Duty At What Cost?. Michelle Conder

he wasn’t willing to take, because when it all went pear-shaped the fall-out was usually devastating.

      ‘I know that face. You’re brooding about something.’

      Wolfe glanced at Gilles, who had ambled up with two glasses of champagne in his hands. Wolfe took one and smiled. ‘Just enjoying the frivolities.’

      Gilles gave him a droll look. Previously they had both bemoaned any wedding they’d been forced to attend. ‘I thought you were bringing someone with you today?’

      Wolfe took a sip and tried not to wince as the warming liquid pooled in his mouth. ‘Not while I’m working.’

      Gilles lowered his own glass, amusement dancing in his eyes. ‘She dumped you?’

      Wolfe recalled the look on Astrid’s angry face when he’d told her he wouldn’t be seeing her again. ‘Yep.’

      ‘In…’ Gilles glanced at his watch ‘…how many hours?’

      Wolfe chuckled. He’d enjoyed Astrid’s company for five busy nights while he was working in Vienna a month ago, and she had enjoyed his. When he’d tried to say goodbye she’d kicked up a stink. Accused him of using her. Wolfe’s anger had surfaced then. He knew he had a name for being a heartless womaniser but he was simply honest. He didn’t see the point in beating around the bush and pretending to feel things he didn’t. And nor did he sleep with as many women as his reputation would suggest. He wouldn’t have any time left over for work if he did.

      ‘What can I say? She was one of the smart ones.’

      Wolfe waited for his friend to start up another good-natured lecture about settling down. Anne, it seemed, had reformed the once bad-boy Marquis to the point where Wolfe now almost preferred her company to his.

      ‘Well, that works out well for me.’

      ‘It does?’

      Gilles chuckled. ‘Don’t look so relieved. I wasn’t about to try and reform the unreformable.’

      ‘Thank God.’

      ‘But I do need a favour.’

      Favours Wolfe could do.

      ‘Sure.’

      ‘There’s a girl I need you to keep your eye on tonight at the reception.’

      Wolfe didn’t exactly look at the sky, but he came close. ‘Friend of Anne’s, by chance?’

      ‘Yes, actually. But, no, I’m not trying to set you up, you suspicious clod. She’s the woman my father wanted me to marry.’

      Gilles’s words sparked a distant memory of a late-night chat from years back that Wolfe had completely forgotten about. He took another pull of his drink and wished it was beer in an icy bottle instead of champagne in a tepid glass. ‘I’m listening.’

      ‘Years ago my father and hers came to the decision that we would forge a strong union if we married when we came of age.’

      ‘I think you “came of age” about ten years ago, my friend, and isn’t that a little last century?’

      Gilles’s mouth twisted into an ironic smile. ‘You’ve met my father. Hers is worse. Anyway, the media have done a good job beating some life into the old story this past week, playing up the whole jilted fiancée thing, and Anne said it’s been a bit rough on her.’

      Wolfe knew what it felt like to be talked about behind his back. Even if the people in the small town he’d grown up in had been doing so out of sympathy rather than slander. At least for him and his brother, at any rate. ‘What’s wrong with her?’ he asked suspiciously.

      Gilles scoffed. ‘Nothing. But I don’t want you to sleep with her. Actually, I’d be downright angry if you did. She’s gorgeous, and way too good for you. I just want you to keep an eye on her. Make sure she’s having a good time.’

      ‘Who is she?’ he asked, premonition snaking down his spine.

      ‘See the woman talking to Anne now?’

      Wolfe didn’t have to look to know it was the Princess from the wall and he nearly groaned. Anyone but her. But at least now it made sense why she had been so familiar with the estate. They were family friends.

      Wolfe turned his back on the woman he was intent on avoiding for the rest of his life. ‘I’m sure she can take care of herself.’

      Gilles gave him a quizzical look and Wolfe cursed his curt tone. He had nothing against the Princess, really. Except for the fact that she’d occupied his mind all afternoon and made him want to push her sweet skirt up around her waist and take her up against the nearest hundred-year-old oak. He definitely didn’t want to find out that Gilles had once been with her. Had they been lovers? The thought left a sour taste in his mouth.

      ‘I’m sure she will, too, but as she’s attending the wedding alone I thought you could keep your eye on her for me. You know—ask her to dance, make sure she has a drink.’

      Today he’d been mistaken for a rescue service, a gardener and now…‘You’ve got waiters for that, and I’m not a damned babysitter.’

      Gilles’s eyebrows shot up, but before he could say anything his new wife stepped around Wolfe and curled her arm through Gilles’s. ‘Babysitting who?’

      Her green eyes met Wolfe’s speculatively and Wolfe saw Gilles’s eyes fall guiltily on someone behind him.

      ‘I hope you do not mean me, Gilles?’ Ava’s tone was as lyrical and as superior as Wolfe remembered it.

      Gilles stepped forward and kissed both her cheeks. ‘Ava, you look as beautiful as ever.’

      ‘I can see that you do mean me,’ she berated lightly. ‘And I can assure you I do not need babysitting.’

      Her eyes briefly cut to Wolfe’s with such aloof disdain it made him want to smile. He remembered her hands splayed over the ridges of his abdominal muscles as she’d clung to him on the horse. She might not like him very much, but he knew dislike wasn’t the only emotion she felt.

      ‘Of course you don’t, ma petite.’ Gilles humoured her. ‘Now, let me introduce you to Wolfe, a good friend of mine.’

      Unable to prevent himself from ruffling her regal feathers, Wolfe tilted his head. ‘We’ve met. How’s the head?’ His eyes drifted to the wide-brimmed hat, tilted to one side to conceal the bruise on her forehead. The pale pink exactly matched a flirty two-piece suit that followed the line of her curves all the way to her perfectly shaped calves and slender ankles.

      Exceptional legs, he thought, his gaze trekking slowly back up to her face.

      She arched a brow that told him she hadn’t taken kindly to his once-over, or to the implied intimacy in his tone.

      ‘You know each other?’ Gilles regarded Ava in surprise.

      ‘No.’

      ‘Oh?’ Gilles cut his curious gaze back to Wolfe.

      ‘Shall I tell him, or do you want to?’ Wolfe drawled.

      After briefly glaring all sorts of retribution his way, she turned a serene smile on Gilles and Anne. ‘It was nothing. I had a small problem with my car and your friend kindly provided me with a lift to the château.’

      ‘A small problem with your car?’ Gilles frowned.

      Wolfe held her gaze as he felt the others turn to him and told himself to leave well enough alone. Ruffling her glorious feathers was not on his agenda, even if his body was demanding that he forge a new one—preferably starting with her naked on top of a set of silk sheets. ‘What Her Highness means is that she had a car accident, climbed your outer wall and got captured by my men—’

      ‘And stole your horse because you were being incredibly rude!’ she provided, cutting Gilles’s blustering in