by Wanda Edmond
Chapter 12
She took rode back to New York, her heart torn into shreds.
He’d left her.
All the men that had passed through her life, and Finn Matthews had left her.
She didn’t want to believe it.
The short ride back to New York brought her to Pennsylvania Station and she took her carryon and her mini-suitcase, walking the street, in a daze.
Finn had gone. She’d thought maybe they had something. A closeness that one day the two of them would be able to build upon. Something real, something… solid.
No, it wasn’t going to happen.
Like all the people in Kristina’s life, they’d whirl into her private little world of loneliness, make her believe they wanted to stay, then leave.
Finn was just another in a long line of people who didn’t care—not about her, anyway.
Kristina hailed a cab. She found herself back in her Four Seasons Suite. How she got there without walking into a Mack truck while in a cloudy funk, she’d never know.
***
She’d soaked in the tub for what seemed hours. A ring on her suite and she went to the door—an A4 letter sat halfway under the door. She picked up the letter.
“Kristina Knight.”
Nobody called her Kristina that often. Her mail was usually addressed ‘Kris’, or ‘Krissy’. Either name was what she went by these days…
She opened the letter.
The card was actually a note. It was inscribed with a date, a location, a time, and a person she would meet. Finn! He had changed his mind!
Kristina raced through her suite. She still had the rest of the week to herself. Her PR Company would begin its next launch then. The clothes she piled into her suitcase weren’t many, but they’d be enough to get her to their destination. She could always find something to wear…Oh, she was going to be with Finn! They did share something. It didn’t matter what made him leave. She couldn’t have just been imagining the things that happened between them—.
***
The limo ride was just her paramour’s kind of style. Finn had a certain flair Kristina believed she was familiar with…a kind of personal, bravado. Kristina poured herself a glass of chilled wined that had prepared and left in gold vase. She decided she’d better not drink.
If she and Finn needed to talk about whatever he wanted, she knew she’d better have a clear head…
She arrived at the airport and she showed the card she’d received to an airline attendant. The attendant walked with her to a corridor that led to a Gate 32.
When Kristina got to the gate, she set down her suitcase. No one was on the field.
“This way, mum?” Kristina turned to a gentlemen dressed in a neatly pressed blue jacket and pants. His hat was embossed with the letters, KW.
She didn’t think she knew anyone with those initials.
Kristina followed the pilot to strip outside of the La Guardia walkway.
The pilot showed her to a flight of stairs and she hesitated before she boarded the plane. Her white skirt, red sweater and white heels, gave her enough courage to press forward. If Finn was waiting for her, at least she knew she’d dressed for her part in their adventure-romance.
Kristina nodded with a “Thank you”, and she entered the plane.
Nobody is here. She turned to take the stairs, when the door slowly closed.
“This is your captain. Thank you for flying Knightware Flight 1814. We will be taxiing in a few moments before we depart for our scheduled destination in Paris, France. Please enjoy your flight.”
“Paris?” Kristina said softly.
Epilogue
A flight attendant, dressed in a black sleeveless tunic dress, greeted Kristina.
“Welcome, Miss Layne. This way.”
Kristina entered a larger cabin and stared. The night didn’t do the jet justice. The interior of the plane was unlike anything Kristina had seen. It was as big as her suite at The Four Seasons, maybe bigger. A single chair between her and a set of lavish Queen Anne sofa furniture was at the opposite end of the carpeted room. Ian turned, and he stood.
“Welcome, Kristina. I hope your ride in the private limousine was satisfactory?”
Ian took Kristina’s carryon and he handed it to the attendant. “That’s all Grace, we can do the rest,” Ian said.
“Yes, Mr. Knight.” Grace crossed to another cabin and she closed the door behind her with an audible, “click”.
Ian escorted Kristina by hand to sit on a lush, hand-stitched, love seat. Kristina couldn’t tell if the piece was authentic, but the gilding around the legs and arms, like everything else in the cabin, reminded her of the interior of a royal palace.
“It seems you’ve had quite a weekend, Kristina Layne-Knight. Allow me to make you forget every worry, and give you the world, you’ve always dreamed.”
Ian uncorked a bottle of wine. He poured a flask full of the pale gold liquid, then he handed it to her. He poured himself a glass and he smiled.
A waltz lilted through the ornately furnished cabin.
Ian touched his glass to Kristina’s glass. He sipped his bubbling wine, which jolted from her stupor. Kristina sampled hers. The wine was, lightly sweet, and delicious.
Kristina set down her wine and Ian asked her to stand. Kristina suddenly realized she recognized the music. It was Tchaikovsky’s Sleeping Beauty.
The strings in the 19th waltz rippled into passionate crescendo as Ian neared Kristina.
“I know I’ve done some reprehensible things since we’ve found each other again, but now, you will see a new man. Or at the very least, a very,” Ian kissed one of Kristina’s hands, “very,” he kissed her other hand that held her wine, “ardent lover.”
Kristina stared.
“Oh, my, gawd.”
<< THE END OF BOOK 3 >>
YES! I WANT TO RATE YOUR BOOK 3
…Synopsis (Book 4)…
Ian Knight found his stepsister after being apart from for a lifetime. Kristina Layne-Knight has fought desperately to stay away from her stepbrother, Ian. He’s convinced Kristina and he are destined to spend their lives together.
Only Kristina has given up on the fairytale dream. Kristina finds a new romance with hunky advertising man Finn Matthews but Ian won’t be denied.
Ian devises a plan to woo Kristina that leaves her breathless and ready to explore her forbidden desires, in the fourth book in the five-part, bad boy stepbrother billionaire romance, “Knight Passion” book series, Desire.
Prologue
The jet taxied on the strip at La Guardia, Kristina Layne-Knight stared at her stepbrother Ian, and her lips were parted into a perfect, “O”.
What in the world was Ian doing?
Kristina looked around the luxurious cabin of her stepbrother’s jet. A lounge seat and a gilded antique desk on lush carpeting lit by candles were the first things she noticed.
Ian took away her champagne and he announced they were leaving New York for Paris—Kristina shook her head.
Why did Ian want her to fly away with him, when he knew she was his sister and they were attracted to one another?
She should have been fleeing from the jet, screaming she was sister-napped. Kristina remembered seeing Ian’s note. It was in an envelope she’d received when she was out with her sexy date Finn.
Finn Matthews had asked Kristina if she would honor him with a weekend date. The book signing party Kristina helped launch for her PR Company Syren, had gone smashingly. The two authors Syren repped were gaining fans—and sales, like wildfire.
Kristina had been in a funk ever since her brother Ian declared his intentions. They’d run into each other at a private spa in Miami when he announced he would make her his. Then they bumped into each other again at her Syren pre-release book party. Ian convinced Kristina their meeting again was complete chance.
So why had he followed her from the pre-release book party into a powder room?
She’d tried to explain they couldn’
t be together and Ian touched her. His hands roamed over her skin, making her shiver as her body melded into his. That was when she learned Ian Knight was a purposeful man. Kristina wondered how Ian went from stealing dirty mags and carjacking to being an affluently confident businessman. When they were growing up, Ian claimed the only thing he wanted was for the two of them to be together. Kristina still recalled the night she and Ian spent at the Observatory. It was the most wonderful time Kristina ever had.
***
Ian looked at his sister who stared him. He realized his plan to welcome her into his life had worked.
Ian and Kristina had become brother and sister by marriage. When their parents tied the knot, he and Kristina spent every moment they could find together. Ian was grown now. He was a man who had explicit tastes, and a drive to satisfy them as he pleased.
He had come to New York to find Kristina and to pledge his devotion. Then she’d run and he’d vowed to show her why she was his. The letters he’d sent were all he’d needed to begin his seduction. Kristina Layne was the only woman Ian would ever want, or need.
***
Ian took his sister’s glass of champagne and he set it on a gilded serving tray. He gazed into Kristina’s eyes and he held her hands.
The night Ian and Krissy were at the Starlight Observatory, he’d promised they would be together always. Krissy had promised that too. She was just his sister; Ian intended to prove to Kristina she was his. Not because he wanted to own her. He believed they belonged together. Ian realized his stepsister may have forgotten about the times they had spent together. He’d planned this evening to remind her that nothing between them had changed.
Ian drew Kristina close.
Kristina Layne, you are my world, Ian thought quietly, my life.
“It seems you’ve had quite a weekend, Kristina Layne-Knight.”
Kristina pressed against her brother Ian, feeling his warm, taut skin rubbing the nubs of her oversensitive breasts. Her sweater couldn’t hide her body’s reaction to him. Nothing she could think or say could deny it. Yes, she knew it was true.
Oh, Finn, why couldn’t it be you who wanted me like Ian? Kristina thought.
Kristina desired her one and only brother Ian.
“Allow me to make you forget your every worry—.”
Kristina glanced up at her brother and she gasped when she saw the heat that shone in his eyes.
“I can give the world to you, Kris. Something only you and I know you have always—and secretly, dreamed.”
The strings to a waltz by Tchaikovsky drifted throughout the ornately furnished cabin. Kristina let Ian hold her in his arms as they spun slowly into a sensual dance.
***
Ian knew he would have to tell Kristina about the choices he’d made to win her over. He would tell her, in time…they’d have their whole lives to learn about each other. The flight to France was only their beginning. He wanted his sister to see that they were meant to be.
Ian kissed one of Kristina’s hands.
“I know I’ve done some reprehensible things since we’ve found each other again, but I believe you will see how I’ve changed.”
Kristina looked at her brother, trying to remember why she’d fought to stay away from him. All she could think of now was her brother’s touch. Kristina felt Ian’s warm breath against her cheek as they danced. Ian twirled her in the glow of the candlelit cabin. Kristina smiled as she turned and spin to the waltz named Sleeping Beauty.
“Or I should I say at the very least,” Ian kissed Kristina’s other hand, “a very,” he kissed her other hand as they spun to the music. “Ardent,” as he trailed kisses up Kristina’s neck and over her shoulders…
“Lover.”
Chapter 1
Oh, perfect, thought Kristina.
The Princess Aurora of the Disney flick had nothing on her.
Because Kristina knew she was fantasizing about sleeping with Ian. She’d been pretending she didn’t want to be with Ian for so long, she had almost convinced herself. Kristina had thought about being with Ian since they first bathed together when their parents were away. Back then, Kristina and Ian were too inexperienced to be intimate with each other.
Kristina saw Ian sitting at his desk on the plane, years after they had been apart, and she’d started to imagine how her brother would look nude. She fantasied how she might run up to Ian and run her fingers through her stepbrother’s thick full hair. She’d boarded the plane thinking she was going to meet her lover Finn, and here she was dreaming about Ian Knight sitting stark naked, wearing only a tie.
Why couldn’t she make herself stop?
She was a plane with her head in the clouds, wondering would her phone work if she tried to dial 9-1-1. Or maybe an operator—but if anyone answered, what would she say?
Hello, this is Kristina Layne-Knight. I’m on a private plane with my stepbrother heading across the Atlantic. By the way, I’m being kidnapped.
Kristina could hardly say she was being held against her will—no, that would have been easy. She was the one who believed Finn would want to see her again after he had gone ahead to New York without her. She could have left Ian’s extravagantly tricked out plane the instant she knew Ian was here. She should probably have raved Ian was the Big, Bad Wolf in businessman’s clothing.
Except, he wasn’t.
The moment she saw her brother she noticed he was dressed immaculately. Ian stood over six-feet, his hair was thick, brown and longish, and he had beautifully muscled arms that filled his charcoal tailored suit perfectly. No man looked as strikingly sexy or as handsome as her stepbrother. Not even her casual lover Finn Matthews she mistakenly believed had sent for her.
Kristina looked Ian up and down, smiling on the inside. She’d bet her frosted glass topped with champagne she could recognize her good-looking stepbrother even if he was in a crowd.
Finn may have been a whiz back at his advertising agency, but Kristina didn’t believe he owned his own private jet. Now she was on one, and making a trip to Europe—something only her brother Ian could creatively arrange.
***
Ian offered Kristina another glass of sparkling wine and she glanced around the jet cabin interior again. The antique chairs, gilded sofa, and writing desk were accented in minute detail. Votive candles lined the tiny ledges beneath the plane’s windows, and there were more candles atop the antique desk. Kristina closed her eyes as she listened to the waltz in the background. Everything was perfect; she couldn’t help but feel a little like a princess.
Ian probably thought of all of this because he wants to break down my neatly constructed defenses, Kristina thought.
I’m not going to let you get to me, Ian. I can’t let you win!
Except in all the Disney animated movies Kristina saw, not one of the princesses wanted to screw her hot, entrepreneur stepbrother. Dirty images of her brother Ian nude and wearing only a scarlet tie flashed in her mind until she opened her eyes.
Why couldn’t she just forget about Ian and his hot body? Or was it his hard, long erection pressing against her skirt?
The harder Kristina tried to resist Ian Knight, the more she sizzled with desire.
Chapter 2
Kristina knew Ian would persist she stay if she didn’t protest in some kind of way.
She stood in the luxurious cabin of Ian’s jet, thinking she should do something. Kristina glanced to a window and she saw clouds in the night sky. Were they really that high in the air? Maybe they were still in U.S. waters. Should she try and find the pilot and tell him her dilemma?
‘Hi, I’m Kristina. Yes, Ian Knight’s stepsister,’ she could say.
I believe I been snatched and I want to return home safely. Do you think you could fly me back to the La Guardia Airport, please?
***
Ian took the second flute with champagne Kristina was sipping and he lifted the glass.
“Cheers, to my gorgeous and lovely stepsister.” Kristina stared as Ian gulped down the
rest of the wine.
Ian set the crystal on a serving tray next to his empty flute while held Kristina with his arm. He turned to Kristina as he gazed into her eyes.
Something inside Kristina warned her she should run. Ian hugged her gently as she tried not to imagine what was about to happen.
Ian’s hardness stretched against Kristina like a giant obelisk. His engorged sex pressed her urgently as they spin to another waltz. Kristina held onto Ian as they darted between the furniture in the cabin. She squeezed his shoulders tightly as she and Ian danced in a lively quickstep.