The Tycoon's Temporary Bride: Book Four

by Ana E Ross

  Damn! His DND had kicked in automatically. With his cell in hand, Adam left the bedroom and walked down the hall to his office. Not caring that it was three o’clock in the morning, he picked up his private line and dialed a number.

  “Somebody better be dead,” a groggy voice said.

  “Mr. Wallace.”

  “Who’s that calling at this hour, baby?” Adam heard a female voice ask.

  “Go back to sleep, Sandy. It’s business.” Pause. “Sorry about that, Mr. Andreas,” Eddie said.

  “I apologize for calling at this hour, but due to the nature and urgency of the matter, I’m sure you understand.”

  “Yes, I do. I called earlier, but it went straight to voicemail. I didn’t leave a message for obvious reasons.”

  “So, were you able to question this private investigator who’s been asking questions about my wife?”

  A deep sigh echoed through the line. “I’m sorry, Mr. Andreas, but when I got to his office, he was dead.”

  As the blood drained from his body, Adam dropped down onto the edge of his desk. “Dead?”

  “Yes, sir. Somebody put a bullet in his head.”

  “Well, were you able to retrieve the file or any other information he had about my wife.”

  “No, sir. There was nothing about her lying around.” Pause. “I have a friend on the force. You want me to—”

  “No. No one is to know you’re involved with this man.” No one!” he ordered.

  “I understand. If I hear anything else, I will call you immediately.”

  “Thank you, Mr. Wallace. You’ve been most helpful.” Adam hung up the phone and dropped his head in his hands.

  Why the hell was that private investigator asking about Tashi? Adam asked himself for the millionth time since Eddie first called him. Could it be about the trust fund Tashi had told him she hadn’t touched since she fled New York? Could it be about an insurance policy her uncle had left for her? It was a year and a half since she disappeared from New York without a trace. And naturally, people would want to know what happened to her. But she had no family or friends in the city. And if the private investigator was legitimate, why was he killed, and by whom? Did his death have anything to do with Tashi? Or was it related to some other case, and it was just a fluke that he happened to be the one investigating her?

  The only person who might have the answers to the questions swirling around in Adam’s head was Jake Fletcher. Keep secured. Trust no one. Won’t be long. Cease contact.

  Jake, where the hell are you? What’s happening in New York City?

  Pushing off the desk, he left the office and made his way back to his bedroom. Tashi was still fast asleep with moonlight kissing her face. He eased back into bed and spooned her.

  She snuggled against him and sighed.

  Adam tightened his arms about her. The one thing he could do, was keep her safe.

  ***

  One week after he’d received that cryptic message, Jake was exiting the underground garage where he’d just briefed his allies about the shipment of girls later that night when his cell phone began to ring. He picked it up from the passenger’s seat and checked the ID. The identity of the caller was blocked.

  He raised it to his ear as he made a right turn on to Centre Street. “Jake here.”

  “The boss wants to see you,” the voice said before the line went dead.

  Jake’s gut crunched tightly. There were only two reasons Boris would summon one of his men to his den. He had a job he thought no one but that particular man could do, or he was about to take him out. Four months ago, Jake had replaced a man Boris had no more use for. To say that he wasn’t scared brainless would be a lie. He was scared. He’d been careful when he met with his allies, but Boris was a smart son-of-a-bitch whose identity was still unknown to Jake.

  On a sigh and a prayer, Jake crossed the Manhattan Bridge and drove to the prearranged location where Boris’s men would meet him. If they blindfolded him, he’d live. If they didn’t, well...

  ***

  “I can’t believe you’re actually married to Adam Andreas. A month ago, he wasn’t even your boyfriend, Tashi.”

  Tashi and Mindy shared a booth and a large veggie pie at Big Boy’s Pizza shop, the place from where Tashi had ordered takeout on a weekly basis last winter. Even though they hadn’t been close when they lived next door to each other, Tashi had developed a liking for Mindy, and she did adore her children.

  But things were different now. She didn’t have to be scared of letting people into her heart. Mindy was harmless. She’d proven that she could be trusted since she hadn’t told one living soul about Tashi’s stolen money. When she’d stopped to see her at the hotel boutique over a week ago, they’d promised to get together soon. Mindy had the weekend off, and Tashi was free for the morning, so here they were having pizza way before noon. Even though Tashi only had toast and coffee for breakfast, she still wasn’t hungry. Mindy had eaten most of the pie.

  “So how long have you been married?” Mindy asked as she bit into her fourth slice.

  Tashi did a quick mental calculation. “Actually, today would make two weeks.”

  “Are you pregnant? Is that why you guys got hitched?”

  Tashi tried to maintain her composure. It wasn’t the reason, but it was probable. “No,” she told Mindy. She took a sip of her bottled water. Her period was due yesterday. It hadn’t arrived, and although she had no other symptoms to indicate she was pregnant, she’d made an afternoon appointment with Dr. Walsh. She couldn’t go another day without knowing.

  “So what’s up with you?” she asked to steer the conversation away from herself. There were still a lot of things about her past she had to keep to herself, things that the other wives still weren’t aware of.

  Mindy dropped her pizza on her paper plate and grabbed Tashi’s hand. “Oh, my God? I’m so glad you asked.”

  “What?” Tashi stared at her, puzzled to the bone.

  Mindy wiped her mouth with her paper napkin, then glanced around to make sure the two men in the next booth weren’t listening.

  They probably were, Tashi thought, since they were her bodyguards who’d come into the joint ahead of her to scope out the place. Adam had them stationed within arm’s length of her since the night of the party.

  Mindy leaned closer to Tashi. “I met someone.”

  Tashi’s eyebrows raised a fraction, not because Mindy had met someone, but because of the secretive way she was acting. For heaven’s sake, the girl had been in love once and had two children. “Who?”

  Mindy sat back and placed her hand over her heart. “I don’t know if I should tell you.”

  Tashi shrugged, and picking up the half eaten slice of pizza from her plate, she took a small bite. She tossed Mindy a skeptical look. She was the one who’d brought it up.

  “It’s Galen Carmichael. Massimo Andretti’s half-brother. Your in-law.”

  Tashi coughed out the mouthful of pizza. She took a long sip of water. “Did you say Galen Carmichael?” she asked once she could speak again.

  Mindy nodded as she stared at Tashi.

  “Where did you two meet?”

  “At the boutique. He came in one morning to buy a gift for some friend back in London. Then he came back in like two hours later and asked for my number.”

  “Did you give it to him?”

  “Hell no. I mean, from the way he dressed, spoke, and carried himself, I could tell he came from money. I actually told him that rich boys like him didn’t faze me. I told him I wasn’t some cheap toy he can play with for one night and then toss aside.”

  “Good for you.”

  “But girl, while I was lying my mouth off, I was quivering inside, melting. No man ever made me feel like that. And then when I heard that he was an Andretti, there was no way in hell I was going to let my heart get broken. Those men have bad reputations when it comes to women.”

  Tashi chuckled. “Well, they can be tamed,” she said, thinking of the love an
d admiration she’d seen in Massimo’s eyes when he’d danced with Shaina that night a week and a half ago.

  “Well—” Mindy halted as her phone made a choo-choo train sound. She pulled it out of her bag. “It’s my mom,” she said. “She’s watching the kids. I’ll be right back.” She got up and walked out of the diner.

  Tashi smiled as her mind wandered back to that glorious night. In fact, all the men had had that same look of utter wonder, passion, and adoration as they’d danced with their wives. She hadn’t seen much of any of them after that night, except Kaya who’d helped her turn her studio into a stylish work area.

  Since the staff returned to the mansion, she and Adam had been spending a lot of time at the garden. The acre of charm and serenity had become their own little world. They meditated, did yoga, swam in the pool, ate, made love under the moonlight and sometimes they’d fall asleep on the podium only to wake and make love again in the sunrise. Sometimes they would lie on a blanket on the grass and watch the sunset, and then gaze at the stars popping out and the moon gliding across the sky. At those times, they didn’t even talk at all.

  While he was at the office, Tashi worked on her photography, trying hard to create a collage that Adam said she could enter at Granite Falls’ upcoming annual Photography Premier Exhibit night. He said it was a time when a lot of new local talent was discovered. And once Adam got home, they would escape to the garden.

  Tashi knew he was deliberately avoiding taking her out in public because of the phone call he’d received the night of the party. And the few times she did leave the estate, he’d doubled up on her bodyguards. Now, there were four following her instead of two. Tashi wasn’t complaining. She loved having him to herself. They didn’t even take their phones to the garden with them.

  Last night, Adam had unwrapped another sex game. This time, instead of words, the dice had erotic sex positions etched on them. Tashi squeezed her thighs together at the memories of her buttocks perched on a folded towel on the edge of the bathroom counter, her legs draped over Adam’s shoulders as he stood in front of her, and deep inside her. It was super erotic to watch multiple images of his jade stalk thrusting in and out of her in the mirrored walls. God, that was so good.

  This morning, she’d awakened and reached for Adam, forgetting that he had an early morning trans-Atlantic satellite conference. He’d left a note and a white rose from his garden on the pillow. Darling, it was with regret and reluctance that I left your arms. I’ll call you when my meeting is over. Sei amato, Tashi! Adam. She was loved!

  “Is everything okay?” Tashi asked, as Mindy came back to the booth.

  “My mom has to go somewhere, so we have to cut this short. You don’t mind, do you?”

  “No.” Tashi was planning on visiting the camera shop a block over before she made her doctor’s appointment anyway. “But you have to tell me more about Galen.”

  That made Mindy’s eyes light up. “I really like him, and he asked me out, but I’m worried about what his family would think about me.”

  “They’re not like that,” Tashi assured her. “The only thing that matters to them is loyalty and honesty. They are good people.”

  “I told him right up front that I had two kids, the first when I was seventeen. He told me that he’s illegitimate, so that didn’t bother him.” She gave Tashi an animated smile. “I miss having you around. I wish we’d gotten closer when you lived next door.”

  Tashi touched Mindy’s hand. “That was my fault. I’m sorry, but we still have time to get to know each other.” She’d cleaned up well, Tashi had to admit. And she’d told her that she was starting classes at Evergreen State College in the fall in pursuit of her accounting degree. Andreas International was paying for it, just as Adam had promised.

  Mindy nodded. “We have to get together again when I get my next weekend off. You can visit me at my new apartment. It’s in the nice side of town, and you can see what I did with your furniture.”

  “I’d love that,” Tashi said as the women left the pizza shop, with her bodyguards covertly bringing up the rear, reminding her of the imminent danger to her life. In the parking lot, she and Mindy hugged, and then went their separate ways. As she got into her car, Tashi watched her four bodyguards get into their two Hummers.

  She couldn’t wait for this phase of her life to be over.

  ***

  Adam ignored the buzzer for as long as he could. He didn’t worry that it might be Tashi since she was to call his private number in an emergency. When the ringing began to break his concentration, he apologized to the three gentlemen in Munich with whom he’d been conducting a satellite conference and, vacating his chair at the conference table, he walked to the other side of his office.

  Instead of pressing the button as he usually did, he picked up the receiver. “Ms. Jenkins, I’m in the middle of a meeting. I asked not to be disturbed,” he said, with as much patience as he could muster.

  “I’m sorry, Mr. Andreas, but there’s a man in my office who insists on seeing you.”

  “Did you mistakenly book him an appointment this morning?”

  “No, sir.”

  “Then I don’t understand the problem. Have him make an appointment.”

  “I tried, sir, but he says it’s urgent he sees you immediately.”

  Adam raked his hand through his hair and glanced back at the monitor. He was not visible to the men, but they were to him, and he could see the looks of exasperation on their faces. “Ms. Jenkins—”

  “He says it has something to do with your wife.”

  A paralyzing chill zipped down Adam’s spine. His body dropped like lead on to his desk. He grabbed his chest as his ribcage tightened around his heart.

  “Mr. Andreas?”

  “What—what did you tell him about—about her?” He forced the words through his constricted lungs.

  “Nothing, sir.”

  Trust no one. “Did—did he give you his—”

  “Sir. No.” Pause. “Sir—you— you can’t—sir—”

  “Adam?”

  A roller coaster of emotions careened through Adam: shock, relief, confusion, joy. His hand holding the receiver was shaking so hard, he had to use his other to steady it.

  “Paul?”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  “Yes, it’s me, buddy. We need to talk, so stop whatever you’re doing. I’m on my way to your office.”

  Adam took a few seconds to recover after the line went dead. He scampered to his feet, and recalling where he was, he forced composure into his system and walked in an unhurried yet confident gait back to the conference table. “Gentlemen,” he said, “I’m sorry, but I have to cut this meeting short. A family emergency has arisen.”

  “Again, Andreas? Come on. This is the second time,” Herr Schneider, the owner of a sinking German hotel chain who’d offered Adam the first option of a buyout said in a voice ripe with contempt. The others voiced their opinions about his unprofessional behavior and about seeking out other revenue.

  Adam understood their frustrations. He’d canceled their first vis-à-vis meeting a month ago to take care of Tashi, and here he was blowing them off again for her. “Herr Schneider, I realize you may have other investors in mind, and if that’s the way you think you should go, then do what you think is best for your company. My assistant will be in touch with you shortly, and if you’re still interested in doing business with Andreas International, we will renegotiate the financial aspect, in your favor, the next time we meet. Guten Tag, meine Herren.” Adam ended the meeting.

  He walked over to the door and watched the six-foot, two-inch, muscular figure of a man dressed in tan slacks and a striped chambray shirt, and carrying a Mountainview Café coffee cup in his hand, limp—though slightly—toward his office. Adam’s eyes narrowed. Limping. Paul never used to have a limp, but after the tale Tashi had told him about that night, Adam surmised it must be a result of the shootout. It was the only thing that was different about him, he thought, surveying the
clean-shaven dark face, wide forehead, and identifying scar on the right cheek, as he got closer. There was no doubt that the man he was about to entertain was Paul Dawson.

  Adam yanked the door open just as Paul raised his hand to knock. In the next second, they were hugging and thumping each other’s back with lots of enthusiasm.

  “Paul, you have no idea how good it is to see you,” he said, stepping back.

  “Nor I you,” Paul responded with a deep chuckle. He followed Adam into the office and closed the door.

  Adam looked him over, from his short crop of salt-and-pepper hair, to his brown Cole Haan shoes. “We thought you were dead,” he said, in a voice mixed with underlying accusation.

  Paul flashed him a broad white smile and his brown eyes almost disappeared completely between the deep cleft of his sockets and the heavy bags beneath them. “Not yet, my friend. I don’t die easily. Almost did in the gunfire that night. Took a couple in the thigh and one in the shoulder.” He tapped his right thigh and shoulder, respectively. “I lost a lot of blood, and my memory for a short while. Was unconscious, then in a wheelchair for months, but I was determined to make a complete recovery. Kept the limp for posterity.”

  “So that’s why Tashi never heard from you,” Adam said, pointing toward the sitting area. There was no need to beat around the bush. He followed Paul, and once they were facing each other across the coffee table, he continued. “She’s been going crazy with guilt about your presumed death.” He glanced at the coffee cup, and warm memories of his first meeting with Tashi and that glorious night of dancing a week ago surged through him. “She was a mess, Paul, scared and suspicious of everyone.” His voice cracked. “She didn’t know the identity of the man you’d sent her to.”

  Deep wrinkles appeared in Paul’s forehead. “The fact that she might not have heard your name over the gunfire had been haunting me, Adam. I knew she’d made it here when the marked bills I gave her began to circulate. But I thought it best not to contact either of you to keep her whereabouts hidden.”