Conquered: She Who Dares Book Two Read Online Free PDF Page A

late.”
    “Yeah, you should be.” I grumble. “Anyway. I’m here now so you can stop bitching.” My head is pounding and I have to rest it on my hands for a second whilst the room stops spinning.
    “Would you like a croissant? It might make you feel better.” He smiles. I narrow my eyes at him.
    “No, I do not want a bloody croissant.” He is far too smug about this situation right now.
    He shrugs. “Okay. So from the article I saw spread all over my morning paper, I’m assuming this…” He points to me.”…is about a woman.”
    “Isn’t it always?” I smile humourlessly at him. “What article?” I frown.
    “Oh, something about a solicitor, and a pregnant woman. There was a picture of you pinning some red head up against a car. She’s hot.” He shrugs. “It was only a matter of time before you got some poor girl knocked up.”
    “Fucking vermin.” I mumble. I hate the press. They’re all pricks.
    The waiter brings me my scotch, which I down. I shudder. God, that shit is nasty. My stomach rebels against the alcohol. Keep it down, keep it down. In ten minutes, this will sort me right out. If I don’t throw up beforehand that is.
    He shakes his head as he chuckles. “You’re a crazy bastard.”
    I shrug. “I’ll take that.”
    “So, is it true? You get some girl knocked up?” His face is serious, and I start to suspect that he didn’t just read this today.
    I sigh. He knows the whole story, he always does. He’s just stringing me along. “Why are you here Will?”
    He pauses for a moment and looks across the room. “I’m concerned.”
    I snort. “If you’re concerned about me then don’t bother.”
    He rolls his eyes. “If you want to get trashed, knock up half of London and catch every STD under the sun I couldn’t give two fucks. What concerns me is that you’re doing it for all to see. It looks bad on the company.”
    Typical of my brother, it’s all about the company. “The press always portray me as the bad boy. It hasn’t damaged the company so far.” My headache is starting to slowly recede. “And you’re not exactly one to talk. You were just as bad until you got that ball and chain clapped around your ankle.” He scowls at me. He hates me referring to Dulcie as a ball and chain. She’s actually lovely, but my brother has turned into a completely different person since meeting her. Maybe that’s what love does to you. It definitely changed me, it also destroying me.
    He leans forward and meets my eyes. “It didn’t hurt the company when we burst onto the scene as fresh faced business wonder boys. They loved that we were young, exciting, different, something the London business world hadn’t seen.” He takes a sip of his tea. “Now, we’re older. Clients expect professionalism from us. Before long you’re going to be thirty, still drinking and fucking everything with a pulse. If you want to continue to be taken seriously you need to evolve Theo. Everyone has to grow up at some point. I did.” I stare at the empty scotch glass in front of me. I really hate taking shit off my brother. “Cat tells me you were really serious with someone.” He probes.
    I huff a laugh. “Despite your opinion of me, it would seem that I am capable of that, yes.” I frown down at my hands. In his eyes I’m just his joke of a kid brother. I don’t want to admit what a joke I really am. That I had unknowingly fucked Lilly over before we even started. I’ve never felt like a failure before. Everything I’ve touched has always turned to gold, but it seems so trivial in the light of this one failure. Somehow to fail this is to fail everything. “It doesn’t matter now, it’s over anyway.” Fucking hell. I need another glass of scotch. I summon a waiter and order scotch, but Will quickly changes it to a coffee. I can’t even be bothered to fight with him. My mind zones out as the ice cold grip of pain starts to wind its way around my heart again.
    “Hey.” Will says quietly.