The Benefactor

by Nana Malone

  He grinned at me. “You can join us.”

  “No, I’m with a friend.” I waved at Telly at the bar, who held up two glasses and winked. “I better go make sure she doesn’t clear them out of all their liquor. Sadie, thank you. And if it’s okay, I might call you again.”

  She nodded. “Anytime.”

  I left them and joined Telly at the bar. She finished her drink quickly. “You are driving so let me finish this for you.”

  She threw back the other one and winced. “Jesus God, that’s good liquor.”

  “You’re ridiculous.”

  “You got everything you need?”

  I nodded. “Yeah. Let’s go.”

  “So she was helpful then?”

  And so much more.

  10

  Ben

  The last two days with Olivia had been an exercise in frustration. She was perfectly polite and, we went to work as usual, but that was about it. There was no conversation, no laughter. She’d given me a very polite thank you for arranging a night out with Telly.

  Polite. Distant.

  Polite and distant were the last things I wanted from her. I would have preferred her raw anger to cold distance.

  Her raw anger terrifies you.

  This was also true. But at least raw anger meant she had feelings. I could work with feelings. Her apathy was the real problem.

  The woman from Paris was gone. The woman from my bedroom, the playful sexual one who would let me bend her over a desk, the one who’d let me shag her in the doorway, the one who would let me wash her hair, that woman was gone. She didn’t even laugh when Jessa sent me more and more inappropriate mugs.

  Nope.

  Instead, she would sit stoically at meetings, taking notes, speaking up when she needed to, directing meetings, but not engaging with me in any kind of friendly banter. It was irritating.

  She was mine. She belonged in my bed. She belonged in my arms.

  I had a meeting with the lads at East’s for dinner that night. Lucas had come into town ahead of Jessa for preplanning meetings. And we needed to lay our groundwork for the Canary Jewel.

  Most evenings, Liv ordered in late to work and ate by herself in her office, or she’d eat something the housekeeper prepared and had labeled in the refrigerator.

  The key similarity was she’d do whatever meant she didn’t have to eat with me. Not that I’d been paying close attention to her, but if I were the kind of man to observe, I’d say she wasn’t sleeping well. She had bags under her eyes she mostly masked with make-up, but I knew she wasn’t getting enough rest.

  I knew from my texts with Telly that she’d at least had fun last night. It might have been a dirty play to woo her best friend to my side, but I was willing to do what I had to do.

  If only she would talk to me. If only she would be reasonable, we could deal with what was happening. But she wasn’t.

  What did you expect, for her to sit back and accept that you are going to take charge of her life? That’s not the kind of woman she is. Not exactly the kind of woman you want either.

  I knocked on her office door and there was no answer. “Liv, I’m heading over to East’s place. If you need anything, Erik is at the elevator.”

  She didn’t acknowledge a word.

  With a frustrated sigh, I sent her a text.

  Ben: Headed to East’s. Erik is at the elevator and Scott is waiting for you in the car downstairs to take you home. Please let me know when you leave so I won’t worry.

  We were going to resolve this eventually. We couldn’t keep living like this.

  Or you can just give her a suite at the hotel, assign her security, and be done with it.

  Just the idea of it made my jaw clench. She was safest with me.

  Or you will expose her to more danger.

  I left my office and told myself that I wasn’t trying to check my phone for a response from Liv as I sauntered to the car. Nope. That wasn’t me acting like a strung-out junkie. I was fine. I didn’t miss her at all. When I reached East’s penthouse, the elevator door eased open and I could hear my mates laughing about something. It sounded like East was telling the story about the time I’d gotten caught with my hand up Nancy Pomzy’s skirt in the rectory.

  Why the hell was he telling that story? They’d all been there.

  When I rounded the corner, I saw why.

  Livy was sitting in East’s kitchen, eating an enormous bowl of pasta, complete with fresh parmesan.

  She lifted her chin to me but didn’t say a word. She had a little bit of pasta sauce in the corner of her mouth, and, I wanted to lick it off. Matter of fact, I wanted to lay her out on the island, pour it all over her body, and then lick it off. Christ.

  “What are you doing here?” I asked after clearing my throat.

  “You and I had a deal, no more secrets. It seems you forgot to tell me about this little powwow with the lads.”

  I glanced at my mates, and Drew excused himself. East suddenly looked very interested in his phone, while Bridge grinned like an idiot.

  “I can’t wait to see how you get yourself out of this one, mate.”

  “Do you mind? Livy and I need to have a private conversation.”

  He sat back on his stool. “I don’t mind at all. Go right ahead. Chat away.”

  I glowered at him, waiting until, with a huff, he stood and followed East. When we were alone, I muttered, “I was worried about you. I went to your office, but you weren’t there. How the hell did you make it out without me?”

  “When you were on your call, I had Scott bring me over and told Erik I wanted to surprise you.”

  It looked like I was going to have to remind Erik that he worked for me and not her. I glanced down at my texts and didn’t find one from him, but he had emailed me with a non-urgent sit rep on her. I hadn’t noticed. Scott was likely waiting in the study until she needed to go somewhere.

  “You didn’t think it might be important to tell me where you were going? We need to work together, Liv.”

  “Olivia. You don’t get to call me Liv or Livy anymore.”

  “Is that so, Liv? How did you even know I was going to be up here today?”

  “Well, Telly helped me out with a little device. I cloned your phone.”

  My mouth hung open. “Come again?”

  “It’s very handy, actually. She said I wasn’t supposed to use it for something evil. But I don’t think this was evil considering all I used it for was taking a peek at your schedule.”

  “You cloned my goddamn phone?”

  “Yes, I did. And who is Rebecca?”

  I frowned. “What?”

  “Well, Rebecca texted earlier in case you missed it when you were in the shower. She said she wants your cock.”

  It suddenly occurred to me who Rebecca was. She was my summertime shag buddy. A flight attendant I’d met years ago. Every now and again, whenever she was in London, she’d call. We’d shag, nothing at all memorable. Just someone to pass the time if I was bored.

  Just to dick with Livy, I said, “She wants my cock, does she? Well, I miss her tight—”

  Olivia pushed to her feet then. “Well, I’m very happy for you. Now if you don’t mind, apparently there’s some kind of meeting happening right now.”

  She set the dish aside and tried to move past me, grabbing a napkin and wiping her lips. She was a little too rough, making her lips plump with the action.

  Hell. I wanted to lick them. I wanted to eat them. I wanted to suck on them until she moaned and let my tongue dip into her mouth. I wanted to stroke my tongue against hers, I wanted to make her moan on the countertop.

  I cleared my throat and shoved my hands in my pockets, rocking back on my heels. “This doesn’t concern you.”

  “Oh, yes it does. It absolutely concerns me, so you’re not getting rid of me.”

  Ben

  I was happier to see Lucas than I thought I would be when he arrived. It had been a while since I’d seen him. Six months? Since the coronati
on of his aunt as Queen of Nomea.

  For our initial meetings, we opted to mask them under the cover of London Lords business. Once things got underway though, we’d likely have to be more careful not to be seen together.

  Drew wasn’t all-in for the plan, but he at least wanted to be aware of what was happening so he could assist from afar.

  Lucas stood when everyone had been seated. “Right. Olivia, welcome to the team. It’s nice to officially meet you.”

  Olivia gave him a smirk then a nod of greeting. “I think I have been drafted more than voluntarily joined.”

  His grin flashed. “Well, it’s one of the best teams there is. Don’t look so worried. We’re probably not going to jail.” He gave an exaggerated eye roll when he said not. Which only made Livy squirm in her seat.

  I could only shake my head. “Sorry, Olivia, Lucas can be an arsehole.”

  “That’s fine. I’ve had a lot of practice dealing with that particular breed of man.” She didn’t look at me when she spoke, but I ground my teeth, knowing to whom she referred.

  Lucas clapped his hands together. “Okay, at the end of the day, we want to make this as smooth as possible with ideally no jail time. Though I look excellent in a jumpsuit.”

  East rolled his eyes and clicked the remote for the screen. “This is what we’re liberating.”

  He pulled up a photo of the bracelet holding the enormous diamond sitting at April Van Linsted’s wrist.

  Lucas whistled low. “Jesus Christ. When you said jewelry heist, you weren’t kidding.”

  Bridge nodded. “She’s certainly going to notice when we lift it.”

  Lucas shrugged. “Let’s not go worrying about that. Just run me through who the players are, and then we’ll come up with a plan. Nothing happens in a day.”

  Olivia watched him with rapt attention. She was looking at him with equal parts fascination and worry. Didn’t she know that I was going to take care of her? I would send her far out of the reaches of the law if I had to in order to keep her safe. And I was going to make sure none of our plans touched her. I’d already started to work on an alibi for her so that she could be as far away from any of this shit as possible.

  As we walked Lucas through our players, he took notes and asked a few questions.

  If I was being honest, Lucas seemed a little too happy to be stealing from some rich pricks. I knew I should be uncomfortable with that idea, but the Van Linsteds had it coming.

  By the time the meeting was over, Olivia was surrounded by security to take her back to the townhouse, and I hung back to talk to Lucas. He noticed how I watched Olivia walk out. “Ah, so you’ve been bitten?” Lucas asked.

  I scowled at him. “What?”

  “Olivia. She’s gorgeous.”

  I forced my fists to unfurl as I growled out, “You’re engaged.”

  He laughed. “Oh, I know. And Bryna is the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen. I’m just pointing out that you have good taste. So what’s the problem? Why is she sending you I hate you, but I still want to bone you looks?”

  How the fuck could he tell? “She doesn’t hate me.”

  Lucas laughed. “Oh man, you can see the tension around her mouth every time she looks at you, every time you speak. But her eyes still follow every move you make. You must have fucked up.”

  Arsehole. “Maybe.”

  He laughed. “Let me guess, you stole something from her?”

  I shook my head. “No. Worse. I didn’t mention that I might have been the one who put her life in danger.”

  Lucas whistled low. “Geez. You’ll be in the doghouse for a while. You tried sex yet?”

  Yes. I choked a laugh. “What?”

  “Sex. Usually, when Bryna is mad at me, I use it to get her to at least talk to me, and then we work it out.”

  “Yeah, this is beyond a good shag.” I didn’t mention I’d already tried that tactic. “She wants nothing to do with me.”

  Lucas winced. “Yeah, that’s not good.”

  I leaned back in my seat, letting the spring jostle my weight up and down. “So, Bryna doesn’t know what you’re doing?”

  He shook his head slowly. “No, she doesn’t.”

  “Are you going to tell her?”

  “Again, negative. When you love someone, you don’t drag them into this shit.”

  I winced. “I love Olivia.”

  “But still you dragged her into it?”

  “To be fair, I didn’t mean to drag her in at the time.”

  Lucas acknowledged me by raising a glass of scotch to his lips and taking a sip. “You didn’t mean to, but it still happened anyway.”

  “Yeah.”

  “Considering she can’t take her eyes off you, you probably still have a shot, but man, you’ve got some groveling to do.”

  “Tell me about it.” I rubbed at my jaw. “You think we’ll be able to pull this off?”

  “I certainly hope so. I lied earlier. No one looks good in a jumpsuit.”

  “Have you ever been arrested?”

  Lucas flashed the grin that very likely made him such an excellent conman. “No, mate. Never. Not once. I’m hard to catch. Also, I’m pretty. The prettier you are, the more people believe what you want them to believe, see what you want them to see. When I was at the height of this career, I could sell anything to anyone. I could make a snake oil producer think his snake oil cured cancer. That kind of power changes something in you. You have zero respect for people and life, and you have a shaky relationship with the truth, even for yourself. I didn’t like it.”

  “Then why are you out of retirement to help us?”

  Lucas licked his lips, studied his glass and set it down before leaning forward. “You called and needed help. And also… I don’t know. Sometimes I just feel like I don’t really have a place back at home.”

  “What are you talking about? You’re a fucking prince. You live in a goddamn palace.”

  “Right. But Seb doesn’t really need me. He has Penny. Sure, I’m a working royal, but I’m not necessary to them.”

  “I’m pretty sure you’re necessary to Bryna.”

  He shrugged. “I am. But it’s been two years now, and we’re not married.”

  “Long engagement, that’s all.”

  I wasn’t used to seeing him unsure. Everything about him said playboy prince. As if he’d been born to this life like I had. But I knew he hadn’t. And that definitely affected the decisions he made. He needed to feel like he was worth something.

  “Maybe. Or maybe she has realized that the good guy thing is an act.”

  “I’m not sure you see yourself clearly, Lucas.”

  “What about you? Do you see yourself clearly?”

  I didn’t know how the hell to answer that. I wasn’t sure any of us did. “All I know is that I need to fix this. I need to make things right for Emma, Toby’s sister, and for his mother. I didn’t do anything back then when we first lost him.”

  Lucas shrugged. “You didn’t know.”

  “Yeah, but the point is I should have known.”

  “You’re only human. The great Ben Covington is a mere mortal.”

  “And you, Prince Lucas of the Winston Isles, you are royalty and should not be doing this.”

  He shrugged. “Probably not. But at the end of the day, you need my help, and despite the fact that this is the first thing to get my blood buzzing since I found out I had a whole other family, it’s the right thing to do. We all have to stand up for something.”

  “None of my business, but we should probably tell Sebastian. And you should absolutely tell Bryna.”

  He shook his head. “Nah. I couldn’t take the disappointment on his face. Besides, it’s the only thing I’ve ever really been good at. It would be nice to know I’m still good at it. As for Bryna, I’m really good at using sex to get her to forgive me. If you want some pointers, I can help you out.”

  “No thanks. I think I can work out the mechanics on my own.”

  “If you�
��re sure. Because there’s this thing called the clitoris. Women will do anything for you if you know how to find it.”

  I laughed. “You’re a wanker.”

  “So Roone keeps telling me.”

  I rubbed my jaw as I considered him. “You promise that you are really going to see this through with us?”

  Lucas grinned. “Of course, man. When I told you I was the best, I wasn’t playing.”

  “That’s good, because we’re going to need the best, or we’re all going to get very, very dead.”

  11

  Livy

  “How are you holding up?” Telly’s voice was all concern.

  “I’m fine. Absolutely fine.”

  Telly laughed. “You’re still not giving him any sex?”

  “He is a liar, Tell.”

  “I know. I know. He tried to control you, and he was overbearing, and all those things. But God, he’s so sexy.”

  “Aren’t you supposed to be a lesbian?”

  “Listen, game recognizes game. And I recognize that man’s game. Besides, you seem happy when you’re with him.”

  “What?”

  “Okay, happy is maybe the wrong word. You seem challenged. You were never challenged with Dexter. Dex was easy until he became a problem. But he was intellectually easy. You didn’t have to think so hard, you could just go with the flow.”

  “That’s not how it was.” I lied.

  “You sure about that?”

  As I thought back, I frowned. Dex was smart, but he had a very linear way of thinking. When I told him I wanted to be a writer, he’d discouraged me, telling me how hard it was going to be. He’d even told me to be more original. After all, everyone in the world wanted to be a writer.

  When I told him I found my mother’s incomplete manuscript and I wanted to finish the story, he told me it was fine as long as it didn’t interfere with real goals.

  Prick.

  Telly was right. He could only see one view. Work for the man, do what you’re supposed to do for however many years. “Am I supposed to say that Ben isn’t like that?”