Testing The Limits by Harper Cole Read Free Book Online

and ordered the tiramisu. I opted for prune and Armagnac ice-cream; quite the most bizarre sounding thing, but delicious nonetheless.
    "Oh my God." Jasmine's voice was a whisper and she stared, her eyes wide, over my shoulder, in the direction of the kitchens. No one else seemed to have noticed what had taken her attention. It was rude of me, but I shifted in my chair to follow her gaze.
    No. No. Him?
    The man who was coming towards us, carrying our desserts, was dressed in a sober black suit - but he was not a waiter.
    The room seemed suddenly free of staff, in fact. Remarkable.
    And I thought his reach had a limit? Apparently not. My father placed the plates on our table, and stepped back one pace, folding his arms behind his back, as if awaiting thanks.
    Jasmine was white in the face once more, and her fists were tightly curled and trembling. No wonder. The bastard had held her against her will. His henchmen had snatched her from her flat, and dragged her halfway across London. I was surprised my little firebrand wasn't jumping to her feet and stabbing him in the eye with a fork, to be honest.
    Ahh - no. She had no need, for I was here. The man, the protector.
    I did not stand up. I leaned back and tried my damndest to seem as casual as hell. "Good evening."
    As challenging opening lines went, it wasn't the best, but I put as much menace into my voice as I could.
    Leonard Walker-Wilkinson, Member of Parliament, CEO of a dozen companies, with a dozen more at his beck and call, smiled slowly. "Not for you. I would rather suggest it's a bad evening, Andrew."
    I nodded around. I knew everyone in the room was listening and trying desperately to seem as if they weren't listening. "And what are you proposing to do, then?" I would not call him father . No. "Spit in my ice-cream?"
    "Metaphorically speaking. I simply dropped by to give you a message."
    "You dropped by."
    "I did."
    He would have gone to my townhouse first, then, and discovered where I was. One of my staff members has talked. I would find out who, and dismiss them. I wasn't going to play my father's game and ask him how he knew where I was; it was easily worked out.
    "And your message?" I said, affecting studied boredom.
    He could play the game as well as I could. In fact, I had learned the game from watching him, and he was a master at it. Equally languid, as if discussing cricket scores, he said, "Oh, merely that henceforth you are not to be considered as my son. You are formally and publicly disinherited. My will has been amended accordingly. Any doors open to you in respect of you name are now closed. I am pleased that my titles are not hereditary. Good evening." He had the audacity to incline his head towards Jasmine, as if he was somehow respectful, and then he sailed away, a smug and pompous bastard reveling in the attention and the stir he had created.
    I continued to sit back, processing the turn of events. I looked at Jasmine, and shrugged.
    "Well, bully for him," I said, loudly enough that the eavesdroppers would be in no doubt that I cared nothing for what had just happened. "What a relief, don't you think?"
    She narrowed her eyes at me. But my training was taking hold, because she didn't say anything. She pushed her tiramisu out of the way, and said, "I don't feel so hungry for that any longer."
    "More wine?"
    "Oh yes," she said, a grim smile appearing on her face. "Sure. Definitely yes to more wine, please."
    The wait staff had re-emerged from whichever hidey holes he'd paid them to retreat to. I flicked my hand at one, who brought over a fresh bottle of spicy red.
    Was this it? The end of the feud?
    Or did it mark the beginning?
     
     

Chapter Eight - Jas
     
     
    It was like Andrew's father's actions set off a whole chain of events. I mean, I don't believe in synchronicity and magic and any kind of new age hippy bullshit, but it sure seemed like Andrew's disinheritance foretold my own.
    Okay, so, "disinheritance" is a kinda strong way of putting it.