The Billionaires' Brides Bundle

by Sandra Marton

Lucas dialed his grandfather’s private number. It rang a long time; the voice that finally answered was not a voice he knew.

  “Who is this?” it said cautiously.

  “Prince Lucas,” Lucas snapped. “Who is this?”

  “I am—”

  Lucas heard snatches of unintelligible conversation, then Felix’s familiar voice.

  “Lucas?”

  “Si, Grandfather. Who was that?”

  “No one of importance. A new secretary. Where are you?”

  “I am where you sent me. At El Rancho Grande…a misnomer if ever there was one.”

  “And what do you think, mi hijo?”

  “I just told you. The place is in terrible condition. The outbuildings are falling down, the land is played out, there’s no stock—”

  “I know all that,” Felix said impatiently. “What of the rest?”

  “What rest, Grandfather? Do you mean the mare? There is no mare. There is nothing here except an attorney who insists we owe a final payment of twice what the land is worth and a woman who needs lessons in manners.”

  Silence. Then Felix gave a low laugh. “So her father told me, Lucas. The question is, are you the man to give them to her?”

  The hair rose on the back of Lucas’s neck. He turned toward Alyssa, still standing as she had been, back straight, arms folded, chin elevated at an angle so high it seemed impossible.

  “Abuelo,” Lucas said softly, “what do you mean?”

  “It’s a simple question, mi nieto. Are you man enough to tame this mare?” Felix’s tone turned sly. “Although my understanding is that my old friend’s daughter is better described as a filly than a mare. Do you agree, Lucas?”

  Lucas took the phone from his ear, stared at it as if he might see Felix’s face if he tried hard enough, then sank down in a chair.

  “You know about the marriage contract,” he said, switching to Spanish.

  “Of course.”

  “But why?”

  “You know the reasons, Lucas. You are not getting younger.”

  “I am thirty-two.” Yes, Lucas thought, but right now, he sounded twelve. “I am thirty-two,” he said, more forcefully, “and before you make the speech you’ve made before, si,I know of my responsibilities. I know it is my duty to carry on the Reyes name. I know—”

  “Perhaps it is better to say, I am not getting younger.”

  “Grandfather…”

  “She is of excellent stock. She is handsome. She is healthy.” Felix’s tone turned sly. “And I have been assured, she is a virgin.”

  Lucas shot another look at the woman. A virgin? A woman who burned like a flame in a man’s arms? It was nothing but another lie.

  “…ask, Lucas?”

  Lucas cleared his throat. “I’m sorry, abuelo. I didn’t get that. What did you say?”

  “I said, what more could a man ask?”

  “The right to make my own choices,” Lucas said firmly. “I am sorry, Grandfather, No voy a casar a esta mujer!”

  The words, “I am not going to marry this woman,” seemed to echo through the room. He shot a sharp glance at Alyssa McDonough. Her expression had not changed. Of course not, he thought with relief. She didn’t understand a word of his language.

  “You are a grown man, Lucas. Do as you wish.”

  “Fine. I will see you tomorrow, then, in late—”

  “You understand, you are not to pay the lawyer—the executor—the balance of the sale price for the ranch.”

  Lucas nodded. Felix was lucid. That, too, was a relief.

  “Of course I understand. You overpaid the initial amount as it is.”

  “It was part of the arrangement, Lucas. Did you read the contract? If you did, read it again, more calmly this time, and you will see that if the marriage does not take place, we owe nothing more.”

  “Excellent.”

  “Yes. Just as long as you understand…” Felix coughed. The cough was deep and wet; it went on for a long time while Lucas frowned.

  “Grandfather? Are you ill?”

  Again, he heard muffled conversation. And, again, his grandfather’s voice, not coughing now but somehow weaker.

  “I am fine,” the old man said briskly. “Where were we? Ah, yes. You will not give Thaddeus Norton the money.”

  “Trust me, Grandfather. I had no intention of it. As I said, you already gave them too much.”

  “It went to Aloysius. To pay for half the back taxes on the ranch. The bank will take the place now, to make up for the rest. There’s a developer eager to plow all the acreage under.”

  “What the bank does is not our concern, Grandfather.”

  “I agree. The girl cares—she has some sentimental attachment to the land—but that, too, is not our concern.”

  Lucas looked at Alyssa again. Her face showed no emotion, but her eyes had the glitter of unshed tears.

  Did she understand what he was saying? Who gave a damn? Not him. If she loved the place so much, why hadn’t her father left it to her?

  She was a good actress, that was all. Fiery when fire was needed, cold as ice when the situation demanded it.

  And hot with passion when he kissed her, but was that part of the act? Yes. It had to be

  Or had she surrendered to him? Surrendered to his kisses, his body, his need?

  Furious with himself, Lucas stood, marched to the window and looked out. The storm had ended; a fat ivory moon was caught in the branches of a cottonwood tree outside.

  “Well,” Felix said, and sighed, “I did what I could. I told Aloysius the girl would not lose the land because, of course, once you married her and paid the arrears, the land would be, in a sense, as much hers as yours…but never mind.”

  Lucas rubbed his hand over his face. “Grandfather—”

  “But I cannot force you to obey the terms of the contract, mi hijo. I understand that. It is a disappointment for me, that I cannot fulfill the wishes of my dead friend, but—”

  “Grandfather. There must be a way around this.”

  “I am afraid there isn’t. It’s all right, Lucas. The girl is not your worry.”

  “No. She’s not.”

  “She is her attorney’s worry, and I am sure he will step in and help her. You have met him, have you not? Small man. Overweight. Soft. Sweats a lot.”

  Lucas turned and looked at Thaddeus Norton, who was mopping his forehead again.

  “What about him?”

  “Aloysius told me Norton has an, uh, an interest in the girl. A deep interest, if you know what I mean.”

  Dios, how could something simple become so complicated?

  “Norton wants the woman for himself?” Lucas said, still speaking in Spanish, still watching Alyssa. Did her color heighten? No. It had to be his imagination.

  “He does, yes. But it’s the perfect solution. We don’t pay the rest of the money, you don’t get married. And the girl is taken care of. Si? The lawyer will see to it.”

  Lucas said nothing for several long seconds. Then he cleared his throat.

  “Grandfather,” he said briskly, “we entered into this arrangement in good faith.”

  “We? It was I, Lucas, not we.”

  “Reyes entered into it,” Lucas said, even more briskly. “So here’s what I’m going to do. I’ll tear up the contract, stipulation and all, and simply give her or the lawyer, whichever is appropriate, the money to pay off what is owed. She’ll keep the ranch and we’ll call it a gift in memory of an old friend.”

  “No.”

  Lucas raised his eyebrows. “No?”

  “Aloysius and I entered into a contract.”

  “I understand all of that but, damn it…” He took a deep breath. “Look, we can well afford this—this act of charity, grandfather.”

  “Listen to me, Lucas. You must take another look at the contract. It is very specific. Unless the marriage takes place, there can be no final payment. The ranch is lost.”

  Lucas could feel a throbbing pain starting behind his left eye. N
o sleep. No food. No peace. No wonder his head hurt.

  “Grandfather, maybe you didn’t understand my suggestion. An act of charity—”

  “I don’t want your damned act of charity,” Alyssa McDonough snapped.

  Lucas stared at her. Had she understood the entire conversation?

  Suddenly a cough rumbled through the telephone, and another and another. Lucas had never heard anyone cough like this; his grandfather sounded as if he were drowning.

  “Grandfather? Grandfather!”

  The coughing faded away and another voice came on the line.

  “I’m sorry, Prince Lucas, but your grandfather cannot continue this conversation.”

  “What do you mean?” Lucas roared. “What’s happening? Who in hell are you?”

  “I am his nurse, sir, and—Madre di Dios! Llamada para una ambulencia, Maria. Rapidamente!”

  The call ended in a blur of voices. Lucas struggled for control, then whirled toward Alyssa McDonough.

  “I heard everything,” she said. “Every word. I speak your language—were you too egotistical to think I couldn’t? And I don’t want your charity, I don’t want anything from you, I don’t want—”

  “I must return to Spain immediately.”

  “Well, good for you because—”

  “You will come with me.”

  “Don’t be an ass!”

  “I have no time to waste in foolish argument. There are issues to be settled and I cannot remain here to deal with them.”

  “Listen, you—you poor excuse for a human being—”

  Lucas had spent part of an afternoon and most of an evening with this woman. She was still a stranger but he had learned one sure thing about her.

  He knew how to silence her and he did, gathering her quickly in his arms, drawing her to him and taking her mouth, hard, with his.

  She struggled.

  He’d known she would.

  And then she moaned, gave that little sigh he knew meant surrender, and lifted herself to him. To his kiss.

  He gave in to it, if only for a second, to the pull of it, the sweetness, the hunger.

  Then he clasped her shoulders and looked down into her blurred eyes.

  “Will you walk, or must I carry you?”

  “You can’t do this!”

  Lucas laughed, lifted Alyssa into his arms and carried her from the house.

  CHAPTER SIX

  WHAT made men think they had the right to walk right in and take over a woman’s life?

  Was it bred in their genes? Was there a strand of male DNA labeled “authoritative jerk?” Had scientists missed it all these years?

  Maybe so.

  Alyssa figured that would go a long way toward explaining the way her father—her adoptive father—had treated her mother. It would explain how he’d tried to treat her. How he had treated her, as it turned out, thinking he could sell her as if time had turned back hundreds of years.

  She was being carried off by a stranger, an arrogant, unwelcome visitor in this house that should have been hers.

  The feel of his arms closing around her stunned her, but not for long. When Lucas began striding from the room, her useless lawyer sputtering weak protests as he scurried after them, Alyssa’s shock turned to fury.

  “Hey!” she shouted. “What do you think you’re doing?”

  The Lord of the Universe didn’t answer. He just kept walking toward the front door.

  “Wait a minute!” Her voice rose higher. “I said—”

  “I heard what you said.” He shifted her weight, opened the door and stepped onto the porch. A chorus of crickets and tree frogs greeted his appearance. “At close to a thousand decibels, how could I not?”

  The old wooden porch creaked as he walked across it and made his way down the steps. To where? Alyssa thought crazily, but the answer was obvious.

  He was taking her to Thaddeus’s black Cadillac.

  The hell he was!

  She kicked. She cursed. She pummeled his hard, unyielding shoulders. And she might have been an annoying mosquito, for all the response that got her.

  “Damn it,” she shrieked, “you can’t do this!”

  The prince dropped her to her feet beside the car.

  “Norton. Give me your keys.”

  The command rang with authority. So did the pressure of the hand that kept her pinned to his side. Alyssa threw a desperate look at the lawyer who was watching the drama unfold with his pudgy mouth hanging open.

  “Thaddeus,” she said, “say something!”

  Thaddeus stared at her. Then he cleared his throat.

  “Your Highness. Your Majesty. Really, I don’t think—”

  “That’s correct,” Lucas said coldly. “You can’t, or you would never have written that contract.”

  “I told you, it wasn’t me, sir! It was your grandfather’s people. Madeira, Vasquez, Sterling and Goldberg. Madrid, London, New York—”

  “Spare me the roadmap, Norton. I know where they’re located. Just give me your keys.”

  “Don’t listen to him, Thaddeus!”

  “She’s right, sir. I mean, she could be right. About you not being able to do this. In fact, my legal opinion is—”

  “He’s useless,” Lucas said to Alyssa. “If he weren’t, you wouldn’t be in this fix to start with. His advice is the last thing you need.”

  “You just want me to lose the ranch!”

  “You’ve already lost it, Alyssa. It’s been sold. You have no claim to it any longer.”

  Her face heated. “Unless I marry you.”

  “There’s no chance of that,” Lucas said sharply. “If you think I’d let myself be ensnared in some old man’s scheme…”

  “You, ensnared? I’m the one who’s trapped.” Alyssa choked back a laugh. “It’s like waking up and discovering you’re starring in a bad old movie. The landlord. The maiden—”

  “But no hero, amada. I refuse to be cast in that role.” Lucas smiled unpleasantly. “As for the maiden…My grandfather might have fallen for the story of your supposed chastity but I’m not so easily fooled.”

  Color flooded her face. “Good. Because my chastity, or my lack of it, is none of your damned business!”

  “I don’t buy any of it, chica. For all I know, marrying me is precisely what you’re after.”

  God, the insolence of the man! “You wish!”

  Lucas grinned. “Ah, amada, you say that with such conviction.”

  “Just—just go away. Forget you ever came here.”

  “I would love to.” A muscle knotted in his jaw. “I’d like nothing more than to walk away and know I’ll never see you again.”

  “Do it. Turn around and start walking.”

  “I can’t. My grandfather’s lawyers wrote this damned contract because he wanted them to write it. Now he’s ill.” His voice roughened. “For all I know, he’s dying. He made a commitment that matters to him and I’m not going to turn my back on it until I find a way out he can accept.”

  “You don’t need to take me with you for that to happen.”

  “Unfortunately I do. I just explained the reason.”

  “You explained nothing!”

  “This is a waste of time. Get in the car. Norton? For the last time, give me your keys.” Lucas smiled coldly. “Unless you’d rather explain your part in all this to the Texas Bar Association.”

  It was a long shot. What did the lawyer have to explain, after all, except that he’d been unable to convince a dead man not to enter into an unenforceable contract?

  But it worked. The attorney’s face lost its color. Lucas saw it. So did Alyssa.

  “Thaddeus,” she said desperately, “Tell this—this lunatic that he can’t do this!”

  “This lunatic,” Lucas said with some amusement, “is your only hope.”

  “You’re not my hope! I’d sooner lose everything than marry you!”

  “Haven’t you been listening? You are not going to marry me! I am not going to be a sacrifice o
n the marriage altar.”

  “You, a sacrifice? What about me? This—this plan your horrible old grandfather hatched is—”

  She gasped as Lucas grabbed her shoulders. “Watch yourself,” he said softly. “And remember the bottom line. El Rancho Grande is at the heart of this situation.”

  “You don’t give a damn about the ranch.”

  “You’re right, amada, I don’t.” His expression hardened. “But my grandfather says you do. And, in honor of his commitment to an old friend, so does he.” His mouth flattened. “That puts finding a way out of this mess squarely in my hands.”

  Alyssa’s head was spinning. Refuse to go with Lucas and the land was gone. Go with him and maybe, only maybe, it could be saved.

  “This,” she said shakily, “this has—it has become very complicated.”

  Lucas gave a bark of laughter.

  “What if I agree to go with you? What will happen?”

  “I’ll convince my grandfather that the contract is unenforceable, write a check for the arrears and the balance of the mortgage, deed the ranch to you and pretend we never met.”

  She stared at him. “Can you do all that?”

  He damned well hoped he could but she didn’t want to hear his doubts any more than he did.

  “Yes,” he said, with more conviction than he felt.

  “And you’ll start by abducting me.”

  “This is hardly an abduction, chica. After all, you are my betrothed. It says so in that damnable stipulation.”

  “This isn’t a joke! I’m not your anything and you know it.”

  “You’re right. And I’m wasting time. So, decide, amada. Stay here or go with me. I’m tired of this discussion.”

  Alyssa opened her mouth to argue but argue about what? The damnable prince was right. They’d already talked the problem half to death and neither of them was any nearer a certain solution than before.

  She looked at Thaddeus. He was right about that, too. Her father’s lawyer was useless.

  “Yes or no, amada? Do I leave you here, or do you come with me?”

  A cloud drifted across the face of the moon, momentarily obscuring everything but Lucas Reyes’s hard face. Alyssa shuddered as if the warm Texas night had suddenly turned cold.

  This enigmatic stranger had invaded her life. He was all but convinced she’d known about the contract. That she wanted to marry him for his money and his title.