Page 8 of Spare Heir

Her smile is genuine and knocks the breath out of me, making me long to earn more of them.

‘Have you anything particular in mind to see in London?’ I ask.

Daisy slips her hand into Nathalie’s as she waits, bobbing about, for us to finish talking.

‘My friend from Paris lives in London,’ she says with a hint of shyness.

‘Is that who you went to dinner with on the day you arrived?’ I ask, knowing I’m out of line and shouldn’t be probing for personal details in this manner, but unable to resist.

‘Yes,’ she says. But to my frustration, she doesn’t clarify who the friend is, and I’m none the wiser.

I chastise myself. It’s none of my business if she’s dating someone in London.

Nathalie looks down at Daisy. ‘Come on, we’d better hurry,ma chérie.We must get your bag ready for school,’ she says.

‘Have a good day, Daddy.’ Daisy reaches up to kiss me, and my eyes meet Nathalie’s again briefly before they both hurry away from the table.

‘I’ll see you this evening,’ I call after Daisy, who turns back to grin at me and blows me another kiss. Nathalie smiles and then they’re gone.

I always look forward to spending time with my daughter, but now I can’t wait to see Nathalie each evening, too.

I tell myself it’s just because she’s living in our house and is becoming like one of the family. It’s nice to have an adult of a similar age around to talk to at home again.

Even if I do fancy her, it can never be more than that. I must keep it a secret for all our sakes.

I get ready for work and wonder again what the meeting with my grandfather is about.

CHAPTER6

Sebastian

I decide to drive myself to Greystone today and give my driver a well-deserved day off. I fancy giving the Porsche a good run and having some time alone.

What’s the point in buying flash cars if you never drive them yourself? The Porsche sits unused in my garage and my driver takes it out from time to time, so it doesn’t seize up. It’s dirty work, but someone’s got to do it…

The Range Rover is more comfortable for trips to the office, and it’s productive for me to work in the backseat, while my driver plods through the never-ending roadworks and temporary traffic lights.

Today, I’ve skipped rush hour and the route to Hampshire shouldn’t be slow like driving to the hotel. Grandfather is expecting me around 11 a.m. so I took Daisy to school this morning and told Nathalie she could give the morning school run a miss. We agreed she’ll pick Daisy up because I won’t be back in time, which is a shame because I love turning up at school and surprising Daisy.

On the rare occasion I’m back in time to collect her from school, we sometimes take a detour and drive through Richmond Park and stop for ice-cream. If the weather’s warm enough, we sit and watch the deer graze in the park. We haven’t done it this summer, and I think Nathalie would appreciate the wild deer roaming about the royal park. It’s not the sort of sight you see in Paris, and I imagine she hasn’t seen anything quite like it. I decide to surprise them both with a visit to the park as soon as I can get off work early.

Nathalie. Nathalie. Nathalie. She’s in my thoughts all the time, and I can’t get her out. The thought of her in bed at the top of the house drives me wild with desire. As I wait for the traffic lights to change, a vision of her long legs tangled in the sheets, and her golden hair spread across the pillow, does something to me. Images of making love to her haunt me before I drift off to sleep and I wake in the morning, rock hard, after she dominates my dreams.

I groan as my cock strains against my crotch, and I shift my position in the low leather seat, trying to ease the dull ache.

I’ve wanted her since the first moment I saw her, and the fact that she’s forbidden fruit makes the thought of touching her even more tempting.

It’s a phase and it will pass.

The lights finally change, and I push my foot down on the accelerator, hoping speed will give me relief from the all-consuming thoughts of her, and the intense yearning in every cell of my body.

It’s a given that you want something you can’t have more than if it was freely available.Right?

These thoughts featuring Nathalie plague me night and day, and I’m growing used to my obsession.

I console myself that I only want her so much because I can’t have her. That must be it. I simply can’t fall in love with the nanny, no matter how hot she is, so I put it down to pure lust, and I almost believe it. I know I can’t have a relationship with her, so I must stop torturing myself like this.

When I look at her, I feel like a schoolboy in love for the first time. She’s so magnetic I can’t take my eyes off her when she’s in the room. And when she’s not in the room—like now—she may just as well be.