But now, Shane was implying something else, suggesting there was more to our relationship, and Rob had implied something similar. I wasn't commitment-phobic, wasn't afraid of my emotions, but...it was unexpected. Not unwelcome, but surprising. I didn't know what to do with it or how to handle it. I didn't know Shane, not really. I'd only met him two weeks ago.
My emotions towards John hadn't been intense. He'd been familiar, recognizable. Being with John was comfortable. Even when we were arguing, it was familiar, a ritual we'd gone over and over dozens of times in the years we'd been together.
Shane...he was mysterious and powerful, and apparently wealthy in his own right as well as coming from a rich, influential family. He was sweet, and considerate, strong and attentive...
"Shane, I—"
I was cut off by a cell phone ringing. Shane cursed and grabbed his pants and searched his pockets until he came up with a big, blocky cell phone.
I couldn't help but laugh. "How the hell do you get cellular service way out here? We're in the middle of Sudan, for god's sake."
He chuckled. "It's a satellite phone. I get service everywhere."
He sobered when he saw the number on the screen. He answered it. "Yeah? Shit. Okay, yeah. We're on the riverbank, a couple miles east of the village. We'll be ready. Bye."
He had paled, and looked shaken. He began dressing, swiftly and efficiently. He tossed my clothes at me and I began dressing too, worried by the expression on his face.
"What is it? Who was that?"
He gathered the supplies into the baskets and re-hung them on the donkey. I helped him when I was dressed.
"It was my uncle, Geoff. A helicopter is on the way to get us right now." I heard a distant thumping, confirming what he'd said. "My dad had a heart attack."
"Oh my god, Shane...is he...did he—?"
"No, he's alive, but it's not good. They need me back in the States ASAP."
* * *
The helicopter brought us to an airport outside Khartoum where a jet was waiting for us. Shane's brothers were already on board, dressed in civilian clothes and looking sullen, scared, and worried.
I wasn't sure what was going to happen to me, and was worried to ask.
We rode in silence, no one speaking, no one moving.
We stopped in Hamburg, Germany to refuel and left again as soon as the tanks were full. It was the longest I'd ever sat in complete silence in my life. Eventually I fell into a restless sleep. We arrived at the JFK International airport in the dead of night. Shane's brothers gave us space when he pulled me aside and sat down with me in a waiting area outside the gate.
"So you have a decision to make, Leona." I caught his fingers in a death grip as he spoke. "You can come with us, or I can put you on a flight back to Detroit. We're headed to our parents' estate New York."
"There's nothing for me in Detroit," I said. "Nothing but my parents or to go crawling back to John."
"I don't know what's waiting for me in New York. Dad's in critical condition still." He seemed to be leading up to something, hesitating.
"What? Say it."
He closed his eyes briefly. "If...with my dad out of commission, leadership of his company falls to me. He's been wanting me to take over for years now, but I've always refused. I don't want to do it, never have. But...I can't refuse now."
I didn't understand what the big deal was. "So? You'll be a corporate CEO, then. I get it. If you don't want me with you...I mean, I know I'm not going to be much use in corporate boardroom, so if you're saying I can't really—"
He cut me off with a kiss. "No, Leo. That's not what I'm saying. The exact opposite, actually. If you come with me, you'd be basically part of the family." He had a pained look on his face. "Listen, I don't...I've never, ever brought a girl home. In my family, in this kind society, you don't bring a girl home to meet the family unless it's serious. There's casual girlfriends, and then there's the girl you bring home. If you come with me, we're declaring to my family and everyone else what we are."
"Which is?"
"Something more." He sucked in a deep breath and let it out slowly through his teeth. "I know it's fast, and unexpected, and a lot of pressure, but..."
I got up and paced away from him. What did I want?
I thought about getting on a plane back to the D, thought about begging for my old job back, sleeping in my parent's spare room where I'd grown up, seeing John to get my stuff...
No.
I turned back to Shane and threaded our fingers together. "I'll go with you. I don't claim to know what I'm getting myself into anymore than I did when I agreed to come with you to Africa, but...I'm game. If you really want me there, if you think I'll fit, then I'll come. I don't know shit from shellfish when it comes to high society, or whatever, but...I'll do my best."
Shane seemed relieved. His shoulders slumped down as if he'd been preparing for a blow that he realized wasn't coming.
"You're sure? I'd understand if you're not."
I tugged his hand, pulling him to where his brothers waited with shocked expressions on their faces. "I'm sure."
He kissed the top of my head. "That's my little lion."
We joined his brothers, who were staring at me in something like awe.
"You're bringing her...home?" Luke asked.
Shane just nodded.
"Did he explain to you what that meant, in our family?" Rob asked me.
"Sort of. It's a big deal, I gather."
Jon chuckled. "A big deal. Yeah, you might say that."
Luke shook his head, bemused. "You've known Shane how long?"
"Two weeks, maybe?" I was playing it cool, but inside I was on fire, even more terrified than when bullets were flying past my head in Khartoum.
Luke looked at Shane, bumped him with his shoulder. "Your girl's got balls, Shane. Great big brass ones."
Shane nodded. "Yeah, that's why I—yeah, I know."
Another slip. Everyone caught it, no one addressed it, least of all me.
We climbed into a limousine. This one wasn't a rental. I didn't recognize it, but there was a fancy-looking 'B' embroidered into the leather upholstery.
Inside the limo was an elegant older woman, silver-gray hair loose around her face, piercing green eyes hard as jade and pinning me to my seat. The brothers each gave her a hug and kiss on each cheek.
I stuck out my hand and shook hers. "Leona Larkin, ma'am."
She looked from me to Shane, to his hand on my thigh.
When she addressed me, her voice was cold and high. "Virginia Sorrenson." She turned to Shane and spoke to him, as if I wasn't there. "Are you sure this is the best time for this?"
Shane's voice was hard. "There's no other time for it, Mother. I know what's expected of me, and I'll do it. But I'll do it my way."
Virginia Sorrenson examined me from head to toe. "Well, she's pretty enough. Clearly has enough manners to introduce herself properly." She glanced at Shane again. "Are you sure about this, Shane?"
"She was with us in Sudan. She's amazing."
The knowledge that I was with him in Khartoum seemed to impress her, if the lessening of the tight, hard lines around her mouth was any indication.
"Then she's not faint of heart." She looked at me, and took my hand in hers, leaning forward. "There's still time to go home, child. You needn't feel rushed."
I shook my head. "I'll be fine."
Virginia rolled her shoulders in a shrug of acquiescence. "Very well then." She glanced from me to Shane. "When's the wedding?"
The End of Part 2
Biker Billionaire #3: Riding the Heir
"Wedding? What wedding?" I tried not to sound panicked.
Virginia Sorrenson looked from my baffled expression to Shane's chagrined one. "I was under the impression she knew what she was getting into, Shane. This does not appear to be the case."
I turned to Shane. "What's she talking about, Shane? You said going with you meant it was a declaration that we were together. You didn
't say anything about any damn wedding."
I saw Virginia's brows furrow at my vulgar language. Shane winced, and took my hand.
"Yeah, I know, and I'm sorry. It's not like it's going to be next week or anything, Leo, just..." he scrubbed his face with his hand. "Let's talk about this later, okay? In private?"
I nodded.
Virginia seemed displeased. "Shane, you should have been forthright with her from the beginning. It's not fair to her to be in the dark like this. She should know what she's getting into."
"I know," Shane said, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Can we just get home? I'll explain everything."
"Everything?" I asked. "Is there more?"
Luke spoke up. "With Shane, there's always more. He's not the most forthcoming man ever."
The three other brothers all chuckled.
"Let's just say there's probably more he's not saying than he is," Jon added.
"We're his brothers, and he didn't tell us about his patents until after he'd made his first billion," Rob said.
I choked on my saliva. "His first what?" I looked from Shane, who seemed intensely pissed off, to Rob. "His first billion with a 'B', or million with an 'M'?"
Virginia sighed. "Billion, dear. With a capital 'B'. My tight-lipped son Shane here is worth nearly as much as his father." She glared at Shane. "You ought to be ashamed of yourself. This poor girl obviously knows nothing about you, and not through any fault of her own. This is the kind of thing you can't just spring on a girl, son."
"It's not like I wasn't going to tell her, I just—"
"You want her to like you for more than your money," Virginia cut in. "I know. We've been over this. But obviously things with Leona have progressed rather quickly. If she's to make an informed and responsible decision about her future with you, then she needs the facts. All of them, dear. Not just the ones you decide to part with."
I turned away and stared out the tinted window. Our limo, which I suspected was worth more than my parents' house, was zipping smoothly along a narrow, winding road lined with spreading trees, now changing to brilliant reds, oranges, yellows and browns as fall descended on upstate New York. There was more to Shane Sorrenson than met the eye, clearly. I'd always known that. Even from the first time I met him, I knew he was more than just a biker. His carriage, his bearing, something in the ramrod stiffness of his spine spoke of breeding and sophistication. It hadn't clicked right away though, and he tried to brush it off, especially when it came out that he was the son of Henry James Sorrenson. And now, suddenly, those medical patents he'd so casually mentioned and dismissed weren't a trivial matter, and the company some little dot com existing on paper somewhere. He was a billionaire.
"Shane, you told me you owned a few medical patents," I said, after a long, tense silence.
Shane didn't answer right away. He picked at a thread on the leg of his pants, not looking at anyone. "First, I'm sorry. My brothers are right, in that I don't like to talk about myself. I don't like to flaunt my family name or my own personal wealth. Dad's money is his, earned by his hard work, over a lifetime. Mine is...well that's different. Those patents are meant to make life better for everyone, and it seems wrong somehow to capitalize on them."
Virginia huffed in irritation. "Oh for goodness' sake, Shane. Stop being so ridiculously egalitarian. Those patents are revolutionizing battlefield medicine. You've changed the medical world, son. You'd be a fool not to capitalize on it."
"Mother, I know. That's not the point. The point is, how do you tell someone your net worth without sounding arrogant? 'Hi, Leo, my name is Shane Sorrenson and I'm worth six billion dollars?' I don't fucking think so."
"Shane Alastair Sorrenson, I will not tolerate such vulgar language in my presence. This is not the United States Marine Corps."
I stifled a giggle. Shane blushed red and mumbled a very boyish, "Sorry, Mom."
His brothers all seemed to have come down with coughing fits as well.
At that moment, the limousine pulled to a stop at the top of a circle driveway. All that was visible to me, through the dark window, was a wide set of marble steps leading to a pair of enormous, dark wood French doors and thick, elegant, fluted white columns.
The door was opened by an older, thick-set man with buzzed black hair and sunglasses as well as the kind of earpieces worn by Secret Service agents.
"Ah, we've arrived," Virginia said, sliding out. The driver/bodyguard took her hand as she stepped out. "Thank you, Gerald. Leona, come with me, if you would. I'll show you the house."
I was next out, and I found myself lifted to my feet by Gerald's calloused, powerful hand. I mumbled, "thanks," to the burly man and followed after Virginia, glancing back at Shane. I would have rather had Shane give me the tour, as I hadn't had a moment alone with him since the picnic in Sudan. For all that I was irritated with him for holding back the truth from me, he was still the one familiar thing in my life, which was suddenly a very tumultuous thing. Shane watched me go, a thousand emotions shifting across his handsome features.
The front doors swung open as Virginia approached them, held by a pair of uniformed...servants, I guess you would call them. I wasn't sure. Butlers? Maids? People who worked in the house. Virginia swept past them without so much as a glance, but I thanked both of them and tried to keep up. She was moving swiftly, clad in an elegant but simple floor-length dress. The house was palatial. I'd only seen places like this in movies. This was something out of Jane Eyre or Mansfield Park, endless expanses of marble floors, grand, curving staircases and extravagant crystal chandeliers, suits of armor.
I had stopped in the middle of the foyer, which was bigger than the house I'd lived in with John. Virginia noticed I'd stopped and drifted back to my side.
"Don't let the trappings intimidate you, my dear. My husband has a flair for the dramatic. This house, if you can properly call such a monstrosity as this a house, is modeled after an eighteenth century British nobleman's estate. Something-upon-something-ford. I don't know. It's all grand and wonderful and entirely too big."
"How can I not be intimidated, Mrs. Sorrenson? This place is...god, it's incredible. I don't even know how to process what I'm seeing."
"Please, call me Virginia. And really, darling, it's just a house. A rather over-large one, but still, just a house."
I snorted. "Yeah, just a house. Okay." Virginia cocked an eyebrow at me, which I was learning was a Sorrenson family trait. "I'm sorry, I hope I didn't offend you. It is beautiful. It's just...overwhelming."
"Oh, well it is that, even to me, sometimes. Try finding someone in this house. If Henry isn't in his study, I need a search party and walkie talkies to find him. I told him we should get intercoms installed, but he said it wasn't authentic, and the electricity was bending the design enough as it was." I must have looked surprised, because she laughed. "Oh, you'll see what I mean about Henry when you meet him. He doesn't do things halfway. When he decided to do a period design, he originally wanted it to be completely authentic. All fireplaces and lamps and outhouses and so on. Well you can be sure I put my foot down. I told him he made it a normal, twenty-first century home, with TVs and electricity and indoor bathrooms and all that, or he could find someone else to live in it with him. But he refused on the intercoms, and I didn't push it. He did give me an entire wing of the house as a walk-in closet, after all."
I widened my eyes at that. We were strolling through the house, which really was properly called a palace. There were sitting rooms with ornate, period-style furniture and fireplaces and Greco-Roman sculptures, a formal dining room big enough to seat at least fifty people, and a dozen other rooms, including a library that seemed to be a reproduction of the one in the animated Beauty and the Beast movie, with hundred-foot high ceilings and shelves of books stretching out of sight, lining every wall, with nooks and crannies and ladders and paintings.
"An entire wing for clothes?" I asked, as we neared a curving staircase wide enough to fit a Hummer.
"Would you
like to see it?" Virginia asked.
Did I ever. Her 'closet' was two floors, connected by a private spiral staircase. It wasn't just racks of clothes in a giant room. It was a display, a museum, a department store. There was a room dedicated to dresses custom-made for her by all the top-name fashion designers, some in different colors of the same design. There was an entire room just for shoes, floor-to-ceiling shelves designed to display only shoes. I may have drooled, just a bit. There was another room for purses, organized by color, size, and designer. More drool. And yet another room for lingerie, and another for more mundane things like jeans and shirts and socks and such. I was speechless.
We found our way back to the shoe room. "Henry calls this my 'shoe-seum'," Virginia said. "He says I have enough shoes that if we ever went bankrupt, I could open a shoe store. He may be right, but hey, a girl can never have too many shoes, right?"
I laughed. "No, I suppose not. But then, I have three pairs of shoes at the moment, so I'm in no position to talk."
Virginia lifted her eyebrow again. "Three? Total?"
I shrugged. "With me here, at least. I have more back in Detroit, but I left everything behind when I went to Africa with Shane. He told me he'd had it all packed up and moved out of my ex-fiancé’s house, so I still technically own them, but that doesn't do me too much good at the moment."
Virginia led me to the kitchen, where she had coffee brought to us. "So, tell me how you met Shane. I'd ask him, but you see how he is with information."
"Well...I'd just had an argument with my ex-fiancé, John. The argument itself was one of those stupid things. It had started with something dumb he said to me, and I'd gotten pissed off. But it was more than that. John was boring. I've been realizing more and more that I was only with him because it was easier than breaking up. I mean, I guess I did care about him, I'd been with him for several years after all. But...he was uninteresting." I stared into my coffee as I spoke. "It was pouring rain, and I was wearing heels since we'd come from a party, and I just jumped out of the car and ran. I broke a heel and fell, scraped my knees and hands and all that. John was following me, but I wasn't listening. And then I ran into Shane. I mean, literally ran into him. He'd seen me running in the rain, apparently, and stopped to see if I needed help. I didn't see him and ran smack into his chest. I couldn't go back home, or to John's house, I guess I should say, so Shane took me to his, and then..."
Biker Billionaire Boxed Set Page 10
