She swallowed hard, realizing just what it was that he was saying, and feeling as if she couldn’t be farther short of it.
“I want to help you fit in here, to help you fit into our world. I know that this isn’t a familiar life to you, but it is your life now, and you are a lady of this house, and that is your rightful position. I will be here for you, no matter what, always. You are a Carrington, you are now my daughter, and a sister, and a wife. I will make certain that this new life of yours is something that you can love and be proud of, and a place where you can shine.” He reached for her hands, taking them in his, and he gave them a squeeze.
She tried to swallow, but the lump in her throat was too big, and hot tears began to spill out of her eyes and down her cheeks. She felt her lower lip tremble, and as she looked at him, she knew that he meant every word he said. She knew that he would be there for her anytime that she needed him.
“Regina, I want you to call me father, like my children do, for you are one of them now.” He gave her a sort of shy smile, but it was genuine, and she tried again to swallow back the tears and emotion that could not be held in.
She knew that she had to uphold her end of the deal with Ryder. She had to go every step of the agreement that she had made with him to be his fake wife in front of the world, and to his family. She hated lying to Carter, knowing how hurt he was, knowing how he had found hope in her that she could mend the broken remnants in his family by bringing them together again, knowing that he trusted her and was willing to care for her and let her in. She was sick to her stomach to open her mouth and speak to such a good man. One that she was scamming for nothing more than money.
“I would be so honored, father,” she answered, and he beamed a great smile, reaching for her and hugging her.
She closed her eyes and squeezed out some of the tears and they spilled down her cheeks and onto his broad shoulders. They soaked his tailor-made suit jacket, and to her they felt like stains of dishonesty, showing him just how terrible she truly was.
When he let her go, he sat back and reached for a clean handkerchief from another pocket. “I brought a spare, thinking that one of us might need it.” He winked at her and leaned back against the sofa as she dabbed at her face.
“One of the first things that I want to help you with in this new life of yours is to set up a charitable trust in your name, for a charity of your choice.” He gave her a kindly smile and waited for her response.
She blinked and stared at him. “A… a trust?”
“Yes, anything you like. Choose a charity that is close to your heart, and you and I will provide a trust for it. It shows our community and the world that you, as a Carrington, have compassion for the well-being of the world around you, and that your wealth is meaningless without sharing it with those who might need it most. It’s a precedent.” He looked at her pointedly.
She understood. She had married into a billionaire family. She needed to be one of the people who made the name look good. She was one of them now. She needed to act like it.
He continued. “The eyes of everyone in this state, as well as other states and a few other countries, are on you now; the most recent high society celebrity bride in the financial world. Everyone will be watching your first steps to see who and what you are. First impressions are vital; they set a tone. You want to be wise about what you do. I’m going to help you through all of that, and you could have no better guide through it than me, I promise you that.” He gave her a wide smile.
She realized that it might be some form of redemption for her to do as much good as she could, both in the family and in the community, to minimize the guilt of her fallacy and her lies. She had an opportunity to improve the lives of others through her new and temporary position. She wanted to grab at it. Anything to assuage even some of the guilt that she was feeling.
“That sounds like a wonderful idea.” She replied. She didn’t have to think on it long at all, though dozens of causes rushed to mind, one was at the forefront of them all. “I think I’d like to make education for struggling women easier. I would like to offer funding for it with more than just scholarships, if we can.”
“Then that’s what we’ll do, and I can fully understand your endeavor, considering how much you sacrificed for your own education.” He rubbed his finger over his chin thoughtfully. “I’ll help you set it up, we’ll meet with our family lawyer, and get the paperwork all drawn up. We’ll make a foundation to accomplish this goal for you. Then, we’ll plan a benefit gala to be held a month from now, and I’ll invite every wealthy family I know to come to it. I know everyone.” He winked at her. “They’ll contribute to it with you, and your foundation will grow.”
He beamed at her, and she could see the pride for her in his eyes. It felt wonderful and horrible all at the same time. “Thank you,” she whispered, stunned and amazed at his generosity and thoughtfulness. “I can’t believe this… I will really be making a difference to those women!” She felt a grin grow wide over her face as excitement washed through her and she began to feel somewhat better. She might be at the center of the biggest lie of her lifetime, but she was going to make sure that tremendous good came of it while she was there.
They spoke a while longer, and finally she was laughing and grinning when he opened the study door to let her out. She nearly walked into Ryder, who was looking for her.
She gave Ryder a customary kiss on the cheek and turned, heading for their bedroom to take a bath. Ryder glared hotly at his father and when she was gone, he barged into the study and faced his father.
He spoke vehemently to him. “What were you doing in here with Regina?” He demanded, angrier than usual. His emotional estrangement from her was taking a massive toll on him, as was his exhaustion and weariness from not sleeping well.
Carter was completely unruffled. “I was making her a part of the family, just as you have done.”
“In secret?” Ryder snapped, eyeing his father suspiciously. He was terrified that his father would find out that their marriage was a sham, and that he would not be inheriting anything. He wasn’t about to accept that he could go through all that he was going through with Regina and then not get the prize at the end; it was bad enough that he didn’t really have Regina.
Carter looked at him peacefully. There was no anger in him. “Not really. We were discussing a foundation that I am going to help her set up. We’ll be meeting with the attorney and hosting a gala in a month. You’re welcome to attend. Her foundation is between she and I. You might have brought her here, but I have welcomed her with open arms as a daughter, and that is what and who she will be from this point forward. She should be treated as such.”
Ryder blanched and shook his head. “A foundation? You can’t…” He began, and then stopped himself before his temper let his mouth run on too far.
“Of course, I can, and I am, and you have no say in the matter. Now you know what she was doing, and that’s that. I don’t want to see you ever treat her poorly. She is your wife, and she is a lady of this house. Treat her accordingly.” Carter told him in all seriousness.
“There is no other way that I would treat her.” Ryder spoke with an icy tone. “She is my wife, she is my family. Family comes first.” He nearly spat it out at his father.
Carter’s expression changed slightly, just around the eyes. “Always.” He then turned toward his desk. “You may go.”
Ryder left the study and stood in the hallway, fuming about what was going on behind his back. His father was scheming with his new wife, making plans for a foundation that she knew could not come to pass because she would be gone and they would be divorced before the foundation even took hold.
He stormed down the hallway, all the thoughts of it running through his mind. A gala in a month, he thought to himself, how utterly ridiculous. She was going to be gone forever in no time at all. It would be a waste of time and money to even begin looking at starting a foundation.
He flung the door of their bedroom
open and slammed it behind him, ready to argue with her over what a thoughtless notion it was to even consider doing anything of the kind, but he stopped right in his tracks when he saw her.
She was standing before him in nothing but a towel, her hair wet, her body wet, bubbles drifting all over her skin, sliding downward, and a look of total surprise on her flushed face. She blinked and held her hand up. “I forgot my nail polish… I was going to paint my toes while I was in the bath.” She barely whispered, seeing the intense expression on his face.
Everything that he was going to argue with her about began to dissipate from his mind like cool morning mist in the hot sun. He grew breathless, staring at her. He struggled to hold on to his thoughts as his own body began to betray him. “What in the hell do you think you’re doing, trying to plan some kind of foundation with my father behind my back? You’re not going to be here long enough to see it through!”
The Final Chapter
Fire began to rage up in her and she furrowed her brows and pushed her lips out in anger. “I just sat in there and lied to one of the best men I’ve ever known to hide your… our secret! I’ve never felt so bad in my life! Here I am living in his home, lying to him and to every other member of your family, being the worst person, I have ever been and probably ever will be, and as long as I’m doing all that, I might as well be doing something good and useful while I have the chance!” She shot back at him.
“You don’t have time! You’re leaving!” He argued, feeling the anger in him building and giving way to something else much stronger.
“I can arrange it so that it continues whether I’m here or not! I can’t do nothing, Ryder, I can’t live here in this house day in and day out and do nothing at all and cheat and lie to your family so that I can have a million dollars and leave everyone else with nothing! I can’t do that! It’s not who I am! I am not going to use them that way, not as long as I can do them and everyone else some kind of good!
Ryder, this is difficult enough for me! Here I am, falling in love with your family, while simultaneously using them and lying to them, and then I’m going to have to leave them all, and I know it and I’m doing it anyway!” She shouted at him, her heart racing and her face blushing. Everything in her was in turmoil, and she hated it.
He shook his head and moved closer to her. “You can let yourself fall in love with all of them but not with me?!” He fumed at her. It was almost more than he could take.
She gasped and stared at him, speechless. There was nothing that she could say.
He reached for her, grabbing her shoulders. “Damn it, Regina, I hate what’s happening between us! It’s horrible! We don’t speak to each other, we don’t have fun… we just, coexist. I miss you! I miss the feisty, sexy, smart, beautiful woman you were before… before you turned away from me, and I’ve done my best to push you and all of my feelings for you out of my head and out of my heart, but I can’t! I am running out of reasons to not fall in love with you, and there is nothing I can do about it!”
Regina could not speak, everything in her felt as if it was frozen in place. He stared at her, waiting, and then he was done waiting. He was done with the walls and the reasons and the rules. He pulled her to him and kissed her hard on the lips, wrapping his strong arms around her and weaving his fingers into her hair.
Where she had been frozen a moment before, it was suddenly gone. Everything in her caught fire, and a blaze like she had never felt began at her core and with every passing second, it grew wild and uncontrollable, consuming her as she gave in, kissing him in return, losing the grip she had on every reason why she had pushed him away as best she could.
Her breath coming short and shallow, she let go of her inhibitions, and reached her hands up along his arms, feeling every hard knot in them as they held her, until her hands were encircled around his neck and she was holding on tightly to him.
Their kiss deepened as passion burned hotly through them, and a long, soft moan escaped her as she closed her eyes and tasted him ravenously. At the sound of her moan, he lost his last hold on their purpose, and gave in to everything that he wanted with her.
Stepping back only slightly, he held her eyes with his as he reached for her towel. With the slightest tug, it fell to her feet at the floor, and she stood before him, bare, wet, shining with a few bubbles still along her skin. He groaned as he slowly lowered his eyes over her, taking in every part of her before him, lifting his hands to trace her curves and lines.
She could barely breathe as he touched her, and she felt the same pull to him that she had felt as she walked down the aisle toward him. She wanted him. She wanted him more than she had ever wanted or needed any man in her life.
“Don’t tell me no this time…” he spoke in a hoarse voice as he closed his hands over her hips and pulled her close to him, his eyes locked on her. “Don’t stop this. Not this time.” He kissed her hard again and then held her face in his hands as he gazed fully into her eyes. “Make love with me… now. Give yourself to me… all of you, right now.”
She couldn’t answer him at first. Tears stung at her eyes and she knew that she was heading straight into the worst heartache she was ever going to know, but there was no stopping what was happening between them. “Yes.” She finally managed to say in a soft voice as she paused in her kissing to look up into his clear blue eyes. “Yes.”
There were no other words. He lifted her onto the bed and stripped his own clothes off in seconds, meeting her on their sheets and gazing down at her form beneath him, incredulous of her in every aspect. His hands canvassed her light skin, touching the soft red hair between her legs, the valley of her belly, the curve of her full breasts, and the hardness of her light pink nipples. He brushed his fingertips over her lips, discovering her with them as he learned all of her for the first time.
His mouth soon followed his fingers, tasting nearly every inch of her, making her cling to him and lose her breath as he savored her nipples and wound his way down between her legs, pushing her thighs apart before thrusting his tongue into the depths of her. She cried out as he tasted her, drinking her in and making her writhe against him with intense pleasure. She shuddered as her orgasms came, first one and then another right after it, and then he could wait no longer.
Rolling onto his back, he pulled her up onto his hips and guided her slowly over his erection, pushing it into her inch by inch, loving every moment of the excruciating ecstasy of finally feeling himself inside of her, and when he had filled her, they began to move. The rocked slowly at first, in unison together, both of them overwhelmed at the dizzying bliss, the powerful waves of electric satisfaction that burned through them.
As their passions grew stronger and everything within them raced faster and hotter, they could not hold back, and with cries of release, they clung to one another, shivering together as their orgasms overtook them, leaving them breathless and weakened in one another’s arms.
They laid back together against the pillows, her nestled against his arm and chest, gazing at one another, and sharing a few kisses.
“You’re beyond anything I’ve ever known.” He pushed her hair back away from her face gently with his fingertips. “I never knew anyone like you existed, and I can’t believe you’re here with me.”
She was shocked for a moment, and then lowered one brow as she laughed a little. “With all the women who come after you, nothing like this has happened?” She wondered momentarily if she could believe him, but she saw in his eyes that he meant it.
“No one, not once, has ever made me feel the way that you do. Admittedly, there have been a fair number of other women, but this… this with you, is a first for me. I’ve never had this, and I want more of it.” He grinned at her and she blushed, giggling softly as he kissed her.
He slid his hand over her thigh and rolled her onto her back, moving himself between her legs again as he kissed her more sensually. “Already?” She asked in amazement, looking at him with wide eyes.
“Oh, there’
s not going to be much wait time. I’ve already waited long enough. I want you now.” And true to his word, it was only a minute more before he was siding into her again, filling her and holding her close to him, loving her more passionately than he ever imagined he could.
Regina had let go of her worries and concerns, of all of her inhibitions and responsible reasons for holding back from him. There was nothing more that she could hold back from him. She could not ache for him, desire him, need him any longer and deny herself what she wanted so desperately. Especially not when he matched her desire, and would not let her go.
They made love all afternoon, and into the night, stopping only long enough to have dinner delivered to their room. When they had eaten their fill of food, they returned to fulfilling their need for one another, and so the bar was set.
She fell asleep in his arms in the wee hours, blissfully exhausted, and he held her close to him in the middle of their bed, kissing the top of her head. He gazed at her and watched her sleeping in his arms, trusting him fully, having given all of herself to him in entirety.
The Billionaire's Secretly Fake Bride (MANHATTAN BACHELORS Book 3) Page 21
