Read Honor Bound for Free Online Page A

walnut desk, computer, printer, and other office equipment, and a huge walnut credenza with what looked like file drawers.
    Perfect.
    I closed the door behind me and went to the desk, but there were no notes of any kind on the desktop, and the top drawers just held pens and paper and assorted supplies.
    The bottom two drawers were locked.
    The computer was turned off, of course, so I went to the credenza. The file drawers were all locked too.
    I checked out the locks, as if I could somehow figure out how to pick them.
    This was purely wishful thinking because I was about as clueless about lock-picking as you can be.
    At least I knew where the office was, though, and what was in it, so I could make a plan for getting into it later on, after I had time to do some thinking.
    Satisfied I’d at least taken a step in the right direction, I was heading for the door when I saw it start to open.
    I had about three seconds to act, and I did the only thing that crossed my mind. I extended my tape measure partway and bent over, acting like I was just rolling it back up as the door opened all the way.
    “What are you doing in here?” Sebastian asked as I stood up and looked back at him, trying to put on a look of casual interest, as if I wasn’t worried at all about his arrival here.
    I’d known it would be Sebastian. Who else would appear without warning, just where I didn’t want him?
    “I told you. I’m supposed to take measurements and the layout of the whole house.” I showed him my sketch pad again, as if that would be evidence enough.
    “But guests won’t be back here.” He didn’t look angry, but there wasn’t a smile in his eyes, the way there had been on the other two times I’d seen him. “This is a private office.”
    For some stupid reason, I missed that smile in his eyes.
    “I know.” I tried for a slightly resigned tone. “But Cheryl wants the plan of the entire house, whether we’ll be using it for the event or not. I hope that’s okay.” I widened my eyes. “Should I not be back here?”
    “Probably not.” The smile sparked in his eyes again, and he put a hand on my back to lead me out of the room. “Just make things up on the plans for the private areas. She’ll never know if they’re accurate or not.”
    I giggled at his dry tone, and it wasn’t entirely for the pretense.
    I’d never expected a Maxwell to be so warm and funny and almost sweet.
    I wondered if it was real or not. It felt real, but that didn’t mean it was.
    “So you’re a Maxwell?” I asked, as we walked down the hall together. I figured, if I’d met him innocently, it would have been something I might have asked anyway. “I mean, one of the Maxwells?”
    He let out an audible sigh. “Yeah. One of them .”
    “You don’t sound excited about it.”
    “It’s not always all it’s cracked up to be.”
    He didn’t add anything to the understated comment. He didn’t whine about his family or bemoan his poor-little-rich-boy upbringing or claim to want to be someone else. But I still felt a little thrill of hope.
    If Sebastian wasn’t like the rest of his family—if he wasn’t a real Maxwell—then maybe it wasn’t the end of the world that I was so attracted to him.
    After all, he could hardly be blamed if his father and his father’s business partners were cold, heartless bastards.
    “What are you doing here today?” I asked, since someone needed to say something.
    “What do you mean? I’m doing security for the big event. I thought you knew that.”
    “Yeah, yeah. I knew that. But I didn’t know why you’d have to be here when Mr. Gentry wasn’t. Don’t you just loom around, intimidating threats?”
    He chuckled. “There’s a little more to the security business than that. In fact, I’ll have to approve all the plans you make to make sure it won’t interfere with security.”
    “Okay. That’s fine.” I felt a little excited again, since it meant I’d see him again.
    Not that I should be excited