"I have no wish to hurt Alessa." Dahlia wasn't even going to try saying that she had never hurt her, this person had probably heard otherwise from Alessa herself.
"Your dearest?" asked Dahlia with honest surprise on her face. "Surely you don't mean... You must be older than I am."
In all her plans for Alessa she had never quite figured in the idea that her daughter would attract a man. And in this case, a dangerous and much older man.