The Reluctant Duke Read Free Page B

brother, the rakishly handsome actor Jordan Sinclair, which had to make the austerely attractive blond-haired man standing beside him his twin brother Gideon.
    But Lexie’s grandmother—the woman Alexander St Claire had loved and shared the last seventeen years of his life with—had been absent from his funeral.
    For that alone Lexie would never forgive
any
of the St Claire family. The head of that family, especially. Lucan St Claire. The man who, upon his father’s death, had become the fifteenth Duke of Stourbridge.
    Not that Lucan St Claire ever used the title. No doubt as some further insult to the father he had all but disowned twenty-five years ago.
    Lexie’s eyes snapped her resentment now, as she looked up at Lucan St Claire. ‘Can I help you with something else, Mr St Claire…?’
    Lucan didn’t believe himself to be a vain man. He recognized that he was cold, occasionally ruthless and that other than with his close family he was almost always chillingly remote. He was also aware that it was as much his considerable wealth and power that attracted all thosemodels and actresses to him as any personal attraction he might or might not have.
    That aside, Lexie Hamilton’s initial attitude of dismissal, followed by this disdain, were not things Lucan had ever encountered in any other woman.
    Intriguingly so…
    ‘Are you always this disrespectful?’ he rasped harshly.
    She shrugged. ‘My parents brought me up to believe that respect has to be earned, not just given,’ she came back challengingly.
    Lucan growled something unintelligible under his breath. ‘I want you to sit in on my ten o’clock meeting and take notes.’
    ‘Well, that
is
what you are paying me for,’ she came back sarcastically.
    Lucan’s patience—what little he possessed—was fast running out where this particular woman was concerned. ‘If you continue with your present attitude you will leave me with no choice but to call your agency back and explain exactly how ill-suited I believe you to be for this or any other position,’ he warned her coldly.
    Lexie grudgingly acknowledged that she might be allowing her inner resentment towards this man to get the better of her. After all, he
was
Lucan St Claire, world-renowned businessman, and a man who was rich as Croesus and even more powerful. The last thing Lexie wanted was for her parents to return from their cruise and discover the hard-earned reputation of Premier Personnel, which they had so painstakingly built up over the last twenty years, was in tatters after only a matter of days under Lexie’s management!
    ‘Shouldn’t you at least give me a few hours to prove my efficiency before doing that? ‘ she came back lightly.
    Even when this woman was saying all the right wordsshe still somehow managed to sound challenging, Lucan recognised with a frown. Almost as if she had been predisposed to dislike him.
    Simply because of the unfeeling way she believed he had behaved towards Jessica Brown?
    Or was her dislike for another reason entirely?
    Considering that Lexie Hamilton hadn’t even known Lucan’s ex-PA, the former didn’t sound like an acceptable explanation for her attitude. So maybe it was something else?
    Or perhaps it wasn’t personal at all, and she really was just this prickly and outspoken with everyone?
    If he could tolerate this woman in such close proximity to him for the next three days he was probably going to find that out.
    And he still had to decide what he was going to do about John Barton’s call concerning the damage to Mulberry Hall.
    ‘Is there something wrong, Mr St Claire?’ Lexie prompted lightly a couple of hours later, once Gideon St Claire had left the office to accompany Andrew Proctor and his legal representative down in the lift.
    ‘What could possibly be wrong? ‘ Lucan bit out tautly as he stood up impatiently, a nerve pulsing in his tightly clenched jaw. He moved around the desk, the darkness of his gaze narrowed on her icily.
    Lexie gave