He just smiled. What else could he do? He wouldn’t be able to change her mind, and he decided that he wouldn’t even if he could. They toured the aquarium hand in hand, Louisa seeming fascinated at the way the animals could co-exist without eating each other.
“I don’t understand why you are so surprised. They, unlike us, only eat when they are hungry. Penny and the other scientists keep them well fed so that they won’t want to snack.”
She laughed as her stomach grumbled. “Maybe I could grab some of that sea food for myself.”
“I don’t think the chum would agree with you, my dear. How about I take you to a real meal?”
They climbed back into the chopper after waving goodbye to Penny, who was still in the tanks. “What will it be? There is a wonderful place in the city that has a chopper pad on the roof.”
Louisa shook her head making her hair fall across her face. “I know the perfect place.”
Dominic couldn’t believe it. He sat on the metal chair admiring how good the Subway Louisa had picked for him tasted.
“I can’t believe you have never eaten Subway. What do you eat for lunch every day?”
“We have a catering service that my assistant orders from for me at the start of the week.”
Dominic inspected the cookie that Louisa had insisted he have with his dinner and nibbled the side. It was better than he had imagined, a lot like his nanny used to make for them as children. Louisa was smiling at him as he ate.
“What?” he asked smiling back at her. He couldn’t help but be happy around her. She just brought out the lighter side of him.
“You’re like a kid eating ice cream for the first time. It’s just a sandwich.”
“Yes, but I got to choose what went on to it. You may take that for granted, but I have always had my food chosen for me. My secretary chooses my lunch and often orders my dinner, too. When I’m at home I have a chef, and when I’m at the penthouse my brother and sister choose what we eat. It’s been a long time since I have had something that I have chosen for myself.”
“You are a strange man.” Louisa laughed. Dominic laughed with her and leant forwards for a kiss. Louisa wiped ranch sauce off his chin before she kissed him. A rich smell of fresh baked cookie reached his nose, and he leaped up to buy some for them to take home with them.
“You picked dinner, so I get to choose dessert.”
“That sounds fair. Where are we going?”
“You will see.”
Louisa stared as they landed on the top of her new office building.
“We are going to work?” she asked, surprised as they took the lift down to her office. They walked in, and Louisa gave a startled laugh. In the middle of the room was a table set for two. Hundreds of candles burned around the room giving it a warm glow against the harsh city lights below them. She couldn’t see anyone else in the room, but the table was already set with their dessert of chocolate mousse and crème brûlée, both her favourites.
“How?” she asked as he guided her to a chair.
“I had it set up as soon as we left this morning. I hope you don’t mind?”
Louisa couldn’t do anything but shake her head. She could get used to this. She had never imagined that life with Dominic could be such bliss. The last time they were together it had all been about him and what he wanted. She had been an idiot to leave, and an idiot for believing that she could not lead her own life with him at her side. Yes, he had been headstrong, but she had never given him the chance to prove he could be anything else. Perhaps this had all been because of her own childish beliefs, not his.
“Passion pop,” he asked holding the bottle out to her.
She laughed, and it was several moments before she could stop. Maybe some things hadn’t changed. Dominic had always had a taste for the cheap sweet wine.
“I need to make a confession.” Dominic’s eyes were fixed on hers as she finished her mousse. “I don’t want to divorce you.”
Louisa nearly dropped her spoon. She breathed in and prayed that she had heard him correctly. Could it be that he had feelings for her?
“I don’t understand,” she said watching his face for some sign that this was a joke. He had never given her a reason to suspect he would be cruel, but others had tried in the past to play with her feelings, and it made her wary.
He stood and crossed to her side helping her from her seat. He held her hand in his as his other hand traced her cheek.
“I never stopped loving you. It has just taken me this long to get my act together.”
Louisa searched his face, his full mouth, his trusting eyes. Then there was that hint, a sparkle in his eye and a quirk on his lips that made her believe what he was saying. He did love her?
“Do you love me?” she asked. She needed to know if he cared for her.
“Yes.”
“Say it,” she said. She needed to hear it from his own lips.
“Louisa, I love you more than the stars above my life, my love.” He pulled her mouth to his and kissed her. The passion that radiated through her was more than she had ever felt. He carried her to the desk, which had been pushed to one side of the room. He set her on it and nudged her legs open. Her body was alive with his touch, and she leant into him with her whole self.
There was a knock on the door, which they both ignored. Another louder knock rang through the room.
“What?” Dominic snapped at the closed door. Louisa was surprised by his tone and more than a little flattered at his apparent hunger for her.
“It’s Cole. Stop whatever you are doing and open up. It’s important.”
Dominic groaned and kissed the sensitive spot just under her ear. She rolled her head back delighting in the sensation. Cole knocked again, shaking the door on its hinges.
“Now, Dominic!” he boomed through the wood.
With a casual flick of his hand Dominic re-buttoned the dress he had opened to her navel before arranging his own clothes again. His hand lingered on her hand as he brushed his fingers over the gold band she wore around her finger. The symbol that she was his, she thought as he pulled her forwards and brushed his lips over hers before helping her off the table as he opened the door. Cole stepped over the threshold and made for Louisa. She didn’t scare easily, but she was set back by the fire in his eyes as he stopped just inches from her, his whole body tense.
“Louisa, if I asked you something will you swear to tell me the truth?” he asked through a tense jaw.
“Of, of course.” She could hear the hesitation in her own voice as she wondered what on earth could have happened to make Cole madder than she had ever seen him. Dominic came forward and placed himself just in front of Louisa’s body. His warmth gave her a little courage, and she stood straighter as she faced her new brother and whatever accusation he had. Had he found out their secret, that the wedding was a fake?
“You had better have an explanation for this behaviour, brother, before I throw you out of this office.”
“I do, and it involves you, too, little brother,” Cole said, not flinching in the slightest at the venom in Dominic’s words. “Louisa, I have just been forwarded an email conversation you had several months ago with your assistant. Would you care to explain why my company name came up several times along with the phrase ‘I will just marry one of them and not even have to worry about trying to buy them out’?”
Louisa was stunned into silence. She couldn’t even think. She had been so sure he had found them out in the fake marriage. But this, she had no idea what was happening. Why would she want the McKillips’ companies? She was a lawyer not a business woman, and worse, she realised, Dominic hadn’t made to defend her since Cole’s announcement. He was silent.
“Louisa?” Cole said, his normally happy face contorted in anger.
“I didn’t. I—why would I want your companies?” she stammered. She couldn’t understand how he got the emails, or where they had come from. They were fakes. That was clear, but what was clear to her was obviously
not clear to Cole, who stood with a crease between his normally kind eyes in a combination of hurt and anger at her apparent betrayal.
“I don’t know, but it was convenient timing to your accident,” he said gesturing to the scar just visible beneath her hairline.
“I was there because I was trying to help you get your inheritance.” She paused hearing what she was saying. Of course she could see it now, see what Cole must be seeing. She hadn’t visited the McKillips in over a year, and suddenly there is a hidden clause that they must marry for the money and there she is. Desperate, a damsel in distress on the doorstep of the man she nearly wooed so long ago.
“Why would I want your businesses, Dominic?” She touched his arm, but he didn’t turn. She couldn’t breathe. He believed that she had used him. After all that they had been through in the past week, she had thought he trusted her as much as she did him. Sure, she had never given him reason to trust her in the past. But couldn’t he see that she had changed? She was older, and hadn’t this whole deal had been his idea? The idea that he actually believed this rubbish stung her pride. She had nowhere else to go now, she realised with a groan. If he believed Cole and not her, she would have nothing.
She could see in their faces that they did not want to believe it, but they had the evidence, and it looked clear and simple. Her life was being torn to pieces, and she had trusted Dominic to help her put it back together again.
“Dominic, you can’t—”
He stopped her with a wave of his hand. Could he really not let her explain? This was obviously another hoax, yet he was clearly falling for it. She couldn’t stand there any more with Cole glaring at her and Dominic not even waiting to hear her out. She steeled herself and turned and left the room and didn’t stop until she was in a cab and being taken far away from everything, the McKillips, her firm, and from all those who tried to bring her down. She had been a fool. She could see that now. She was stronger than that. She would pull the pieces back together herself. She had known it had been a mistake to let a man have so much control of her life, even if it had been Dominic, even if she had believed that he loved her. She had been a fool not to cover her back. She should have signed a pre-nuptial before she consented to this game. She was a lawyer for God’s sake. How could she have been so dumb as to let this kind of thing slip from work into her love life? She had believed this deal would save her, so she had not made a backup plan, and now she was out of the game all because of a stupid email. But she was stronger than that, and she was smarter for the lesson. She had been on her own before and had risen to meet the challenge, and she would do it again. She felt tears wet her cheeks and steeled herself against the emotional hurt those stupid brothers had cost her. She would prove them wrong and show them how valuable she could be without their money.
Chapter Nine
Dominic paced his apartment. He had sent Sophie and Cole away as soon as he had arrived back. How could he have done that to Louisa? When he had just gotten her trust, when it mattered most, he had said nothing and let Cole accuse her of betraying them. He knew the emails had been fake. He knew Louisa better than maybe anyone else on the planet. The emails had been where Cassandra had slipped up and shown her weakness. This wasn’t about getting back at Louisa; it was about him. And now he had let her go, the one woman who had always seen him for him, not for his money or his family. Louisa practically already was family. He trusted her and had always looked out for her from a distance, even if she didn’t realise it. This was his mess, and he would clean it up.
An hour later he boarded the chopper on the top of the neighbouring building. He needed to get to Washington. He had arranged for his accountant to meet him there. He had his employees all over the state searching out information for him and another two people hired to follow Louisa and keep her safe. They also had strict instructions not to let her see them. She was a proud creature. It was one of the things he admired most about her. She wouldn’t like to think that she was being protected. But he had a duty to her, his wife. He rolled the word around his mind and felt the familiar fierce pull the word had on him. She was his now, so she had to let him help her. She knew nothing of the pleasures he would bestow on her if she would only open up to him. He had tried to tame her once, but now he knew that doing so would break her. He was wiser now. Her spirit and drive were the very things that made her who she was, and he relished her fierce nature. She was a woman who could meet him on his own level, one who drove heat through his veins with every word, every gesture. One that could hold her own in an argument and strike him down when he was being arrogant. Yes, Louisa was one in a million, and better yet, she had no idea the effect she had on men, a natural beauty with no clue.
The chopper took flight over the city. He would bring her back, when they were both ready to face the truth that they needed each other. He wouldn’t let her get away again.
‘Mr. McKillip, would you like me to continue?’
The man sitting opposite him in the chopper looked every inch the successful businessman, the kind of man you wouldn’t look twice at. That was why Dominic used him. Private investigators he had hired in the past just stuck out too much. This man used to work as Dominic’s driver, but he had convinced him to change professions after he had proven his skills a few years ago in another matter.
“No, that will be all. Are you sure this information is up to date?” he asked.
“Yes, I verified it myself.”
Another of his skills was the ability to hack any firewall he came across, which made him a very handy man to have around. Dominic thanked him and reviewed the envelope he had received. They had met in the hotel bar. Dominic may have trusted this man, but he never let him know where he currently lived or worked. Some things were best not left to chance. They landed, and Dominic went straight to his hotel lounge area.
He studied the documents that he had been given. They confirmed what he already knew. It was the lack of this hard evidence that had held him back until now. He drank the last of his scotch and considered his next move. He hadn’t been to see Louisa yet. His man had been watching her to ensure she was safe, but Dominic knew that he needed to sort things out with her firm before she would let him back into her life. Such a stubborn creature, he mused and smiled at the thought. A woman walked past in a low slung dress that drew the eyes of the men sitting around him. She paused next to him and jutted her hip out a little to show off her curves. She gave a slight wink in his direction before she made her way to a table at the edge of the room. Dominic pushed the papers back into their envelope, and, after a neat tip to the bar tender he left to make some calls in his room.
****
“Louisa, there is a man here to see you. He is refusing to give his name and refusing to leave.”
Louisa wondered why Margaret was even bothering telling her this. She knew to just call security for people like this. “Call security then.”
Margaret hovered half in the doorway. “Well, he is saying that Dominic McKillip sent him.”
Louisa felt herself flush at the mention of Dominic. She fingered the ring on her finger, ashamed to still have it on, yet it offered comfort to her for some reason. Its cool metal against her skin gave her strength to feel it there over the past few days since she had left him. Again.
“Alert security and have them wait in the hall. Once they arrive send him in.” Margaret left to do as she had asked. Louisa wondered who this man was and why Dominic had sent him knowing well that she wouldn’t permit a man who wouldn’t give his name into her office. Wasn’t that what she was about to do though? Even the mention of his name had made her behave like a fool. She considered calling Margaret back to tell her to have the man removed. Her curiosity got the better of her, though, and she wanted to at least find out who this man was.
“Louisa Callum, I hope you don’t mind my imposing on you.” The man walked as if had every reason to be there. He instantly put her on guard. When a criminal walked into a court room as this man did, h
e always walked back out without handcuffs.
“What can I do for you, Mr.—?”
“I have some information for you. Mr. McKillip said that I was to deliver it to you in person. I will leave you now. It was a pleasure meeting you.” The man dropped a thick yellow envelope on the table by the window before leaving. It wasn’t lost on her that he had failed to give her his name. She waited until he had left and she had checked with security that he was out of the building before she opened the envelope. She frowned as she read the information it contained. A disk slid out of the envelope after the documents. She checked her computers security was active before she inserted it into the drive. What she saw made her furious with anger. Her fists clenched against the table, and she could feel her face flushing with heat.
****
Dominic opened the door. Louisa didn’t wait for him to speak before she pushed past him and into his apartment.
“How did you find that information?” she asked him as she paced to the lounge room and threw her coat over the back of the lounge. She had called Sophie to find out where Dominic was. The other woman had been so pleased the hear from her that she had kept her on the phone for more than two hours before Louisa could convince her she and Dominic were fine.
“Does it matter? It’s good if that is what you are wondering.” He moved to the wall at the end of the hall and leant against it, not coming into the room with her.
Louisa had run through this conversation in her mind a hundred times since she had seen that information. Nothing had prepared her for the effect being around him again would have. She kept her gaze down as she continued pacing. It had all fallen into place once she had seen what was on that disk. A few calls had confirmed that the information was true. Believing it was another matter.
“Louisa, talk to me,” Dominic said still not coming any closer to her.
She could feel his gaze on her as she crossed the room. She wasn’t ready for this yet. She had to concentrate on fixing the company first. Her marriage would come later. She fingered the ring again as she arranged her thoughts.
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