Her Secret, His Heir (The Diamond Club Book 11)

by Elizabeth Lennox

  She wrapped her arms around his neck, tears streaming down her cheeks. “Jackson, you’d never do anything to damage your company or put the security of your employees at risk. You’re just too good of a businessman for that.”

  He tightened his arms around her. “Now that I understand, I can deal with it. But it took me seeing you again before I could understand.” He buried his face in her hair, inhaling the wonderful, feminine scent of her. “Emotions were dangerous to me, Melanie. They meant that I wasn’t focused. I wasn’t planning ten steps ahead of the game. I wasn’t…” he tightened his arms again, then loosened them, afraid he might hurt her. “It wasn’t that I didn’t trust you, honey. It was that I didn’t trust myself anymore. And even worse, I didn’t understand the emotions that hit me like a ton of bricks. Emotions are bad in business.”

  She whispered into his ear. “Yeah, but they are pretty good in a marriage.”

  He tensed. But when she didn’t say anything more, he pulled back to look into her eyes. “Are you saying that we have a shot at a marriage?”

  “Yes,” she nodded. “If you love me that much, then yes. I guess I should marry you just so you don’t have to worry about bankrupting the business.”

  He laughed, shaking his head. “Melanie, I love you!” he groaned and pulled her close again. “In business, emotions mean that mistakes can be made. But what I learned when I saw you again is, lack of understanding of emotions means that I could lose the one person I love more than anything else in the world.”

  She laughed and threw her arms around his neck, loving him more and more with every word he spoke. “So if you walk into the house and find me in the arms of another man again, are you…”

  “I’m going to walk in and punch him out.”

  “Even if it is my brother?”

  Jackson laughed. “Okay, I’ll make an exception for your brother. But all other men need to keep their hands off you.” He pulled her closer, kissing her until she was clinging to him. “You’re mine, Melanie. You and Alex, we’re a family.”

  “Yes,” she sighed, thinking he was the most wonderful man she’d ever met.

  “Does this mean you’ll marry me?”

  She laughed. “Does this mean you’ll talk to me about emotions?”

  He rolled his eyes, then rolled her so that he was on top of her. “How about if we compromise? I’ll make love to you and you can tell me what you’re feeling?”

  “No deal,” she whispered, feeling his body respond.

  “Fine,” he said, kissing her gently. “I love you, Melanie. And it scares the hell out of me.” He kissed her again. “I can’t guarantee that I’ll understand every emotion I have, because everything with you is new.” Another kiss and this time, his hand slipped underneath her loose shirt. “But I promise I’ll learn to talk to you. Is that good enough?”

  She smiled, wrapping her arms around his neck. “That sounds like a wonderful solution,” she agreed.

  Epilogue

  “Are you ready?” Chloe asked, looking at the white dress that skimmed down over Melanie’s figure. Six months after giving birth to Alex, she’d finally lost her pregnancy weight, but that was mostly due to Jackson’s efforts. The last ten pounds had only come off in the past two months…when Alex started sleeping through the night. It wasn’t a coincidence that, with more sleep, she’d regained the need to make love with Jackson.

  He’d been patient for so long, the moment that she’d woken up after a full night’s sleep, she’d rolled over and…that look was all it had taken. Jackson had been voracious that morning…and every night since!

  “I’m ready,” she sighed, taking the bouquet that Megan handed to her. Megan had also given birth and was wearing a lovely pink dress. Chloe was in mint green and Melanie hadn’t realized how much she loved having sisters.

  “Okay, that’s our song,” Chloe said, leaning over to give Melanie a gentle hug. “I’m first!”

  Moments later, Chloe walked down the aisle as one of Melanie’s bride’s maids. Then it was Megan’s turn. “You look gorgeous!” Megan whispered before she too walked down the rose strewn aisle.

  When the music changed, Melanie took a deep breath, and stepped through the double doors of the church. For a split second, she saw Roy and Jake as they stood at the front, but Jackson was blocked from view when the congregation stood up. Slowly, she walked towards the front, smiling to her friends from school and some of Jackson’s friends. Her mother was holding Alex, who waved as soon as he saw his mother, his chubby arms and legs wiggling and a goofy grin on his face. Max, Megan and Jake’s five month old son was in Deni’s arms, her soon to be mother-in-law, and Melanie laughed, thinking those two boys were going to be trouble. But not as much trouble as Della and Danny, Chloe’s kids who were being held by Sebastian, her handsome future father-in-law. What a family, she thought.

  Then she turned and…there was Jackson. He looked magnificent in his black tuxedo and she wished the ceremony were over so they could be alone. Goodness, what a horrible thing to think, she thought as she stepped up, taking his hands after giving her bouquet to Chloe.

  “You look beautiful,” he whispered.

  “Dearly beloved,” the minister began. Melanie smiled up into his silver eyes, eyes that were just as amazing as her son’s.

  “I love you too,” she whispered right back, translating because she knew that Jackson’s “beautiful” meant that he loved her. Which he said pretty often, but he was trying to change it up, telling her in as many ways as possible how he felt about her.

  And she loved all of his wonderful, amazing, heartfelt efforts. She loved this man more than she’d ever thought possible. Oh, what an amazing life they were going to have!

  Continue reading for an excerpt from “Her Enemy, Her Lover”, Book 1 in my new series The Burling School.

  Excerpt from Her Enemy, Her Lover

  Release Date: February 14, 2020

  Click HERE to Get “Her Enemy, Her Lover” Here!

  Lana stared at the complex documents spread out chaotically over the big, wooden desk. Contracts and invoices, complaints and lawsuits, requests for…something…and even a few pieces of paper that looked like they might be official or legal. Those were the papers that scared her the most. Everything in front of her seemed extremely complicated. She had no idea where one issue ended and another began.

  At the moment, the door to her father’s big, pandemonium -filled office was closed, a heavy silence weighing over the room. Lana slowly lowered her head into her hands, hoping that some divine intervention would point out what she needed to focus on first. And if that could happen, perhaps that divine intervention could also give her clues as to how she might accomplish each of those priority tasks.

  Unfortunately, no heavenly message was forthcoming and she sighed again, but this time, frustration tinged the increasing resentment. “Why did you leave me, Father?” she whispered to the panicked silence. “Why couldn’t you have taken better care of yourself?”

  Lana’s father, Higar Kosta, had been a wonderful man, his life filled with love and laughter, always ready to listen when Lana had a problem or just needed a hug. But Higar preferred a good cigar with a glass of scotch over sweating in a gym. And goodness, he’d loved his food! The man was renowned all over the city for his elaborate dinner parties! Maybe, if he’d stopped eating all of the rich foods and exercised a few times a week instead of sitting around smoking those horrible cigars, then he might still be with her now. He would still be taking care of all of these mind-boggling corporate details and she could be back in her light-filled art studio, doing what she loved instead of sitting her in this depressing office, alone, panicked and…overwhelmed!

  But her father had passed away two months ago and…Lana secretly acknowledged that she was completely lost.

  Yes, she could call up her best friends from school, Tamara or Willow. They’d met at The Burling School on the outskirts of London, and, after an initially expecting to hate both of th
em, they’d quickly become fast friends. The three of them had shared a room for many gloriously wonderful, laughter and tear-filled years. No, their acquaintance hadn’t started off smoothly. Lana was very aware that most people thought of her as flighty and irresponsible. But she wasn’t! Lana came across as flighty only because she lived in her head a bit more than the rest of the world. As a painter, Lana saw things differently, which was also why her paintings sold so well. Every year, the value of her paintings increased in value. She was financially secure and understood the international markets better than most artists.

  But this….! She shifted several of the papers around on the previously polished desk, not sure where to even start. Lana couldn’t keep relying on advice from Tamara who had a degree in international business and knew how businesses worked. The woman knew the world and, even though the world might think that she was a ditzy party girl, that was a very deliberate image that Tamara created and cultivated. The images that appeared in the tabloids were placed there for a very specific purpose.

  Unfortunately, Tamara had her own problems and Lana didn’t want to bother her friend. Willow was…well, normally Willow would be in her craft studio, working with her team to get ready for the next holiday season’s…stuff…whatever it was that Willow might create next. But Willow had her own worries as well.

  “Cassandra!” Lana whispered into the silence of the office. Standing up, Lana walked over to the window and looked out, not really seeing the beautiful ocean or the sunshine as it sparkled off of the water. “Cassandra might be able to get me out of this…mess!” she thought. There’d been that article recently about an especially trick legal case that Cassy had won!

  But…Cassy and Lana weren’t really friends. They were more…acquaintances. Lana and Cassy had enjoyed a few moments of camaraderie during their years at The Burling School, but they weren’t bosom buddies. Although, Lana had always wondered why Cassy had worn those horrible sports bras. The woman was gorgeous in a pinup girl kind of way. She was smart too! Unfortunately, Lana hadn’t ever taken the time to really get to know Cassy – or Cassy’s roommates. Not really. Oh, the six of them had snuck into the dining hall occasionally for a late night ice cream raid. But she’d been too close with Tamara and Willow and hadn’t bothered trying to befriend anyone else.

  “Not an option,” Lana thought with resignation and turned away from the window to look at the desk once again.

  “What a mess,” she groaned, pushing her hands through her already mussed, brown hair, trying to figure out where to start. Her father’s business was shockingly complex and, from some of the documents she’d read, wasn’t in very good shape at the moment.

  Every morning when she contemplated coming into this office, she felt her chest constrict and a vicious bout of nausea came next. Not only because she had her own issues to handle with her personal business, but because her father’s empire was too convoluted. Too vast.

  Thankfully, as an artist, Lana’s business had done well enough over the last few years that she hadn’t taken any money from her father since graduating from college. Her paintings were meticulous and beautiful. Every canvas she released into the world sold almost immediately. But…!

  “Having problems?” a deep voice asked, interrupting her pity party.

  Lana looked up, startled. But not nearly as startled as she was when her eyes focused on the tall, terrifying man standing in the doorway of her father’s office.

  “What the hell are you doing here?” she demanded, standing up with a jerk as the tall, odious man pushed away from the door frame and stepped arrogantly into her father’s office. With a soft thud, the door closed behind him, the sound ominously dreadful. It might have been better if he’d slammed the door closed. That would have given her mind something to focus on besides the terrifying man coming towards her.

  “I’m here to see if you need help.” His eyes moved over the desk that seemed to be piled with papers and files, contracts and reports. “Looks to me as if you’re drowning.”

  Lana looked up at the formidable man, refusing to show her fear. Christoph Anastas. The few times she’d met him at the various social gatherings around Athens had told her that this was not a man to ignore. He was one of the few businessman in Greece, all over the world actually, that made other businessmen quake in their thousand dollar shoes! Christoph Anastas was simply that powerful! Just his name sparked reverential silence when spoken out loud.

  Even now, looking up into eyes that weren’t quite blue and not really grey, she knew that he was a man to keep at arms distance. Ice, she thought. Yes, his eyes were the color of ice. Cold. Heartless. Merciless. Rivers of ice ripped open mountains, tore down boulders and reframed the earth. This man was the same. Just a simple glance from this man could damage a business, alter financial markets and shift the paths of currencies.

  She’d hated him from the first time she’d met him several years ago. It had taken one dance, just five minutes in the man’s spookily strong arms, before she understood his dangerous power.

  Well, not really understood so much as grasped. Even from across the ballroom that night, the man had looked at her and she’d felt naked. Raw. Vulnerable. And when he’d touched her that one time, her skin had felt singed. An odd reaction when his eyes seemed so cold, but she’d immediately wanted to pull her hands away. To run from him.

  But Lana prided herself on facing problems head on. Never running from them, never cowering. After the initial shock of being in his arms, she’d straightened her spine and glared up at him, refusing to let him feel her trembling because she absolutely refused to show any weakness around this man! Not him! Not with her father’s enemy! Show no weakness, Higar Kosta had always told her. “Use your weaknesses to gain power! Aspire to Strength” her father had preached ever since she’d been small.

  So here she was again, facing the man who was her weakness, determined to make him her strength! How Lana was going to do that was the mystery, but she’d eventually figure out how.

  In the meantime, Lana refused to show him how overwhelmed she was with all of the business issues spread out over the wide desk. Her chin went up a notch, her arms crossing over her stomach. “Did you come here just to annoy me for general purposes?” Lana demanded, pretending that everything in this office was under control. “Or did you have a more specific purpose?”

  The man had the audacity to sit down in one of the chairs on the opposite side of her father’s big desk. He even unbuttoned his immaculate suit, stretching his long legs out in front of him before he looked up at her. Was he laughing? Was he mocking her?!

  Oh, her hatred for the man intensified with that smug expression! There were few people in this world who could engender those kinds of emotions in Lana. Her friends from boarding school, Tamara and Willow, had been two of them…initially. They’d hated each other upon their first meeting all those years ago. But now she loved those two women more than if they were her own sisters. The three of them understood each other. They fought for each other and protected each other’s secrets.

  This man had secrets, she thought. And if she could ever discover any of them, she’d reveal those secrets to the world. Just looking into his icy blue eyes made her want to take him down several pegs. No, not several pegs. She wanted to crush him under her heel. She wanted to beat him at whatever game he was initiating.

  And Lana had no doubt that the man was definitely initiating a game. Cat and mouse. Okay, maybe lion and mouse, she corrected. Christoph Anastas was much bigger and significantly more powerful than a house cat.

  But Lana refused to be his timid mouse! She was going to be…well, at least a cheetah.

  Okay, ridiculous mental conversation, she acknowledged and forced her eyes to glare at him from across the huge desk.

  “I understand that you’ve inherited all of your father’s businesses,” he started off conversationally.

  The horrible grief from her father’s passing several months ago still haunted her, but s
he suppressed the instant stab of sadness. She was a cheetah, she reminded herself. A sleek, powerful cheetah. “How is that significant to you?” Her hand slipped self-consciously over her too-rounded hips, reminding herself that she’d planned to go for a run after work. Of course, she’d planned on going for that run this morning, but had rolled over in her warm bed, not wanting to face the misery of morning, much less a morning run.

  His thin lips smiled slightly, but because the man’s face was all angles and planes, harsh lines and boogey-man intensity…the smile didn’t warm his features in any way.

  “Lana, I know that you’re in over your head. Your father’s businesses were far-ranging.”

  That was true, but Lana wasn’t going to admit that to this man. Leaning forward, she clasped her hands in front of her and looked directly into his ice-blue eyes. “Christoph, you’re being a patronizing ass,” she came right back.

  He stared at her for a long moment, then threw back his head laughing.

  For some reason, the sound made her heart pound harder but she hid her insane reaction by crossing her arms more tightly over her chest.

  When he looked up at her this time, there seemed to be a glimmer in his icy eyes. A glimmer of…ice? Or heat?

  “That’s good, my dear. No one has ever had the courage to call me out in such a way. Which,” he leaned forward, resting his arms on his knees, “makes my offer even more enticing.”

  Lana watched him for a long moment, tensing because she knew with absolute certainty that she wasn’t going to like his offer. An easy supposition, since she’d never liked anything this particular man ever said to her. “I can’t sell the business to you. Even if I could, I wouldn’t. Not to you,” she told him with a bit of her own smug delight, warning him that she wasn’t going to give in to threats or intimidation – two tactics she knew this man was extremely good at.