Reluctantly His – Gilded Decadence Read Online Zoe Blake, Alta Hensley

Categories Genre: Alpha Male, Dark, Forbidden, Mafia, Virgin Tags Authors: ,
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Total pages in book: 81
Estimated words: 77335 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 387(@200wpm)___ 309(@250wpm)___ 258(@300wpm)
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It bought distance.

Unlike most people, I wasn’t forced to face my conflicted feelings toward my children.

They were raised by nannies and tutors, followed by a succession of boarding schools.

Part of an opposing army, doomed to never breach the wall.

To never close the distance.

And that was why I was now lurking in the darkness, like a fiend of the theatre, unable to show my face.

I didn’t deserve to share in this happy moment.

And while I may not approve of the son-of-a-bitch she was marrying, he was at least one of the Texas Taylors. Truth was, even though none of my children married the way I’d planned, they had, at least, each married lucratively—if not strategically.

It was the strategic element that now caused problems for me.

Business was war. A man could build an empire on his own, but strategic alliances were what maintained it. Otherwise, any business was vulnerable.

With Luc cutting Manwarring ties with the Irish mob, we were losing both a crucial ally and money resource, but more importantly—we had now made a dangerous enemy.

As the crowd below cheered and Charlotte kissed her chosen groom, I left.

I had work to do.

I turned my collar up against the freezing rain and lifted my arm to signal to my waiting driver.

Just then, a beauty in a crimson silk gown completely unsuitable to the weather slipped on the ice nearby and collided against me.

My arm encircled her waist to steady her as my fingertips grazed the exposed skin of her lower back.

Without thinking, I instinctively opened my overcoat, pulled her against my chest, and wrapped the warm, soft wool around her bare shoulders.

Laughing, she pushed her golden-brown hair away from her eyes and looked up at me. “I’m sorry, I… oh—” Her smile faded. “It’s you.”

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