Pleasured in the Billionaire's Bed

by Miranda Lee

  ‘Don’t start that catastrophic thinking, Lisa,’ Jack advised her in the car. ‘I’ll find him. Trust me.’

  ‘But how? It’s a moonless night. And that bush is terribly thick.’

  ‘Because I was trained in guerrilla warfare. I know how to operate in jungles at night. Plus, I have the right equipment for it. I kept all of it, after I left the army. Just as well I did.’

  Jack probably broke the speed limit getting to her mother’s place. But Lisa didn’t care. The sooner they got there, the better. She also didn’t give a damn about her mother finding out about her relationship with him. Nothing was important now but finding her son.

  There were no police cars parked in the front yard of her mother’s place. Everything looked very quiet. Jack screeched to a halt at the bottom of the front steps, then turned to her.

  ‘I presume we’re not going to have any nonsense about your mother knowing who I am, are we?’

  ‘No. No, of course not.’

  Her mother came out onto the veranda as Lisa leapt out of the car, her swollen eyes showing the depth of her own distress. Seeing them softened Lisa’s underlying anger, for she knew how much her mother loved Cory.

  ‘Oh, Lisa,’ her mother cried, a bunch of damp tissues being wrung to death in her hands. ‘I’m so sorry. I…I should have made him come home sooner.’

  ‘It’s all right, Mum,’ she said, sounding a whole lot braver than she felt. ‘Jack’s going to find Cory for us.’

  ‘Jack?’

  Her mother frowned as she stared over Lisa’s shoulder at Jack. ‘But…I don’t understand…’

  Jack stepped forward and held out his hand. ‘Jack Cassidy, Chapman. I’m the man you saw having lunch with your daughter the other day. And yes, I’m also Nick Freeman, the writer. But we haven’t time for chit-chat at the moment. I need to change clothes quickly, then get you to show me exactly where Cory went into the forest. Here, Lisa, take this mobile phone and put your number into its menu under one. I’ll call you as soon as I find Cory.’

  ‘You’re going to look for him?’ Jill asked. ‘Tonight? In the dark?’

  ‘Too right I am,’ Jack said as he drew a tracksuit and boots out of his bag. ‘Got that mobile number in there yet, Lisa?’

  ‘What? Oh. No. No, I haven’t.’

  ‘Then hop to it. Time’s a-wasting. Chapman, could you get me a water bottle and something for Cory to eat, once I’ve found him? He’ll be hungry.’

  Both women were happy to be doing something constructive. Lisa even began to feel more hopeful. Jack had an air of competence about him which was very reassuring.

  Once changed into his tracksuit and boots, he drew out a torch. ‘I have special night glasses to wear later,’ he explained. ‘Meanwhile, we’ll use this.’

  Lisa went with them whilst her mother showed Jack where Cory had gone into the bush.

  ‘Can you make it back without the torch?’ he asked, and they nodded.

  ‘Good. I might need it. Now, don’t you go worrying, my love,’ he said to Lisa as he put on the strange-looking night glasses. ‘I’ll ring you. And I’ll find your boy.’

  The bush had swallowed him up before Lisa realised she hadn’t thanked him.

  ‘Lisa,’ her mother said quietly by her side, ‘what’s been going on between you two?’

  Lisa sighed. ‘Oh, Mum, please don’t ask me that now. All I can think about is Cory at the moment.’

  ‘But…but that’s Nick Freeman.The Nick Freeman!’

  ‘Oh, all right. I guess this will all be a lot easier if I tell you the truth. Come on, I’ll fill you in on the way back to the house.’

  Lisa would have liked a camera to record her mother’s reaction when she did just that. Jill’s expression was priceless. Lisa didn’t even bother to water anything down. She told her everything. Even the fact that she’d fallen madly in love with the man. The only bit she left out was that she could possibly be pregnant. She couldn’t even think about having another baby when her first precious baby, her darling Cory, was lost out there somewhere.

  ‘I don’t believe it,’ were the first actual words Jill spoke.

  By then they were back at the house, in the kitchen.

  ‘Doeshe loveyou ?’ she asked.

  ‘He say he does.’

  ‘But you don’t believe him.’

  ‘I just don’t know, Mum. He’s Hal Hunter in disguise, and he wanted to sleep with me.’

  ‘I see. Yes, I see. But Hal’s not a bad man, Lisa. Underneath his hard outer shell, he’s a hero. That’s why his readers love him, and care about him. It’s obvious all he needs is to meet the right girl. Which I have no doubt he just has. You are a very special girl, Lisa. How could any man help but fall in love with you?’

  ‘Oh, Mum,’ Lisa cried. ‘What a lovely thing to say.’

  Her mother smiled. ‘Here. Give your old mum a hug.’

  Lisa was enfolded against her mother’s soft bosom when her mobile phone rang. Her heart leapt as she grabbed it off the kitchen table.

  ‘Haven’t found him yet, Lisa,’ Jack said straight away. ‘Thought I’d better check in and see how you’re doing.’

  ‘Holding on, Jack. I do feel better knowing you’re out there, looking for him.’

  ‘Couldn’t let the woman I love worry herself sick all night now, could I?’

  Lisa’s heart turned over. Not a bad man, her mother had said. A hero.

  He was that to her at this moment. And more.

  ‘Oh, Jack, I love you too,’ she said, then burst into tears again.

  ‘Did I hear right? Did you just say you love me?’

  ‘Yes,’ she sobbed.

  ‘Right. Get off this phone, then, woman. I have a job to do here. I have to find our boy.’

  Lisa clicked off and just stared at her mother, tears running down her face.

  ‘I think he does love me, Mum,’ Lisa choked out. ‘He said he had to find our boy.Our boy.’

  ‘Oh Lisa. That’s wonderful.’

  More than wonderful forty minutes later when her phone rang again.

  ‘I’ve found him, Lisa. He’s all right. Just a badly sprained ankle and a big egg on his head. Tripped over a fallen tree trunk and knocked himself unconscious for a while. I’ll have to carry him out, so I’d better stay put for the night. It’s a bit hazardous in the dark. He wants to talk to you, but he’s worried he’s going to get into trouble. I told him no way, but he needs to hear that for himself.’

  ‘Mum?’

  Emotion grabbed at her heart and throat, almost choking off her voice.

  ‘Cory,’ was all she could manage in a strangled tone.

  ‘I’m all right, Mum. Honest. But there’s a rip in my shirt.’

  ‘I don’t care about your shirt, darling. As long as you’re all right.’

  ‘Yeah. I’m fine. Jack’s looking after me.’

  Lisa had to smile. So it was Jack, already.

  ‘He said he’s your new boyfriend.’

  ‘That’s right, Cory.’

  ‘Cool! Did you know he used to be a soldier?’

  ‘Yes, Cory.’

  ‘Mum…’

  ‘Yes, Cory.’

  ‘I love you, Mum.’

  Tears welled up in her eyes. ‘I love you too, Cory. Could I speak to Jack again, please?’

  ‘Sure.’

  ‘Me here,’ he said.

  ‘Thank you,’ she choked out.

  ‘You don’t have to thank me, Lisa.’

  ‘Yes, I do. Not just for finding Cory, but for really loving me.’

  ‘It wasn’t very hard. Which reminds me. Would you reconsider your thoughts on our relationship? One where the girl wears a ring? Or two?’

  ‘Jack! Do you honestly mean that?’

  ‘You’d better believe it. So what’s your answer?’

  Lisa thought of how she’d only known him for nine days. But it felt like a lifetime. Maybe because she had got to know him so well through his books.

  ‘He w
ants to marry me,’ she whispered to her mother across the table. ‘What do you think I should do?’

  Jill looked startled. ‘You’re asking me formy advice?’

  ‘Yes, Mum.’

  ‘Go with your heart, daughter. Always go with your heart.’

  ‘Jack?’

  ‘Yes?’

  ‘Yes,’ she said. ‘Yes, I’d like that very much.’

  ‘Fantastic! We’ll go ring-shopping tomorrow. And then I’ll take you and Cory out somewhere for a celebration dinner. Is that OK with you?’

  ‘Can I bring Mum as well?’

  ‘Absolutely.’

  Lisa sighed, then smiled. Now she knew what it was like to be happy. Really, really happy.

  ‘Take care, Jack,’ she said softly.

  ‘I’ll see you in the morning,’ he returned, his voice all smiles as well. ‘Have the coffee ready.’

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  THEAcademy Awards, sixteen months later…

  ‘Grandma! Helene! Mum and Jack are on the telly. They’ve just got out of the limo. Hurry!’

  Helene ran into the hotel suite sitting room first, followed by Jill, who was carrying her five-month-old granddaughter in her arms.

  ‘There they are!’ Cory pointed out excitedly.

  ‘Don’t they both look absolutely stunning!’ Helene exclaimed.

  ‘Like movie stars,’ Jill agreed.

  Jack took Lisa’s elbow as they walked down the red carpet, cameras flashing in their faces all the time. He felt supremely proud of the woman by his side. Dressed in a long, floaty lavender gown, his beautiful wife outshone everyone else, in his opinion.

  ‘Jack! Over here!’ an interviewer called out.

  When Jack saw the man was from Australia, he guided Lisa towards his microphone.

  ‘How do you feel aboutThe Scales of Justice being nominated for so many awards, Jack?’ came the inevitable question he’d been asked all week.

  ‘Very surprised,’ Jack replied. ‘Action thrillers don’t usually rate so highly with the Academy.’

  ‘Aah, but your story is not just a thriller, Jack. It’s a character study.’

  ‘That’s very perceptive of you,’ Jack complimented. ‘Not everyone sees that.’

  ‘I’ve heard rumours that you won’t be writing any more Hal Hunter stories, is that right?’

  ‘Yep. The last one has just gone to the publisher and will be out for the American summer.’

  ‘Everyone wants to know if you killed Hal off.’

  Jack grinned. ‘Sorry. That’s a trade secret.’

  ‘ Cassidy! Can you give us any clues?’

  Lisa smiled up at Jack. ‘Let me just say that you’re in for a surprise.’

  ‘Doesn’t sound like he gets killed off, everyone,’ the man announced into the microphone. ‘Which will be a relief to all the Hal Hunter fans out there. Before you go, Jack, can you tell us what the new book is called?’

  ‘Retribution and Redemption. And that’s all we’re going to tell you.’

  ‘Your female fans aren’t going to like Hal getting married, Jack,’ Lisa whispered to him as they walked on.

  ‘I don’t think they’ll mind.’

  ‘But to a cleaner?’

  ‘A beautiful blonde cleaner,’ Jack pointed out. ‘Who had his secret love-child two years before.’

  ‘It reads more like a romance than a thriller.’

  ‘But itis a romance, my darling. With a happy ending. Just like us.’

  Her smile, when she glanced up at him, was why Jack had no need to write Hal Hunter books any more. His life had different needs now. And different goals.

  ‘Have I told you that you look incredibly beautiful tonight?’ he said.

  ‘Only about twenty times so far. Do you think we might win tonight, Jack?’

  ‘Never in a million years.’

  The Scales of Justicetook out every award it was nominated for, including best movie, best director and best screenplay.

  Jack and Lisa didn’t go to any of the glamorous after-awards parties. They went straight back to the hotel, where Jack’s first action was to go in and look at his sleeping daughter.

  Lisa hadn’t fallen pregnant that first time. So they’d waited till they married before taking any more chances.

  Jack had been besotted with his daughter even before she was born. He’d almost cried at Lisa’s ultrasound when he saw life moving inside her. The day Jessica had been born, hehad cried.

  ‘She’s like you,’ he told his wife when she joined him by the cot.

  ‘With that chin? She’s a female image of you, Jack. And just as stubborn.’

  ‘She’s an angel,’ Jack murmured.

  Lisa laughed. ‘And I thought you were going to be a firm father.’

  ‘I will be,’ he said, taking his wife into his arms, ‘once Jess starts dating. I certainly won’t let her go out with anyone like me.’

  ‘There are worse things that can happen to a girl,’ Lisa murmured, her eyes going all smoky.

  Jack kissed her. Then he kissed her again.

  Nine months later, Cory had a little brother to go with his little sister. They named him Hal.

  ISBN: 1-55254-745-0

  PLEASURED IN THE BILLIONAIRE’S BED

  First North American Publication 2006.

  Copyright © 2006 by Miranda Lee.