Chapter 24

• Lucas could literally feel himself freezing into an ice pillar while still wanting to strangle her into silence. Did he deserve such a character assassination? Well, so much for the winning power of a marriage proposal and a rich and powerful husband! But offended and infuriated as he was by Layla and the awareness that he had seriously underestimated her temper, he was more fixated on where she planned to go when she appeared to have neither money nor any suitable friends or family to live with. Recognizing that Layla needed to cool off before he could even hope to reason with her, he reached into his wallet to withdraw a card and extended it.
• I own the hotel. It’s small and discreet, and you only need to show the card at reception to be accommodated. My driver will take you there...
• In the grip of frantic thought and the blistering emotional turmoil that their encounter had provoked, Layla accepted the card. She had to go somewhere, and she had no place else to think. She wretchedly dumped her pride. ‘OK.’