The Tycoon's Temporary Bride: Book Four

by Ana E Ross

  “Against us? I thought we were a team and that we shared everything.” Massimo’s blue eyes pierced Adam’s. “I guess I was mistaken.”

  “Come on, guys.” Erik glanced from one to the other. “Why don’t you just hear Adam out? You should be more concerned about why he kept Tashi a secret rather than the fact that he did.” He shrugged impatiently. “I don’t even know why. He never shared his reason with me.”

  “Erik’s right. We’ve all kept secrets from each other for various reasons, but we do share when we’re ready.” Massimo gave Adam a twisted smile of apology.

  “Especially you, Mass,” Bryce stated. “You only recently told us how you and Shaina really met.” He turned to Adam. “If you’re ready to talk, buddy, we’re here to listen.”

  Adam expelled a heavy breath, thankful for his friends’ concern, but piqued that he had to repeat the details of that night. He’d convinced Tashi that it was best the gang knew about New York, so that they could all look out for her until the threat to her life—their lives—had been eliminated.

  “I think we need to sit for this.” The men followed him across the office to a cluster of chairs near the glass wall that overlooked Crystal Lake. “Coffee or espresso for anyone?” he asked, glancing at the bar that separated the chairs from a long conference table with more chairs arranged around it.

  “No, we’re good,” Bryce responded for all. “Just tell us what’s going on, Adam.”

  Adam waited until they were seated. “You already know how I met Tashi at Mountainview Café,” he said diving right in. “But what you don’t know is that three days later, I got a panicked call from her at two thirty in the morning. She’d been sick for three days with salmonella poisoning. When I got to her apartment, she was too weak to go to the door and let me in. I had to climb through her bedroom window to rescue her.”

  “So why didn’t she go to the hospital?” Bryce repeated the question he’d asked a few minutes ago, in a tone laced with concern and curiosity rather than agitation.

  “Didn’t she have any friends or family, a neighbor who could have helped her, at least given her a ride to the emergency room?” Massimo brushed his fingers through his shoulder-length hair.

  A chill rushed through Adam as the image of Tashi on the bed flashed across his mind. Never will she ever be in that condition again, he vowed. “No,” he said blandly. “Tashi has—had no one.” She had him now, and hopefully, his friends as well after he brought them up to date. “Tashi couldn’t go to the hospital because she’s on the lam.”

  “From whom, the authorities?” Bryce asked.

  “Possibly,” Adam replied on a nod of his head. “But other people are also looking for her. Bad people who want to kill her, and who would probably kill anyone who stood between her and them.”

  Adam shuddered at the look of horror on his friends’ faces as their bodies jerked forward in the chairs. It got so quiet in the room, he swore he could hear Noelle typing away on her keyboard on the other side of the building.

  Finally, Massimo asked the questions, no one else wanted to. “Are our wives in danger for hanging out with yours, Adam?”

  “Possibly,” he said on another nod.

  “But they’re supposed to have lunch together today.” Bryce reached for his phone. “Perhaps I should call Kaya—”

  “I should call Michelle.” Erik reached for his.

  “There’s no need, guys.” Adam stopped them with a swipe of his hand when his cousin reached into his pocket. If he were in their places, he would be doing the same damn thing. What good was a husband, a father, if he didn’t worry about his family’s safety and protection? “They’re all safe for today. I’ve hired a team of armed bodyguards, eight ex-marines to follow Tashi around. She met them this morning, and knows she’s being followed, and that she will always be within sight of at least two of them, although they are to remain totally inconspicuous to everyone else. I’ve cautioned her not to alert your wives. I think the fewer people who know what’s going on, the better.”

  Massimo nodded. “I agree. No need to cause them undue stress. But, who are these people, Adam?”

  “And why do they want Tashi dead? What did she do to them?” Erik picked up.

  And so, as calmly and precisely as he could, Adam repeated the story Tashi had relayed to him three days ago. Beginning with her conversation with his parents, he gave them everything except for one tiny little detail—well two.

  “Dio!” Massimo exclaimed, slapping his hand against his forehead. “This makes Shaina’s problems look like a Sunday afternoon picnic.”

  “No wonder the poor girl was afraid to seek medical attention,” Erik said.

  “How can you protect her from such evil?” Bryce leaned forward in his seat again.

  Adam’s eyes darted from one to the other as he anticipated their reaction to what he was about to reveal—the details he’d previously omitted. “The thing is, I never gave you the name of the FBI agent who helped Tashi escape, and I never told you how and why she ended up in Granite Falls.” He paused on a deep breath. “It was Paul. Paul Dawson. He sent Tashi here to us, to me. He asked that I marry her, make her my temporary bride and give her the protection of the Andreas name.”

  Their mouths dropped open and their eyes bulged in their sockets.

  “Are you saying that Paul is dead?” Mass shot to his feet and began to pace.

  “I hope not.” Adam followed him up. “But this—this thing happened last year around the same time you were trying to reach him, Mass.”

  “Dio, mio!” They told me he was unavailable. Not that he was dead.”

  “Did he say anything to you that could indicate what was going on in his life before he disappeared?” Adam stood in front of his cousin, forcing him to cease his pacing.

  Massimo narrowed his eyes. “Well, when we spoke, he said he was working on a top-priority case. He said it was personal, and serious, I think. He’d promised to clue me in later, but as we know, later never came.”

  “Did he say anything else? Drop any other clue about this case?” Adam asked, his heart hammering in his chest.

  Massimo placed his hands on Adam’s shoulders. “I’m sorry, cousin, but that’s all I have.”

  “Isn’t it obvious?” Erik asked, coming to stand beside them, Bryce following in his wake. “You want Massimo to confirm what you already suspect.”

  Massimo stared at Erik. “And what’s that?”

  Erik spread his hands. “Tashi might be Paul’s daughter.”

  Adam closed his eyes as the words sank into his gut. He’d suspected it. Had felt it, ever since Tashi had told him about the sacrifice Paul had made for her. Very few men would go to such lengths to protect another person, unless it was a loved one. Adam just hadn’t wanted to believe it, and so he’d allowed his desire for Tashi to overwhelm his logic, the honor and trust Paul had put in him to keep his daughter safe and probably still intact.

  “You must have suspected, Adam,” Bryce said, pulling him out of his trance. “I mean, Tashi’s biracial, like Kaya. Is her mother white?”

  Adam nodded. “She inherited her mother’s auburn hair and emerald eyes.”

  “Then her father must be black or of some other non-Caucasian ethnicity. Paul is black. And he risked his life for her. His actions supersede those of an FBI agent doing his job. That’s the behavior of a father or a husband. I would have done the same for Kaya and any of my five children.”

  “He must not have known about Tashi,” Erik offered his opinion. “Or else he would have told us about her. Paul’s not the kind of man who would walk away from his responsibilities. He would not have walked away from his child.”

  “He’d probably just found out about her when we spoke last year. God, I can’t imagine discovering that I had a kid twenty-odd years ago, and then lost her before I had the chance to get to know her. He obviously didn’t get a chance to tell her that he was her father before that night. He was probably just working up to it.” M
assimo paused and his lips twisted in thought. “Are you guys forgetting that Paul had a younger brother?”

  “Yeah,” Bryce replied. “He was a New York City fireman. He died in the Twin Towers. Tashi could be George’s daughter, which would make her Paul’s niece.”

  “It’s possible,” Erik concurred.

  “Paul and George did not get along. They hadn’t spoken in years,” Adam said. “Even up to the day he died—something Paul told me he would always regret. So if Tashi is his niece, I could understand why he would put his life in danger for her. She’s family.”

  A long brittle silence ensued as the men tried to absorb the information and deal with the fact that one of their best friends might be dead. Adam didn’t know which possibility he would welcome more: the fact that Tashi was Paul’s daughter or his niece.

  “Anyone up for an espresso?” Massimo broke the silence and walked over to the bar.

  “I’d love a couple shots of tequila, after what I just heard,” Bryce said, “but I have meetings all day.”

  “I have surgery in two hours,” Erik said as they all joined Mass at the bar.

  “Then espresso for everyone.” Mass busied himself at the machine.

  “I knew it,” Adam said, dropping his weight on a bar stool as he watched his cousin make the first cup. “I just didn’t want to believe it.”

  “You did what Paul asked.” Erik tossed Adam a smile. “You brought Tashi under the protection of the Andreas name by marrying her. You were attracted to each other long before you knew who she was. I saw the way you looked at her the night you took her to the mansion. Your temporary marriage just happens to come with benefits.”

  Bryce chuckled. “I don’t think there’s anything temporary about Adam’s bride or his marriage. You heard him hoping for a baby in nine months. They haven’t been using protection. Are those the actions of a man who intends to end his marriage?”

  “From the moment I met Tashi, I knew I couldn’t live without her. I just knew. It was as if we were old souls who’d parted in a past life and had spent centuries searching for each other again. I’ve never felt that way about any one. Ever! I have no intention of ever letting her go, not even for Paul,” Adam declared with an emphatic shake of his head.

  “Finally, cousin, you do understand the power of serendipitous love. The gut-wrenching, heart-stopping knowing when it’s right. We’ve all experienced it.” Massimo plunked down four cups of espresso on the counter. “We’re all so very blessed to have such amazing, hot, sexy, brilliant women in our lives. I’d like to propose a toast to Adam and Tashi.”

  Adam’s heart flooded with warmth and indescribable love for his wife, as they all stood to their feet, picked up their cups, and held them high in the air, huge grins on each of their faces.

  Bryce took the initiative. “To Adam and Tashi. May they be as happy and fulfilled in their marriage as we are in ours.”

  They sipped espresso, very carefully, then Erik said, “We haven’t made our club’s toast for a while, not since Aria was born.”

  The others agreed and raised their cups again. “To God, to Life, to Love, to Family, to Friends, to Prosperity,” Adam recited the Billionaire Club’s fifteen-year-old mantra, along with his dearest, most trusted friends. It was a toast they’d written and pledged to recite when anything monumental happened in any of their lives—personal or professional. These occasions included marriages, births, and professional accomplishments. They also included deaths to celebrate the life of the deceased. They’d toasted four deaths since the inception: Cassie, Pilar, and Michael and Lauren. He hoped to God it would be decades before they had to lay a friend or family member to rest again.

  Adam waited until they were all seated again before voicing his thoughts. “I don’t know about the rest of you, but I don’t think Paul is dead. He’s too damned good at what he does. I think he might have infiltrated that organization and is just waiting for his chance to blow them apart from the inside out. He’s one of the best field ops in the FBI.”

  “I agree.” Erik held his espresso halfway to his lips. “There has to be a good reason he hasn’t contacted us.”

  “He’s probably waiting for us to contact him,” Bryce said. “We have to do it discretely so we don’t tip off the wrong people and lead them back to Granite Falls.”

  “Until we want them tipped off.” Adam was ready for this fiasco to be over, so he and Tashi could begin living in peace and harmony. He longed for balance.

  “I know just the man for the job.” Massimo pulled his cell from his pocket.

  “Your own personal New York City bitch,” Adam said with a wide grin.

  All four men burst into laughter as Mass dialed the number and handed Adam his phone.

  ***

  Tashi felt a thousand pounds lighter when she walked out of Dr. Samantha Kelly’s office and headed in the direction of the elevator in the mill building that lined the Aiken Riverfront.

  Adam had suggested that she speak with the therapist to help with her healing process. Not only had the doctor addressed Tashi’s guilt over possibly causing Agent Dawson’s death, but she’d also identified schemas of exclusion, vulnerability, paranoia, and perfectionism she said Tashi possessed.

  Dr. Kelly had described these schemas as mental concepts based on the situations and experiences of her childhood, and that her feelings of abandonment, anxiety, and mistrust were direct by-products of these schemas. She’d added that her schemas had been richly magnified by the way her uncle had raised her. No wonder she’d never been able to form lasting friendships. And abandonment? Tashi hadn’t even realized that she’d felt abandoned as a result of her mother dying when she was so young, and the hard fact that she didn’t know the identity of her father. Unknown.

  Tashi shook the word from her head as she pushed the down arrow for the elevator. Dr. Kelly had stated that the best way to rid herself of these negative schemas was to do something extremely different from what she was accustomed to. Break her habits. If she weren’t the wife of the minister who’d married them, Tashi would have told her that she’d already broken one habit. She’d made love outside the bonds of marriage, didn’t feel guilty, had enjoyed it immensely, and had even hoped to procure a child from that sweet illicit union.

  Yes, talking with Dr. Kelly was very therapeutic. Between her, yoga, and meditation, Tashi knew that she was well on her way to a total emotional overhaul.

  When the elevator stopped, Tashi boarded it and turned her back on the two other occupants riding down with her. Three weeks ago, she would have been too paranoid to be cornered in an elevator with two strange muscular men, and would have waited for the next elevator. But the fact that Daisy, one of her two bodyguards for the day, stepped on behind her, gave her a measure of security. Her schema of paranoia wouldn’t go away so easily. Her involvement with the shooting in New York and the whereabouts of Agent Paul Dawson had to be resolved before she would feel totally safe and be able to move forward with her life, wherever or with whomever it might be.

  Adam had introduced her to the security team of five men and three women this morning. She was to be under constant covert surveillance every second she was off the Andreas estate. They were not to make eye contact with her, or approach her unless there was a direct attempt on her life. She was to act as if they didn’t even exist. When Tashi had suggested that she would be safer if she were chauffeured around instead of driving herself, Adam’s response was that she would draw less attention to herself and to whom she was married if her bodyguards were incognito.

  Even though the plan had recharged the anxieties that had begun to dissipate while she was secluded on the estate, Tashi had given her consent for its implementation. What else could she do? She was safer with Adam in plain sight of danger than out on her own cloaked in obscurity. If Agent Dawson trusted Adam, then she should too. And so with that thought in mind, she had put her faith and her life in her husband’s hands.

  Her husband. Tashi’s breath c
aught in her throat. She was a married woman, and one who was head-over-heels in love with her husband. She quivered as wanton images of her and Adam tangled up together on the bed, in the shower, and the Jacuzzi, surged to the forefront of her mind. Her steps were wobbly when she left the elevator and strolled toward the automatic doors—the two men and Daisy bringing up the rear.

  It was only a few hours ago that Tashi had been writhing in pleasure under her husband yet her body craved the touch of his hands and his mouth, the carnal desires he aroused in her. If it weren’t for the fact that Adam had told her he would be in meetings all day, Tashi would have canceled her lunch date with Michelle, Kaya, and Shaina, gotten into her stylish sports car and driven to the northeast corner of town to Andreas International headquarters to pay her husband a surprise visit.

  She had to be sensible. Adam had cut back on his duties as CEO of Andreas International for two and a half weeks to take care of her. She would be a responsible, understanding wife and give him time and space to devote to the professional part of his life. She didn’t want to come off as needy and suffocating even though Dr. Kelly had said that apart from being a new bride, her constant desire to be in Adam’s presence was a result of the fact that he was the first person since her horrifying ordeal who’d been kind and honest with her. He was the only person she trusted, for now. It was natural that she would want to maintain and strengthen that bond.

  Tashi exited the building, donned her sunglasses, and strolled leisurely across the esplanade that ran along the banks of the river. It was Monday midday and even this early in the day and week, the residents and visitors of Granite Falls were out enjoying the beautiful weather, the discounts, and the delicious food from the myriad of boutiques, restaurants, and cafés.

  Children and adults danced—most, comically off rhythm—to the live music of a local band that had set up shop in the gazebo situated in the center of the esplanade. Tashi didn’t blame them. This was New England and in a few months, this colorful pandemonium of people, chairs, tables, umbrellas, and live music would be gone, and the esplanade would be cold and deserted. It made sense to dance and play while the sun was shining.