Pawn of the Billionaire

by Frasier, Kristin

  I held the two photos next to each other. The old one of Elizabeth and the modern one of Antonia — Toni, the customers had called her. I had to talk to her.

  “I think she’ll be easy enough to persuade. The diner’s a horrible place and the accommodation block’s no better.” I tapped the pages absently. “I just can’t work out why she’s there.”

  Lawrence sat quietly. He knew I didn’t want answers, just a sounding board. “She’s a bright, clever girl. Her school records show that.” I frowned and slid the timeline towards me. “Then she couldn’t finish High School because her mother was diagnosed with cancer.” I looked up at him. “You’ll have to help me here. In England, of course, there’d be all the support necessary to let her carry on at school.”

  Lawrence’s eyebrows rose. “Even if she was past school age? Here, there’s not much support unless you can afford it, and college was never going to be an option for her.” He reached forward and selected the small binder. “Look, sir. The grandmother tried her best, but couldn’t ever get work that paid enough. But her baby, this Antonia’s mother, she just never tried. There wasn’t ever enough money, or any sort of ambition, was there?”

  “No, you’re right.” I leafed through the binder. “But this one’s got it okay. The ambition, I mean. I can see that in her eyes. There’s something there.” I frowned. “Which is why I can’t work out why she’s still working where she is.”

  “With all respect, sir, I don’t think you quite understand how hard it is to get yourself out of a situation like that.” Lawrence’s voice was deferential, but he knew I wanted to know how things really were.

  “She’ll be working long hours, her room’s almost certainly depressing and dark.” He shook his head. “It drains energy, living like that, stifles dreams and ambition, and is so exhausting it takes a huge effort to pull yourself out of it.”

  I rubbed my face in my hands. “Well, there’s one hell of a lot of talent in this country going to waste then.”

  “Yes, sir.” Lawrence sat and waited. It was my choice.

  I smiled. It was no choice at all. This was the right girl. The other families were out of the picture.

  I looked over. “All right, Lawrence. We’ll do this. I’ll go back tomorrow, talk to her.” I thought for a minute. “What I need you to do is to research what support programs we can get for homeless disabled vets. See what we can make available with enough money thrown at it behind the scenes.” I saw his eyebrow quirk. I grinned. I was sure he thought he’d perfected the expressionless look, but that little quirk, tiny enough to be unnoticed by anyone else, told me exactly what he was thinking. “There’s a homeless vet she gives coffee to and lets sit in the diner all day,” I explained. “She’ll never leave there if she thinks the owner will throw him out.”

  “Yes, sir.” Lawrence made a note.

  “Oh, and what you said.”

  He looked up at me. “What I said?”

  “Yes. What you said. I don’t like to think of wasted talent. Let’s think about some sort of non profit foundation. There’s too much money goes abroad and doesn’t help young people over here.”

  He made another note. “Whatever you say, sir.”

  “Yes.” I leaned forward. “But we’ll need to find someone good to set it up. And someone even better to keep tabs on the money, makes sure it goes to where it’s needed.” I had an idea. “Maybe it’s something that the girl would like to get her teeth into. Helping people who are in the same position she’s been in.” I felt good. That might be a way to persuade her. That and a program for the vet.

  “Well, maybe, sir. But she’ll be away of course. I’ve got the prospectus here, and I’ve made a provisional reservation.”

  It was my turn to look puzzled.

  “The finishing school, sir.” Lawrence held out the glossy brochure. “Switzerland.” He smiled. “It’ll be quite a change for her.”

  I took the brochure mechanically. That was going to be a problem. I couldn’t just let her go. I’d only just found her. How the hell was I going to explain this?

  I nodded at him. “All right, Lawrence. I need to think what I’m going to say to her tomorrow. You get on with that.”

  He took the hint and rose from the sofa. “Yes, sir. You have lunch booked for twelve-forty-five, and a meeting with the team over at your office at three-thirty. I’ve booked the car for three.”

  I nodded at him. I’d better go to that. My newest app was nearing completion. This one was my baby. My chess app. My hand dropped over the arm of the chair, where the old chess set stood. Heavy, individually-carved pieces, I’d loved it since I was a small boy.

  I’d played childish battles with the pieces, the knights fighting, clashing in my pudgy fingers long before I learned to play properly with that very same set.

  My hand found the queen, my fingers smoothing up the elegant sweep of jade.

  I found myself thinking of Toni. Her body, tall and stately, a gown swirling around her body and legs. Fuck! My cock hardened and I dropped the piece. I was up, pacing to and fro. I had to control myself, had to think what I was doing. She wasn’t a suitable bride at all. She needed training to become a wife to Edward, a guardian of our birthright. That meant finishing school.

  I absolutely couldn’t take her as mine. I didn’t want a partner. I didn’t need the complications. I was a loner. I liked my house the way I liked it. I didn’t want to live at anyone’s beck and call, didn’t want to have to consider other people’s feelings.

  There was a quiet knock at the door. David came in. “Luncheon is served, sir.”

  “Thank you, David.” I nodded at him and he closed the door quietly behind him. Suddenly I realized ruefully that with staff and employees I already lived at the service of others. They relied on me, on my fairness and respect for them. I shrugged, and picked up the folder of information again to read in the car after lunch.

  Maybe these things would sort themselves out.

  Toni

  I went into work the next morning with my head up and a steely determination in my heart. This was not going to be my life. I didn’t know how things were going to change, but I was just damn sure that somehow they were going to. I was going to change my life.

  Marco was as good a boss as I supposed I was going to get, but being yelled at in front of a room full of customers had made me realize that I was on my own. Nobody was going to come and get me out of there. I had to do this for myself.

  When the evening shift girl had taken over, I’d gone traitorously to the next street diner. The coffee was more expensive there, but the free Wi-Fi made up for it.

  It was hard to browse on my old phone, but I did the best research I could. I just knew my idea was a good one, but I’d never afford an app developer. So I had to learn to code my own stuff.

  I’d gone home buzzing. I could learn on free programs. I wouldn’t have to pay for the proper software, but it would take me longer. I didn’t mind that so much, just so long as I felt I was moving forward.

  As I strode along, I put my head up. I didn’t mind the driving rain. I was going to be someone. I could work at home in the evenings, sketching out what the app should do and look like, then I’d go to the library on my days off, and watch the youtube videos on the bigger screens.

  As I went into the diner, it felt different. I knew what I was going to do, and this job wasn’t my life. It was a stepping stone, a way to keep a roof over my head until I could get a better job or make money from my app. I smiled as I took off my coat and went through to the back.

  “Hi, Pete.” The day started the same way as all the others.

  “Hi, Toni. Bacon sandwich coming up.” He looked over at me. “Has something happened? You look different.”

  I grinned. “Nah, not really. I’ve just decided I’m going to do something with my life, that’s all. And I think I’ve worked out how to do it.” I brewed the tea for us and began my routine.

  * * *

  It was mid-m
orning, and I was clearing tables with my back to the door, when I heard it swing open, and got the same jolt of arousal as I had from the hot visitor yesterday. My core turned liquid, and my belly clenched. God! I hadn’t even seen him, but I knew who it was. I finished stacking the plates onto the tray, but I didn’t pick it up. I turned and he was standing, watching me, waiting to be shown to a table. My customers never did that. It wasn’t that sort of diner.

  I went towards him, feeling the heat of my face, wishing I wasn’t blushing. “Would you like to sit here today?” I indicated a table by the window, where Sam wouldn’t brush past him and there was no chance of his coat getting soiled. He had a different one on today, I noticed. I wished I could afford more than one coat.

  He moved towards the table. “Thank you.” Then he looked around. “No Sam today?”

  “No.” I was worried about him. He did miss the occasional day, but after what had happened yesterday I was worried. But I wasn’t going to get into conversation about it. “Coffee?”

  His eyebrow went up a fraction. “Yes, please.”

  I nodded and went to take the tray back to the kitchen and collect a coffee for him. My mind pictured him. His hair was dark, but there were just a few strands of gray at his temples. He looked very distinguished and I found his faint English accent really sexy. I plonked the tray down by the sink, scowling. Why the hell was he having this sort of effect on me? I didn’t have time to go out with men. I was too tired in the evenings, too grungy from my hellhole of a room. I never felt particularly attractive, and although I found a lot of men hot, I’d never felt this way before. I wondered why he’d come back. Even I knew that the coffee was foul and the setting awful. It was only okay if it was all you could afford. He didn’t fit into that category.

  I took his coffee over with a plate of cookies. “You paid too much yesterday. Cookies on the house.” I smiled uncertainly at him.

  He looked up at me, a slight smile on his face. “Thank you. Did I hear the owner calling you Toni yesterday?”

  “Yes.” I waited a moment.

  “I was hoping during your break you’d be able to come and sit here.” He paused. “I want to talk to you.”

  I stared at him. “Talk to me?” Then my mind caught on what he’d said. “I don’t get a break here. Thought you’d notice there’s no one else to wait tables.”

  His lips tightened slightly. “I see.” He looked around. Marco was watching us from the hatch in the kitchen. The man nodded. “Then bring me another coffee in five minutes please.” He looked away and pulled out his phone.

  I shrugged and carried on with my job. When I took his next coffee over, he put his hand out and covered mine. He glanced back. Marco wasn’t looking. He looked up at my face. “I do need to talk to you. If you can’t talk here, then will you come out to dinner with me? I need to apologize to you for not intervening when the owner was having a go at you yesterday. And there’s something else I want to discuss with you. I can’t do that here.”

  I stood and gaped at him. “Out to dinner?” My mind rejected that, but my heart screamed yes. I hadn’t had a date in ages, and this guy? Well, he was freaking gorgeous. Was that an English saying? My lips twitched, and his eyebrows shot up.

  “Yes. Out to dinner. Please. What I want to talk to you about, it’s important.” He reached in his pocket, took out a small silver box. He took out a business card and wrote rapidly on the back. “Here, I’ve booked a table for two at eight.” He looked up again. “Please come.”

  Mechanically, I took the card and read what he’d written. I felt my eyes widen. I’d never been inside that restaurant. “I … I don’t finish here until seven-thirty. I guess I might be bit late.” I bit my lip. “The bus takes a while.”

  “I’ll send the car for you.” His voice was incisive. “Can you be ready at eight? Or eight-fifteen?”

  I looked up, startled. “Well. I suppose so.”

  I turned the card over and my insides did a somersault. App developer. He was an app developer. How in hell did he know about my plan? I slipped the card into my pocket, and turned to go.

  He looked surprised, maybe my shock had showed. “Toni.” He waited until I turned back. “The car will be outside your apartment from eight. It’ll wait until you’re ready.” He smiled, a slightly crooked smile, devastatingly sexy. “Don’t worry if you’re a bit late, I don’t bite.”

  I found myself smiling back at him, and went to face Marco, whose suspicious face was glaring at me.

  * * *

  All that afternoon, I hugged the knowledge of my evening date to myself. Customers came and went, while I panicked inside about what I would wear, what he would say to me, and whether I would know how to use all the cutlery and which wine glass I’d use.

  At one point, I realized I hadn’t looked at his name and nipped to the restroom. I stared at the card. The Hon. James Sandiford. What was an Honorable? Did it mean he was some sort of Lord? I shook my head over it. James suited him, though. It was an old-fashioned name, and he seemed to have a sort of old-fashioned courtesy about him. He was hot, though. At the mere thought of a date with him, I could feel my core heating. My panties dampened, and my pulse began to race.

  I tucked the card back in my pocket, and gave myself a firm talking-to. It’s not a date, Toni. He said he wants to talk to me. It’s not a date.

  But my heart continued to do flip-flops of desire through the afternoon, and my mind wondered how an app developer could have found out I’d designed a new app in my mind when I’d not told a single person.

  So, when I did get home, I was a mess of conjecture and still didn’t know what I was going to wear. Well, I did, of course. There was only one possible choice. I had one dress that a school friend had bought me to wear when I was her bridesmaid a couple of years ago. It wasn’t a proper bridesmaid dress, and was swirly enough to look like a party dress too.

  I’d hardly ever worn it, and once I slipped it over my head, I felt really uncomfortable in it, not at all myself. But I stared at myself in the tiny mirror, having done the best that I could. I dug out the matching clutch purse, and dropped in a tiny notebook and pen. If this was a business talk, I was ready. Then I caught sight of myself in the mirror again. My shining eyes and reddened lips were outward evidence of my inner excitement. I was off to see the Hon. Mr. James.

  I decided to enjoy myself.

  When I got to the front door, and I saw the large, low limo waiting, I felt like Cinderella ready for the ball, and the driver leapt out and opened the rear door for me. “Miss Chapman,” he murmured, and I seated myself on the expanse of dark leather, smiling nervously.

  When he opened the door for me at the restaurant, I was shaking with nerves. I looked at the huge ornate entrance, the uniformed doormen, and the waiter with the napkin over his arm.

  I clutched my purse very tightly. I wondered if they’d look at me like I’d crawled out from under a rock, and say I wasn’t wanted.

  Toni

  But I was. The doorman approached and said, “Ms. Chapman, please come this way.” His polite, grave manner and respectful glance was a world away from my usual life, and I felt taller, more confident.

  The waiter led me through to a quiet, candle-lit balcony. James was standing beside the table, waiting for me. He smiled and came forwards.

  “Thank you for coming, Toni. I know you must be tired after work.” He nodded the waiter away, and held the chair for me. My heart was pounding. This whole place was so surreal compared to what I was used to.

  “Thank you.” I didn’t know what to call him, and looked down. The place setting glittered, there was more silverware than I could ever have imagined, and I could feel my breathing tighten.

  He leaned forward from his seat opposite me. “Don’t worry. Nobody will be bothered if you do something differently to the way I do it. I just want you to relax and enjoy the evening.”

  I glanced up. His face was open and his eyes on mine were understanding.

  I
took a breath. “How did you know where I lived? Have you been following me?”

  He sat back, looking at me cautiously. “I’m sorry, it must look strange to you.” He smiled slightly. “I hope once I’ve told you what I need to, then you’ll understand how this all came about.”

  He nodded to the waiter, who approached with the menus and wine list. Then he turned to me. “But let’s order first, or it’ll get very late.” He didn’t open the wine list.

  “We’ll have a bottle of the special champagne please, Ralph. Then —” He looked over at me. “Would you like a soft drink too?”

  I nodded. “I’d like a Coke, please.”

  I watched as the slight expression of distaste crossed his face. I was sure he thought he was totally expressionless, and I tried not to let my lips twitch.

  “And a cola for the lady. We’ll choose the wine when we know what we’re eating.”

  “Sir.” The wine waiter bowed away.

  “Well?” James was looking over at me thoughtfully.

  “Well, what?” I was a bit suspicious.

  “What did you think was so funny when I was placing the order?” he said.

  I smiled properly. “It was you thinking you didn’t look disapproving when I asked for Coke.”

  His chuckle was low and sexy and went straight to my core. I dropped my head, hoping he wouldn’t see my instant arousal. For God’s sake, I told myself. You don’t know him. You can’t get involved.

  When I looked up, the drinks had arrived. The maitre d’ was opening the champagne, and he’d obviously had a lot of practice. The cork went on a side plate next to James, and I watched as what was obviously a practiced ritual resulted in a crystal glass of clear champagne each. I also had a cut glass tumbler with ice and virtually a fruit salad floating in the Coke.

  Then it was time to order. I followed James’ lead, still unsure why I was there, and anxious to get to the conversation.

  Once the head waiter had left our side, James leaned forward.