Free Seducing the Chambermaid [Notorious Nephilim 2] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) by Carolyn Rosewood

said she wanted to die with a clear head so she could take the memory of my face to heaven with her.”
    Andras gently wiped away her tears before she realized she was crying. “I can’t imagine what that must have been like.” His voice was soft and tender.
    “My father didn’t always work for Frankie. He couldn’t pay my mother’s medical bills, you see. He never made much money working in the factory to begin with, and well, Frankie stepped in. He knew my father through several business associates, as he called them, and he paid her bills. But then my father had to quit the factory and work for him.”
    “How is it you were never forced into their dealings?”
    “I stayed out of their way, and they didn’t bother me. Not until…” She searched Andras’s face again, wishing she had the courage to tell him everything. Was there really any reason not to trust him? Just because he didn’t want to make love to her again didn’t mean he didn’t care what happened to her. Unless he was faking all this, but Blair didn’t think he was. What would be the point?
    “Until what?” he asked, stroking her arm. She wished he’d stop doing that. His touch sent jolts of electricity straight to her soaking-wet pussy. Didn’t he realize the effect he had on her? Why did he have to tease her so?
    “There was this man—an associate of my father’s. Well, of Frankie’s, actually. But he started coming over to our house a lot once I turned eighteen.” Andras’s eyes grew dark, and a muscle twitched in his jaw. “His name was Lenny Wilson. The reason I became distracted in Mrs. Stanton’s room the other day is because she had a Tribune in there, and it had a front-page story about Lenny being found dead. They suspect Frankie or his men are behind it.”
    “Go on.” Andras’s stroking stopped, but he held onto her arm. His touch was so warm and relaxing. Blair felt that odd slipping sensation again, like she wanted to tell him everything. How could a man command such power with only his eyes and the touch of his hand?
    “Lenny was my father’s age. He always smelled like cabbage and rotting food. About six months ago my father told me I had to marry him.”
    “What? Why?”
    Blair lowered her gaze to the food on her plate. He’d gone to all this trouble, and she’d barely eaten anything. “Those news clippings you and Leo showed me have it backward. My father is the one who’s been stealing from Frankie. He’s been skimming money. He thought he was too smart to get caught. But one of Frankie’s goons—Tommy, I think his name is—found out. He threatened to tell Frankie if my father didn’t pay it all back, with interest.”
    Andras leaned back in his chair and shook his head. “Let me guess. Lenny offered to pay off your father’s debt in exchange for his daughter.”
    Blair nodded. The shame she now felt was worse than the earlier realization he and Leo regretted what they’d done with her and had no intentions of repeating it, despite what they’d said in Leo’s office.
    “Blair, did he hurt you?”
    “What? No. I mean, he never…you know.” She shuddered as the memories of Lenny’s unwanted attention forced their way back in. “He tried to kiss me and feel me up, that’s all.”
    “That’s bad enough.”
    “He was mostly talk.” She picked at a forkful of vegetables. “He would tell me all sorts of depraved things he intended to do once we were married. The night I found the jewelry, I was hiding in the alley because I was tired of him showing up where I worked to walk me home. I didn’t want to be alone with him anymore. I was sneaking through the back ways, trying to get home without him finding me.”
     
    * * * *
     
    Andras wished he’d never asked. Fresh guilt coursed through him with each new revelation. He had to tell all this to Leo. How could a man think of giving his own daughter to someone in exchange for his debt?
    Blair had more inner strength than she realized. To have