by Chloe Lang
“She’s not our lady, Gretchen.” Eric’s words might be true but they were filled with something he’d never heard from his brother before. Eric was as interested in Megan as he was, but they both knew that being interested and actually winning her were two different things.
“Poppycock. I’ve never seen you two in this state before with any woman, and the saints and I all know there have been plenty of trollops traipsing through this place over the years. You’re in love.”
“We only just met her.” Scott put his arm around the sweet woman. “You’re a hopeless romantic.”
“Trust me. In seventy-eight years I’ve forgotten more than you two will ever learn.”
“I’ll confess that I’ve never met anyone quite like her before,” Eric said. Then his eyes widened. “I can’t believe it.”
“What?” Scott asked.
His brother placed his hand on Gretchen’s shoulder. “In the seventeen years you’ve worked for our family, you’ve never told us your age before.”
Her jaw dropped. “If you tell a soul, I swear on me parents’ graves I’ll make you pay dearly.”
Eric kissed her again. “I wouldn’t dare. Besides, you look twenty years younger than your actual age.”
“That’s enough of that, young man.” Gretchen’s cheeks were actually red. “Now be off with both of you. Megan needs you two at your best. Go get the bad guy.”
“I will.” Eric rushed out the door, heading to Walden-Jackson County Airport, which was over an hour from Destiny.
Living in the Rockies had so many advantages, but the one disadvantage was the lack of flat land to build airports. Walden-Jackson was the closest to them. He and Eric were working to get a single runway private airport built on one of the few pieces of acreage in all of Swanson County that would work for the project. The stretch was at the lowest elevation of the Stone Ranch and bordered the Steeles’.
He and Gretchen said their good-nights, and he went to his room. He pulled out his cell. It was still early, just after 5:00 p.m. This time of year with daylight savings in play, the sun didn’t set until after eight.
He clicked on Patrick O’Leary’s number.
“Hello,” his neighbor said.
“Hello, Patrick. This is Scott Knight.”
“Got the caller ID, lad. I know ’tis.” Patrick’s slight Irish brogue always made Scott smile. It got heavier whenever the man was tired or after a few drinks.
“I have a favor to ask.”
“This about Mrs. Lunceford?”
“Yes. Eric and I believe she’s in trouble. She’s clearly innocent, Patrick.”
“That she is. Pretty, too. What can I be doing for ya?”
He told him about Eric taking TBK’s jet to Dallas and about the meeting in New York.
“Don’t say another word, Scott. Take ours. I’ll call the pilot. What time do you want him ready to go?”
“We’ll leave Destiny at four.”
“Done. I’ll tell the pilot five thirty. Your brother and you be careful.”
“We will. Thanks, Patrick.” Scott clicked off his phone and put it on the charging station on his desk.
He stripped off his clothes and climbed into his lonely bed, hoping to get a little shut-eye before Gretchen knocked on his door in the morning. But he knew it wasn’t going to happen even after the sun went down.
Images of Megan whirled in his head like a kaleidoscope.
The first moment he saw her with the papers falling to the courtroom floor appeared. Then came the memory of her sitting at the defendant’s table next to them, her hands trembling, followed by sitting with her in the booth at Lucy’s. Walking next to her into his and Eric’s home. Leading her past the playroom and seeing her eyes widen in obvious surprise and a tinge of curiosity.
Every moment with her felt special and potent.
But she was still married to Kip. Did she still love him? Why hadn’t he bothered to ask her that?
Tomorrow he would make sure he found out.
Chapter Six
Megan found herself rested and nervous. Odd combination, but true.
Waking to Gretchen’s knock on her door had been so much better than a buzzing alarm clock. Even though the time was three in the morning, she’d slept soundly for way over eight hours. Ten or eleven at least. The big comfy bed and her full tummy had been just what she needed. The shock had come when she realized that her new job, personal assistant to the Knight brothers, was already in full swing.
She was going to New York with Scott, who had told her that Eric had another TBK meeting he was going to attend. When pressed, Scott had assured her that they were still serious about finding out who had used her computer to get into TBK’s network. He wanted her to be patient since it would take some effort and time.
Time? For so long it had ticked painfully for Megan. Since her mother’s death, every second piled on more hurt. The one shining spot in all the darkness had been her mother’s home, the only real thing in the world that was still hers. The Knight Mansion would’ve paled most of the homes in Preston Hollow or Highland Park in Dallas. Her house wasn’t in either but instead was in a part of the city where average, hardworking families lived, people who might’ve flown once or twice in their life like her, but never in a private luxury jet like she was now. Still, the little house was one place in the world that held the last happy memories of her mother. Before the cancer. Before her mother’s death. Before Kip.
She looked out the window at the clouds zooming by. Her only transportation for so long had been her car, or the DART train when Granny Gremlin wasn’t running.
She’d flown with her mother a year before she died. Her mother’s sister was the last family member they shared. Aunt Violet’s funeral was simple, with only three people attending—Megan and her mom, and the minister. The legroom on that flight didn’t compare to this one.
This almost didn’t seem real. But it was real. And so was Scott, sitting directly across from her in the plush leather seat.
“When we land, Megan, I’ve asked Dylan to take you shopping while I’m in my meeting.”
“The guy who put the lock on my door. I remember. Shopping for what?”
“Clothes.”
“I’ll need to know your sizes.” She reached for her purse to get out a pen. “Do you think the O’Learys have a notepad I can borrow on this plane?”
He shrugged and grabbed her hand. The touch made her heart race. “You don’t need to write this down, Megan. The clothes aren’t for me. They’re for you.”
She shook her head, not pulling free from his hold. “I’ll earn my way.”
“I know you will.” His endearing smile unhinged Megan and a shiver shot through her.
“Then why are you sending me shopping for clothes?” she heard herself ask irritably. “I told you that I’m not a charity case, Mr. Knight.”
Scott seemed to take it all in stride. “Agreed.” He squeezed her hand and she thought she would melt right there. “You’re quite capable, sweetheart. But you’re working for TBK now and you get a wardrobe allowance. Let’s drop the ‘Mr. Knight,’ too. We’re way past that, okay?” The last part was less a request and more of an order.
“You’re just saying that, Scott.” She pulled her hand free of his. “I’ve never heard of a wardrobe allowance before.” But why would she? She’d only worked in clerical jobs in small companies, most with only a single location. TBK had offices all around the country and in Canada. Dallas even had an office.
Maybe he was telling the truth about the allowance.
She looked down at her gray slacks and pink blouse. Other than what she’d worn into the courtroom yesterday, it was the most formal outfit she owned. Pretty sad. She was now working with two young Internet moguls, not in a tiny dentist office. How soon would she be walking into boardrooms with some of the richest people in the world? If today was any clue of what the next three months were going to be like, there was a high probability it would be very soon an
d often.
She glanced back at Scott with his so-very-kind brown eyes. His stare made her tingly inside.
Maybe he only wanted to give her a new wardrobe and was using the pretense of an allowance from TBK to do it.
“What’s the allowance total for staff?” she asked, trying to get to the bottom of it. Pride might’ve been all she had left, but at least it was something.
“At your current level? Twenty grand.”
Her jaw dropped. “Twenty thousand dollars. You’ve got to be kidding.”
He smiled. “Do you need more?”
“Stop teasing me.” She thought about asking him who else had such a budget for clothing at his company but didn’t. “If you want me to up my apparel for TBK I will, but I won’t spend a fraction of that kind of money on clothes for myself.”
His tone turned firmer, more like Eric’s was all the time. “You accepted our deal, Megan, didn’t you?”
She nodded.
“Glad you remembered. You will spend every dollar and you will do that today.” He grabbed his wallet from his pocket in his jacket. Pulling out a credit card, he handed it to her. “Use this.”
“I’ve never seen this credit card before. I thought Amex only came in green or gold.” That was what she had taken from customers at her many public-facing jobs, besides Visa and MasterCard. “This one is black.”
“Yes it is, sweetheart. It’s a pretty exclusive card. The good thing with it is the sales folks will be happy to help you. It doesn’t have a set limit. Don’t you dare look at the tags, okay? Dylan’s going with you.”
“This is too much, Scott. I’m not Julia Roberts and you’re not Richard Gere.” She held the card out for him to take, but he only stared at her.
“Megan, I’m not trying to make you uncomfortable, but you have to stop pushing back so hard.”
She looked back at the black card. No limits. Was this what winners of the Powerball jackpot felt like? Stunned, as she was right now? “I don’t know what to say. I’m not good at accepting gifts of any kind.”
He left his chair and crouched down in front of her. “Megan, make me happy and let me do this for you.”
“I want to but it’s hard. I’ve been on my own for so long.” She gazed at Scott and saw more than just a handsome, sexy man. He was kind, honest, and caring. He and Eric had turned her entire life around in a flash. Just a couple of days ago, she was in Dallas with absolutely no hope and no options. Familiar territory. Now she was in a private jet, winging her way to New York with the shopping spree of a lifetime hers for the taking.
His eyes narrowed. “Are you still in love with Kip?”
“No,” she blurted. “I thought I was in love with him, but I knew on our wedding night I’d made a mistake. He was a damn liar and a user.”
“What did he do to you?” Scott’s face darkened with apparent anger. Such rage would’ve been terrifying had it been pointed her direction, but it wasn’t. She found it strangely satisfying that his ferociousness was leveled against Kip for his harm to her, even though she’d yet to tell him what it was.
“He lied to me, Scott. I’d lost my mother to cancer and he came into my life. Flashy and flirty, he swept away my grief.” She raised the black Amex card between them for a moment. “He must’ve had one of these, though I don’t remember ever seeing him use it. He always used cash, lots of it.”
“Megan, I’m sorry. Did he buy you clothes? Did my offer remind you of him?”
“No, Scott. He never bought me anything, except dinner a few times. He did take me for many rides in his Maserati, though. He wasn’t like you and Eric. Very different. He wanted all the limelight and I was happy to let him have it just to keep my sadness and loneliness at bay.” The ancient pain welled up inside her like a rising flood. “Why am I telling you this? You don’t want to hear my troubles.”
Once again, he grabbed not one, but both her hands. “I do, sweetheart. I want to hear it all. Please.”
Where Eric’s intensity came in shiver-inducing commands, Scott’s took the shape of gentle, mouthwatering nudges. Both were impossible to resist.
“I’d only known him for a month when he proposed. God, I was such an idiot. A month?”
“Don’t be so hard on yourself. Eric and I fell for Kip’s lies, too.”
How did Scott know just what to say to make her feel better? She wanted to be touched by him, to be kissed by him, to be held in his arms, exposed. Scott embodied every hero she’d ever read in her erotic romance novels. Sexy. Protective. Dangerous. Kind. A dichotomy of characteristics that appealed to her on every level was right in front of her in flesh and blood, hot male flesh and blood. Her mind might still be resisting, but her body was literally warming to the possibility.
“I guess I shouldn’t. My mother’s illness took all my focus and hers from my sixteenth birthday until her death four years later and two months before I met the bastard. I graduated high school only because my mother demanded that I did. I felt so lost. I accepted Kip’s offer of marriage mainly because I was terrified of being alone again. The very next day we drove to Vegas.”
“Kip hated planes. I remember that about him.”
“Yes, he did. We stayed at the Monte Carlo. Did you know that in Las Vegas, you can get a marriage license and be married the same day? I didn’t. Not back then. Even then, Kip had to ply me with drinks to get me to agree to go through with it.”
“Fuck him.” Scott growled his disapproval.
Again, his rage made her feel better. She hadn’t told anyone this story. Hell, she hadn’t had anyone close enough to tell, no family, no friends, no one. Telling Scott felt right. Her heart was already on board, but her mind held back, if only a little.
“I’ve tried to figure out a way to get a divorce.” The word divorce was a little off the mark since what she really had been trying to do was get her marriage annulled. Instead of correcting herself, she went on. “I don’t have the money and I don’t know where the government is keeping him.”
“Megan, did he ever touch you?”
She knew that Scott meant physical abuse but the answer was the same, though she decided not to elaborate.
How could she tell him that she was still a virgin? A twenty-five-year-old virgin. Most didn’t believe such a creature existed, but here she was. Married, too. Impossible.
“No. Kip never touched me.”
Chapter Seven
Scott watched Megan’s lips quiver. Eric was the one with the sixth sense when it came to women, but he wasn’t without his talents. She had told some of the tale of her time with Kip, but she was still holding back. What? He wasn’t sure, but he had to find out. Yes, patience with her was required, much patience. After all she’d been through—losing her mother so young, being manipulated by that bastard, having every possession taken from her—she deserved his and Eric’s patience and more.
“I’m here for you, sweetheart. No judgment. Talk to me.” The one revelation that had come in this flight to New York was he would never let Megan go. Ever.
“I don’t want to talk about this anymore.” Her hands were trembling and he watched her clasp them together in a clear attempt to steady them.
A whiff of her scent filled his nostrils and his cock stiffened in his pants. But it was more than lust for her that burned through his body. Her trusting him with the details of her past had forever sealed him to her. She was his. Always. He grabbed onto the connection he felt to Megan with his entire being. Yes, he would marry her, but he would never be more committed to Megan than he was right now, here on this plane.
He touched her cheek. “All right, sweetheart.”
She grabbed his wrist with her tiny hands, holding his fingers in place on her face. Her sweet, needy sigh thrilled him. It made him feel wanted and powerful.
Megan released his wrist. “Sorry.”
“Stop,” he said, his Dom skills moving to the forefront and keeping his fingertips on her soft skin. “We have time to enjoy ourselves, swee
theart, before we land.”
He wasn’t going to fuck her here, on the plane, though the blistering fervor inside him was becoming more difficult to hold back. Making love to her would come in the right way, the only way he knew, with his brother. Sharing Megan with Eric couldn’t come any sooner. Scott knew it would be Nirvana.
I’ve got to get a taste of her sweetness. His cock and balls stood up and saluted that thought.
“What about the pilot?” Her eyes darted to the closed door of the cockpit.
“I agree with you. Need to make sure we have some privacy.” Without moving an inch from her, he reached for the intercom and clicked it on.
“Yes, Mr. Knight?” The pilot’s voice came through the speaker.
“How long before we touch down?” Watching Megan’s sudden quivers mesmerized him.
“Two more hours, sir.”
“We’re going to get some shut-eye,” he informed, loving how cute she looked chewing on her lower lip.
“Very good, sir. I won’t disturb you until fifteen minutes before we land.”
“Perfect.” He clicked off the intercom. “Feel better?”
“Yes, Scott.”
“Do you like me touching you?”
She nodded.
“I thought so. I bet you’ll like this, too.” He leaned down and devoured her mouth with his. The whimper she rewarded his ears inflamed his hunger for more. What started as a gentle touch of her luscious mouth, he willingly intensified into a greedy melding of their lips. He traced her lips with his tongue, loving the taste of honey on them. He demanded entrance into her mouth and she surrendered quickly. The parting of her lips fueled his already burning appetite.
He felt her hands wrap around his neck, her fingers locking together. Plunging his tongue into her delicious mouth, he pulled Megan into his body until he could feel more of her soft flesh. He released her mouth, moving to her neck. She was so tiny and vulnerable, and his crushing need to possess and protect blasted through him and down into his cock and balls.