A Lesson in Passion: Season of Desire Part 4 (Seasons Quartet) Read online

  ‘Freedom?’ Dad snaps. His eyes are narrow now, bright with his anger. ‘You’ve got your freedom! All I want to do is protect you, and keep you safe!’

  ‘Then why are you so furious that I’ve been with Miles? He’s a bodyguard! He’ll keep me safer than anyone!’

  ‘Because…!’ my father splutters. ‘Because…!’ He shoots another vitriolic look at Miles, who is watching proceedings with an impassive expression. ‘Because he can’t be trusted!’

  ‘That’s ridiculous,’ I retort. ‘Of course he can! You and Pierre hired him, you must have trusted him.’

  ‘That was before your accident,’ says my father, stressing the word ‘accident’ as though he means something entirely the opposite.

  Pierre suddenly speaks up, his harsh voice crackling through the air. ‘We’ve investigated Murray since that event,’ he says in his strong French accent, ‘and other things have come to light. Things that cause to us to wonder if our initial trust in him was misplaced.’

  ‘What things?’ I demand.

  Pierre looks over at Miles and says nothing. Miles slowly turns and looks at Pierre with an expression of utter contempt. ‘What things?’ I demand, louder.

  ‘Think before you repeat your baseless allegations,’ Miles says in an icy voice.

  I stare at them both, puzzled, and then my father says, ‘You don’t understand, Freya. I’m angry with you because you lied, because you’ve let yourself become a target of the paparazzi. Of course you want to live your life – I’m offended that you should think I would want to stop you, or your sisters, from doing so.’

  ‘But you do stop us!’ I say, my voice pleading now. ‘Can’t you see that?’

  ‘I keep you safe,’ Dad says obstinately. ‘Like any loving father would do.’

  ‘You stifle us.’

  We stare at each other, incomprehension and hurt flickering between us. Then my father looks at Miles again and says, ‘That man has betrayed the trust I placed in him. He has seduced you while in my employment. That is unforgiveable. It’s a gross dereliction of duty, and I intend to make sure that he never works for any reputable family again. He’s dismissed at once.’

  ‘Why?’ I shout, furious again. ‘What’s he done?’

  My father’s face becomes angry again too. ‘What’s he done? Freya, he’s taken advantage of you for his own ends!’

  ‘You don’t know that!’ I cry. ‘You have no idea what happened!’

  ‘We can guess only too well!’ retorts my father. ‘An older man, and a young rich girl? Oh please! It’s obvious that he’s manipulated you and made you fall for him.’

  ‘And what about an older rich man and a young poor girl?’ I shoot back. ‘You don’t expect us to question Estella’s feelings for you. Why should you question Miles’s for me?’

  My father’s expression turns icy. ‘What?’ he hisses. ‘What did you say?’

  ‘You heard me!’

  ‘How dare you compare my sweet Estella to this man!’

  I’m speechless. I don’t know where to start. I can’t find the words, I’m so angry. My father takes advantage of my inability to speak.

  ‘You’re a thankless, ungrateful daughter!’ he yells, his face turning puce with anger. ‘You lied to me about your whereabouts, and you’ve let yourself be made a fool of by this man. You’re not just a fool to me – you’re a fool in front of the whole world!’ He snatches up another newspaper and lifts it up.

  In one smooth movement, Miles is on his feet. His fists are clenched but otherwise he seems completely in control as he says in a low, menacing voice, ‘Mr Hammond, if you throw that paper at Freya, I swear I will knock you down.’

  Pierre leaps to his feet. ‘Murray, sit the fuck down! You’ll regret this.’

  Miles turns to him, his face set hard. ‘You’re quite wrong if you think I’ll ever regret anything you can do to me.’

  ‘You’re fired!’ screams my father, almost spitting in his rage. ‘You get out of my property and never set foot in it again! If you come within one hundred yards of my daughter, I’ll have you sued! Imprisoned! And if you think you’re going to get a job in this country now, you’re completely mistaken!’

  ‘I kind of had the impression already that I was fired,’ Miles says, a tiny smile playing near his lips. ‘Okay. Fine. I’ve done nothing but care for Freya and protect her. You’re wrong about me, and I think that deep down you know it.’

  ‘I know nothing of the sort,’ Dad bellows. ‘Now get out!’

  ‘Okay.’ Miles puts out his hands in calming gesture. ‘I’m going. Don’t take this out on Freya, that’s all I ask.’

  ‘You’re in no position to ask for anything, Murray. And don’t you ever come near my daughter again.’

  ‘I think that’s down to Freya, actually,’ Miles says in a pleasant voice. He turns and begins to stride to the door. He stops opposite me and our eyes meet. His gaze makes me want to melt and he says in a caressing voice, ‘Don’t let him upset you, angel. Live life on your own terms, not his.’

  ‘Don’t go, please…’ I whisper, my voice drenched with longing.

  ‘I have to. You see that, don’t you? But keep the faith. You’ll be okay.’ He smiles at me, that gorgeous half smile I love so much. I want to rush to him, kiss him, hug him and feel his strong arms around me. But I can’t move. ‘Bye, angel.’

  He walks to the door, opens it and strides out. I feel as though my heart is being torn from me.

  My father says in an icy voice, ‘Freya, you will never see him again, do you understand?’

  I can’t speak. I’m watching the empty doorway where Miles has just exited.

  ‘You will never see him again,’ my father repeats. ‘He’s a traitor and a liar. Can’t you see that, Freya?’

  But I can’t say anything. My throat is constricted and my eyes swimming. The vision of a life without Miles in it is too much to bear.

  ‘If you do,’ my father says in a tone I’ve never heard before, ‘you can leave this house and never come back. Do you understand, Freya? That man or your family. That’s your choice.’

  I feel as though my heart will break.

  Miles, I need you! Please… please… don’t leave me.

  Has Part Four left you wanting more…?

  A Lesson in Love (Season of Desire: Part Five) is available to buy now!

  Also by Sadie Matthews

  The After Dark trilogy

  Fire After Dark

  Secrets After Dark

  Promises After Dark

  About the author

  Sadie Matthews is the author of six novels of contemporary women's fiction published under other names. In her own work, she has described decadent worlds of heady escapism and high drama. Fire After Dark was her first novel to explore a more intimate and intense side of life and relationships. Secrets After Dark and Promises After Dark complete the After Dark series – her first provocative romantic trilogy. She is married and lives in London.

  Find Sadie Matthews on Twitter at

  twitter.com/sadie_matthews.

  Have you read the After Dark series? Deeply intense and romantic, provocative and sensual, it is where Dominc and Beth’s story began, and will take you to a place where love and sex are liberated from their limits.

  Sadie Matthews

  FIRE AFTER DARK

  It started with a spark...

  Everything changed when I met Dominic. My heart had just been broken, split into jagged fragments that can jigsaw together to make me look enough like a normal, happy person.

  Dominic has shown me a kind of abandonment I've never known before. He takes me down a path of pure pleasure, but of pain, too – his love offers me both lightness and dark. And where he leads me, I have no choice but to follow.

  Out now in ebook, paperback and audio

  Sadie Matthews

  SECRETS AFTER DARK

  Ours was a love bound by power...

  Falling in love with Dominic changed me. I relinquishe
d myself completely and placed my heart and my trust in Dominic's hands, but in one exquisite, excruciating moment he abandoned his control. Anguished by his actions, he has locked those darkest desires inside, unable to share my conviction that it would never happen again.

  Now it's not only Dominic who craves that delicate, seductive game of give and take, of walking the line between pain and pleasure, abandon and release. Persuading Dominic to let those secret parts of himself unravel will be the biggest risk I've ever taken, but I can't resist. Even if it means we fall apart...

  Out now in ebook, paperback and audio

  Sadie Matthews

  PROMISES AFTER DARK

  Can a fractured love be salvaged?

  Parting with Dominic has left me broken in a way I could never have imagined. We held elation in the palm of our hands, but one misunderstanding brought it crashing down around us. Now the hurt and sadness follows me like a shadow and makes choosing the right path to take impossible.

  But one moment with him and the pulsing heat is singing in my blood again; his touch lights a fire that my body refuses to ever forget. I'm hopelessly lost in him. Finding our way back to one another will take trust and a leap of faith - only then we will know whether we have a chance at forever.

  Provocative and sophisticated, exhilarating and

  seductive, the After Dark series is a compelling pleasure

  we should all indulge in . . .

  Out now in ebook, paperback and audio