A relationship with someone else was out of the question. No matter how obedient any potential sub was, letting her find out about Faith would be an extra complication he didn’t need. What if Faith got fed up and tried to get help? He could trust Demetri and the rest of the staff. They’d been with the family for over a decade. He couldn’t trust any random, kinky woman.

And subs were perceptive. Sometimes too perceptive. They spent all their time studying their Master, learning to be receptive and available to his every need almost before he knew it himself. That kind of observation didn’t create a fertile environment for lies. Whoever he brought into his home as more than a casual spank and fuck would figure out there was more to the Faith situation and his complicated tangle of feelings than whatever he would say. Then there would be jealousy and drama.

Whatever he did had to stay contained and emotionally distant with all the parameters laid out clearly in the beginning. It couldn’t be another Caprice. He tried to push down the voice in his head that said he couldn’t be happy with a woman who couldn’t give him everything. And everything included her heart.

* * *

A month passed in frosted hell. Faith had been on the phone with Leo’s mother more times than she could count, planning a wedding she didn’t care about. More than once, Gina had remarked that she didn’t seem very excited. Faith had told her she didn’t like big events—all the people and expectation made her nervous. All she cared about was marrying Leo. This satisfied his mother.

She and Leo had been eating meals together in the smaller kitchen. Demetri and the other staff left them alone during these times, so either she cooked or Leo did, alternating between Italian and American cuisine.

Faith surprised him one night with cannolis for dessert. She’d noticed how much he’d liked them at Christmas and had gotten Gina’s recipe one afternoon during a marathon wedding-planning conversation.

When she’d brought them to the table with his coffee, his face had lit up and his hand had inched across the table closer to hers before he’d abruptly pulled it back. After that, he’d stopped eating meals with her. When she’d tried to engage him, he’d claimed he had to work late and would grab something later.

It didn’t matter what time of day she went to the kitchen, he wasn’t there. Either Leo was fasting or Demetri was informing him of her movements in the house so he could avoid her. He’d felt something, and he was scared.

Scared he’d hurt her? Scared he’d love her?

Either he was scared or she made the world’s worst cannolis.

Once a week, a different woman would show up at the door. The woman would be dressed in some slutty black leather number with what looked like a dog collar on, smiling demurely as she stepped into the house and lowered her gaze.