Marrying for King's Millions

by Maureen Child

  “What?” He came up out of his thoughts with a dark scowl on his face and suspicion crawling through his system.

  She shook her head as she watched him. “Are you feeling okay?”

  “Fine.” The word was bitten off as he struggled to get past the misgivings still simmering inside him. “Why?”

  “You must forgive him,” Rico said with a laugh. “A freshly wed man has many things on his mind.”

  She looked as though she didn’t believe that excuse, but at the moment, Travis didn’t really care if she bought it or not. He just wanted to get moving. Get back to California and the winery. If Julie really were in cahoots with Jean Claude, Travis would discover the truth sooner once he was back on his own home turf.

  “You are most welcome here anytime, Julie.” Rico’s accent flowed musically across his words as he took her hand, turned it over and kissed her knuckles.

  Travis shot his new wife a look to see her reaction and damned if she didn’t look charmed.

  “Oh, please,” Travis muttered, glaring at the other man.

  “Forgive my cousin,” Rico said, smiling. “He has no appreciation for the finer things in life.”

  “Okay,” Travis interrupted, unamused by his cousin. “We’d better get a move on.”

  But just then, a young woman in a hotel uniform hurried up to Rico’s side, and tapped his arm to get his attention.

  “Pardon, Señor King,” she said and when he turned to her, she leaned in close and whispered something neither Julie or Travis could quite catch.

  While they waited, Travis looked at Julie, bent his head so that his low-pitched voice was heard by her alone and asked, “Impressed by Rico, are you?”

  Julie grinned up at him and something inside Travis fisted at the brightness of her eyes and the flush on her cheeks.

  “He’s gorgeous, and he kissed my hand,” she said. “Who wouldn’t be impressed?”

  Travis stared into her eyes. “Just remember which King you’re married to.”

  “Hmm…” She tipped her head to one side and pretended to have to think about that one for a second.

  “Having trouble?” he asked, not liking the stir of something like possessiveness that rose up inside him. Temporary wife or not, Julie was his for the next year and he didn’t want her forgetting that for a second. “Let me refresh your memory.”

  Heedless of the smattering of hotel guests wandering through the lobby, Travis grabbed her, pulled her up close and kissed her hard, long and deep. Every cell in his body sent up a shout of exaltation and even while he was tasting her, he knew it wouldn’t be enough.

  For good or bad, she’d gotten into his blood in the last week or two. He wanted her every damn minute. Something he hadn’t expected. Hadn’t been looking for. And, since he couldn’t very well do what he wanted to do to her in the middle of a hotel lobby, he broke their kiss, straightened up and set her back on her feet.

  “Wow,” she whispered, lifting one hand to her mouth as she swayed unsteadily.

  He smiled, enjoying the knowledge that she was as affected as he. “Better than a kiss on the knuckles?”

  She licked her lips and sent an arrow of heat darting straight through him. “Yeah. Way better.”

  Julie felt warm all over, a deliciously wicked sensation she’d become all too familiar with in the last couple of weeks. One touch of Travis’s hand, or a single kiss, was enough to make her blood sizzle with need.

  Since their little “talk” in the park a few days ago, he hadn’t once even hinted that he actually thought she’d tried to get pregnant on purpose. Did that mean he believed her? Or was he simply better at hiding his feelings than she was?

  In fact, they hadn’t discussed that wild, unprotected first night together at all. It was as if each of them were trying to pretend it had never happened. And maybe that was best. Because if she thought about it too much, she’d make herself insane.

  Beside her, Travis hooked one arm around her waist and pulled her in close. His body heat reached for her even as a whisper of cool air swept across Julie’s shoulders, making her shiver a bit. It wasn’t a foreboding of anything, she told herself, just the excellent hotel air conditioner. But as Rico continued a whispered conversation with his employee and Julie saw the man’s expression shift from charming to thunderous, she braced herself.

  Ever since they’d arranged for the divorce and the remarriage, things had been better between her and Travis and she was really hoping that whatever crisis had Rico looking so concerned had nothing to do with them. She actually felt as though she and her brand-new, temporary husband had reached a sort of détente.

  They weren’t exactly a real team, but they were vaguely on the same side. Sure, Travis was still bossy and arrogant and too darn sure of himself all the time, with a real tendency to try to put her in a corner and make her stay there…but that she could handle. It was the outside problems that were making her crazy.

  “Something’s wrong,” Travis finally said, looking at his cousin.

  “I know,” Julie whispered, and wondered now if that blast of air-conditioned air hadn’t been more than a stray chill after all.

  Rico turned to them as his employee scuttled away. His dark features were tight and furious, his black eyes snapping with indignation. Drawing the two of them to one side, he glanced briefly at Julie then turned his gaze on Travis. “There’s trouble.”

  “Damn it,” Travis muttered and his arm around her waist tightened reflexively. “What is it now?”

  “Someone in the judge’s office has leaked the news of Julie’s divorce and your secretive marriage to the press.” Rico shifted his dark eyes from Travis to Julie and back again.

  “How? What? The press? ” The relief Julie had felt only moments ago was gone as if it had never existed. Instead, there was a cold, hard knot of worry settling in the pit of her stomach. What else could possibly go wrong?

  Rico spared her a sympathetic glance, but Travis was clearly too busy steaming to worry about how she was feeling. Fury literally radiated off his body until Julie wouldn’t have been surprised to see ripples of heat waves rolling across the hotel lobby. She couldn’t really blame him. She, too, was reeling from this latest jolt.

  How could she possibly have gone her whole life being pretty much invisible to the world and have that all change in less than two weeks?

  “How much does the press know?” Travis demanded.

  “Everything,” Rico told him, keeping his voice low. “The story broke early this morning. Should be all over the wire services by now. The idiot law clerk kept nothing to himself. It is small consolation I know—” he added with sympathy “—but Judge Hernandez has already fired the man.”

  “You’re right. That is small consolation.” Shoving a hand through his hair, Travis gritted his teeth and looked as if he wanted to kick something. “This is just great. We went through all of this for nothing.”

  “It would seem so,” Rico said.

  Julie couldn’t believe it. It was like a bad dream that was stuck on rewind. Now, because of one man’s greed, she and Travis had been exposed to the press. Again. But this was far worse than an embarrassing photograph. This was digging into their lives, exposing secrets. This wasn’t just her breasts displayed for public consumption.

  This was her life.

  Looking up at Travis, she wondered if he was sorry now that he’d come to her w
ith this little bargain. Of course he was. And why wouldn’t he be? Ever since they’d walked down the aisle together, there’d been nothing but one disaster after another. How could he not wish her to the other side of the earth?

  “If I ever get my hands on that law clerk,” Travis muttered.

  “He is no doubt long gone already,” Rico said just as tightly. “Probably counting his money.”

  Julie didn’t care where the little worm was. She just wanted to know what they were supposed to do next. She wanted to know that Travis and she were still in this together. Would he stick with her? Honor their bargain? Or would he want to dissolve this mess before anything else happened?

  She really hoped not. Because if he walked away from their oh-so-new marriage right now, she’d be all alone facing a rabid media.

  “Travis?” Julie finally found her voice and when she spoke, she captured his attention. “What happens now?”

  Features tight, dark eyes glinting with an anger that colored his voice, he didn’t even look at her as he simply said, “We go home.”

  “We?”

  One dark eyebrow lifted as he turned a hard look on her. “You’d rather go alone?”

  “No,” she said quickly. God, no. “I just didn’t—”

  “We’re married, aren’t we?” he asked, giving her a smile that went nowhere near his eyes.

  “Yes, we are,” she said, returning that cold smile with one of her own. They were married and even though it looked as though they were going to stay that way, at least for now, Julie felt a yawning distance open up between them.

  And she didn’t have a single idea how to close it.

  Rico had been right, of course. The minute the King jet landed at a private airstrip near Birkfield, reporters had crowded around Travis and Julie like jackals after a particularly tasty corpse.

  And as ugly as that analogy was, it hadn’t gotten any better over the last week.

  Leaning back in his desk chair, Travis clutched the telephone to his ear and listened distractedly to the Muzak especially designed to drive a man insane. He didn’t have the option of hanging up in frustration though. He had to talk to Thomas Henry and the man had been avoiding his calls for days now.

  This time, Travis was determined to reach him.

  Scowling, he sent a distracted glance around his study. The walls were a deep, dark red, and white crown molding ran around the circumference of the room just below the ceiling. Bookcases studded the walls along with paintings Travis had commissioned of the vineyards. He’d always seen this room as a sort of sanctuary. He locked himself in here to work and frequently sat in one of the oversized, black leather chairs to relax in front of the fire.

  Today, though, relaxing wasn’t on the agenda.

  “I’m sorry, Mr. King.” The elevator music stopped abruptly as a woman’s voice came over the line. “But Mr. Henry is still busy. Are you sure you want to hold? I can give him a message and ask him to return your call.”

  Busy. Travis didn’t believe that for a second. Henry was dodging him. Damned successfully so far, too. Strange, but Travis had gotten married to improve his chances at a distribution deal. And yet, ever since he’d walked down the aisle with Julie, that elusive deal had drifted further and further out of reach.

  Well, nobody stalled a King for long. And he’d be damned if he’d leave yet another message for Henry. Travis had already tried that approach twice. This time, he’d stay on the phone until the damn thing became attached to his ear if he had to. He didn’t give in, never surrendered, and Thomas Henry would damn well talk to him whether the man wanted to or not.

  “Thanks,” he said, keeping his voice politely neutral. “I’ll hold.”

  She sighed. “Very well.”

  Instantly, the music was back and Travis was left with his own thoughts again. Not the most pleasant alternative lately. He and Julie had settled into a routine of sorts, but the easy camaraderie they’d experienced in Mexico had disappeared.

  Granted, he hadn’t been the most approachable person over the last week. But Julie’d been just as distracted. What with reporters haunting their every step and the phone ringing nonstop, she was so on edge she jumped whenever he walked into the room. A part of him wanted to hold her, bury himself inside her and tuck the problems surrounding them into the background. But he couldn’t do that while another part of him still wondered if she wasn’t somehow involved in all of this.

  Talking to his brothers hadn’t helped any.

  He stared at the far wall, gaze fixed on a painting of the winery, but he wasn’t seeing the crisp colors or the subtle brush strokes. Instead, he thought back to the conversation he’d had with his brothers the night before.

  “Our lawyers are working on Julie’s ex,” Adam had said.

  “Can’t we have him arrested for something?” Jackson wanted to know.

  “He hasn’t done anything illegal,” Travis responded. “Yet.”

  Adam reminded him, “He blackmailed you.”

  “Fine. He did. And if I admit to that, it’s just one more piece of news for the press,” Travis replied. “No thanks. I already feel like there are photographers hiding in the vines. I don’t need more of the same.”

  “This mess is just getting worse.” Adam said.

  “Really? Hadn’t noticed.” Travis’s wry tone seemed to irritate Adam further. “I asked you to look in to the guy’s past. Didn’t you find anything we can use to make him disappear?”

  “No.” Adam said. “As far as we can tell, he’s never tried blackmail before.”

  “Pity,” Jackson commented. “Since he seems to have a flair for it.”

  “There’s got to be something. He’s playing this in the press as though he’s a wounded, discarded lover.”

  “What does Julie have to say about all of this anyway?” Adam asked.

  “What do you think she’s got to say?” Travis demanded softly. “She’s embarrassed and pissed off, just like me.”

  “Is she?” Jackson asked quietly.

  Travis stared at his younger brother and fought down the anger that seemed to have become a permanent part of him. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “Don’t get me wrong, I like Julie. A lot. I’m just thinking that all hell’s broken loose since you two decided to get married.”

  “It is an interesting question,” Adam pointed out.

  “You, too?” Travis had asked his older brother.

  “Can you say you’re absolutely positive that Julie’s innocent?”

  Could he? No. Was he going to admit that to his brothers and have to listen to their opinions? No. He ran his own life. And he’d deal with his marriage himself. He didn’t need a committee.

  “Yeah,” he lied. “I can.”

  Adam watched him for a long minute or two, before finally nodding. “All right then. That’s good enough for me. You and Julie keep a low profile, for God’s sake. All of this press attention is making Gina a nervous wreck and she doesn’t need that with the baby due any day.”

  “It’s not like I’m enjoying the media circus myself, you know.”

  Adam ignored that. “Jackson and I will keep looking for information on Jean Claude. There’s bound to be something somewhere in his background.”

  “Yeah,” Jackson said. “Maybe we can fi
nd a reporter to work for us for a change. Maybe hint that Jean Claude’s not all he seems to be.”

  “Worth a shot,” Travis said.

  And it was worth looking in to, he thought as he came out of the memory like a man who’d been asleep too long and couldn’t quite shake the cobwebs out of his mind.

  The only thing that concerned him was if they did find something on Jean Claude, would the information implicate Julie, as well? He didn’t want to think so. Not only because it would be infuriating as hell to be so completely wrong about a person but also because he’d have to live with her duplicity for the next year. He’d be damned if he’d enter into another media feeding frenzy that would ensue if he tried for a quick divorce from her.

  Travis shook his head and shoved one hand through his hair. Fisting his hand around the damn phone that continued to spew hideous music into his ear, he fought down the urge to throw the phone across the room. He might not be able to straighten out one part of his life, but he for damn sure was going to iron out a deal with Thomas Henry or die trying.

  “King?” A deep, brusque voice interrupted Travis’s thoughts. “What is it?”

  “Henry,” Travis said, sitting up straight in his chair, keeping his voice pleasantly, deliberately even. “I’ve been trying to reach you.”

  “Been busy,” the other man said.

  “Right. Me, too.” Travis knew the older man had been reading the newspapers, following the scandal that had risen up around Travis and Julie, so the first order of business was to smooth that over. “I’ve been dealing with lawyers for the last week. Not the way I’d planned on spending the first weeks of my marriage.”

  “Yes,” Henry mused. “I’ve been reading about you and your wife.”

  “I can imagine,” Travis said. “But I want to assure you that there is no truth to the stories you’ve been seeing in the press about us.”

  “So she wasn’t married to this…Doucette character?”