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CHAPTER 21
“Don’t push it, Gloriana. You weren’t exactly forthcoming with the truth when I questioned you.”
“That’s because I don’t find it beneficial to bash my head against a brick wall, Griffin.”
She saw a muscle tick in his jaw as he gazed at her from under hooded eyes.
“Tell me why I found you hiding a joint under Em’s mattress when you were fourteen.”
“Wow… I thought you were apologizing…” she countered.
“I did.”
“You should work on it…”
Griffin said nothing, his expression coolly assessing. It was a look Gloriana had come to recognize. It meant that he fully intended to get his own way.
“Don’t use your courtroom tactics with me, Griffin,” she said frostily. “They won’t work
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ALWAYS BE MY BABY CHAPTER 22
Gloriana closed the last page of the play and stared vacantly into the open fire John, the family butler, had lit for her earlier that night. The writer had captured a side of her parents she hadn’t known about. He had focused on their struggles and their hunger for fame and what had driven it, rather than just the consequence of it. The result was an aspect of their lives Gloriana knew about from her mother’s diaries but which the press rarely focused on. It was an aspect that always caused Gloriana to regret who they had become. She had expected that reading the play would instill in her a renewed sense of disgust at their wasted lives, and it had, sort of, but what she hadn’t expected was that it would fill her with a sense of yearning for them still to be around. For a chance to get to
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She smiled and the almost shy look she cast from under her lashes caught him in the solar plexus.“That’s nice to know.”“That’s only because I’m not here all that often,” Griffin teased.“I don’t believe you. And you’re spoiling it again,” Gloriana scolded, picking up on the falseness behind his words.“Come over here… Come by the fire,” he murmured, mentally rolling his eyes at the stupidity of that suggestion. But she did, and he poked at the fire while she found a comfortable position on the rug.“What was it like growing up in your world, Griff?” she asked, watching him carefully as he sat down opposite her, his drink dangled over one knee. Griffin didn’t like talkin
ALWAYS BE MY BABY CHAPTER 24
Gloriana stared at Griffin and willed the ground to open up and devour one of them. She’d been having such a nice time and now he’d gone and ruined it.“You… don’t know what you’re talking about,” she whispered, trying to ignore the lump in her throat to subside. She stared at the fire and realized she was about to cry. She never cried, and she wasn’t about to start in Griffin’s presence.“Gloriana…’ Gloriana quickly scrambled to her feet, holding her hands out in front of her as Griffin made to do the same.“I’m…” The words wouldn’t come and she turned to flee, but Griffin caught her.“I can’t let you l
ALWAYS BE MY BABY CHAPTER 25
“I’ll be right back, baby,” he murmured against her mouth, and Gloriana flopped back against her pillows as Griffin quietly closed the bedroom door behind him. She’d almost felt sick earlier when she’d woken in the early morning light to find Griffin trying to slip out of her bed without waking her. He’d pulled on his jeans, a frown marring his perfect features, and then he’d noticed her watching him. He’d looked remote, but then, his eyes had devoured her and he’d walked over and let his lips show Gloriana just how much he wanted her.“‘I’m going to make you a cup of tea’,” Griffin had whispered, and she’d smiled and trailed her hand down his naked chest. She didn’t really want tea, just h
ALWAYS BE MY BABY CHAPTER 26
He’d never woken up having held a woman all night before. In fact, he usually tried to find a plausible excuse not to wake up with one at all, and Griffin didn’t mind admitting that having Glow snuggled against him like a warm, sleepy kitten had scared the hell out of him. If he’d thought the first experience with her had been mind-blowing, then last night had been indescribable. She’d been completely abandoned in his arms and he… Suffice it to say it had been the most complete, the most intimate experience he’d ever had with a woman, even more unsettling than making love to her five nights ago. Griffin had tried to sneak out of bed, but she’d woken when he was halfway into his jeans. He’d turned when he heard the bedcovers rustling to find her leaning up on one elbow, the linen
ALWAYS BE MY BABY CHAPTER 27
‘Where the hell is she?’ Griffin scowled as he leaned against one of the sideboards in the main drawing room, sipping from a glace of Scotch and talking with one of Kostas’s cousins while awaiting the remaining guests for the rehearsal dinner. A waiter discreetly circulated amongst those already present, and Griffin glanced through the open double doors to where a lavish dining setting, resplendent with antique crystalware, awaited twenty-four of Emeline and Kostas’s close friends and family for the rehearsal dinner. Griffin knew he should’ve been in a better mood, given that his kid sister was marrying one of his oldest friends the following day, but he wasn’t. After his run-in with Emeline this morni
ALWAYS BE MY BABY CHAPTER 28
‘What the hell was she talking about?’ Griffin asked himself frowning. ‘As if I give a damn about Isabelle’s lineage… or her, for that matter.’“Forget Isabelle Pearson. She’s irrelevant right now.”“She’d no doubt be upset to hear you say that.” Griffin frowned again. This conversation wasn’t going at all as he’d planned. He declined a glass of champagne as a passing waiter stopped, and determinedly turned his back on an Italian count he’d befriended at Harvard.“You know… Since we have this moment alone, I’d like to thank you for your help in solving my case. The detective told me everything you did,” Gloriana said politely.“It was nothing… Don’t mention it,” Griffin replied and wa
ALWAYS BE MY BABY CHAPTER 29
Trouble with a capital T, Griffin reminded himself the following morning as he stood beside Kostas in morning suit and top hat at the entrance to the Gothic cathedral, making small talk with yet another expensively dressed wedding guest. It was a splendid day, except the sun had come out to grace Emeline’s big day and brought half the paparazzi in the Western world along with it. No doubt the combined news of Gloriana’s near arrest and subsequent release and the many royal attendants at Emeline’s wedding was causing them to swarm like cockroaches. The local law enforcement was also out in force, to keep intruders at bay, as well as a top London security firm that looked as if it employed some of the men from Gloriana’s premiere. And if Griffin
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