The Mogul's Reluctant Bride - Book Two (Billionaire Brides of Granite Falls)

by Ana E Ross

  His eyes scanned the room, decorated with an array of original fine art and collections of sentimental ornaments that had once adorned the hillside villa he’d shared with Pilar. This was the only room in the house that was off limits to the children—all but Jason, who was old enough to appreciate and respect the value of the contents within it.

  Bryce downed the last mouthful of scotch and grimaced as the rich, spicy liquor scorched the back of his throat.

  Soon after his friends left, he’d checked on Jason, only to find him weeping on his closet floor, a picture of his parents clutched to his chest. Bryce had picked him up and carried him to his bed. He’d said nothing to Jason, because there was nothing he could say to mend the boy’s heart. He couldn’t tell him that he understood, because he didn’t understand a nine-year-old boy’s pain of losing both parents in a tragic accident. Bryce had simply lain next to Jason and held him until his sobs ceased and he’d drifted off to sleep.

  Bryce could sure use the support of his friends and family right about now. But his parents were on a charitable mission in Asia, the Italian cousins, Massimo and Adam were in Africa, and Erik and Michelle, who’d grown close to the Rogers family since they became neighbors eight months ago, were in the Seychelles Islands. Bryce saw no sense in overshadowing their honeymoon with such sad news.

  They would all have the chance to say their goodbyes to Michael and Lauren during the private ceremony Bryce had arranged to take place in late spring when they would be laid to rest. The service today was strictly for the children’s sake, and his and Kaya’s, too. They needed closure before they could begin to rebuild their lives, either together or separately. Whether they chose the latter was up to Kaya.

  Bryce walked to the minibar and poured himself another scotch. According to the report he’d received from the private investigator, little Kaya Brehna had lived in foster homes most of her teenage life, and she’d spent time in juvenile detention. She wasn’t as sweet and innocent as she pretended to be. The records were sealed because of her age at the time of the crime, so he didn’t have all the facts yet.

  Tonight he would give her the chance to choose between staying in Granite Falls permanently or signing the kids over to him and returning to Palm Beach alone. He didn’t relish the idea of digging into her past; he really didn’t care to know what she’d done. It wasn’t his business, but he wasn’t above resorting to blackmailing her, either.

  Before he fell asleep, Jason had begged him not to let his aunt Kaya take them to Florida.

  Bryce was not about to break that promise.

  “Bryce?”

  Bryce’s heart skipped a beat at the sound of his name. He set his half-empty glass on the bar and looked up at Kaya standing at the door. She was wearing a pair of white sweats, and her damp hair fell in curly tendrils down both sides of her face and disappeared behind her shoulders like a thick dark, drape. She was a delicate woman, with a childlike innocence about her. But Bryce knew she was no child, nor was she innocent.

  She’d been in trouble with the law, and she was old enough to have a lover. Jack may be an ass, but of all the men in Florida, Kaya had chosen to spend the rest of her life with him. Jack knew the pleasure of touching her in the most intimate way a man could touch a woman.

  If he were in Jack’s shoes, Bryce knew he’d be possessive of Kaya, too. He’d put tabs on her. Every second she was not in his line of vision, he’d know where she was, what she was doing, and with whom.

  If he’d kept tabs on Pilar, he would have known that Victoria had befriended her. He would have been able to protect her. She would be alive today. “Come on in, Kaya,” he said.

  She advanced into the room, a frown of confusion on her flawless brow. She had no idea why he’d asked her to meet with him. Bryce indicated a chair near the fireplace where the flames danced with enthusiasm in the marble hearth.

  She stifled a yawn and drew her bare feet up under her. “What’s so important that we have to discuss tonight? Can’t it wait until tomorrow? I’m really tired.”

  Bryce felt awful for dragging her back downstairs at such a late hour. He’d intended to delay this discussion for a day or two, give her time to recuperate after the stress of facilitating the funeral and entertaining today, but his conversation with Jack this afternoon had forced his hand. What was an intelligent woman like her doing with a character like Jack? She could do so much better, despite the fact that she had a blemished past.

  “Did you get a chance to talk to Samantha about Alyssa wetting her bed and clinging to us since we told her about her parents?” he asked, easing into the conversation.

  She nodded. “She said it’s normal behavior for a child in this situation. She said Alyssa’s afraid that you and I will disappear from her life, but that her fears will gradually cease with a lot of patience and attention from both us. We both have to be there for her,” she added as if it were a death sentence to be in cahoots with him.

  God, please let her choose to stay. Alyssa was so in love with her already. He couldn’t bear breaking the little girl’s heart again, or Kaya’s. He knew she was already attached to the kids—even Jason who still kept her at arm’s length.

  She tucked a handful of hair behind one ear and offered him a bland smile. “That was a nice eulogy. Everyone was talking about it.”

  “It was the least I could do. Lauren gave the eulogy for…”

  “Pilar?” she finished when his voice trailed off.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  Bryce braced himself against her sympathetic eyes. Being in that church had evoked memories of saying goodbye to Pilar. One tragedy had kept him away and another had taken him back. It was Kaya who had kept him grounded during the funeral service. Each time he glanced at her, her smile had eased the stagnant pain in his chest.

  “Um, could we not talk about Pilar?” Her curiosity about his deceased wife was understandable. Perhaps one day, if she stuck around, he would fill her in, but not tonight.

  “I understand,” she said.

  How could she understand? What love of her life had she lost?

  “I want to thank you for hiring a baby nurse to take care of Anastasia tonight.”

  “You deserve a good night’s sleep after the way you’ve been running around all week.” Bryce kept telling himself that his concern for Kaya was a result of his concern for the children since she needed to be physically and emotionally fit to take care of them. But a couple major organs of his anatomy kept trying to prove him wrong. Kaya was forging her way inside his head and his heart—the two sacred places women weren’t allowed.

  “How’s Jason?” she asked. “I haven’t seen him since earlier today.” Her hands twisted nervously on her lap. “Then after everyone left, I was busy with taking care of Alyssa.

  Bryce eased into the chair next to her, his chest tightening significantly. “Jason isn’t well. He has regressed since this afternoon.”

  “I’m sorry to hear that.”

  “After his friends left, he locked himself in his bedroom. I had to use the master key to get in. I found him on his closet floor, crying uncontrollably.”

  She wiped her hands down her face. “The poor kid. He was in such a good mood when last I saw him with his friends. I should have known it wouldn’t last.”

  “We can expect this emotional ebb and flow to continue for a while,” Bryce said from experience. He leaned forward and covered her hands with his. She tensed, relaxed, and tensed again, before settling down and allowing him to hold her.

  “You have to make a choice tonight, Kaya. I don’t want the uncertainty of your indecision hanging over our heads any longer.”

  She pulled her hands from under his and stiffened her back in defiance. “We decided to discuss my plans after the funeral.”

  “The funeral is over, Kaya. What are your plans concerning the children? I need to know so I can begin making some of my own. It doesn’t matter whether you stay or leave. I still have to make decisions about their future.”
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  “What’s the rush, Bryce?” She passed her hands down her face again. “I’m tired, and clearly not capable of making any decisions tonight. Can’t we talk tomorrow?”

  He studied her face. Shower gels, bath salts, and water couldn’t wash away the dark circles beneath her eyes. Only sleep would cure her fatigue. But neither one of them was leaving this room until she made a choice.

  “Your fiancé is coming to Granite Falls tomorrow, Kaya. Just know, the children aren’t going to Florida with you, so if you decide to return to your life there, you’ll have to sign their custody over to me,” Bryce said in a cold, exact tone. There was no need to be subtle about the situation.

  Her forehead furrowed in deep confusion. “My fiancé?”

  “Yes, Jack. The man you promised to marry. Remember him?”

  A shaky hand crept to the golden hollow of her throat. “Where did you get such a crazy idea?”

  “Straight from the horse’s mouth.” He wanted to say from the jackass’ mouth, but he restrained himself. He didn’t want to insult her. It was her prerogative to marry the jackass if that was her desire.

  “You— you talked with Jack?”

  “He called this afternoon while you were entertaining. He asked me to let you know that he’s flying up tomorrow to meet the children since he’ll be their new daddy. I told him that would happen over my dead body.”

  She shook her head back and forth, her eyes darting around the room as if she expected Jack to float down from the ceiling.

  “Are you afraid of this man, Kaya?”

  “No, not really. He has become a bit possessive after I agreed to marry him. But we’re not getting married.”

  “You’re not?”

  “He broke off the engagement.”

  His heart danced a jig. “He did?”

  “We weren’t really engaged to begin with.”

  “You weren’t?” He felt like an idiot asking a string of stupid two-word questions. “I’ve wondered why you aren’t wearing an engagement ring.”

  Leaving her chair, she took a few unsteady steps toward the fireplace and stared into the flames. “Jack asked me to marry him, and I kind of said okay,” she began in an unemotional tone. “He never gave me a ring, so I never really thought of him as a fiancé, just a boyfriend who I may one day marry.”

  He scolded his heart for flipping a somersault. There was absolutely no reason for her to return to Florida.

  “When I told him that I’d inherited the children,” she continued, folding her arms about her, “he took back his proposal.” She braced a tired smile. “That was the night you picked up the extension. You didn’t stay on long enough to hear him dump me.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me before? I would have handled him differently this afternoon.”

  “I was too embarrassed. And I didn’t know what I was going to do. I was banking on Jack helping me with the kids.” She shrugged. “It’s for the best, anyway. I’ve known him since we were kids, but I’ve never loved him, and marrying him would have been a mistake.”

  Was he the one who’d led her astray, gotten her into trouble with the law? Jack struck him as the type of jerk who’d use a young girl for personal gains. How could she be with someone like that? She seemed intelligent enough to know better, to make better choices.

  Bryce balled his hands into fists. “Then why is he coming to Granite Falls?”

  “I don’t know. The other day when he called, he said he was sorry about the way he reacted to the news of a ready-made family. He said I caught him at a bad time and that he still wanted to get married and help me raise the kids.”

  “Did you tell him anything about me? That I am their godfather?”

  She shook her head, causing her soft curls, now dry and springy, to bounce off her delicate shoulders. “He brought up your name. Apparently he’d heard about your relationship to them. He knew stuff about your history with them and their parents that I didn’t even know. He offered to move up here if it would be easier on me.”

  Bryce pushed to his feet, shaking his fists in the air. “Opportunistic little parasite! He dumped you when he thought he’d have to dig deep into his measly pockets to support the children. Then when he learned of my relationship to them, he saw a meal ticket to an easy life.” Bryce closed the distance between them. “You are their legal guardian. If he married you, he’d benefit from any financial support I give you.”

  “Support me?” An eyebrow raised in amused contempt. “I don’t need your support.”

  “It doesn’t matter if you need if or not. You will have it. But only if you stay in Granite Falls.”

  She took a step back to better glare up at him. “And if I don’t?”

  “Then you may as well pack your bags tonight. I will not allow you to get any closer to those kids only to break their hearts.”

  “What are you talking about? How will I break their hearts?”

  “When you have to leave them here and return to Florida alone. Alyssa is too attached to you already.”

  She slapped her hands against her temples. “Oh my God, you’re planning to fight me for them.”

  “I’m planning to fight for them.”

  She flared her hands in the air. “Semantics, Bryce! Like you said, I’m their legal guardian. I have a contract that gives me full authority over them.”

  “A contract that will soon expire if you don’t make the right decision.”

  Loathe and disbelief sprang from her eyes. “I can’t believe I thought you were…”

  “You thought I was what?”

  “Kind. But apparently I was mistaken.”

  Kind! She thought he was kind. He almost laughed out loud.

  Bryce’s eyes shifted back and forth between her mesmerizing eyes, stormy with passion and her plump, lustrous lips that resembled two halves of a ripe juicy peach. He wanted to bite into her, taste her sweet juices on his tongue, feel her soft flesh melting under his touch. Nothing aroused him more than when a woman he’d set his sights on dared to challenge him.

  A log crackled in the hearth, sending a deafening blast and auburn sparks shooting into the air. Kaya jumped and grabbed the front of his shirt with both hands, momentary fear sparkling in her eyes. He clasped his hands on the slender portion of her upper arms, offering her security.

  Two things happened to Bryce the instant Kaya grabbed him. One: he felt an overpowering need to protect her. Even though the threat of danger had come in the harmless pop of a vaporized log shifting in the fireplace, the fact that Kaya was afraid sent adrenaline rushing through his body. Two: his erection throbbed against his thigh, reminding him it hadn’t been fed in weeks.

  He continued to hold her gaze as his hands slowly crept up her arms. He paused at her shoulders and threaded his fingers through her bouncy curls, loving the feel of the silky strands against his fingertips. He cradled her small face in his palms.

  She inhaled sharply and made a reflexive attempt to break free.

  Bryce tightened his hold as she pushed against his chest. She wasn’t getting away that easily. She’d subtly enticed him into the web of her allure. If she wanted him to stop, she would have to be more direct. He used the pad of his thumbs to massage the soft skin of her throat, her chin, her cheeks, and the outline of her small, sexy mouth, all the while watching the emotions in her eyes shift from surprise, to doubt, to reluctance, and then finally desire.

  Her pupils were enlarged, and the amber specks around her irises burned a bright orange glow. She began to tremble like an autumn leaf about to be shaken from its branch at the slightest wisp of wind. He increased the pressure of his strokes, deliberately arousing the fervor in her, watching her burn.

  Her fingers tightened around his shirt, causing his heart to somersault in his ribcage. Her chest rose and fell with her shallow breathing, and the thunderous beating of her heart echoed in Bryce’s ears. He crouched down, way down, aligning his face with hers, his mouth just inches from hers. He felt the live energy sizzl
ing in the tight space that separated their lips. With deep breaths he savored her fresh, clean woman’s scent mingled with the faint odor of baby oil and powder. She was beginning to smell like a mother, and he loved it.

  He angled his head and closed the distance. His lips trailed down her cheeks and lingered at one corner of her quivering mouth. Because he knew he had control, Bryce hesitated, giving her time to protest, to pull free and run. He was certain of what he wanted from her, but doubtful of what she expected from him.

  The wild pounding of her heart and the erratic rhythm of her breathing echoed in his ears. He closed his eyes and waited, still giving her time to back out, but then a weak moan escaped her throat, and Bryce knew the battle was over. They’d trespassed into each other’s forbidden zones and forfeited their rights to resist one another.

  With a harsh groan, Bryce drew her into his body and, circling his arms about her lithe frame, he covered her soft mouth with his.

  He groaned again when she reached up and linked her arms around his neck and curled her body into his. A shiver touched his spine when her tongue timidly emerged from the dark recess of her mouth and danced around his in a slow, dreamy waltz. It was the only encouragement Bryce needed. He kissed her softly, lingeringly, cherishing the aroma of her warm breath, the softness of her moist flesh, the timid smoothness of her tongue, and the dreamy intimacy of the moment.

  With their mouths and limbs locked together, Bryce picked Kaya up and stumbled towards the chair she’d previously occupied. It was a large chair, with a sturdy back, and the right height for a man of his giant stature to fit perfectly with a woman seated upon it.

  He set Kaya on the smooth leather surface and positioned himself between her parted thighs, his inflamed erection pressed against her feminine softness. He could feel her heat, her moisture through the thick material of their clothes. He wrapped her legs around his waist, and his arms around her body. He caressed her shoulders, her back, her hips, and the round rump of her derriere as he rocked against her slowly, boldly simulating the delirious act of copulation. When Kaya’s limps tightened up around him and a series of shivers rippled through her body, Bryce deepened the kiss, sucking, nipping, and licking at her warm sweetness.