by Lana Lachlan
“Yes, Grandmama,” Anna said meekly, then asked sourly, “Aren’t I allowed to fall in love?”
Grandmama’s snort fell like a brick on Anna’s ear. “Falling in love sounds very much like losing control. A Cabot woman doesn’t lose control. She marries sensibly.”
Anna would rather be on her own for the rest of her life than marry sensibly. She felt so mixed up right now that all she could think about was getting through the nightmare of her cancelled wedding. Compared to what was to come, telling Julian had been the easy part.
Grandmama had already arranged for the guests to be contacted with an explanation that Annaliesa Cabot and Julian Frankland were in agreement that the marriage should not take place. They remained good friends and were committed to continuing the Cabot and Frankland business relationship. It read like a press statement but Grandmama wouldn’t allow anything personal as it could be passed onto the gossip columnists. In that, Anna agreed. The only person who knew the real story was Cristal but even she didn’t know about Gage. There was no need for anyone to know about Gage when he would soon be gone from the city.
Gone from Manhattan but not gone from her heart. Anna had tried to convince herself that Gage wasn’t the reason she’d cancelled her wedding, but it was all a lie. The brute had opened her sexually and emotionally and yes, she’d gotten in over her head and paid the price for it. She felt miserable about never seeing him again or experiencing his touch as punishing as it was. She even missed Axel.
“Now as to handling the media side of things,” Beatrice continued, pouring herself another cup of tea from her flowery china teapot. “Our public relations people will take any questions so you will be protected. But my dear, you are not to do any interviews.”
“Yes, Grandmama.”
“And I’ve arranged for you to go to Europe for six months. Two months in Paris with my brother and his wife and then another month in Rome…”
“Actually, I have plans.”
Beatrice blinked. “Plans? What plans?”
Anna rolled her shoulders, savoring her news. “I’m going to continue working at the Metzo.”
She saw her grandmother’s face pinken. “That’s out of the question, Annaliesa. Naturally, you’ll need to keep yourself occupied after your return from Europe so we could look at finding a suitable occupation for you then.”
“No, Grandmama, I’ll be starting back at the gallery next Monday.”
Grandmama’s face turned an angry red. “Have you completely lost your mind? It will look like you’re not in the least sorry about calling off your wedding. Remember my dear, I can cut off your allowance at any time.”
Anna couldn’t access her personal trust fund until next year when she was twenty-five. It would make her a very rich woman but until then, she had her gallery income and had already worked out a budget, as painful as it had been.
“My allowance was set up by Papa for me, not for you to use it over me. But if you do cut me off, it won’t matter because I can live on my wages. And what’s more,” Anna shouted, jumping up from the sofa. “I’ll move in with Cristal.”
Beatrice sank back into the sofa in shock. “I-I won’t allow it.”
Anna hated having to do this, but it had been a long time coming. “Grandmama, since Papa and Mama died, you have looked after me and I love you for it. But you cannot own my life. If I ever want a husband, I’ll find one myself. I’ll earn my own money, buy my own groceries, pay my own rent from money I earn, not from my inheritance. I’ll be…” Anna stopped. She smiled. “I’ll be free.”
Perhaps one day her grandmother would understand but for now all she got for her declaration of independence was an angry grimace. “Annaliesa, I want you to go to your apartment and think very carefully about what you are doing.”
“You can’t send me to my apartment like it’s my room,” Anna responded calmly. “And I know exactly what I’m doing.” Gathering up her coat and purse, she stood at the door, feeling more positive, more resolute than she’d been in a very long time. “Thank you, Grandmama, for helping me see. Now I can be who I really am.”
Chapter 9
One year later
Gage emerged from the surf, toweled himself down and started the long jog back to his house, Axel plodding at his heels. Every morning, they covered their two miles along the near deserted beach, only stopping for a brief dip to cool off before the return home. After this morning’s run, he’d fix coffee and finish off last night’s pizza although being Sunday and his one and only day off, he just might fry that bacon that had been sitting in the fridge for two weeks.
The business had thrived and he could afford to relax. Within two weeks of taking over, he’d started renovating and while he’d kept the nautical theme, it had new paint, wall decorations, a pool table and a large screen TV. The fishing nets were now strung in the outdoor area and the bar mirror had been relocated to the wall by the pool table. In its place at the bar, Gage had proudly installed a sign that said, ‘John Gage, Proprietor’. There was more work to be done on renovating the kitchen but he’d employed an extra cook to help Ted’s wife along with three bar staff to help Ted. Ted had happily stayed on, even cleaned up his act after Gage had told him to get his stomach problem sorted. And best of all, Gage liked the locals and they liked him right back. They accepted him, even enjoyed having an inked up ex-heavyweight serving their beers and telling them the occasional story about his days as a fighter. For the first time ever, he felt at peace with the world.
He stopped to throw a piece of driftwood into the sea, sending Axel on yet another retrieval mission. Axel loved it here as much as he did and later today, they’d go out on his fifteen-footer, the Annaliesa, to catch their supper.
The girl. After seeing the cancelled wedding announcement on the news a year ago, he’d wanted to call her but he’d decided against opening old wounds for both their sakes. And by now, Anna would have moved on and might even have a new jackass.
He was around three hundred yards from his cottage when he saw movement on his porch behind the sun umbrella. Axel barked, his guard dog instincts sending him at full speed toward the house with Gage at full speed after him, yelling at the damned animal to come back. But the dog had already bounded up the porch steps. As Gage got nearer, still cursing Axel, he pulled up short.
She looked like a dream dressed in pink shorts and matching top and sandals. Her sunglasses were perched on her head, her long dark hair drawn back and she had those same diamond earrings in her ears. Just looking at the beauty on his porch had Gage forgetting the steps and he almost tripped on his way up.
“Hello, princess.”
She looked at him with her big serious eyes. “Hello, big bad man.”
Gage couldn’t say for certain when he first knew he loved Anna Cabot but now seemed good. Without thinking, he reached to tuck a stray lock behind her ear.
“Girl, where the fuck have you been?”
He watched her beautiful mouth curve up in the shadow of a smile. “I’ve been making myself free.”
“And how did it go?”
The smile gained strength. “It was a journey but now it’s done.”
“Good girl. It couldn’t have been easy.”
She took a breath before answering. “At first it was hard.”
“I’m glad for you, Anna. And I’m glad you’ve come to tell me.”
He saw doubt creep into her eyes. “Are you, John?”
Hearing his name took him by surprise.
“I went to the Landings Bar first and I saw the new sign,” she explained. “The bartender, Ted, gave me your address. I hope you don’t mind because I wasn’t sure whether you’d want to see me after all this time. You have your new life here in Carter’s Bay.”
Gage knew it couldn’t have been easy for her to come here after he’d rejected her so many times. At the time, it had seemed the best way of getting her out of his messy, fucked up life. They’d been all wrong for each other and probably still were. Yet having her here
on his front porch had never felt so right. And despite his new life, she’d always been the missing piece.
“Are you happy, Anna?”
Apart from the brief flicker of hesitation, she gave no sign. “Julian relocated to Europe for six months to avoid the publicity. Grandmama was so angry with me but she got over it and no longer tries to run my life. And I’ve been working at the gallery fulltime as the manager.”
“But are you happy, girl?”
She ducked her head. “Yes.”
Gage heard the pain behind that one word. And in a jolt of clarity that hit him like one of Bullock’s gut jabs, Gage realized she’d come here to be with him. He was her missing piece.
“Anna, I-I…” He fell over his words so started over. “I…”
Fuck, it could wait. “Would you like to come in? I’m about to fix coffee.” He grinned to get her smiling again. “There’s pizza if you’re interested.”
Her head came up but no smile. “I’ll have the coffee.”
“Right then,” he said, opening the front door to usher her through. Following her inside, his gaze automatically attached to her butt, forcing him to rein in his jealous thought that some other dude might be spanking his princess. She’d only been here five minutes and he was ready to claim her.
Get a grip, Gage. You’re not home yet.
He cleared a kitchen chair of old newspapers for her to sit down. As she moved past him, her hip brushed his and Gage, feeling increasingly like Axel did about that Labrador bitch two doors down, strode to the coffee machine, cursing himself at every step. He had important things to tell the girl and he didn’t intend to fuck it up in the first five minutes.
“I saw Mr. Bullock’s fight on the television,” she said to his back as he loaded the machine. “He TKO’d his opponent.”
TKO’d? The princess had been reading up on her boxing terms. “Yeah, it was a good win.”
“It was great the way he broke the other man’s nose.”
Gage looked over his shoulder to see her eyes sparkling.
“Bullock thought so,” Gage agreed, amused by Anna’s bloodthirsty streak. “He moved out to LA with his manager. They offered me a big contract to go with them but it’s not for me.”
“So what do you do in Carter’s Bay, apart from managing the bar?”
Gage put their coffees on the table sat himself on the opposite side well away from temptation. “I work and when I’m not working, I go fishing.”
“That’s sounds fun. Will you ever go back to New York?”
“Not for good but there’s a young fighter at Cutter’s who’s asked me to train him so now that the business is doing well, I’ll be back and forth. In the meantime, I’m teaching the basics to a few kids at the local gym, mostly for fitness. Nothing fancy but they enjoy it.”
“I-I’m glad things have worked out for you.”
She tried to smile but it wobbled.
“Anna,” he said then gave up again. Too much hinged on this. He had to get it right and that meant getting his thoughts lined up. “So you like your job at the gallery?”
“Yes, I do.” She reached for her coffee, then changed her mind at the sight of the cracked mug. “It’s very busy of course and they’re talking about opening a second gallery.”
He’d been building up his courage and when she gazed around his kitchen with wistful eyes, now seemed right. “Anna, I want to tell you something.”
Her questioning gaze told him she didn’t have a clue how he felt about her. “When I took you home to my loft that night, I thought you were a sleeping beauty. I’ve never had anyone like you in my life before… or since for that matter. And I won’t ever be able to give you all your princess things or take you on overseas vacations or to tea parties.” He chuckled. “Or the fucking opera. But one thing I can promise you, Annaliesa Cabot, is that I will love you like no other man will ever love you.”
She looked at him with a stunned face.
“And if you’ll have me, I don’t ever want you to feel you have to please me. I want you to be your own person, go out into the world and do all the things you want to do. All I need is that when you come home, you come home to me and let me love you.”
He meant every word. His prison had been steel bars but Anna’s had been in her mind and he never wanted her to feel trapped again.
She started crying, tears running down her face to wet her lips and chin and Gage all but launched himself off his chair to collect her up in his arms and let her cry, wanting to comfort his girl and at the same time worried he’d said all the wrong things.
“Anna, if you…”
She drew back to meet his anxious eyes, smiling another wobbly smile. “I love you, John Gage and I don’t want the world. I just want you.”
Even through his joy at hearing the words, he had to be sure that she understood what it meant for her. “With me, you’ll be living a completely different life, Anna.”
Her tear-filled eyes drifted over his scars and tattoos. “I know but I love you and I love it here in Carter’s Bay. I might even start a gallery… or an arts and crafts business. I’ll have to go to New York for Cabot business, but you’ll be in New York as well.”
She looked so determined, Gage believed her. It would take time for them both to adjust to their new lives, but he had no doubt they’d make it. They had so much to discuss, plans to make but the most important thing now was to love his adorable, sexy girl.
Bending, he kissed her, his lips skidding over her tears and lip-gloss, his hands already on her butt to stamp his ownership. Her hands went to rest on his shoulders so he hoisted her up, cradling her while she looped her arms around his neck to envelop him in that unique lust he had for her, and only her. There’d been no one since Anna, and his head spun with wanting her.
Carrying her down the short hall to the bedroom, he laid her on his mess of tangled sheets, last night’s clothes and the pizza box that had yet to make it to the trashcan. The sight of her spread out on his bed had him not knowing where to start.
She made the decision for him, shimmying out of her shorts and yanking off her top.
Oh Jesus, a pink bikini. Gage had known she’d look sensational, but nothing came close to this hot reality. An angel in pink, a body made for sin, a princess to call his own. He could happily sink himself into her luscious body for the rest of Sunday.
Trembling with desire and unable to quite believe that this was really happening, Gage ran his hands over her lightly tanned skin, her shivers a delicious friction against his palms. If his girl had been spanked by some rich tool, he found no sign of it on her soft, flawless body although he didn’t intend to paddle her today, as satisfying as it would be for both of them. How would that look if she took a swim with two shiners on her ass?
She flipped over and thrust her butt up. “I’ve been naughty, Gage.”
Okay, shiners or not, he couldn’t allow his princess to be naughty. Kneeling on the bed between her legs, he spanked her. And through her half-hearted cries of protest and moans and calling him a brute, he heard her say she loved him.
Gage grinned. They were home.
The End
Lana Lachlan
Lana Lachlan quickly discovered that writing about bad men, smart women and naughty sex is better than chocolate. And when she’s not creating her beautiful heroes and heroines with their dark, delicious fantasies, she’s usually on the beach, foolishly trying to keep up with her greyhound. Oh, she also eats too much chocolate.
Write to Lana here: [email protected]
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