Weight Of Wanting

"I won't take that long to sign the contract if my mother's life depended on it," he said, with a voice mocking yet calm. If a sly fox had a human voice, I believe it would sound just like he did in that moment.

"You should be thankful I'm even giving you this chance to prove her innocence. If it weren't for my gratitude toward your mother's care, however fake it might have been, I wouldn't give you a second glance." A scowl crested his face, irritation dripping from his very being.

But despite himself, his roaming eyes didn't sit well with either his words or his expression. His burning gaze brushed over my exposed thighs and higher, which made my skin crawl. Worst part? Satisfaction spread through my heart the longer his eyes stayed on me, and the more pained he looked about it.
☆☆☆

Emma Sinclair spent her childhood in the servant quarters of the Ashworth mansion, dodging the sharp tongue and sharper pranks of the one boy she couldn't stand: Nathaniel Ashworth.

He's the heir to the Ashworth household, spoiled rotten, and entirely too pleased with himself. The day she left for school, she promised herself she'd never look back.
But fate has always treated Emma like she ran off with her husband. So it's no surprise she's dragged back, and this time, not only her own survival depends on how she plays her hand, but the survival of everyone she loves.

Staff have been disappearing from the Ashworth estate, one after another and Nathaniel has a suspect: Emma's mother.

But Emma has no proof, no allies, and no way to investigate a mystery this dangerous and poisonous. So the man trying to expose her mother becomes the one person she needs to help prove him wrong.

But neither of them counted on how complicated it would get once a lifetime of hating each other starts slipping and new feelings surface. Or maybe the feelings were never new at all.