SECRET AFFAIR
WITH A
BILLIONAIRE
BY
HEATHER LONGTON
HeatherLongton.LeviathanPublishers.com
Leviathan Publishers
Copyright © 2013
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.
Copyright © 2013
HeatherLongton.LeviathanPublishers.com
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
About the Author
Welcome to my first novel - Secret Affair With a Billionaire - and I have a few more inside me yet. I love it. I sit behind my keyboard and make up characters and stories in my head hoping to capture some essence of real life romance.
I live in North Staffs, UK which is close to where this story is told. Writing can be easy or difficult and each time I sit down I am not sure which it will be, so I grab a coffee, turn up some music and allow my mind to dream along as I hopefully create something worth reading.
Owner of two pets, Branston the minature schnauzer and Rebel the cat along with a husband and two not so young children.
My career began in Social Services followed by some teaching but it was the private sector which gave me the most satisfaction in advertising and promotions.
Thanks for checking out my web page www.heatherlongton.leviathanpublishers.com. Keep an eye out for any special offers as I intend offering books on kindle for free when they are released. Better still sign up to my mail list and I will let you know each time a new one is released and how you can read it for free. I just ask for a review or similar but thats up to you.
Please sign up for notifications of forthcoming books at my website:
HeatherLongton.LeviathanPublishers.com
Chapter 1
She had returned. And to the casual observer Emma Hartington appeared to be precisely as she'd been seven years before. Didn't she?
In his mind, Daniel Kendrick had been following her around the room since the moment she made her fashionably late entrance. He wasn't obviously staring but at each moment he knew precisely where she was and what she was doing. She was dressed in a pale blue figure hugging dress which could have been sprayed on and with each single glance he could feel the hair on the back of his neck tingle. She fluttered around the room with a permanent smile and sparkling eyes as bright as any jewels.
She really was something.
She appeared more sophisticated than he recalled perhaps, but he had no doubt that she was as much trouble as she'd always been and this new upright look she had acquired was mere veneer.
"You look quite the gentleman in your suit."
Daniel turned to her brother Toby and smiled.
"Shouldn't you be telling your girlfriend some awful joke to make her think you're actually funny?"
"She is catching up on gossip with her favourite football player."
Given his height advantage Daniel could see Hannah at the other side of the room laughing at something the teenage star was saying. "You need to be careful with that one, she seems to like his jokes far more than yours."
Toby smiled. "I don't think so. He's too young and unsophisticated, besides I'm even more dashing in a suit than you. Why would she exchange me for a cheaper model?"
They stood in a comfortable silence as only close friends can as they surveyed the room. In the presence of her brother Daniel felt it necessary to make a real effort not to seek out Emma in the crowd.
But Daniel was brought back to his comfort zone when Toby asked, "have you seen Emma?"
"She is talking to Andrew, your cousin." He realised he had known that all too quickly and had responded without a movement of his head.
"I meant in the last few days, since she arrived home."
Of course he did. Daniel puckered his mouth briefly and stabbed an olive with his fork and shrugged. "No I haven't."
"Looking good tonight, don't you think?"
Good wasn't how Daniel would have described her. Gorgeous, sexy, hot; any of these words would have been more accurate he thought. And that's what she would have appeared to be to anybody who was unaware of the character which lay beneath such a beautiful exterior. Daniel was well aware. She could be the hottest and sexiest woman on the planet and he would still have trouble thinking she would be worth his while after all the problems she had brought him the last time.
But that didn't stop him from gazing around the room again, noticing how she lifted her perfectly formed hand, running it through her hair as she tucked a stray lock behind her ear.
Toby broke his train of thought once more. "She's incredibly excited about this new gallery she's building. You should let her know that you are renovating it. That should help break the ice between you."
Daniel was in no rush to break any ice with Emma, he had only taken the job because Toby had insisted and used their lifelong friendship as leverage. "She'll know in good time."
Toby agreed. "I really appreciate your help. The family are hoping the gallery will help her to settle back here so the sooner it opens the better for all. Will you be on the project yourself or would you just send a team?"
"It's a good opportunity for me to get involved in the work again. I need to stay physically active in the business as it gives me greater credibility with my workers. It's pointless screaming at my crews when they mess up if I haven't done it myself in years."
"The advantage of being the boss," said Toby, as he casually placed his hand on his shoulder.
Their approach to business was quite different. Toby, an architect, was at the clean end of the industry. Daniel was much more a hands-on type of guy. He did the wheeler dealing and the business meetings but he was at his happiest when he was actually involved in constructing something. Toby found this amusing and used it to tease Daniel, but Daniel was his own man and was very clear on what he preferred.
"Your girlfriend is about to be tackled by your parents."
Toby departed as Daniel gave out a little chuckle, then he sat back and observed the wealth and the celebrities casually interacting in their natural environment. He wondered whether they felt as comfortable as they looked in their smart clothes and glasses of champagne because he really felt like dumping the suit and grabbing a bottle of beer. But then that was more his background he decided.
At least he didn't have to indulge in small talk as he stood on the periphery of proceedings. That was some comfort.
His peace and comfort however, was broken as his ears received waves of graceful melody with familiar memories attached. He felt the hair on his neck tickle but that was nothing to the tingling sensation which flowed down his spine and seemed somehow to link his ears and his groin.
"Did I see Toby talking to you?"
"Yes you did."
"Where did he go?"
He detected a nervous edge to Emma's voice and as he turned to bring her face into his field of vision he confirmed his initial thought. Her eyes were looking away into space. She couldn't meet him full on. That's one to me, he thought.
He slowly turned his body towards her and folded
his arms as he casually leaned into the door frame. "I am I expected to keep an eye on all the Hartington siblings now, am I?"
Her soft blue eyes squinted slightly as she looked up at him.
"So, carrying on where we finished are we?"
"The new image of you does not fool me as it seems to fool everyone else in the room." He leaned in closer and lowered his voice. "… But let's face it, I know you much better don't I?"
She hesitated briefly before pursing her lips and gazing across the room. Then she moved closer, so the expensive perfume teased his nostrils as she herself lowered her voice whilst simultaneously fluttering her long eye lashes.
"You know the me of seven years ago. But I'm not going to discuss this with you now in the middle of my parents social event. So let's just stick to discussing the weather shall we?"
"It's Cheshire: It's been cold and wet."
He watched as the corners of her glossy moist lips turned upwards slightly. "All right; so that conversations over, what shall we try next? The economy of Europe? Soccer? How about politics? I'm open to your input."
"Choosing a topic would imply I actually want to talk wouldn't it?"
She tipped her head to one side and he noticed a curl of her blonde hair just touched the tip of her breast. "You still hate these parties then, I see?"
"It would depend who I meet at them."
"Well, do you know, I missed you too Daniel."
He stood upright pulling himself away from the door frame. "Did you meet Toby's girlfriend yet?"
She pulled her elbow away from his hand as he tried to direct her towards the centre of the party.
"There is no requirement for you to introduce me. I have hacked my way through many functions over the years. I know how to behave."
"Funny you should say that. The last party I saw you at I had to rescue you before the police turned up. I must admit I've never seen you at a grown-up party before."
Emma gave out a big sigh as she glared upwards. "Remember all that superhero stuff you did was purely voluntary. I never requested-"
She was interrupted as a couple of women greeted her with puckered lips to the side of her cheeks. They were the kind of air kisses that Daniel found so ridiculously infuriating. He heard the words 'fabulous' and 'darling' a number of times each and he could take no more. He spotted Toby removing Hannah from the presence of his parents and seized the opportunity. He firmly grasped her elbow once more, and in doing so he felt a smug satisfaction as he felt her slightly startled reaction. He fixed one of those charming smiles and leaned in to the women stating, "I must take Emma for a moment."
Within just a few steps she had twisted her elbow away from his firm grasp. His fingertips were soon missing that warm glow he felt from her soft tender skin.
"I am not in need of an escort. Honestly, I am fine on my own."
"Hannah is by herself, so you could do the decent thing. I am sure your brother would appreciate your effort. And it would be nice to see that you have actually matured sufficiently to consider other people."
Emma gave out another sigh longer and deeper this time and Daniel couldn't ignore how it raised her perfect breasts giving a distinctive outline to her nipples against the soft material of her dress. Now Daniel was many things but he wasn't blind and he was a red blooded man. The sight of her feminine curves rippling slightly with each breath elicited the most basic male responses in him which he found most annoying, damn her.
He then remembered that her body had always been subject to his attention ever since she became a teenager and that had always been the problem, hadn't it?
"Brunette in the fabulous dress, okay?" Emma asked.
"Well it's a dress, but don't expect me to understand a woman's taste." There was only one dress on his mind and more specifically it was what was beneath it that was causing such irritation. He knew this was showing in his voice so he focused on breathing in slowly and added, "yes, she is a brunette."
Emma came to an abrupt halt. She spun round to face Daniel and she scowled. "Do you intend staring at me from across the room all night or is it the chaperone position you are after?"
He leaned in closer casting his eyes upwards to avoid gazing into her breasts. "I am not sure yet. But I am ready to smuggle you out of here the moment you get into trouble, just for old times sake."
Emma cast her smile over to someone she knew, and then she turned back towards him. She lowered her voice "I know you are struggling to forget the past but I think we should at least try to-"
"Be friends?"
"It is hard to avoid bumping into each other in such a small place so maybe we should."
"You do know that it is not possible for a man and a woman to just be friends."
"You really believe that don't you?"
"From experience I know it to be true, so do you think we should make up in another way?"
She felt her cheeks flush as she lifted her head before turning away. Daniel's face gave way to a big smile towards her back. Gaining a small victory over Emma was a pleasant feeling especially as it was her who had been the usual victor for so many years. Things had changed. He was no longer the boy dependent on her family's approval, he was now his own man.
If she intended playing the same kind of games she had as a teenager she was going to find herself up against a more formidable opponent this time. She could be in over her head a little more than she expected.
He couldn't pull his gaze away from the gentle movement of her hips as she strode away, the knee-length dress moving with taut perfection against her limbs, her hair reached down her back gently taking flight as she turned sharply to speak to her brother's fiancée with a pleasant smile already in place.
He decided she was the same bag of trouble that he remembered though he was clear in his mind she was also all adult. Fully grown up and more. This attraction he was feeling, a feisty, sexy woman with her own mind would normally have been enough for him to want to play. Plus the temptation of a little danger and usually... well...
As he reached Hannah he just heard Emma finishing her introduction. "… Emmanuelle, but just call me Emma, everyone else does."
Daniel leaned in as he walked by. "When they're not calling her a nuisance."
He cast a patronising smile towards Emma in the way he knew bugged her and stepped backwards positioning himself behind her.
Emma flicked a hand in his direction dismissing his words while she took Hannah's hand in her other and smiled in her direction. "Ignore him. I've been ignoring him for years."
Daniel leaned towards her ear and whispered. "Except the last time we were together. You weren't ignoring me when you were kissing me, and if your friends hadn't disturbed us who knows what would have happened next."
For the second time in just a few moments she felt the red flush of her cheeks, and she turned narrowing her eyes to give him a warning look. Daniel dropped his eyes to her shiny lips as she whispered sternly. "And we never will know, will we? Because even if you were the only man left on the planet it's obvious that that will never happen again."
Her lip quivered slightly so she pushed her teeth against it so as not to give away her annoyance. She flicked her eyes at him and gave him a stare. Daniel felt a certain sense of satisfaction and gave a quiet laugh as he strolled away. He was pleased with himself and he was happy with the outcome of the conversation. She had presented him with the challenge when she had said “never” and the word never was not a word in his vocabulary. He might have to rise to the challenge.
Emma had exchanged just a few pleasantries with her future sister-in-law when Daniel reappeared with a plate piled with food from the buffet table. His return forced her to take a deep sigh causing her to catch the subtle tones of his cologne.
"Have you been recruited to her nuisance campaign, then, Hannah? If so, I hope you have access to good legal advice."
She was irritated but in a strange way she was enjoying the goading from this tall dark man who she only reall
y remembered as a boy and young man. She gave him a quick nudge with her elbow in his ribs causing him to drop a small piece of chicken onto the floor. He could try to torment her all he liked but she wouldn't be getting into a full blown argument with him as she still had to do her duty and work the room as the daughter of the host.
"I have only one need for a solicitor and that would be to keep you away from me. I can see a restraining order in your future."
Just when he thought she may have changed he felt she had yet again shown him it's the same old Emma. For her it was all too easy to fall back into the role of being Daniels sparring partner making it all the harder for him to believe she had changed at all. But what did he really know about her now? She had come to realise she didn't know anything about him any more; well he had grown considerably in the seven years since she had left the family home under a cloud.
And he had changed hadn't he? She had noticed from the first glimpse she caught of him across the room. She had caught her breath and couldn't prevent herself from stealing glances of him from that moment. He hadn't been hard to spot as he stood in the doorway looking as if he was about to leave for some place more interesting. Yes, he looks smart and dashing but she also knew that had he been in jeans and a T-shirt he would still have looked well, so damn...
"So, let battle recommence." Her brother placed his arm on his girlfriends shoulder, planted a kiss on her temple and used his other hand to take some food of Daniel's plate. "You would never know that it is seven years since these two last met, would you?"
Daniel pulled his plate away. "Get your own food you little pipsqueak, there is a whole table full over there."
The little interaction made Emma smile. It took her back to the familiar, safer territory and the better times in her memories. But it also made her aware of just how different Daniel's relationship with her brother was compared to hers. It was like chalk and cheese, but who knows if she persevered...
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