Redemption of a Ruthless Billionaire

by Lucy Ellis

  ‘No, of course.’ Breathing deeply, Sybella extricated herself and he let her go.

  She’d seen how tender he’d been with his grandfather, the bond between them. It made her feel graceless for her critical words to him. She’d clearly understood very little. And Nik was…well, overwhelming her. Sybella allowed that thought in for the first time. She guessed it was only to be expected. He felt so solid and dependable and she was so tired of being the solid and dependable one, and, besides, he made her feel like a desirable woman.

  She couldn’t remember Simon ever making her feel this way. Loved, yes. Cared for. But not this pulsing, breathless awareness every time he came near her.

  She gave him a quick upward look. ‘I should go.’

  She opened her car door. He held it while she climbed in, but the hand she extended to reach for the ignition was shaking badly.

  Nik knew this was down to him. He had this out-of-character urge to reassure her. He couldn’t stand it that her lips were mashed together and seeing that tremor in her hand had him wanting to put his arms around her again, but she was clearly embarrassed.

  Instead he said gruffly, ‘I’ll drive you—that way you won’t end up parked up a tree.’

  To his surprise she didn’t argue. She let him take the keys with another subdued ‘thank you’. He walked her around to open the passenger door.

  ‘You have amazing manners,’ she said, looking a little shy now. ‘I guess it’s a Russian thing.’

  ‘Net. It’s my grandfather’s thing.’

  ‘You are close to him, aren’t you?’ she said when he got in the other side.

  ‘He raised me from the age of nine.’

  She was looking at him curiously as he adjusted her driving seat to accommodate his long legs. ‘I didn’t know that.’

  He never spoke about his childhood or his relationship with Deda to anyone, but there was something about Sybella that consistently had him relaxing his guard.

  ‘They had a summer house on the Baltic. There were cherry trees along the drive so in spring it was like a tunnel of pink and white petals, and in summer Deda would take me sailing the fjords.’

  ‘It sounds idyllic.’

  He shrugged. ‘It was a haven of sorts.’

  ‘From what?’

  ‘Boarding school.’

  ‘We have something in common,’ she said.

  ‘I know.’ He named the elite public girls’ school she’d attended and then regretted it because she went stiff as a board again. ‘I did a little basic research on you this morning.’

  ‘Research?’

  ‘You’re in my grandfather’s life. I have to check you out.’

  She sighed. ‘I guess so. What did you find out?’

  ‘Don’t worry, I didn’t have your taxes hauled over.’

  ‘I didn’t know anyone could do that. Search into someone’s background that easily.’

  ‘It’s just basic facts anyone could find on your social media page.’

  ‘I’m not on social media.’

  ‘No.’

  ‘Then how—?’ She broke off and shook her head. ‘Don’t bother, you’re rich, you have your ways.’

  ‘You probably know just as much about me from the Internet.’

  ‘I know you have a big mine in the Urals. I looked it up. It looks like a vast crater.’

  ‘You can see it from the moon,’ said Nik.

  ‘I won’t ask you if you have a problem with your ego,’ she murmured, and for the first time a small smile tipped up one corner of her mouth.

  ‘I didn’t dig it all myself,’ he responded, trying not to get too distracted by the sudden desire to make her smile some more, ‘but, yeah, my ego is pretty healthy.’

  She exhaled a soft crumpled laugh and looked away, her cheeks a little flushed.

  Nik couldn’t rip his eyes off her.

  ‘Your little girl,’ he coaxed, ‘what’s her name?’

  Her expression instantly softened. ‘Fleur.’

  ‘It’s a pretty name.’

  ‘My little flower,’ she said.

  ‘How old is she?’

  ‘Five and a half.’

  ‘I didn’t mean to scare her,’ he said, the words feeling outsized, almost as if he was blundering again.

  ‘You didn’t scare her. She’s just not used to raised voices.’

  ‘Yeah, I deserve that.’

  She eyed him almost shyly and again he got the impression Sybella wasn’t anywhere near as tough as she pretended to be—or maybe needed to be. ‘Your grandfather is teaching her to read. On Thursdays, when I’m here to take tours. Afterwards Fleur and I have tea with him.’

  And he had forbidden her to come to the Hall again. He wanted to ask her why she hadn’t let him know this earlier, but then he knew he hadn’t given her much of a chance.

  He was revisiting every hard thing he’d said to her since they’d met. He was beginning to think Sybella Parminter didn’t really want anything from anyone, she was so determined to do it all herself.

  ‘What I said about the house. I’m not here to ruin your or your daughter’s relationship with my grandfather.’

  She nodded, focused on some point outside the car.

  ‘But I can’t have my grandfather’s home turned into…’

  ‘A theme park, I know, I heard you.’

  He had a strong urge to pull her into his arms, but that wasn’t going to go down well.

  ‘Mr Voronov talks a lot about his grandsons.’ She looked over at him as if trying to read his face. ‘He—he seems very proud of both of you.’

  ‘Possibly simply relieved the two of us have managed not to break any laws or tarnish the family name,’ Nik said, the brief smile he gave her almost boyish, and Sybella’s heart did a stumble. ‘He’s not the robust man he once was. When my grandmother Baba died it was sudden and unexpected. We were all left floundering.’

  Sybella suspected Nik was including himself in that floundering and her susceptible heart did more than stumble, it completely softened.

  ‘Deda went overnight from the man who adapted to anything to how he is now, sometimes querulous and unhappy and mostly set in his ways.’

  Sybella privately acknowledged the older man could be difficult, but she suspected it was because he felt managed. ‘Mr Voronov has spoken to me of his wife.’

  ‘Baba was everything to him.’ And perhaps to her grandson, Sybella thought, watching a sadness weight his expression.

  ‘Why did he come here of all places?’

  ‘His health required visits to a clinic in London. I found myself with no choice but to accommodate his wish to not live in the city. He was in a hospital bed when he put a copy of Country Life in front of me and pointed out the photograph of Edbury Hall, and I hadn’t been in a position to say no.’

  ‘But you wish you had now.’

  He was silent for a moment and then said quietly, ‘No, things have changed since I arrived yesterday. It’s not that clear-cut any more.’

  Sybella told herself he wasn’t referring to her but it was difficult to hold his gaze when he looked at her like that.

  Nik watched the shyness she worked so hard to keep hidden soften her features, her hands working nervously in her lap.

  ‘I don’t suppose we can sit here all day,’ she said, ‘or is that your intention?’

  Nik laughed and she appeared taken aback, as if his amusement was something slightly shocking. Was he that bad?

  ‘Where do you want to go?’

  He expected her to say back to work, but she looked out across the gravel courtyard and said, ‘I’ve got a window of an hour before I need to pick Fleur up. Why don’t we just go for a drive?’

  There was a wash of colour in her cheeks again. He knew he couldn’t start anything with her, but it couldn’t hurt to take a drive.

  ‘Why don’t we?’ he said and started the engine.

  Sybella directed him to Linton Way Forest and they parked under the oaks. She got out and
they walked down the overgrown walking track that famously weaved in and over the hills.

  She told him about the uses the village had for the estate, and he listened.

  ‘We have tours on Thursday afternoons. People are free to look at the west wing on weekends. The pony club use the grounds once a month for the gymkhana. That’s about it so far. It doesn’t impact on your grandfather’s private life in the house. In fact he often appears unannounced to talk to tourists himself.’

  ‘What I’m more interested in is the financial benefit to your little organisation.’

  Sybella looked genuinely surprised.

  ‘The Heritage Trust is a charity. Any money goes back into preservation—no one is pocketing it. We all volunteer.’

  Nik reached around to massage the back of his neck and Sybella tried not to ogle his biceps. She was aware of him physically in a way that was making it difficult to concentrate on the serious matters they were discussing.

  Although something had changed between them, Sybella just couldn’t put her finger on what it was. He was more willing to listen and she was incredibly conscious of him physically.

  ‘How did you come to be involved with them?’

  ‘I have a degree and a diploma in archives management I earned part time when Fleur was younger. I needed some work experience and the Heritage Trust is all that’s available in the area so I volunteered. That was three years ago.’

  ‘That can’t have been easy with a baby.’

  ‘No.’ She slanted a shy look his way, because it was nice to have that acknowledged. Encouraged, Sybella plunged into the tough stuff. ‘I met your grandfather when the trust approached him about opening the house. He took an immediate dislike to our president but he was rather taken by Fleur, who was with me, and invited the two of us to tea. I do tours now on Thursdays for various schools and Fleur and I take tea with your grandfather afterwards. It’s become a sort of ritual between us.’

  ‘He talks about you a great deal.’

  Sybella chewed on her lip. ‘Nice things, I hope.’

  ‘Nice being the word. He wants me to settle down with a nice girl.’

  Oh, yes, she’d seen those girls on the Internet.

  ‘The thing is, Sybella, I work hard,’ he said unexpectedly.

  She could have told him she worked hard too, but she guessed he and the rest of the world put more value on his work.

  She watched those long lashes sweep down, the irony in his voice only making him seem more impenetrable, and Sybella could absolutely see why very beautiful, sought-after women would make an attempt at breaching all that male beauty and privilege with the aim of being the one to stick up her flag.

  ‘I don’t have time to invest in someone else’s life. I date women with a corresponding world view.’

  Sybella just kept nodding because she wasn’t sure why he was telling her this.

  ‘My grandfather doesn’t approve,’ he said dryly.

  ‘He’s very good with Fleur. I guess he wants great-grandchildren.’

  Which was when it all fell neatly into place.

  ‘Oh, no,’ she said.

  ‘Exactly. You knew nothing of this?’

  ‘It simply didn’t occur to me.’

  ‘You do fit the criteria,’ he said, with a slight smile that had Sybella’s head snapping around in astonishment. ‘He told me you would cook, clean and be a wonderful mother to our children,’ he added.

  But not Nik’s criteria. Beautiful and not looking for—what did he call it—an investment? Sybella wrinkled her nose. It was a horrible term. The antithesis of an emotion.

  He was talking about his grandfather’s criteria.

  Which she guessed were somewhat less exacting. To do with being a mum and a homebody. What would he say if she told him she’d never planned to take on any of this, it was life in its infinite surprises that had laid down those roles for her?

  That she still, deep down, thought of herself as the independent individualist she had always been.

  Did he really think she was angling herself at him?

  ‘I didn’t stand around in the courtyard last night waiting for you because your grandfather put me up to it!’

  ‘Good to know.’

  So that was what this romantic walk in the woods was all about.

  She was being given the message he wasn’t interested. He clearly thought she needed that message. Sybella’s stomach hollowed out.

  Probably now was a good time to sort this, when her ego was still reverberating from his direct hit and she was feeling a bit numb.

  ‘There’s just one small problem I should probably alert you to before we go our separate ways,’ she said with as much dignity as she could muster. ‘After the other night a lot of people in the village think you’re my boyfriend.’

  ‘Boyfriend?’

  Sybella could feel herself turning pink. This was possibly one of the more embarrassing moments of her life.

  ‘It’s not what you think. I haven’t rushed about telling people you are.’

  ‘I’m not thinking that,’ he said slowly.

  ‘The other night at the Hall when you were holding me, some of the committee members got the wrong idea.’

  She looked up at him, biting the inside of her lower lip. ‘It will blow over, but I thought you should be made aware of it.’

  Nik did his best to repress his amusement. He cleared his throat. ‘People do jump to some out-there conclusions.’

  ‘I know, crazy, right?’ Sybella began to talk faster, because now they were at the more awkward bit, but she had to ask. ‘There’s one other thing. There aren’t many opportunities in the immediate countryside for curatorial jobs, and my CV isn’t exactly bursting at the seams, and if it gets out what happened with the house being open to the public on false pretences and you shutting things down, I can’t see anyone ever hiring me. Ever.’

  ‘I see.’

  ‘Reputation matters in this business.’

  ‘Makes sense.’

  ‘If you could see your way clear to not pressing any legal charges—’

  ‘Sybella, I didn’t have all the information to hand. I’m not going to make your life any more difficult than it already is.’

  ‘Oh.’ She said a silent prayer. ‘Thank you. You’re not nearly as scary as you pretend to be, are you?’

  It was his turn to look vaguely bemused.

  ‘I don’t mean to offend you,’ she rushed on, ‘but you can be a bit intimidating. I suppose it’s because you’re so big.’

  ‘There’s that,’ Nik drawled, not sure if she knew how adorable she looked babbling at him as if he had feelings to hurt and she was worried about having stepped on them. ‘I also have a lot of financial clout. You’d be amazed, Mrs Parminter, how the world works.’

  ‘I suppose I would,’ she said, blushing. ‘I should probably get up to speed on that.’

  He almost idly wound the end of one of her ringlets around his index finger before releasing it. It was a gesture implying intimacy, touching her but not quite touching her, which made her think about when they had touched, when they’d kissed.

  ‘No, don’t do that,’ he said. ‘Stay the way you are.’

  ‘Too tall, too opinionated, too fat,’ she blurted out.

  Oh. God. Where had that come from? Because there was nothing more attractive to a man than a woman who bemoaned her looks. At least in some far-flung universe they didn’t currently occupy.

  To forestall any opinion he might have about her round body or her interest in him, she bowled on, ‘Sorry, I don’t know where that came from. I guess all those women you date don’t go on about their looks because they’re so gorgeous it doesn’t occur to them.’

  Sybella took a breath and stared in disbelief into the middle distance.

  There was this awful silence. She wondered if he’d think it was odd if she just ran off at this point, screaming, into the forest.

  Instead she made a swipe of her watch under her long slee
ve.

  ‘Oh, goodness, is that the time? I have to pick up Fleur from communal play. She’s got a birthday party tomorrow with her little friends. She’s taking fairy bread, and I still have to pick up the ingredients.’

  She didn’t wait for his response but started hurrying away from him, back towards the car.

  ‘Listen to me babbling,’ she threw over her shoulder. ‘You don’t mind me driving, do you?’

  His steady tread on the gravel mocked her hasty, messy retreat. She climbed in the car and waited, clammy with horror. Although he’d told her she wasn’t his type, he knew now, if he hadn’t already suspected, she was besotted with him.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  SYBELLA SAT CROSS-LEGGED on her sofa, looking into the inquisitive brown eyes of her daughter’s house rabbit.

  ‘I committed the cardinal sin,’ she told Dodge. ‘I exposed every last one of my frailties in front of Nik Voronov. I may as well have told him no one has seen my good lingerie except the wash bag in the machine in six years.’

  She answered herself with a question. ‘Can you get more specific there, Syb?’

  ‘I told him I was fat and lonely and pretty much desperate.’

  ‘Why would you do that?’

  ‘Because he probably dates glamazons and his grandfather wants him to date me instead and he basically told me that wasn’t going to happen and I sort of went…crazy.’

  ‘Well, you do go a bit weird with a full moon.’

  ‘I don’t think it was the full moon, although given not only am I talking to a rabbit, I’m doing the voice so he answers back, it might be. And now I’m not even talking to the rabbit, I’m talking to myself. I am so screwed.’

  ‘I wouldn’t say that,’ said a deep voice and Sybella almost fell off the couch.

  Standing in the doorway off the hall was her Viking god.

  ‘How did you get in?’

  ‘You left the front door unlocked and I heard voices. I used that bell-pull. Are you aware it doesn’t work?’

  Sybella’s cheeks felt red hot, mainly because she’d been caught making an idiot of herself. In front of the one person in the world she couldn’t bear to think any worse of her.

  ‘I’m sorry but you can’t just walk in here.’ She eased herself off the sofa carefully, not wanting to alarm Dodge, who was now sitting up, peering at Nik, ears aquiver.