by Ana E Ross
THE TYCOON’S TEMPORARY BRIDE
by
Ana E Ross
THE TYCOON’S TEMPORARY BRIDE
by
Ana E Ross
Copyright © 2012 by Ana E Ross
Smashwords Edition
All rights reserved. Except for brief quotes used in reviews, no portion of this story may be used or reproduced in any form by any electronic, mechanical, or any other device now known or invented hereafter without the written permission of the author. These forms include, but are not limited to xerography, photocopying, scanning, recording, distributing via Internet means, informational storage or retrieval system.
This story is a work of fiction. All names, characters, places, and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination and are used fictitiously. Similarities to actual events, locales, business establishments, or persons living or dead, are purely coincidental.
To learn more about Ana E Ross visit her at: www.AnaERoss.com
ISBN: 978-0-9883679-6-8
Acknowledgments
Edited by crazydiamondediting.com
Cover Design by Niina Cord
Formatted by Ironhorse Formatting
Dedication
To my lovely daughter, Nicoya, who tells me she’s proud of me more often than I deserve.
To my beta readers: Melissa, Tamika, Diana, and Debbie, but especially Tamika whose insightfulness, detailed comments, and suggestions, made this story rock.
And last, but not least, to you my loyal and extremely patient fans, without you, I would still be Unknown.
I love you all! Blessings!
Table of Contents
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
CHAPTER NINETEEN
CHAPTER TWENTY
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
EPILOGUE
TRANSLATION PAGE
FROM THE DESK OF ANA E ROSS
OTHER WORKS BY ANA E ROSS
CHAPTER ONE
Tashi Holland took a deep breath of the summer air as she exited one of her favorite shops at Stone Crest Shopping Mall Outlets. Bags in hand, she strolled along the walkway, wheeling her way through the throng of residents and tourists who frequented this delightful small town nestled in the foothills of the White Mountain National Forest of New Hampshire.
She headed for one of the many gazebos in the plaza and, setting her bags on a stone bench, she pulled her camera from her backpack and began clicking away at the breathtaking views of the shimmering waters of Crystal Lake and the green majestic mountains in the background.
Granite Falls was a long way from New York City, the place she’d gone to study photography, and even farther from Ohio—the place where she was born and raised, but never felt any real connection to. Granite Falls wasn’t a bad town for settling down and starting over, but it was remote and lonely. Lonelier, because she hadn’t made any friends and had spent the last few months trying to make sense of the events that had changed her life a year and a half ago.
Sometimes it felt like yesterday, and other times it felt like a lifetime. And then there were times when it felt as if it never even happened. She’d listened to the news and searched the Internet day and night for weeks, then months, trying to find evidence that her nightmares weren’t just some figment of her imagination.
But there was nothing. Never anything—except for one fact.
Tashi sighed and, putting her camera away, she sat on the bench and folded her arms across the stone tabletop and indulged in her favorite pastime. Watching people mulling about and speculating about their lives had helped to keep her mind off her own lifeless existence.
Who was she, anyway? She was a girl with a name, and only a name. One she couldn’t use. She couldn’t open a bank account or use her credit cards. Her driver’s license was useless since she couldn’t rent or purchase a car, or even book a hotel room for a night.
She had the cell phone the FBI agent who’d rescued her had given her—her only communication to the world beyond Granite Falls’ border—but she had no one to call, except the closest pizza parlor and Mountainview Café for occasional deliveries during the past cold winter nights. She kept her phone charged and protected like it was an infant, hoping and praying each day would be the one she would receive that one call she lived for—the call that would give her back her life.
Maybe she would never get her life back. Maybe they thought she’d died during the shootout in that house in New York City, fifteen months ago.
But then again, who were they?
She had no family. She’d never met her father. Her mother died when she was four, and then her uncle who’d raised her suddenly and unexpectedly lost his life to pancreatic cancer almost two years ago. She’d been alone and scared in the craziest city in the world until Scottie showed up. He’d seemed real and charming and had treated her like a princess until…
Tashi covered her face with her hands as visions of that night stormed into the forefront of her mind. Those visions never surfaced gently. They always came at her like a silent freight train speeding around a bend. She only knew it was there after it hit her.
What if Scottie was real, but the man who’d claimed he’d come to rescue her along with the others who were posing as guards and parents were just actors his real parents had hired to get rid of her? After all, she was a nobody, and Scottie was the heir to some multi-million-dollar corporation. Maybe they thought she wasn’t good enough for their son. Tashi had watched enough movies to know that rich people could get away with almost anything. What if they were all fakes? Except…
She wrapped her arms around her middle as the pain seared through her. The one thing about that night that wasn’t fake was the fact that she’d killed a man. She’d climbed undetected into the back seat, pointed a gun at the back of his head and pulled the trigger. Twice. Then she’d watched, numb from head to toe, as he slumped against the steering wheel. It was the blare of the horn that had propelled her into action. She’d pushed the dead man out of the car, and driven off.
His death was the only event that had made the news. It was described as a drug deal gone wrong. He’d left behind a wife and three young children. There were no suspects and last she’d read, the case had been closed.
What if killing the driver was the only real event about that night? What if Scottie’s parents were using that incriminating fact as a means to keep her away from him? If the man who’d claimed to be an FBI agent had made it out alive, where was he? He’d promised to find her and explain everything to her. What was ‘everything’? What did he need to explain?
Tashi didn’t know what to believe anymore. And here she was in a strange town where the agent had sent her in search of a man who was supposed to protect her. A man without a face and a name. Tashi scanned the crowds as she’d done countless times in the past months, hoping beyond hope that her savior would see her, recognize her, and help her.
He could be anybody, even that giant of a man with his arm around the petite woman as they pushed a set of twins in a double stroller. He reminded her of the FBI agent—large, dark, and handsome. The couple nodded and smiled at her as they walked past.
“She said you’re very beautiful, and I agreed,” the man said over his shoulder.
“Thank you. And so is she.” Tashi’s smile deepened, as the couple disappeared into the crowd.
One thing she could say about this town was that the majority of people were nice and friendly. They probably didn’t think the same of her since she never made any attempts to engage in conversation, nor did she respond to personal questions about herself—legitimate questions people ask when they were interested in someone.
Not knowing whom she could trust, she trusted no one, not even Mindy, her garrulous neighbor, whose kids she’d babysat on a few occasions.
Tashi gathered her bags and left the gazebo. It was laundry day, and she didn’t have a washer and dryer in her one-bedroom apartment—an apartment in the not-so-nice side of town. But it was the only place where the landlord would allow her to pay cash—no questions asked.
The FBI agent had given her a bag of cash and she’d carved out a hole in the back wall of her bedroom closet and hidden the bag inside it. It wasn’t like she could take the money down to the local bank and make a deposit. Her closet was the safest place she could think of to hide it. She’d bought a piece of plywood, painted it white and leaned it up against the wall to hide the hole. Every time she left her apartment, Tashi worried about someone breaking in. But so far so good.
The car she’d driven to Granite Falls, and the gun with which she’d killed the man had become real estate for fish in the deepest parts of the Hudson and Aiken Rivers, respectively. She had enough money to last her a decade, if she spent it wisely. Hopefully, before it ran out, she’d have some answers to her past and be able to live a normal life.
Her stomach rumbled, reminding her that she’d had a light breakfast. Tashi smiled at the idea of enjoying a juicy, smoked ham sandwich from Mountainview Café, just two blocks over from the outlets. She would grocery shop tomorrow after her kickboxing class. On that thought, Tashi headed for the café.
Having no job, and no people to visit, she’d learned to spread out her outdoor excursions over several days, just to have a reason to leave her apartment, and keep herself from going crazy. It had been hard during the cold long winter months. Sometimes she didn’t know which was worse—sitting in her apartment reading, or watching TV and snow fall through her window, or braving the freezing temperatures and trekking through snow banks to do her laundry and groceries. On milder days, she’d walk six blocks to the public library, curl up in front of a warm fire, and read. A few times, she’d even fallen asleep in one of the oversized comfortable chairs, only to wake up to face the long walk back and the destitution and isolation of her apartment.
Tashi prayed that something would change before winter came around again. She didn’t think she could survive another six months of cold in this lonely town. She’d thought of leaving, but that promise from the FBI agent to find her and explain everything had kept her grounded. She didn’t want to miss him when and if he ever came looking for her.
An hour later, Tashi placed some money next to her empty plate on the table and grabbed her bags from the floor. As she stood up and spun around, she collided, head-on with a solid wall of hard muscle. She immediately felt strong arms close around her.
“Whoa…”
Was that thunder? Was this an earthquake?
Tashi stiffened as a flicker of fear rushed through her. Her face was pressed tightly against a hard expanse of human flesh that smelled so good. A man was holding her. A strange man.
You’re a witness. They’ll be looking for you. Don’t trust anyone.
She panicked, her heart thundering as she fought against him. “No! No! Let me go!”
“Hey, take it easy. I was only trying to catch you before you fell flat on your pretty little face.”
The man abruptly released her. Then he bent down and retrieved her bags that had fallen to the floor. He straightened up and handed them to her.
So it wasn’t thunder. Tashi tilted her head back to gaze into a pair of the bluest, most intimate eyes she had ever seen.
Her heart did a double take and something hot sizzled through her stomach. More adrenaline rushed through her as she took a good look at him—from his waist-length wavy black hair to the tips of his black leather shoes. He wore designer jeans and a gray shirt. Or maybe they wore his tall, hard, sexy frame.
The food stains on the front of his shirt caused Tashi to look behind him where he’d parked a baby stroller. A little girl, who looked about two years old, was fast asleep inside it. Tashi took a long, deep breath as her panic subdued. He couldn’t be one of the mob’s men. He didn’t look the type. They wouldn’t be running around after her with a baby in tow. And how would they have found her, anyway?
“I’m—I’m sorry,” she stuttered. “I really should look where I’m going.”
“Don’t apologize,” he said in a deep, rumbling voice. “I’m the one who sneaked up on you. I hope I didn’t hurt you.” He gave her body a bold raking gaze, then his soft blue eyes came back to her face, and that something hot sizzled through the core of Tashi’s body again. It was nothing like she’d experienced before.
Their eyes locked for tense moments as if they were both waiting for the other to make the next move.
“No. I’m fine.” Tashi licked her lips that had suddenly become parched. She tugged her eyes from his, only to stare at his wide and generous mouth with lips that reminded her of blooming rosebuds. They were so pink and succulent.
She studied his face. It was passionate, beautiful, and irresistible, down to the narrow, hollow grove etched into the taut skin under his straight nose. His features were sculptured so perfectly, so symmetrically, that he was almost too beautiful for a man. Italian? Greek? Tashi took another look at the adorable baby-girl sleeping in the carriage.
He’s married! Not that it really mattered. She wasn’t looking for a husband. Heck, she wasn’t even looking for a man. Well, she was, but she didn’t know who that man was. She didn’t know if he was supposed to be black or white, old or young, rich or poor… All she knew was that he should be single and his name began with an A. She didn’t even know if the A stood for a first or last name.
“I—I have to go,” she said in an awkward, tremulous voice.
He opened his mouth as if he were about to say something, but instead, he gave her a sensuous stare that made her heart turn over in response. Close Encounter of the Magnetic Kind, Tashi thought on a raspy breath as she hurried away. What a man! God, she didn’t realize they made them like that. His appeal was extremely unsettling. She’d never been this affected by a man before. It was scary and exciting at the same time.
When she reached the sidewalk, Tashi looked back at the café to find him standing at the wall of glass in the front, looking at her. He smiled, and waved. She smiled, and waved back. His smile turned to a charming grin and it was then that Tashi felt as if she’d seen him before. It was the second time today that she’d run into slightly familiar faces.
For some reason, she didn’t feel threatened by the man who was now watching her, especially when Miss Felicia, one of the owners of the café, came up and hugged him before bending over to pay attention to the child sleeping in the stroller. She was probably his mother-in-law, Tashi thought, since Miss Felicia was black, the man was white, and the baby had olive-toned skin, an indication that she was biracial or multiracial.
No, Tashi thought walking away, this man wasn’t after her. Nevertheless, she decided not to head home, just in case he was tempted to follow her. She crossed the street and entered the supermarket. She’d do her laundry tomorrow. She didn’t have her list, so it took longer than expected to get her shopping done.
With two bags filled with groceries, and two filled with additions to her new wardrobe, she exited the a
utomatic sliding doors of the supermarket and froze. The tall handsome man was standing near the entrance, talking on his cell, his back to her. He must have heard her gasp, because he turned around and immediately ended his conversation. His dark shades obscured his eyes, hiding his expression from her. For all she knew, he could have been talking to the men who were after her, letting his boss know that he’d found her.
Real fear gripped Tashi this time. Scottie had been charming and sweet, just like this man, but according to the FBI agent, he’d been hired to befriend her and trap her.
Her bags slid from her hands. She heard glass crunching, and then red liquid leaked around her sandals. Blood. Blood splattered on the windshield, on the dashboard, and ran down the back of his fat neck, staining the collar of his white shirt.
Tashi’s heart thundered and her stomach clenched tightly. Dear God. No. She started to run, but didn’t get far. Her eyes closed in defeat as he caught her and spun her around. “How did you find me?”
“Who are you running from? Why are you so paranoid?”
She opened her eyes and stared at him. He’d removed his shades and his blue eyes pierced through her as if he were trying to read her soul. “Why are you following me?”
“I’m not following you. I swear I’m not following you. I wouldn’t do that. Stalking is illegal in this town.” He smiled, and the afternoon sun illuminated his soft blue eyes. “I came to the market to get some pull-ups for Tiffany. Her mother didn’t pack enough this morning.”
Tashi’s breath came out hard and rapid. Of course. He wasn’t one of them. He was married. He had a little girl.
She felt so weak. She was so tired. Tired of hiding. Tired of the unknown. She just wanted a life. She wanted to feel safe and secure, just for one moment. Tashi gave in to the overwhelming emotions that had been building up for fifteen months. She was only human, after all. She fell weakly against the strong, hard chest. The hot tears ran in torrents down her cheeks, dampening his shirt. She felt his arms close around her. His fingers tangled in her hair as he pressed her face into his chest.