cut you off for a reason.”
Kenzie tried leaving again, but Easton grabbed her around the waist and drew her to his chest. She pushed at him to no avail. “This isn’t the right time, Easton. You have family issues.”#p#分页标题#e#
“She’s not family.”
“Do you have to be so mean to her?”
At Kenzie’s words, Lurlene produced a tissue from somewhere and dabbed dry eyes. “You know it’s been hard for me since your father died,” she whined. “All my bills are overdue because your grandfather cut me off, the old goat. It’s not fair! I put in my time all those years. Y’all know I deserve to be rewarded! To live in the manner to which I’m costumated.”
Easton snorted, and Kenzie put a hand to her mouth.
“That’s accustomed,” he snapped.
Lurlene whined some more, and Kenzie laid a hand on Easton’s arm. “At least get her a ride home.”
He frowned and then released Kenzie to pull his phone from his pocket. Within a few moments, he had arranged for Lurlene to be driven home. He chased her out of the apartment after she’d dressed, and reprimanded the bellmen about allowing dirty, conniving women like her into his apartment, he’d explained when he returned.
“Wow, I don’t know what to think about that,” Kenzie commented.
Easton backed her up to the wall and trapped her there with his body. She looked up into the smoldering eyes, and her body flamed to life. “She is no longer a subject of conversation. What I want to hear is you moaning my name as I take you.”
“O-Oh,” she breathed.
He kissed her, and just when her eyelids fluttered closed and she parted her lips, he released her to pick up her bag. Frustrated, Kenzie turned toward the table. She gasped and snatched up the box that had contained the diamonds.
“I think she took them! She was saying something about them paying her rent. Easton, I’m sorry. There’s no way I can pay for them.”
He placed the strap of her overnight bag on his shoulder and walked to her. “Put your hand out.”
She did, and he brought the diamonds from his pocket and dropped them into her palm. “I can’t… They’re not…” He strode away. “Easton!”
She repacked the diamonds in the box and followed him. No matter how stubborn he thought he could be, she would not take his gift. He could forget it. She would leave that stuff right there on the table, and if he pushed, she would get it straight real fast she would not be bought. Maybe he was used to women like his stepmother, or some variation where they felt they were entitled for services rendered. She was not one of those women.