Keeper (A Billionaire Romance)

by Belle Roberts

  She opened her mouth to say more, but the image of my mother in the doorway stopped her and she sighed, irritated, turning to her.

  “Mrs. Davenport, it was a pleasure to meet you and I hope we can meet again soon.”

  I watched my mother reach out and shake her hand.

  “Of course dear, we’ll sort something out. I’ll have Helen arrange lunch soon.”

  “Sounds lovely. I should go. I’m a little ill at the moment and…” she turned to me, an unspoken disappointment radiating from her to me. “Say goodbye to Jessica for me.”

  We both watched her walk back into the house, and I let out a big sigh, annoyed with myself. Annoyed because I’d overstepped the line. We were together in a business deal and that was it, nothing more and nothing less. I was marrying her because my mother wasn’t going to make the year and I knew it would be the best send off for her to attend my wedding. I wanted her to go believing I was content and settled in myself. Kate needed me just as much as I needed her.

  “Sorry about that,” I said to my mother, who watched me intently.

  “I just want to know that you’re happy,” she whispered, taking my hand. “There’s nothing more I want right now than to know that you’re going to be okay.”

  “I am. I promise. Look at me, I’m getting married.”

  “But are you happy?”

  I nodded, hating to lie and deceive her, but I knew how much it meant to her.

  “Is this what you really want?”

  I nodded again slowly.

  “Then as long as you’re happy, I’m happy. Just make sure you understand the value of your fiancé. Forget about the other women from your past and put everything else behind you. Just focus on the both of you and treat her right, Jonathan. Marriage is long term, and I can see that woman in there cares about you. Don’t abuse that. Give her tonight, but make sure you fix whatever is going on here, otherwise the gap will just get bigger until you can’t fix it.”

  We walked back inside the house, but her words were ingrained in my head and I couldn’t forget the image of Kate’s hurt eyes after I’d kissed her. I thought about the expression on her face of disappointment and confusion when I’d left her in the study.

  Our needs, marriage, and entire relationship was supposed to be nothing but professional, though as I sat down beside Jessica and listened to her talk about her plans with Evan, I couldn’t stop thinking about Kate. The only thing I wanted to do above anything else was run up there, put my arms around her, and let her know that I was never going to hurt her again. I wanted to explain to her that the urge I had to kiss her wasn’t pretend. I didn’t know what it was and I didn’t know how to define it, but I knew for certain that I cared more than I should have. I wanted her to know that more than anything, but that would go against the wedding clause and I couldn’t risk the marriage. I needed it to happen more than I think she even knew.

  All I could do was forget about the kiss and forget about anything that I thought I might be feeling.

  It was going to be business as usual from now on, no matter how hard it was going to be to resist her.

  Chapter Five

  Kate

  I woke up the next morning after my first night in Jonathan’s house, trying to piece together the series of events that had led to me spending the night in my room trying to convince myself that I wasn’t making the biggest mistake of my life.

  The one thing I couldn’t stop myself from thinking about was his lips and the way he’d kissed me and made me feel as though I was the most precious thing in his world.

  He didn’t know that I’d been waiting my whole life to feel that way. Needed, wanted… loved, and I couldn’t bear the thought that men like him with his cool manner and effortless charm had the ability to make women like myself, with insecurities from a broken life, feel as though I really meant something.

  The way his lips had grazed mine gently and the way he’d held my face in his hands… I rolled over on the bed not wanting to think about it anymore. I didn’t want to allow myself to get swept up in the thought that we were embarking on a real marriage with real feelings.

  He was my business partner and we were in a gigantic business deal. That was all. The contract said I had a minimum of five years to be bound by it and then I could leave if I wanted to and even though the thought of moving and living in a remote Italian village appealed to the adventurer in me, I wasn’t sure if I was able to turn my back on Jonathan, despite the no love or emotional attachment rule. I wasn’t sure if I would be able to let him go that easily and turn my back on the only person who would have been constant in my life.

  There was a knock at my bedroom door and I sat up, checking the time on the alarm clock before running my fingers through my wild hair and pulling it into a manageable ponytail.

  “Come in!”

  The door opened slowly and I saw Helen’s face first. She gave me an awkward ‘sorry I’ve been asked to interrupt your privacy’ kind of look before speaking.

  “Morning, Kate.”

  “Morning.”

  “This is Genevieve, your personal stylist.”

  A tall leggy woman with thick wavy hair walked into the room behind her and we both exchanged small waves.

  “She’s going to get you ready and sorted for today’s press release and article about your upcoming nuptials.”

  “Press release?” The words sounded almost foreign to me. “We’ve only been engaged for a number of days.”

  Helen laughed.

  “Unfortunately, news about Jonathan is highly sought after. Magazines and papers are going to be clambering over each other to get this story.”

  I swung my feet out of the bed slightly embarrassed by my frumpy brightly colored pajamas, that I hadn’t expected anyone to see, compared Helen and Genevieve who were wearing black, tight pencil dresses.

  The thought of the press hounding me for information had never even crossed my mind, and for some reason I’d only expected to have a big wedding party with his friends and family and then go back home and just live. I hadn’t envisaged the press interviewing me and becoming the next Kate Middleton.

  I felt the nerves in my stomach and a slight feeling of panic, but there was no time for that as Genevieve came to my side of the bed and helped me up.

  “Right. Let’s get you some outfits and then we’ll work on the press one. I‘ve been asked to provide you today with a full wardrobe for each season and…”

  “Each season?” I asked, incredulous. “As in, fall, winter, spring and then summer again?”

  She nodded enthusiastically.

  “A full wardrobe for each one? Where would I even put them all?”

  Helen stepped forwards with her clipboard and pen.

  “The dressing room is down the hall. I’ve arranged for someone to come in and coordinate everything seasonally and by color once we have them all. You won’t have to worry about a thing.”

  I couldn’t quite believe that people had someone to come in and sort out their wardrobes, but I remembered I was playing his fiancé. Now wasn’t the time to be in awe of how the other half lived.

  Helen turned to leave, but I stopped her before she disappeared.

  “Any news on Jonathan? Is he awake yet?”

  She smiled and nodded.

  “Oh yes, I’m afraid he’s already left for work, but he told me to tell you ‘good morning’ and he said he’ll ‘call you at some point’.

  “Thank you.”

  She nodded and left, leaving me feeling slightly disappointed. I’d hoped to see Jonathan before he left to smooth the air between us, and I had to apologize for leaving the meeting with his mom. It was so out of character for me, and I wanted to let him know why. It was about time that I explained the real reason I was so guarded about my life and my feelings.

  If I was going to marry him and spend a great deal of my life by his side, I had to at least let him have the chance to get to understand me. I had to find out everything I could
about him, even if that did mean cracking his tough outer shell. I had to get in somehow.

  “You see Kate, I love this look for you. It screams sophistication without the age limit, and look how it accentuates your figure. Curves are all the rage right now.”

  I looked at Genevieve in the mirror, turning slightly as she pointed out all of my best assets.

  “Do you see the way it grazes your hips and skims your thighs? It’s giving you the Marilyn Monroe hourglass figure. That’s the look we want to create with today’s pieces.”

  I looked at the Dior wrap dress, trying to make out what she saw, but all I could see was what I wasn’t. I wasn’t one of the women that would usually be on the arm of Jonathan with tight figure hugging mini dresses accentuating their endless slim line legs, and I wasn’t one of the model, statuesque beauties that he was renowned for going through. In my eyes, the dress did nothing but remind me how far out of depth I was. Thee was no way the press or the public would be convinced that I really was his fiancé if I appeared in front of them stuffed into a dress.

  “What’s the matter?” Genevieve asked, and I realized that I’d been frowning.

  “Nothing, I just… does it really say Jonathan?”

  I fingered the material trying to imagine myself beside him in the magazine photos and I just couldn’t picture it.

  “I think it does,” she said, smiling knowingly at me through the mirror. “I’ve been given strict instructions on the style that he’s expecting for you and I think this is perfect. Jonathan is a man that knows what he wants and the vision he had for you was very specific. He wanted to show off your figure. Now, why don’t you take that off, as I’ve got a couple of other dresses for you to try before we continue.”

  I walked back into the changing room with another dress hooked over my fingers, a mixture of nerves and excitement inside.

  By tomorrow, America would know who I was. I’d gone from working in a hotel bar, watching the world pass me by and hoping I could somehow change my destiny, to standing in shops that I wouldn’t even have dared walk past before and being dressed by a personal stylist, ready to have my life presented to the world.

  “Are you ready?” Genevieve asked from beyond the door, and I thought about my answer, weighing up everything going on in my life. I thought about the negative press I would receive after the press release went out and the vulture-like journalists digging into my past to find out who I really was and it frightened me a little. Would life ever be the same afterwards? Was I ready?

  “Um, I’m not sure.”

  I felt the heat from the light above me on my face and suddenly the room seemed too small to even breathe. I needed air, I needed something other than the confined walls of the changing cubicle.

  “Oh, are we still talking about dresses or are you having cold feet for tomorrow?” Genevieve joked lightheartedly.

  “Both.” I said perching myself down on the bench. “I’m talking about both.”

  Jonathan

  “Stop, take a deep breath, and start again.”

  Kate looked at me and inhaled deeply with my hands holding the top of her arms.

  “Okay, start again. What’s wrong?”

  She shook her head apologetically.

  “She made me spend obscene amounts of money on clothes today!” she said quickly. “Absolutely crazy amounts.”

  I laughed at the panic on her face.

  “It’s okay. That was the plan. I wanted to treat you. Did you like the clothes?”

  “I love them, but they’re far too expensive. It’s way too generous of you.”

  I guided her to the sitting room and sat her down.

  “Listen Kate, you’re going to be my wife. We’re getting married in a few months and I want you to have everything. There isn’t anything that I won’t get you. You have to remember that. It’s my job to take care of you.”

  “But I…”

  I put my fingers to her lips.

  “You have to trust me that right now, through all of this I have your best interests at the forefront of everything.”

  She looked away from my gaze, but I turned her head back to me.

  “Genevieve told me you were nervous today about what the papers are going to print about you…”

  She nodded slowly and looked away from my sheepishly.

  “It’s not you, it’s just this is all suddenly so big. One minute we’re engaged soon to be getting married and the next I’m getting dressed for a photo shoot and preparing myself to be presented to the world, and I just…”

  I slid the phone out of my pocket and dialed my publicist.

  “Mandy?” I said when she answered.

  “Oh my god, Jonathan! I was about to call you!”

  I didn’t like her exasperated tone.

  “What is it?”

  “The press has already been given a story about the both of you. There isn’t much I can do in terms of stopping it or even correcting the facts. It’s going to break tomorrow, and they have a photo of Kate too…”

  “A photo? Where the hell did they get that from?” I tried to think of how it was even possible that a story could be out before I had a chance to talk to any journalists, and even before I’d read it I knew it had to be one of my staff.

  “How?” I demanded, probably a bit too stern, but the annoyance that I would probably never know angered me the most.

  “We’re looking into it,” Mandy said, still professional. “The photo seems to be of her shopping, so there isn’t one of the both of you and it will purely be speculation. They contacted me for a comment but I refused all correspondence.”

  I sighed and ran a hand through my hair, trying to avoid Kate’s curious stare.

  “Okay Mandy, thanks. Keep me updated, and call Helen if you need to set something up.”

  “Yes, will do. Bye.”

  I hung up, taking a moment to collect the words together.

  “The press already has the story and the photo, Kate. Information was leaked and…”

  “What photo? No one took one!”

  “Paparazzi while you were shopping.”

  I watched the shock appear on her face and she shook her head.

  “Oh god, no,” she whispered, horrified. “I wasn’t wearing any of my new…”

  “It’s okay. Let’s try not to think about it. It’s going to break tomorrow and hopefully there won’t be any negative press. I’ve got you, remember Kate?”

  She nodded, resting a hand on my arm and squeezed it.

  “Actually Jonathan, I wanted to apologize…”

  I stopped her before she continued.

  “Do you remember what I told you? You don’t ever have to say sorry to me. Ever.”

  “But, the way I treated you last night, you know, with the kiss? I’m sorry I just…”

  “You don’t have to say anything,” I said, fighting the urge to kiss her again. “I get it, I understand. We’re strictly business and I abused our situation last night. I just got caught up in the moment and you were look beautiful. I should be the one apologizing to you.” I reached my hand out towards her. “No emotion?”

  She looked at it hesitantly and took it, shaking firmly.

  “Yes, no emotion.”

  “Okay, good, now we’ve got that out the way, how about dinner somewhere different for a change?”

  “Sounds interesting. Where?” she asked excitedly, and I was happy to see the smile back on her beautifully natural face.

  “That would be telling.” I stood and helped her up too. “Just be ready and meet me in the hall at seven forty-five.”

  She followed me to the door.

  “Oh, and wear one of those dresses you bought today, something suitably delicious to tease me with.”

  She nodded, the seed of desire already planted within her.

  I watched her walk up the stairs and waited until she was out of sight before taking a deep breath. I’d surprised myself how well I was projecting ‘no emotion’. I’d sp
ent many years of my life surrounded by women, able to have sex and leave without the emotional attachment and without the need inside to want them again, but now when someone came along that I actually cared for genuinely I could barely contain the feelings that I felt inside. Why the hell did I have to gravitate towards a woman who wasn’t emotionally available?

  Tonight though, I wanted to get to know her better. I wanted to find out her fears, her deepest thoughts, and what prevented her from putting her trust in the world. Never before had I ever wanted to know more about a woman, other than whether or not she wanted to go back with me and how she liked to be touched.

  Shit. I knew I was on the way to breaking her number one rule… and for the first time in my life I knew what it felt like to crave something you couldn’t have.

  Kate

  The dress I chose shimmered slightly in the soft hall light, and Genevieve’s words echoed around me as I made my way down the stairs holding onto the banisters to prevent myself from falling in my new high heeled shoes.

  Jonathan stood at the bottom talking with his housekeeper and something, and when he heard me she disappeared quickly and he turned to look up, his face breaking out in astonishment as he looked over my body, devouring every inch of me hungrily in awe.

  “Wow. You look…”

  I reached the bottom and walked over to him, slightly nervous and embarrassed under his gaze.

  “I hope it’s not too much?”

  He shook his head and pulled me in with his hand, his face inches from mine.

  “Too much? I can’t take my eyes off you, Kate” he said, his voice low, and he ran his hand over the curve of my waist and down pulling me into him. “Does that answer your question?”

  I nodded and I felt the energy between us as I looked up at his lips, wanting him to kiss me and ignore everything I’d previously told him. I wanted him to touch me like he had before, but I knew once we played that game someone was going to get hurt, and all signs pointed to it being me given the fact that his history showed he was capable of breaking hearts.