Enthrall Him (Enthrall Sessions Book 3) (25 page)

“Henry’s even more disinterested than me,” he said. “For our parent’s twentieth wedding anniversary, my father purchased an island for my mother.” Cameron forced a smile. “A fucking island. I was still at university at the time. The other students never let me live it down. Henry was at West Point. He was even more humiliated. Once that news hit the press there was no going back.”

“Maybe your friends were jealous?”

“Henry uses his middle name now so as not to connect himself with the family. Not that it matters. He never comes out of that cabin.”

“How does he get food?”

“It’s delivered.”

“Is he lonely?”

He sat back and broke my gaze.

“Your parents are nice.” I shook my head. “It’s hard to believe they were okay with sending you away to school when you were so young. I’d never do that if I had a child.”

“I know you wouldn’t.”

“Still, not having money can be just as humiliating,” I said. “I imagine you’ve never needed for anything.”

“There really are some things money can’t secure.”

“Like what?”

“The happiness of everyone around me.”

All these years he’d had to fight for an ordinary life. Following his passion for medicine was proof of that. How, I wondered, would he ever know if a woman really loved him for who he was. Yes, he was beautiful, kind and passionate, but there would always be doubt.

His happiness meant everything to me.

More than my own.

The thought he might have suspected I’d spent all this time with him hoping to catch his eye and end up as Mrs. Cole for his money caused my stomach to twist. The cruelest betrayal of his trust would be that. I hated the idea he’d ever suspect that of me.

“Mia,” he said, taking my hand. “There’s something I’ve been meaning to tell you. It’s only now that I—”

“I can’t wait to go back to Richard,” I blurted and turned my face away.

Cameron’s hand slipped from mine.

An awkward silence filled the space between us.

The car sped past a couple strolling hand in hand on the sidewalk. They looked so relaxed, so happy, so uncomplicated.

The burn of Cameron’s gaze stayed on me until I braved to look back at him. “I’m counting the minutes until I see him again.”

“He’s a lucky man,” he said softly.

“You were going to say something?”

“It’s not important.”  

“I’m grateful for all you’ve taught me.” I made it sound cheerful. Upbeat even.

“We’ve been good for each other.”  

“We’ll still see each other, right?”

He looked fazed. “We’re here.”

I peered out and caught sight of the Tower of London and swallowed hard.

“The last time we visited here it didn’t go so well,” he said. “I want to swap out that memory for something better. Something beautiful.”

“It was my fault.”

“I’d buried those feelings about Afghanistan so deep I’d forgotten why. With this recent introspection… ”

“I still feel terrible.”

“Don’t. I handled it wrong. The conversation didn’t need to be so infused with negative emotion. I caused you to worry about it and this is my way of righting a wrong. This is my way of saying sorry.” He placed a white box on my lap.

The entire charade here had been my fault. “I’d do anything to take yesterday back.”

“All forgotten now.” He gestured. “Open it.”

“I can’t until tomorrow.”

“Merry Christmas, Mia.” He lifted a similar box onto his lap. “They’re meant to be opened now.”

“I’ll accept this gift on one condition.”

“Let’s hear it?”

“You take my money for the gifts.”

“Give it to me later.”

That made me smile and I lifted the lid off the box. “Ice skates?”

“When I was a kid, ice skating at Christmas was a tradition. When I moved away from home I let that go. Family times were infrequent. I learned to cherish them.”

Having been sent to boarding school at five years old, he probably looked forward to trips home more than most kids. The thought of a lonely Cameron was too horrible to contemplate.

“It’s rather nice to revisit those memories.” He gazed out.

Oh God.
I’d just shoved a fucking emotional spear right into his heart by mentioning Richard, and Cameron had planned a romantic afternoon for us.

My thoughts fell back on what he might have been going to tell me.

“I just don’t want anyone to get hurt,” I whispered.

“I know. Me neither.”

Running my fingers along the outside of the blade, I tried to find the words.

You’ve already told him.

He knows you love him.

“Mia, I’ll cherish our time together,” he said. “It’s hard to believe not that long ago you were that young woman I met in the coffee room. Wide eyed and innocent.”

“When I first met you,” I said, “you kind of scared me.”

“How about now?”

I gave a shake of my head. “Maybe you should let down your guard more. Let people in.”

“It’s getting easier.”

“I love my skates. Thank you.”

“Shall we try them out?”

“When?”

“Now. They have an ice rink here.” His face lit up and he gestured toward the tower. “Right here in this ancient fortress.”

He made it sound so romantic.  

I’d only ever roller bladed before and those had been rusty old boots I’d found in a moldy box in the garage. I hoped I wasn’t about to turn Cameron’s romantic idea of the two of us elegantly floating on ice into him hauling me off to the ER.

“I’ll keep you safe,” he said, as though reading my mind.

His tone was laden with meaning.

As we stepped out, Christmas music carried over the castle wall, along with the sound of laughter and of skates slicing along ice.

Within minutes we’d pulled on our skates, leaving our shoes behind in the car, and made our way onto the rink.

A vastness of white faux ice was nestled in the hollow of the tower’s dry moat. An enormous decorated Christmas tree rose high at the end of the rounded out hollow, overlooked by the castle wall, and beyond that the castle turrets.

My breath left me…

At the center of the rink were cones laid out, and dancing within them talented skaters were allowed full rein. A few of them were performing fancy moves that in my head I knew I could pull off, only my shaky legs and sliding feet hadn’t gotten the ‘I too have Olympic skills’ memo.

Seriously, these skaters were gliding backwards and forwards, performing death defying pirouettes, and what looked like perfect double axels.  

With Cameron’s hand firmly holding mine, he led me off to the edge, and after a few potentially hazardous slips and slides, I settled into the quick foot movement, each foot pushing off the ice with my blades. It even started to look like I knew what I was doing.

He was going to tell you he loves you,
came my cruel inner tease.

And you sabotaged it.

Don’t think about that now.

Don’t.

I begged my imagination not to go there. That place where hopes and dreams stood a chance of coming true.

And I’d thought our time on the London Eye was surreal.

My feet found their rhythm and I matched Cameron’s strides, both of us in perfect unison as we skated around the outside with Jingle Bells playing. More experienced skaters whizzed by with a whoosh.

Of course Cameron skated like a pro. It made me wonder if his childhood had been all about mastering every single sporting activity known to man and learning to excel at each one. For goodness sake, he knew how to fence, play polo, do that fancy thing with breath control while swimming the butterfly, and fly a helicopter.

Not to mention his dreaminess in the bedroom.

Yet he’d failed to meet Mrs. Right.

A baffling concept, considering he seemed so perfect in every way.

Here we were, hand in hand, acting like two happy lovers just skating around the rink. In reality we were merely dragging out the pain of our impending separation as though we couldn’t bear to be apart, both of us willingly stretching out the inevitable and braving the ache of what was to come.

Be in the now
, I soothed.
Savor every last second of him.
 

A young skater flew by and bumped into my left arm, sending me off into a spin. Cameron reached out and nudged me away from the crowd.

A blur of lights and color. Music faded.

Screaming and laughing at the same time, I skidded in a wide circle and came back around, bumping right into Cameron’s chest.

“Whoa.” He laughed, his arms flailing for balance, his legs giving way as he tipped and slammed flat on his back.

I collapsed on his chest, giggling.

“Are you okay?” I said breathlessly.

“Now I am.” He cupped my face with his hands and kissed me, crushing his lips against mine, his tongue searching my mouth, forcing mine wider. His kiss alighted every sense, every cell, until all I knew was him.

We could have been anywhere. Both of us lost awareness that we weren’t alone.

The sound of skates came a little too close; a spray of ice hit us. “You two okay?” a woman asked in a Louisiana accent.

I opened my eyes to see a middle-aged woman peering down at us.

“We’re fine, thank you,” said Cameron.

“Could you two look any more perfect for each other,” she said, and threw her head back in a laugh before skating off.

My gaze shot to Cameron’s.

“It’s probably a good thing you’re not mine,” he said.

“Why?”

“I’d possess you beyond all understanding.”

I sagged against him, resting my head on his chest.

“You will never submit to any man the way you submit to me.” His tone was firm and masterful.

I raised my head to look at him. “No, I won’t.”

“Finally, the truth.”  

The unfairness of his manipulation soaked into my bones, along with the chill of the ice.

“You will submit to Richard for me, understand?” he said firmly. “Whenever you have doubt, replace it with the knowledge you do everything he asks of you for me.”

“Cameron—”

“You please me when you please him.”

“What about us?” I whispered.

“The only reason for
us
was to take you to the level of excellence you needed to obtain. For Richard. Your one true master.” He lowered his gaze. “You just confessed how you can’t wait to go back to him.”

I had, but for all the wrong reasons.

I’d wanted him to know it had never been his money I’d wanted. It had only ever been him. Didn’t he know how damn gorgeous he was? That he was beautiful, gifted, and brilliant?

That he’d saved my life?

His eyes held mine, as though waiting for my response.

I couldn’t fail him now. Not after all he’d done for me, given me, expected of me.

Cameron had always been honest. The only confusion of my role had come from me.

“When I told you I love you,” I muttered, “what I meant was I love how you’ve crafted me to please Richard. I am well prepared, sir.”

“And you promise to obey him in all things?”

“Yes.” A little dazed, I added, “I promise to make you proud.”

“This pleases me,” he said darkly, his breath on my lips. “I believe I’ve excelled all expectations.”

CHAPTER 20

I CHANGED MY outfit
again.
 

This time I went for semi-casual—skinny jeans and a Donatella Versace blouse that had miraculously turned up in my closet.

We’d spent the rest of the afternoon with me in the sitting room, placing those gorgeous blue baubles on the tree, and Cameron helping me hang blue tinsel around it. After we’d hung the Christmas lights around the branches and turned them on, it looked magical.

I couldn’t stop looking at it.

We moved into the kitchen and began preparing food for tonight’s dinner, with me peeling vegetables as well as a large bowl of apples for dessert, and Cameron following a Barefoot Contessa recipe to prepare a chicken. Shay had helped out where needed, and with all three of us hanging out in the kitchen we’d had a lovely afternoon.

Inside, I was a mess.

Richard’s plane had landed at Heathrow and he was on his way.

I loved him with all my heart but my mind was riddled with confusion.