Ms. Holly Bargo
2015
“I am disappointed in you, Atlas Leonidus. This was ill done.” “But it is done,” he said quietly, with a smidgeon of misgiving, even as he looked over the woman’s lush body revealed to his gaze. “She has already begun to quicken. The process will hasten when the she accepts the mating claim and returns it.” Bianca simply shook her head. His lordship sometimes forgot that in these modern times, women did not simply accept fate. They determined their own paths in life. She asked her master to transfer the woman from the chaise lounge to the bed. “Poor dear,” she murmured and smoothed the woman’s damp hair from her forehead. “She is not so poor,” Leonidus objected, stung and insulted. “She is my mate. Mine. And she will have the benefit of all my wealth.” “As you say, my lord,” Bianca replied. But he was not finished. “When she wakes, neither you nor Baptiste nor any of the staff are to speak so much as a single word to her. She shall hear none but my voice, know no touch but by my hand.” Baptist opened his mouth to object, but a sharp gesture cut him off before the words erupted from his throat. “So I have spoken, so shall it be done.” Both servants bowed their heads in obedience to the ancient king of a long defunct, petty kingdom. “Notify me when she wakens. I still have a murder to investigate.” They nodded obediently. Detective Atlas Leonidus swept from the room like a king exiting an audience room. Which he was, more or less.
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