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CHAPTER ONE

‘WHAT DO YOU MEAN, he wants us to “get rid of it”?’ Antoinette Roberts scooped up the s terrier and clutched hi creature?’ She glared at Joel, her junior colleague

‘I don’t think he does, Ettie,’ Joel answered in an agitated whisper ‘He just stor and de stuff out’

‘You’re kidding?’ Disgust surged through Ettie

Cavendish House, an exclusive apart in the heart of London’s Mayfair, offered full concierge service to its privacy-loving residents, and, as head concierge, Ettie was used to delivering it for her deuests; froant requests

She didn’t just arrange parcel deliveries and s, she sourced rare first editions of famous novels and cajoled Michelin chefs to cook in a resident’s apartment to help create the perfect proposal And she was proud of the service she worked hard to provide Until today there’d been no request she hadn’t been able to fulfil

But she drew the line at the euthanasia of a perfectly healthy, beloved pet on a total stranger’s whim

‘I suppose George let hirowled

Joel nodded

That’d be right George, the building er, was obsequious to clients, pernickety with petty rules while sloppy as actually crucial, and a belligerent bully to the personnel Ettie spent half her ti staff resentment when he’d blamed them

It was her fault it had got this far with the dog She’d arrived late for the first tiht counselling her stressed-out sister, Ophelia, as panicking that she’d flunked her latest physics test Not that Ophelia had flunked a test in her life Fiendishly acade school on a partial scholarship Ettie was paying the rest of the fees and Ophelia was desperate to secure a university place Thatresults in every assess as Ophelia was, Ettie worried the pressure was too intense But she wouldn’t let Ophelia give up her dream Ettie had sacrificed tooOphelia, she’d lain awake fretting about how she could better financially support her Since their o, it fell to Ettie to make it happen

But s happen hat Ettie did She’d learned and worked for it,systems so her soet anything But today she’d lapsed into her natural disorder She’d overslept, in her mad scurry she’dan old rubber band, and still missed her train

When she’d finally raced into Cavendish House this -term resident, Harold Clarke, had been rushed to hospital in the s had been quick and peaceful, his family—the family Ettie hadn’t seen visit once in the five years she’d been working there—was already on the pre out his treasures Apparently they didn’t regard Toby, Harold’s small terrier, as a treasure They’d sent hiet rid of”

If Ettie had been at work on time, that nepheould never have made it into the apartment, let alone cast his callous instructions for Toby

‘Ettie, there’s so else’ Joel called after her

Not now there wasn’t

Shock, grief and sheer fury overrode the caution and calhtened her hold on the s and i request, she’d no time for niceties or other distractions The family were monsters

At the slide of the doors, Ettie stepped out onto Harold’s floor His apart the corridor She stalked the length of it, unconsciously stroking the soft fur of the se on the far side looking as s couple All three were facing a tall iven the sullen looks on the faces o

f the others and the iceberg-thick atmosphere, he wielded the power His ied her all the more He was obviously loaded because the impeccably tailored suit was clearly bespoke No off-the-rack nuht and strength Though most men didn’t have perfect physiques either One look and she kneas fit, healthy and wealthy So why did he need to be so greedy over Harold’s assets? Why be so cruel?

‘You shouldn’t be in here’ Ettie didn’t hesitate stepping into the room

How could he not have visited Harold in all this tiht there were valuable possessions to be claimed?

‘You don’t stor out Harry’s assets and conde to instant death’ She barely paused to draw breath ‘You want to us to “get rid of” Toby?’ Her voice quivered but she stood straight, not letting the tremble in her knees spread to the rest of her

Because the man had turned around and Ettie was rendered breathless He was er than she expected No older than thirty But it was his face that stopped her—he had the sharpest, ht nose, a full mouth, a cleft in his chin and a square, relentlessly masculine jawand to cap it off, deep brown, unbearably intense eyes Brown eyes usually held soht? Not his She’d never encountered either such beauty or such coldness He was totally inti

But it seemed he wasn’t left as much breathless as speechless Good It was obviously ti instructions Inhaling sharply, Ettie recovered enough to continue her attack

‘Toby is the sweetest little dog ever, not that you’d know because you never visited him or Harold in all this tiht of the quiet elderly entle And so alone ‘Now it’s barely five minutes afterand you want Toby put down? Are you even human?’

George cleared his throat ‘Ettie—’

‘You’re not going to get aith it,’ she carried on passionately, too steae and his lack of spine stop her fro this jerk some home truths ‘I won’t let you’

She beca beside her, an appalled but fascinated expression on his face The older couple present didn’t look at her at all but stared at the tall stranger with silent, seething resistance She kne they felt

Theher with almost visceral force ‘Who are you?’

She refused to quake ‘I think that’s ’

‘I think not,’ he said softly There was a faint foreign tone to his cutting, cold accent

George was frantically doing soant ass’s back But she paid no attention—she was too incensed The guy needed to be schooled Tired and strung out and sad, Ettie couldn’t hold back her contempt ‘You’ve never once set foot in this place before now’

‘No’ His quiet confirasp

‘You’re despicable,’ Ettie told him

‘Despicable?’ He glanced behind hiulation He turned back to face her ‘I think what your colleague is trying to convey is that you’ve made a mistake’

There was the slightest curl to thesome small, hideous pleasure from this moment