“I’m in need of a husband, and you, Noah Sawyer, are perfect.”
Chapter Two
‡
Kate had done it. She’d actually gone through with her plan and asked Noah to marry her. Sort of.
His dark eyes blinked at her before a dull flush spread over his nose and cheekbones. “I’m not following.”
No, he wouldn’t¸ would he? She hadn’t explained herself at all. Merely blurted out the worst of it before they could get all caught up in their talk about sex. Sex with him. Sex with a man she couldn’t allow herself to become more attracted to than she already was. When it came to men, her success rate was awful.
However, if she stuck to her plan, she wouldn’t have to burden him with that. What a mess, she thought.
“Would you mind terribly if we go inside before I sort everything for you?”
Those full lips of his thinned for a moment, as if he didn’t quite trust her, but curiosity gleamed in his eyes.
“Sure,” he said as the valet opened their doors.
Once more, Noah escorted her, a proprietary hand on the small of her back as they walked inside the bistro. She liked the feel of him, liked the way he made her feel safe and secure. It was rather odd, actually, given the fact that her security team had been shadowing his car since they left the wedding together.
During the ride over, she had texted them their agreed-upon code word for safe. It wouldn’t do for her rescuer to be accosted over a misunderstanding.
After speaking with the hostess, they were led to a table for two in an out-of-the-way spot in the dining room. Around them, diners chatted amicably, the clink of silverware and the smell of lamb roasting putting her at ease and making her mouth water.
She hadn’t eaten all day, and her stomach, which was directly connected to her frayed nerves, had refused to accommodate the least bit of food.
“Smells good,” Noah said as he perused the menu. “What do you recommend?”
She smiled at him gratefully. He wasn’t pressing her to reveal all and sort everything out this instant, though she knew he wanted an explanation. His careful approach set her at ease, and the invisible arms around her body began to relax their grip.
“Everything, but I have to admit that the Moussaka is divine.”
Noah stared at her for a moment, and then the server appeared at their table to take their orders. After a beat of silence, Kate placed an order and then Noah did the same.
With a smile, the server left their table.
“I’m surprised you didn’t order for me,” she said lightly.
“Don’t know you well enough for that,” he replied, his dark eyes turning hot. “Are you inclined to let me in on your plan now?”
Face heating, she glanced away from him. “Ah, yes. About that. I suppose I shouldn’t have sprung that on you, but I’m desperate.”
He nodded. “Desperate times call for desperate measures.”
“Aren’t you full of inspiring quotes.”
“Better than saying what I really think.” He rubbed the back of his neck and exhaled, a rueful look on his face. “I apologize. Got some bad business news—a deal went south—the day I arrived in London, and I haven’t found a way to work it out. Yet.”
That sounded promising. If she could seize on his desperation, perhaps he would agree to her proposition. For the first time in weeks, she could see the light at the end of the tunnel.
“I have money, loads of it actually,” she began.
His eyes flicked over her. “I know.”
“Perhaps you would be keen on a joint business venture?” Marriage in her world was based on business, on money, and on inheritances.
“What does marrying you have to do with that?”
“I need a husband, and if I may be so bold as to conjecture, you need capital. Correct?” It didn’t take a mind reader to know that money was the problem.
He leaned forward in his chair, his long legs bumping into hers beneath the small table. “You are most certainly correct, but I fail to see what my problems have to do with yours.”
She tipped up her chin. “I thought to give you the capital you need… in return for marrying me.”
His eyes widened. “Excuse me?”
“Marriage for money,” she said flatly.
“Why in the hell would you want to buy me?”
“I don’t. I merely want to buy your time.”
He crossed his arms over his chest. “As flattered as I am by your offer, I’m not for—”
“Please, I’m desperate for your help. I won’t be safe until I marry.” A bit theatrical, yes, but what else could she do? Time was running out. She had no clue how no one in the press was any the wiser before now. Her streak of luck was sure to run out very soon.
His dark brows crashed together, arms uncrossing. “Are you being threatened?”
“In a matter of speaking, yes.” His jaw worked, and she rushed on. “I’ve recently inherited,” she glanced around the room before lowering her voice, “billions. As soon as it gets out, I will be hounded, stalked…forced to stay in my house for days on end.”
There was a sharp pain in her knuckles. She looked at her hands. They were nearly bloodless because she was gripping the edge of the table so hard.
Noah noticed as well, because one of his tan and very capable hands covered hers. “You really are scared, aren’t you?” he asked, as he gently pried each finger off the edge of the table. She shivered at his touch, at his way of taking charge. He was very presumptuous, but she had a habit of wanting men like that.
All right, so there had only been one man like that before Noah, but he had filled her life for so long that she couldn’t see past him. She had tried though, with two short-lived affairs.
One had been with a man who’d made love to her so politely that she nearly fell asleep in the middle of sex while the other… She had to abruptly break things off with him when she realized that his feelings for her were changing.
He’d been too young, barely twenty, and while he seemed to worship her, she had only slept with him because he reminded her of the man she couldn’t have, right down to his last name.
She’d bungled things so badly with Benjamin that he’d left her without so much as a good-bye. He left the country, returned to Russia, she supposed, and she hadn’t seen or heard from him since. It was all for the best and three years in the past, but God, after that, she refused to use another person again.
With Noah, she wasn’t using him. The partnership she wanted was mutually beneficial, and she was being perfectly honest. Upfront. Forthright.
She was scared. No, she was terrified of the paparazzi and her tenuous hold on a future that she alone could shape. Noah couldn’t say no.
Taking a sustaining breath, she said, “Yes, and that’s not the least of it. If I don’t take charge of my future, it will be done for me, and I don’t want a marriage like that. I want it on my terms. I want a marriage that is honest. That isn’t full of false sentiment, only to discover that I’ve been used. I have no chance of ever having a loving marriage, but at least, this way, I will marry a man I want.”
His eyes roamed her face, scrutinizing her it seemed. “That’s a passionate speech.”
Steeling her shoulders, she said, “I feel very passionate about my future.”
“Bing and Bong can’t keep you safe?” He nodded at the front of the restaurant.
Smiling at his reference to a short-lived, but popular cartoon program, Kate turned to find her security team standing to the side, wearing black suits and grim looks. “How did you know?”
“Made a guess. Besides, who comes into a restaurant and just stands there without a line?”
“If they’d queued up, you wouldn’t have noticed?”
“The suits and grimaces are dead giveaways.”
She frowned a little. “You’re quite right, but they weren’t hired to be inconspicuous.”
“Will I get to be their stepdad?”
> She turned her attention back to him. “Pardon?”
“Are they a part of the package?”
Shaking her head, she bit back a smile. “No. They work for me, but they’re on my father’s payroll.”
“I’m assuming your parents aren’t aware of your plan?”
“No, the Baron and Baroness Von Lichtenstein have their own plans for me. At the moment, they haven’t shared them.” They never shared with her. Only sent her an itinerary and a list of expectations.
The server appeared again, bearing plates of food. Kate was served first, and Noah waited until she began to eat before he did the same. She was ravenous and had eaten a third of what was on her plate before she bothered to drink anything.
This morning had been an anomaly. Normally, she ate her way through her emotions. Well, when she allowed herself to have them.
She wouldn’t allow herself to have them for Noah, not beyond friendly ones, anyway. Besides, she simply wasn’t capable of loving anyone like she’d loved Sebastian.
Now she only had to convince Noah they would be perfect partners.
“Anyway, back to you. What can I do to make marriage to me worthwhile?”
More than a little shell-shocked at her explanation, Noah carefully set his fork down and wiped his mouth against a cloth napkin.
Marriage. She wanted to marry him to control her future. Not only that, she wanted to pay him, like he was someone who could be bought. However, she was genuinely scared, genuinely worried about what lay ahead, and he wasn’t the type to ignore a lady in distress.
The offer was tempting. Very tempting to man like him—at this point in time, anyway. The offer was permanent as well—in his mind, it had to be. He didn’t believe in divorce, except in cases of abuse or infidelity. Noah had never raised his hand to a woman, and he would rather shoot himself in the balls than dishonor any vow or promise he made. He had no reason to think of marriage as anything but permanent.
But Kate was different. Her social circle was different. They were rich, idle, and according to Daisy, his friend and favorite dessert maker who just so happened to be the bride at the wedding, a great many of them—including the married ones—traded lovers like used cars. While he didn’t want to judge Kate based on the company she kept, it was the only way he could assess what she might expect.
If he took her up on her offer at all.
“Are we negotiating?” he finally asked.
“Only if you are amenable to my offer.”
He was more than amenable to it, but she didn’t need to know that. Hell, at any moment, he halfway expected her to confess that she was teasing him. “I need time to think about.”
She nodded, her black hair gleaming under the lights. “Of course, but before you weigh the pros and cons, let’s come up with a list, shall we?”
“If I do agree to this, I’ll need three million.” Not a penny more. He would take what he invested, and return it to the company, then repay her as soon as he started to turn a profit again. If he had to go back to building in residential neighborhoods, so be it.
“Done,” she said, clearly pleased beneath that proper exterior of hers. “To sweeten the deal, as they say, I’d like to assure you that we don’t have to live together. And as long as you’re discreet, you may seek out other lovers.”
What the hell? “You don’t think I can honor my vows?”
“Oh no, that’s not it at all. I’m assuring you that our arrangement is rather unconventional, and that if you have needs, then I won’t be upset when you take care of them.”
He stared at her in complete disbelief. Yeah, this had to be a joke. “And you’ll do the same.”
She frowned, obviously affronted. “Discretion is second nature to me.”
Kate was serious. Completely serious. She was also out of her damn mind. “Sweetheart, you don’t tell a man that you plan to step out on him.”
“I’m being honest.”
“So am I.” He didn’t know whether to laugh or get up and walk away. “Let’s try this instead. We don’t use other people to meet our needs, and we live with one another at least part of the year, maybe three or four months at a time.”
“Like Hades and Persephone.”
“Only if you think I’m the devil.”
“I do not.”
“Good, then you can move in with me after the honeymoon.”
“Why wouldn’t you move in with me?” That frown of hers was back, but he liked her like this—animated. Usually, she was so calm and composed, even while offering him millions of dollars.
“Because I have a business to run, and unless things have changed for you, you don’t.” What he didn’t say was that he was pretty sure her social calendar could take a few months off without it going to pot.
“They have not.” She glanced at the table, her black lashes fanning out on her cheeks. “However, I have obligations.”
“Like what?”
“Charities, balls, attending royal functions.”
Good Lord. She sounded miserable. He raised his brows and nodded. “I can see how time consuming that would be.”
Her head jerked up, pale green eyes snapping.
He winked at her. “It’s okay. I won’t tell.”
“More than you know, and it can be a dead bore…well, the royal functions,” she admitted.
“I have two sisters who’d vehemently disagree with you. Hell, I’m willing to bet half the female population of America would disagree with you.”
“You’ll consider my offer, then?”
“As long as you accept my requirements.”
“Three million, time together in the same country, and no other…people for the duration of our marriage,” she said, ticking off his list one by one as if she were making a shopping list. No one should be that composed.
If he were to take her up on her offer, then he for damn sure would make her come undone every chance he had.
Starting now. “Last thing.”
An elegant eyebrow arched. “Yes?”
Grabbing her chair, he pulled it beside his, so that their thighs touched. He dipped his head, inches from her lush, pink lips. From the first time he had seen her, he’d been attracted to her mouth. Wide, giving…in direct contrast with her delicate, composed features.
Her head tipped back, stopping at just the right angle for him. He traced the line of her silky-smooth jaw, watching in complete male satisfaction as her breathing became erratic. As her eyes turned dark and her pale cheeks bloomed with color.
“You are so beautiful. I know you’ve heard it before, but it’s true.”
“Noah, I… your requirements…” She fell silent as he dusted his thumb across her bottom lip.
“Gorgeous here, too.” He lowered his voice, taking care to shield her from prying eyes and not because he planned on having his way with her, but because he knew she valued discretion. “Ever since I first saw you, I’ve wanted to taste you. Will you let me? It doesn’t have to be here, but when we get in the car…”
“Yes,” she said breathlessly.
“Here or the car?”
She struggled to regain her composure, her lashes fluttering. His body tightened, desire roaring through his veins. “I…please…” Her lips quivered.
“You don’t have to say a word, just lean in real close, darlin’, and I’ll do the rest.”
Yeah, if he agreed, he wouldn’t have a problem sleeping with her. Wouldn’t have a problem at all, and he would spend hours mapping her body, discovering all those hidden spots that would make her moan and cry out. He’d—
She closed her eyes and leaned into his touch. Her floral scent washed over him, and he breathed her in. He skimmed his knuckles down the side of her throat and then back up again, taking his time, drawing out the exquisite pleasure of waiting.
He brushed his lips against hers. She tasted of spices and honey, better than he’d ever imagined. Liquid heat flooded his body, and his dick started to grow hard. With a groan,
he cupped the back of her neck, intending to deepen their kiss.
When he traced the seam of her lips with his tongue, her mouth parted sweetly under his… until she gasped and pulled back slightly, knocking some sense into him.
Her eyes snapped open, and her small hands came between them, pressing against his chest. “Not here. I changed my mind.”
“It’s okay, I won’t embarrass you,” he said soothingly, running his hand up and down her slender back. “But I want a honeymoon added to my demands, Duchess.”
She nodded, just once, but it was enough.
He would wait. She was worth the wait, but he had to make certain she knew what he wanted from her. No way in hell he’d have a marriage in name only, and he wasn’t going to have an open one either. Marriage wasn’t something he took lightly, not with the way his parents’ had failed on arrival. Once he married, that was it.
All or nothing for him. Though he preferred the all and he was determined to have it with her.
If he agreed, he reminded himself. He couldn’t let his horny ass and financial straits do the decision making for him. He had to let his brain come to the conclusion that marrying Kate in order to save his business was the only option he could take.
*
After a mostly silent dinner, Noah paid the bill and helped Kate from her chair.
“How much time do you need?” she asked as they walked to the entrance, all traces of the passionate woman vanished.
Her security team had gone ahead of them, presumably to look for bad guys. Noah wasn’t sure exactly, but he figured anyone with enough money and press probably needed someone protecting them.
And if he were to agree to her proposal, it would fall to him because he was betting that her parents were going to do everything in their power to punish Kate for her decision.
But maybe he was wrong. He’d love to be wrong, but considering what Kate had revealed, he doubted it.
“At least a couple of days. I’m flying home tomorrow afternoon.”
In front of the bistro, the sidewalk was filled with people taking pictures and shouting, but he couldn’t make out what they were saying.
The Billionaire Bride Page 2