“Louisa, what’s bothering you?” Sophie asked.
She would like to have a copy of the documents she needed to show Sophie, and now Dominic also, in case they didn’t believe her. She would need to get things moving as soon as possible.
“Would it be too much to ask for a laptop or computer?” she asked.
“Of course not, just a moment.” Sophie smiled and shook her head at Louisa’s apparent eagerness to get back to work and left to retrieve the laptop from her office.
“Will this suffice?” she asked returning with a small silver laptop.
“Thank you, this shouldn’t take long.” Smiling at the younger woman Louisa booted up the laptop then typed the email to her assistant. Sophie waited as she typed. Louisa had the feeling she had been told not to leave her alone.
The McKillips were one of the wealthiest families Louisa had ever heard of. Their money came from generations of brilliant businessmen. This generation had been headed by Dominic’s father until he died. His empire was now in the hands of Dominic, being the only one of his children left that his father hadn’t written out of the business contract. Sophie had studied hard to support her brother, but when their father died she was not yet out of college and Dominic and his brother, Cole, had decided that she was too young to take over. Cole was the eldest brother but had decided to start his own business several years ago, which angered his father and led to him writing him out of the business contract, and his will. Dominic had of course overridden his father’s wishes and given Cole his inheritance, which was what had brought her to the lodge in such spectacular style this evening.
“Why is Dominic here?” Louisa asked, hating herself for needing to know.
“You don’t remember?” Sophie asked with concern. “He came down to sign the papers in person to ensure Cole was not left waiting. You remember Cole is trying to buy out another business to merge with his own?”
“Yes, I remember.” It was the reason she had been willing to try to get here last night. The company had given him a deadline that was much too close for her liking, and he would need his inheritance money to seal the contracts.
Whilst going through the will, Louisa had found another clause that was meant to prevent all of his children from inheriting and spending the money unwisely. Louisa hadn’t informed them yet, and was eager to finalise it.
“I need to speak to him, and you, as soon as possible if that’s okay?” Louisa hit send on the email to her assistant, asking for the documents to be faxed to the lodge. She hoped the snow storm hadn’t knocked out the line.
Sophie looked concerned by her request but didn’t hesitate as she rose to fetch her brother.
“It would be best to do this in the office actually, Sophie.”
“You shouldn’t be walking around, Louisa. You need to rest.”
“It can’t wait, Sophie, I’m sorry.” Louisa hated to push the younger woman, who was very soft spoken because of having to live with her father for longer than her brothers. He had been a loud and demanding man, the reason both of her brothers had left home in their teens.
Louisa hoped that Sophie understood that she snapped because it was a matter of importance. She helped her from the bed and placed an arm around her waist to help her to the office on the far side of the lodge. She could feel the strain in Sophie’s muscles from her nervousness about the situation.
“It’s okay. It’s just a little more paperwork than I had anticipated,” Louisa said, trying to calm the other woman.
“Thank you, but I know my father. He was not happy unless he could control everyone’s lives. If it’s something to do with the will, I can’t say I’m surprised that something’s gone wrong.”
Louisa considered trying to settle her fears again but thought better of it. She knew that Sophie was a strong woman under her delicate exterior. She had to be to have lived with her father for so long. The silence as they walked to the back of the lodge gave Louisa unwanted time to think. The thought of seeing Dominic again made her stomach clench in a way that had nothing to do with her injuries. His image swam in her mind’s eye. The smell of his cologne was everywhere in the house even though he didn’t spend much time there. His scent was so familiar to Louisa that it was ingrained in her mind, a mix of the spice of varnished wood, dust, and expensive cologne. Louisa shivered. The house was warm, yet still a chill crept through her skin, raising goose pimples on her exposed flesh. She tried not to think of how his lips had run along her skin that night, his breath warm as it trailed down her stomach, over her hips as he focused his mouth there. A harsh breath escaped her lips as she struggled to suppress the memory. If Sophie heard it, she didn’t comment.
****
Dominic reviewed the papers strewn on the mahogany desk. Many were figures for the year that he should have gone over last week, but he had been too busy helping his brother with the merger to even glance at them. Dominic had aged beyond his years since his father had died. The lines in his face had deepened far more than his twenty-nine years should have allowed, and he found more grey hairs by the day.
Snow swirled outside the window, the icy cold causing frost to collect on the glass. The mountains that he knew were beyond their estate, visible even at night as dark looming masses on the horizon, were now blanked out by the white sheet. His mind was elsewhere, on the touch of Louisa’s skin as he had pulled her from that car. He’d thought she was dead, her lifeless body hanging limp against him as he’d placed her on the ground. A handful of snow had cleared her head of the blood that had run down her cheek from the cut on her forehead. The cold had seemed to revive her, and his whole body had slumped, the tension that built in his chest gone in a rushed breath of relief. She was alive. He’d smiled down at the woman who meant so much to him once upon a time. Yet there was still that memory, the sting that she left him with. He had known that her strong will wouldn’t allow her to give in to a man who would lead her to a life where she stayed at home and he ran the business. Of course she had the option of helping him, but she chose to leave him instead. Now look where he had gotten her. If she had died it would have been his fault for being too damn proud to have not stolen her back years ago.
Back then he was arrogant as well as proud. He could still remember how he stopped her again and again from leaving the lodge to go on trips with Sophie. He had been jealous of his own sister. Then, on a night much like this one, he had woken to nothing more than a note on the pillow next to him, saying she had gone to see the world. He had closed his heart to her and some said to every woman since. He could have given her the world, but she wanted to take it for herself. He damned her independence, and his own stupidity at thinking he could tame her.
It was because of her mother, he knew. Her father was never known, but when her mother died she became restless. She had gone from home to home, friends and distant relatives taking her in, then shipping her off when she became too much to handle. She hadn’t changed when she grew older. She ran her business just as she ran her life, too busy to get to know anyone enough to care for them.
He had insisted on carrying her to the car after the accident, not bearing to have another man’s hands on her, even if he was an aged servant. He’d cradled her head in the warm car, his arms wrapped protectively around her, urging the driver to go faster. As he placed her on the bed, Sophie had rushed in behind him having heard about the accident. He had run his hand down Louisa’s flushed cheek before leaving Sophie to care for her. He couldn’t be in that room any longer with a woman he knew didn’t care for him as he did for her. He wouldn’t allow himself to be weakened by her again.
A knock at the door brought Dominic back to his surroundings. Sophie came in supporting a battered Louisa at her side. He rose and helped her to lower Louisa into a chair. He scowled at his sister, hoping to transfer his annoyance at her for letting Louisa out of bed when his instructions had been the opposite.
He had hoped it was just concern that his made his heart beat faster when the
y had come across her car moments after the accident. Now seeing her again he realised that it was more than that. It was a thought that he pushed to the far edge of his mind. He couldn’t let himself go down that path again.
“I assume this is an important matter for you to have come down here?” he asked both women.
“I found a clause when reviewing the inheritance section of your fathers will.”
Her voice was strained, as if she were trying to make it steadier and stronger than it should be.
He looked at Sophie as Louisa spoke. He couldn’t bring himself to look at Louisa after he had caused her injuries. He should have flown to her office, as Sophie suggested, instead of dragging her up here in the snow, but he had wanted to go somewhere where they would have others around them, where he wouldn’t be tempted. With Sophie in the house it felt more like when they were younger again, plus there was little chance of Louisa wanting to stay. She was not fond of the snow. The sun and surf held no appeal to her either. She was a moderate woman, one who liked things perfect, warm weather, cool breezes, overcast so that she wouldn’t get burnt. She was one of a kind, never running with the pack. She knew what she liked or didn’t, and what she didn’t like was him. The thought made him frown, instantly despising himself for already letting her get to him. He couldn’t blame her. Louisa hadn’t expected him to be there. It must have been as much of a shock to her as it had been to him to see her again. She had looked so confused to see him for the brief few moments that afternoon when she had woken, that he knew that Sophie hadn’t mentioned his coming to meet her when she spoke to her on the phone.
“I had a feeling there might have been. Why has this only been discovered now?” He didn’t mean for it to sound harsh, but he heard the sharp intake of breath from Sophie. He looked up at Louisa to see her gaze was focused on a point on his desk. So, he thought, she can’t stand to look at me either.
“Your father left the will in the care of his old lawyer, who didn’t keep very good notes. If you remember, the files we were given were old, and we had the feeling he may have made a more recent one. Well, he did. I asked Mr. Jenkins for access to his computer and found the new will, which was written last year, shortly after he was diagnosed.”
The news was startling to Dominic, if not unexpected. Louisa’s brow was creased with thought. Her eyebrows puckered together in the middle, and he longed to reach over and smooth the skin with his thumb. Instead he clasped his hands together on the desk in an effort to restrain himself. He motioned for Louisa to continue. She pushed a dark lock of hair from her face and tucked it behind her ear. He wondered if she realised how her fingers brushed her collar bone as she did it. Did she know how much it cost him to sit there opposite her and not take her into his arms and comfort her?
“The new Will was much the same as the old but for one clause. Before any of you can inherit, you must be married.”
There was silence in the room with each of them considering what this meant both to themselves and to the family business. It wasn’t just Cole, his older brother, who needed the money. The family business needed the funds to continue operating. They were in the software market, which changed so rapidly from day to day that Dominic needed the freedom to buy in and out of companies at will. Without access to his inheritance he was forced to withdraw money from the company, which would cause the shares to lose value, even if temporarily.
“Is there any way around this? Cole needs these funds by Monday, Louisa.” Her name stuck in his throat. Such familiarity, the last time he said it, it had been a whisper against her cheek.
“Cole can claim his inheritance. As you have signed it over we can override his exclusion from the will. He was also married several years ago, and although he divorced it does not say that any of you have to remain married to inherit. I believe this was an attempt to see you all happy, rather than to cause you hardship.”
Dominic considered this. Louisa was an excellent lawyer, and he trusted her in these matters. He could tell that she wouldn’t have brought the matter to him if she could have found a way to get all three of them their inheritance. Yet her theory about his father’s motive couldn’t have been more than an idle dream on her part. He had done it as no more than a way to stop them from inheriting. He didn’t like any of them and never intended to give them the money.
It was Sophie who spoke first. “I do not need my inheritance for many years. I have this house and a comfortable living from my stocks. That leaves you, Dominic. You’ll need the funds, won’t you?” Sophie asked facing him.
Dominic nodded as he gazed at the computer screen to his left. It still displayed the statistics for the last quarter, which he had been entering. They would be okay for a while perhaps, but in the long term the company would suffer. Thousands of jobs would be lost if he made just one bad decision with no finances to fall back on, and Dominic knew that they might not recover from a loss like that. His hands skated across the keyboard as he entered a few figures into the charts. The outlook didn’t look good. He would need at least some of the money, if not the full amount, which he estimated would be in the tens of millions. Still, the bottom line was that he needed to solve this sooner rather than later.
Looking up from his thoughts he found Louisa had her hand to her head, her eyes closed. He wouldn’t be surprised if she didn’t realise she was doing it. It was rare for her to show emotion, let alone weakness in front of him.
“I’ll think it over. Sophie, will you take Louisa back to bed and ensure she stays there this time?”
Sophie seemed to come back from a deep thought and looked at Louisa, who looked frustrated with herself.
“Louisa, I’m sorry, my mind was elsewhere.”
“I’m fine. Don’t worry. We need to discuss this, Dominic.”
The sound of his name in her soft, rich accent drew memories out of him that he had worked too hard to bury. A heat stirred to life in his veins radiating through his body as he gazed at those full, glossy lips.
“We can, but you need to rest. You could have told us about this in New York. Why didn’t you?” His voice was harsher than he intended.
“I didn’t think you would all be available at the same time. Forgive me for thinking it would be easier to see Sophie first rather than disturb your social life.”
Her hazel gaze was accusing as she looked at him for the first time since arriving in his office. He narrowed his eyes but had to face that it was not her he was angry with. It was himself for what he had become.
He turned and fetched some painkillers he knew his father had kept in the desk drawer for when the cancer pained him. He threw the box to Louisa and pushed the water jug forward for her.
“One night won’t make a difference. Now, go back to your room. I need to get back to my work.” He stood and turned away from both women and strode to the small library that was attached to the office, blocking them from his view. He saw her recoil at his dismissal as he left. The two women spoke briefly, Louisa’s voice ringing louder than the soft-spoken Sophie’s. He tried to block Louisa’s sweet voice from his mind, but he couldn’t help but hear the anger in her words. He closed the door behind him and didn’t emerge until he heard the office door close as they left.
Why was this so hard for him? He had convinced himself that he was over her, and that had held true for many years. He sat in the leather winged back chair and opened his book from the side table. If he could just distract himself. A woman might do as a fitting distraction, but he knew even as he had the thought that no other woman could satisfy him now that Louisa was back in his life. All he could do was make sure he spent as little time around her as possible and cleared this annoying will matter up before she could hurt him further. He had to focus on his work, on what he could control.
Chapter Two
Louisa was woken the next morning by a soft hand stroking her face.
“Good morning, Louisa. How are you feeling today?” Sophie asked.
The curtains were op
en wide, yet darkness still hung heavy in the room. Outside the snow had turned to a blizzard, muffling all sound and light. Louisa sat up and was glad to find that her head didn’t spin and barely hurt. Her side still throbbed with tiny needles pricking at her as she moved but not as much as yesterday, and she found she could move with minimal pain.
“I’m much better, Sophie, thank you.”
“Good. Dominic asks that you come have breakfast with us. He has matters to discuss with you, and you know how he likes to discuss such things over a meal.” Sophie smiled and left Louisa to dress.
She spent longer in the shower than she should have. The hot water washed away her drowsiness, and more than that it helped to clear her head of all thoughts that would prevent her from thinking clearly about her work. She often cleared her head this way when she was having trouble with a case. She would spend hours in the hot steaming water if she wasn’t worried about the water waste. Today, however, one thought couldn’t be washed away. Every time she closed her eyes she could see Dominic’s face above her as she lay on the side of the road. Those cool green eyes that showed such fear—she had never seen Dominic afraid, not even when his own life was at risk when he had been bitten by a snake one summer when they were younger. She tried not to think of it. She couldn’t help but wonder, had the fear been for her or for his own reputation if she had died in his arms?
She puzzled over it as she pulled on some jeans and a pale blue shirt before adding a grey cardigan to keep her warm.
The vivid image of a few wonderful nights with Dominic in their youth made her smile. His caress had always been so careful and soft. The only time he was firm with her was whilst they made love. He was a wild and passionate lover, and her body tingled deep in her womb with memories of his lust for her. It had ended badly though, when Louisa had decided to go away for school. She hadn’t meant to hurt him, and had had no idea at the time at how much it would hurt her to leave. She worked many years to get over the pain she suffered from his one and only correspondence during her absence. It had been a small note, telling her that he had moved on and would appreciate it if she wouldn’t come home for the summers anymore. Since then, despite the years that now separated the event, she had kept her distance from him preferring to deal with Sophie or Cole but more often with Mr. McKillip in any matters that were essential for a member of the family to be present.
The Millionaire's Convenient Bride Page 2
