"Isn't he though?" Stephanie replied smoothly, going up on tiptoes slightly to kiss his cheek. He was certainly a fetching man and there were a few women that were giving him openly lustful glances.

"So, are you ready for the main event?" She managed to make it sound, almost effortlessly, like she was looking forward to it, but Brooke's advanced empathic powers would pick up traces of Stephanie's deep ambivalence towards her father's return. She didn't know what to think of this next step.

It was also safe to say that her love for the man had been largely extinguished by his brutal behaviour towards her. She respected him, yes, feared him, but she didn't really think she loved him anymore. She expected relationships to be reciprocal, and Stephanie knew Sebastian shaw her as an asset.