Chapter One
Lily Jones glanced down over the gardens, enjoying the view she'd seen for the past twenty-one years of her life. The only piece of furniture destroying the usual perfect scenery was the man who stood off to the side of the pond, currently talking into a mobile phone. God, how she hated him with his money, power, and general attitude of “I own everything and everyone.” How could anyone wish to be near him?
Her short conversations with him revolved around the power of money. According to him, every person had his price. Some were harder to find the price than others.
Yeah, he was a good-looking man and filthy rich, but what else was there to Wayne Brown? His jet-black hair had some length to it but didn’t obstruct his sight like some men’s seemed to. His green eyes were completely out of place against the darkness of his hair. Wayne was tall—he crowded around her when they were next to each other—and always clean-shaven. The main problem, Wayne knew his effect on the opposite sex, and it made him cocky.
Lily jumped back from the curtain as he glanced up to her window, a smirk on his face. He seemed to look right into her eyes even though she was behind the curtain. The distance was no barrier between them. She saw the mock smile appear on his features, and she cursed herself for the time spent dwelling on why he was there in the first place. Shaking her head against the confusing thoughts, Lily made her way out of the room and down into the comfort of the kitchen.
Tessa, the family cook, had been laid off a few months ago, and Lily was grateful she’d started to take cookery classes, otherwise they’d have all been screwed. Her father didn’t even know what a kitchen looked like. Her mother refused to break a nail, and her older sister sneered at the slave work. Slave work that kept her well-fed. Unfortunately, feeding them had turned to her. It was not difficult provided they liked the simple dishes she could cook, but they all expected some French masterpiece.
What had happened to their family to fall on such bad times? Lily’s birth had been a mistake to the family, as her parents and sister liked to tell her. The money troubles started long before then.
The thoughts depressed her. Lily got up from her knees, smoothed out the creases in her dress, and went down to the kitchen. Dinner would be expected in over an hour, and she’d rather be in the kitchen, with her troubled thoughts, than looking out the window at the man who gave her troubled sleep.
As always, the kitchen was empty, and she got around to prepare the equipment she’d need for dinner. She took the potatoes to the sink full of water. Lily turned to the sink, peeling the dirty potatoes. She jumped out of her skin as Wayne stood on the other side staring in through the window. He smiled and waved at her, and Lily frowned. The blush already spread up to her cheeks from her neck. It was humiliating being affected this way by a man twelve years older than she.
She finished the potatoes and tried not to look out at him. She knew he was still there, could sense him like a second skin. Lily put the peeled and washed potatoes into a sieve and took them to the tabletop in the centre of the room, purposefully showing him her back. She tried to think of good things, walks on the beach, snow at Christmas, twinkling fairy lights. Lily would do anything to take her mind away from the man outside.
“What’s for dinner?” His deep masculine voice spoke right next to her ear, making her shriek and the potato, she’d been about to cut, shot across the room.
“You do know it’s polite to knock,” she said as she retrieved the spud and gave it a good wash.
“You saw me, Lily. I figured you’d heard me.” Wayne stood in her space, refusing to move. She placed the spud in with the others and placed them on the hob to boil. “Why are you in kitchen doing the cooking?”
“Do you want to be fed?” she snapped.
“Where is Tessa, the cook I was promised?” Today she couldn’t deal with him. His cologne was strong and far from being unpleasant. Her pussy was already reacting, her cream dripping into her panties. This is mortifying. No other man can make my body react the way he can..
“Tessa was laid off, and my father said he couldn’t afford her anymore.” It’s not your sham, she chanted to herself, and maybe one day she could look back and believe it.
“The cooking fell to you?”
“Obviously.” Lily moved away from him to go to the fridge. She got out the mincemeat and the fresh tomatoes she’d picked from the small vegetable garden she maintained. Anything to keep expenses down.
“Your mother or sister?”
Lily laughed, the sound instant, as if his statement had been the most hilarious thing she’d heard. In a way, it was. Trying to imagine the posh, stern women in the kitchen was quite funny. She pictured a caricature of her mother looking at a carrot and wondering what to do with it.
“Ah, there you are.” Her older sister, Stephanie, walked in, destroying the image. Lily turned away. The false happiness would make any strong-stomached person want to throw up.
“Why does Lily do all the cooking?” Shocked, Lily looked at Wayne. He seemed to be furious.
“She does it so well.” Her sister laughed. She moved closer to run a hand down his chest. Jealousy spiked through Lily, fast and sharp. Not liking the emotion one bit, she turned away and continued to pull stuff out of the fridge.
“You mean, you and the rest can’t be bothered, so treat the youngest like a slave.” Wayne growled at her sister. Lily was amazed. Every other man who spoke to Stephanie did so with the intention of getting in her bed. Wayne didn’t act like that. It was almost as if he regarded her as a pest rather than a potential lover. Biting her lip, Lilly watched him disappear out of the kitchen. The moment he was gone, Stephanie turned all of her malice toward her. Her true character brought to the surface.
“This is your fault, bitch. You’ve been spreading lies about us, about me.”
Lily shook her head. When Stephanie got into one of her rages, she looked ugly from the inside out. “No, I’ve not said anything,” Lily said. Stephanie latched onto her. Her nails cut into her arms. Her skin was delicate and she knew she’d bruise in a few hours from the rough contact.
“He’s my meal ticket out of here, away from all of this shit. You ruin anything. I’ll make you pay for the rest of your life.” Stephanie thrust her away and charged out of the kitchen. Lily cried out as she collapsed against the counter, knocking off the bowl of tomatoes that fell onto the floor. Trying to stem the flow of tears threatening to come up, she moved to the side and chopped onions. If Wayne decided to come back and check on her, she could mask the tears with the onions.
She was the cook, cleaner, and general house staff. Her job was to serve, not to be part of the family. For the longest time, Lily had been the outsider, the youngest born who was more interested in books than fancy parties and boys.
Mum, Dad, and Stephanie were the true family. She just wished she knew what had gone wrong for them to hate her so much—from a young girl to the adult she was now.
****
Wayne watched the sister brutalize Lily. The fears on the young girl’s face calling to the protector in him. She didn’t deserve this life—to cook, clean, and beg for the little bit of attention they gave her. He made sure Stephanie didn’t see him hiding behind the curtain, and for that, he was glad. She would suffer and so would the rest of her family.
He glanced back to look at the girl he’d come to cherish. Wayne had first seen her at a ball. He requested the presence of Jones family to join him. It was a charity banquet, and Lily had only been nineteen at the time. The moment she entered the great hall, his heart had stopped. For the entire evening, he’d tried to approach her, talk to her. Every time he got close, someone or something got in the way. Eventually he conceded defeat as he watched her leave with her family. Wayne had made it his passion to find out more about the quiet, startling beauty who captured his attention like no other woman.
After so many parties and events, Wayne got the chance to be near Lily to talk, but every conversation ended with talks about money. There was no chance to explore all he wanted to know about her.
Her family’s dire situation had come to his attention by accident. He’d overheard a conversation at the bank, and a few discussions with some friends and business associates. There was a hefty sum of money needed to buy their debt, and all he had to do was put the wheels in motion for the Jones’s family.
Two years on and he had everything he desired at his fingertips: money, power, and the upper hand. He knew Lily's thoughts about him were less than appealing from the way she tried to avoid him, and the expressions on her face gave her away. In fact, she spent most of the time trying to steer clear of him, after today, no more.
Wayne Brown wanted her, and he intended to have her.
Leaving his hiding place, he went in search of Lily’s father and mother. George and Jessica Jones should be more than happy with what he had in mind. After all, it was the expected outcome from families within their higher circles. Once the hard times hit, it took George and Jessica Jones years to accept their doomed fate and they continued to spend money they did not have. Families who participated in marriages of convenience, and all that nonsense, expanded their social status.
Their marriage would start out as convenience, but he wanted to ignite and consume the passion he saw sparkle within her. Her own fire needed to be stroked by him and him alone.