Bennett (Bourbon & Blood #1) by Seraphina Donavan Page A

depths of his soul. As far as Samuel Darcy concerned, everyone was fair game as collateral damage as long as he got what he wanted in the end.
    “ What are you doing here? ” she demanded, uncaring that her tone was clearly cold and unwelcoming.
    The caregiver, Elizabeth, gave her a sharp glance, but said nothing, as Samuel turned toward her with a cool glare.
    His smile was perfect, all gleaming teeth and dead eyes like the shark he was. “ That ’ s hardly an appropriate greeting for your father, is it? ”
    “ Excuse me, ” Elizabeth said and left the room quickly, obviously unnerved by the acrimonious undercurrent.
    “ You ’ re hardly an appropriate father, are you? ” Mia shot back with a bitter laugh. They had an arrangement that worked. They saw one another at the office when he deigned to show up otherwise, he stayed far away from her mother and from her.
    He set his glass down on the counter top, his controlled movements a stark contrast the fury in his gaze. “ I am you father, regardless of what you think of me. You won ’ t take that tone with me, girl. ”
    “ I ’ m not a girl. I ’ m a grown woman. And you don ’ t live here anymore. You hang your hat wherever your latest twenty-something mistress lives. You don ’ t get to just walk in and make yourself at home. ”
    “ But I do, ” he said with a smirk. “ My name is still on the deed. The woman in that bed, in what used to be my office, is still my legal responsibility. By law, as her husband, it is my duty to see to it that she is appropriately cared for. ”
    Mia sneered in disgust. He made her skin crawl more and more every day. The very idea that his blood coursed through her veins made her feel tainted. “ You ’ ve never once given a damn about what kind of husband you were to her … or what kind of father you were to us. You ’ re a megalomaniacal, sociopathic bastard and we both know it. So just cut the crap. I don ’ t have the time, and with your advancing years and bad habits, you definitely don ’ t. ”
    He continued as if she hadn ’ t even spoken, probably because she was deviating from the script he ’ d already mapped out in his head. People weren ’ t real to him, they weren ’ t three dimensional beings with thoughts and feelings of their own. Everything, in his self-absorbed and narrow little world, revolved around him. “ Then, of course, there is my moral obligation to ensure that her caregivers have only her best interests at heart. You and I had an agreement, Amelia Renae, and I think you need to be reminded of that. ”
    It shouldn ’ t be possible to hate someone this much, she thought. The darkness, the bitterness and the consuming fury all whirling inside her should have swallowed her whole. Or if there was any justice in the universe, they should have incinerated him on the spot.
    “ I ’ m unlikely to forget it. And if I should, ” she added, “ You ’ re always eager to remind me. ”
    His gaze was hard and cold when it settled on her. “ The way I see it, your overnight guest violated the terms of our agreement. You were supposed to stay away from Bennett Hayes. ”
    “ Spying on me? ” she asked, opening the refrigerator and grabbing a bottle of wine. She poured one for herself but made no motion to offer him any. When he reached for the bottle, she snatched it back and placed it in the fridge. It was a small gesture, but she felt small inside. Mean and petty and full of fury.
    “ You ’ re not making it difficult, what with him climbing out of your bedroom window in the wee hours of the morning, ” he said. “ But you always did like to court gossip. ”
    “ And you liked to court everything else … though court might be too rarified a term for some of the women you ’ ve entertained. ” He had her on the defensive and she didn ’ t like it.
    He rose to his full height and stood close to her. It was an old tactic, intended to intimidate her. Somehow, over the years, it had lost