The Billionaire Bundle

by Michele De Winton

  “When I told you I loved my father. I lied. I hate him.”

  “Why, cara?” His voice was almost gentle.

  She thought for a moment, not sure how to explain. She’d still been a child when her father had left, and she had spent much of her time away at boarding school, a fact she was beginning to believe had been her mother’s way of protecting her. Her father had never wanted to send her away, but it was the one thing her mother had insisted on. She had told Lia’s father that attending a prestigious school would allow Lia to mix with a better class of people. Her father had been such a snob—he’d come from a poor background himself—and he’d been so proud of his well-bred wife and daughter. It had been the one argument that had worked. Her mother had obviously known her father well. But even away for most of the time, Lia had still been aware of the sort of man her father was.

  “My father was a violent man.”

  Luc went still. “He abused you?”

  “No. He never touched me.” She smiled. “He probably knew I’d punch him right back, but he used to hit my mother. But that wasn’t the worst. My mother loved him, and he used that against her. He did what he liked, he had other women, he’d leave her for months on end and then come back as if nothing had happened. And my mother would take him back and treat him like a hero. He was a bastard.”

  “What are you telling me, Lia?”

  “Just that I’ll help you. I don’t know why you want to find him or what you’ll do, but I trust it will be fair and legal. I’ve got something you should see.” She jumped up and went to her room, retrieving the bundle of letters from her bag. Luc was sitting again; he appeared deep in thought, but he glanced up as she came to stand in front of him. She handed him the letters.

  “What are these?” he asked.

  “I found them when I was going through my mother’s papers. They’re letters from my father.”

  Excitement flared in his eyes before he blanked the expression.

  “Don’t get your hopes up,” she said. “None of them are recent. I think the last one was dated about nine years ago. But they might give you some idea of where he went.”

  She sat back and watched as Luc flicked through the envelopes, selecting the last letter and taking it out. A puzzled frown formed on his face as he read.

  “What is it?” she asked.

  He looked up from the letter. “He writes as though he was coming back, or at least as though he expected your mother to join him.”

  “Hmm, my mother always swore he would never leave her for good. She said he’d had to go, someone was after him, but that it was never meant to be permanent. I thought she was fooling herself, like she had done all her life, but maybe I was wrong.” Something occurred to her. “It was you, wasn’t it?”

  His expression was wary. “What was me?”

  “The person who was after him. It was you all those years ago.”

  Luc merely shrugged. “Can I keep these?” he said, glancing down at the letters.

  She nodded. “Will they help?”

  “I don’t know, but I’ll let Gary look at them tomorrow. I’ll go call him now, give him a heads-up.” He got to his feet, energized, and smiled at Lia. “Thank you, cara. I’ll see you don’t regret this.”

  He disappeared into his office, and Lia stared at the closed door.

  Why had Luc been after her father all those years ago? It must have been soon after Luc was released from prison. What did Luc know that had gotten her father so scared he had run and never come back?

  And was Luc after him now for the same reasons he had been back then? And what were those reasons? The questions went around and around in her head with no answers. She wished he would tell her why he wanted to find her father. She suspected that everything would fall into place, if only she had that piece of the puzzle.

  Seeing him again had made one thing clear—even after his behavior the other night, she still wanted him. There could never be anything long-term between them. For some reason, Luc hated her father, and he would never trust her. Besides, she never wanted that sort of life; she had Sally, she had Mike, and she had her career. She didn’t need anything else, but the thought of never feeling again the way Luc made her feel was like a sharp pain piercing her heart. The knowledge that he would be out there in the world, but not with her, maybe with some other woman, clawed at her insides, and she knew that if he gave her the chance to have him, just one more time, she would take it.

  Then she would run as fast as she could in the opposite direction.

  …

  Luc studied the report. He read the words, then reread them. “You’re sure this is correct?”

  “Oh, yeah,” Gary said. “Once we knew where to focus the search, it was easy.”

  Luc shook his head. “All this time.”

  It was strange; he’d finally been ready to put the past behind him, ready to forget Lia’s father, and as long as Jimmy Brent stayed away from them, Luc would give up his plans for revenge. He’d reached that decision in the two days away from her—if her father never surfaced, he would leave it at that. But this changed everything. He glanced up to find Gary still hovering.

  “Thanks, Gary,” he said.

  What did he tell Lia? That he had found her father? What would happen then? How would she react to this news? He sat staring into space for long minutes. The truth was he didn’t know what to do, and it was an entirely new feeling for him. Over the last two days, he’d forced himself to think carefully about his feelings for Lia. He wanted her, but he admitted that it was more than that.

  For a long time his life had seemed empty; that had changed now, and it was due to Lia. For the first time in years, he was beginning to think that there might be a future for him that wasn’t solitary, but he was pretty sure that Lia didn’t see things the same way. He almost smiled at that thought, but not quite. The fact was, he knew that once he told her this news, she would be out of his life forever.

  There was no way he’d use those photos to keep Lia with him. He hadn’t told her, but he’d destroyed the original film, and the pictures he’d taken from it, the night after they’d been out with her little brother. All except the one he carried with him. He’d kept that—he had a feeling if he handled this wrong then that picture would be all he had left of her.

  He was aware she still wanted him, or had until he had pulled that stunt the other night. But she was running scared, and he was astute enough to know that it wasn’t only from him. Growing up with Jimmy Brent as a father was hardly likely to enamor anybody to family life.

  He remembered what she had said about her mother, how her father had made her life a misery, and his hatred for Jimmy Brent rose once more. Even now, the man seemed intent on ruining Luc’s life.

  He had to find some way to get through to Lia, and his one strong point was the fact that she still wanted him. He had to work on that, had to seduce her so she couldn’t even think of leaving him, and to do that he needed time alone with her. Once he had her away from distractions, he was sure he could convince her to give them a chance.

  He stared down at the report again. Jimmy Brent’s name stared back up at him, and he suddenly had an idea how to achieve that goal. He reached for the phone.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Luc swore softly, and Lia looked up from her coffee.

  It was Sunday morning, and Luc was casually dressed in jeans and a cream linen shirt. He looked spectacular as always, and she felt the now-familiar flutter of desire low in her belly. He had been an absolute gentleman since the other night. It was unbelievable; her decision to give in to his evil ways and have one last fling had collided head-on with his decision to act the perfect gentleman. She still felt him watching her, but he made no move toward her at all. No, it was clear that if she wanted him, she was going to have to do the seducing. And the week Luc had requested was running out. Eyeing the table, she wondered whether she had the strength to toss him onto it and have her way. But maybe now wasn’t the righ
t time.

  He was standing by the door reading the front page of a newspaper Mrs. Blake, the housekeeper, had just handed him, scowling down at it as though something had displeased him.

  “What is it?” she asked.

  “Well, we wanted publicity; just not this sort. I was expecting a mention in the gossip columns, a write-up in that magazine. I’m sorry, Lia.”

  A stab of unease jabbed her in the gut. “Sorry for what? What’s happened?”

  Luc came across the room, moved her coffee, and placed the newspaper on the table in front of her. Lia glanced down reluctantly. Then stared. That couldn’t be her on the front page of a national Sunday newspaper, could it? She knew it was wishful thinking. That was definitely her and Luc, all dressed up in their party finery and looking pretty good. She stared at the picture again, but only to put off reading the words. She only hoped that they hadn’t brought up Luc’s criminal record. What if they wrote about his past, his time in prison? Finally, when she could put it off no longer, her eyes scanned the headline:

  Italian Billionaire to Wed Crime Boss’s Daughter

  She swallowed, feeling a sudden wave of nausea, then closed her eyes for a moment. Crime boss’s daughter? Was that her they were talking about? She opened her eyes and forced herself to read the article.

  “I don’t understand,” she said. She had known her father wasn’t a good man, but wasn’t crime boss a bit of an exaggeration?

  Luc came to sit beside her. He took her hand. “It’s not so bad, cara.”

  She shook her head. “But this can’t be true. They can’t print this. You have to make them take it back, Luc.”

  She looked at him as if she could will him to help her and caught a curious, almost guilty expression in his eyes that she didn’t understand. She turned back to the article and forced herself to reread it carefully. It was horrible; it talked about her father, said he had a record, had been in prison. She truly hadn’t known that. She had thought her father was some small-time crook, but this was making him out to be the closest thing to the godfather.

  But somewhere inside of her, she knew that it was true, recognized now how her mother had sheltered her from so many of the darker aspects of their life. It was all so glaringly clear, she couldn’t believe she had been so blind.

  Luc was watching her closely. “You really didn’t know?”

  “Of course I knew he was a crook,” she mumbled. “Just not like this.”

  “Then I’m sorry.”

  “What have you got to be sorry about? You’ve done nothing wrong.”

  She turned back to the article and finished reading. It said that her father had disappeared shortly before a warrant for his arrest had been issued, due to information pertaining to his crimes being sent anonymously to the police. She couldn’t believe it.

  “Where did you think he had gone?” Luc asked. “Why did you think he had left?”

  “I presumed he’d gotten bored with family life and run off. He seemed to do that at regular intervals anyway; just this time he didn’t come back.”

  Luc brought her a fresh cup of coffee and sat down next to her. She waited to see the anger and resentment he must be feeling. After the way he had reacted to her bringing up his criminal record, she expected him to be furious about this. But she could make out nothing from his expression, as if he was hiding his reaction from her. She sipped her coffee, trying to think through what this meant, what effect it would have on them. There was no mention of Luc’s record, but it could only be a matter of time before it all came out.

  “Would you like to phone home, cara?”

  Luc’s question interrupted her thoughts, and she glanced up to find him sitting back in his seat still watching her intently.

  “Sorry?” she asked.

  “Would you like to phone your housekeeper, warn them about this? Make sure your brother doesn’t see it?”

  “Oh my God, yes. I never thought of that.” But she didn’t move.

  The phone rang. Luc picked it up and said something before replacing the receiver. “The press want a statement.” He looked at her thoughtfully and then seemed to come to a decision. “I think it would be better if you go away for a while.”

  Lia’s heart dropped. Of course Luc would want to distance himself from her. There was nothing derogatory about him in this article, but someone was bound to get around to it. She’d hate for him to be publicly humiliated because of her. She was bad news.

  She had been planning on leaving anyway. There was no way Luc would actually use those pictures against her, and she had decided she had to go before it was too late and she got herself in even deeper. But his asking her to leave hurt.

  She blinked and stared down at the paper, pretending to reread it, wanting to get herself under control before facing him. At last, she found the strength to look up.

  Luc’s eyes were focused on her. He didn’t appear particularly upset by it all, but she knew that unlike her, Luc was exceptionally good at hiding his feelings.

  “I’m sorry,” she said.

  “What for, cara?” His voice was gentle; Lia had never heard that tone before. It didn’t help the tenuous grip she had on her emotions. She bit down on her lip to stop the trembling.

  “For getting you this negative publicity,” she said. “I’ll pack and be out of here. I’ll go home. You can release a statement saying we’ve split.”

  “And how would that make me look? Dumping my fiancée because of a bit of bad press, and not even bad press about her.” He spoke soothingly. “There’s absolutely nothing bad about you in there, Lia, only your father.”

  “I know, but they’re bound to dig deeper. They’ll find out about you.”

  “About me?”

  “About prison.”

  He gave her a curious glance as if she was not behaving as expected. “My time in prison is a matter of record. It’s no secret.”

  “Yes, but it’s not on the front pages yet.”

  He smiled. “Don’t worry about me. But we do need to get you away until all this dies down, which it will, given time. I have the perfect place for us to go.”

  Lia felt a strange unexpected lift. “Us?”

  “Of course.” He cast her a glance that she didn’t quite understand. “After all, you wouldn’t want me to come out of this a heartless bastard, would you? No, I definitely think it’s best if we go away together. I’ll take my beautiful, innocent fiancée away from the horrible muckraking press. I may even come out of this a hero.”

  Lia felt like she was missing something. “Why aren’t you more upset about this?”

  “I’ve lived with the press for years and truthfully, unlike you, I really don’t give a damn what people I don’t know think of me.”

  Lia blinked. This was all moving too fast. Luc didn’t want her out of his life. He wanted them to go away together? “I can’t leave Mike and Sally to cope with this alone.”

  “I’ll send Gary over. He can make sure they’re okay, and if any reporters do turn up he can always take them over to Shellwood for a few days. Security there will make sure no one bothers them.”

  “So is that where we’re going, Shellwood?”

  “No. We’ll go to my place in Italy—it’s more private. Give it a few days, and this will all blow over, and we can come home.”

  “I can’t go to Italy. I don’t have my passport.”

  “Gary can pick that up as well.”

  She frowned. “You’ve got this all worked out, haven’t you?”

  He smiled blandly. “Planning is my forte, cara. Just leave it all to me. Now, drink your coffee, and I’ll organize everything. I’ll be in the office.” He bent down and gave her a soft kiss on her forehead.

  Why was he taking this so well? She would have expected him to be furious. Then the truth of the situation hit her. She was going to Italy with Luc. She couldn’t believe it. It felt like a huge weight had lifted from her, and she realized with something approaching fear how much she had actu
ally dreaded leaving him. This would only put it off, and that was as it should be; she didn’t want anything permanent, even if it was an option. But to have some time alone with Luc, in Italy, was beyond anything she could have imagined.

  She finished her coffee and made some phone calls. Sally took it extremely well and said she would talk to Mike. She only appeared concerned when Lia mentioned she was going abroad with Luc, but Lia managed to put her mind at rest. She also called Kelly, who was bubbling over with excitement.

  “Did you know all this about my father?” Lia asked.

  “Of course I did. I just never talked about it because I presumed it was a bad subject. I’m sorry, Lia, but don’t let it upset you; it’s nothing to do with you and the person you are.”

  “I can’t believe my mother kept it from me, told me all those lies.”

  “Can’t you?” Kelly made no effort to hide her disbelief. “Knowing your mother, I would have found it stranger if she had told you the truth. You know how obsessed she was with keeping up appearances. She probably lived in constant fear of someone mentioning her husband, the bank robber.”

  “Bank robber?”

  “Oops. Is that something else you didn’t know? Honestly, Lia, sometimes I think you lived your whole life with your head in a hole.”

  Kelly’s irreverent attitude did make her feel slightly better, but also made her reflect on what her mother’s life must have been like. If she ever loved a man like that, she wouldn’t be ashamed of anything he did. Which brought her back to Luc.

  She drifted into the kitchen and poured herself another coffee, then took it up to the rooftop garden. She sat in her favorite chair with Murphy on her knee and tried to get her head around what was happening. On one level, she was devastated, but on another, it felt almost like a reprieve. She had thought she had reconciled herself to leaving, to never seeing Luc again, but now the tight band around her chest was loosening. She knew it couldn’t last forever, but at least she had a few more days with him. And she knew with clarity that she was going to make the most of those days—and nights.