At twenty-seven years old, Olivia Renault wasn’t interested in veils or wedding gowns or in planning receptions and rehearsal dinners. Although she had a handful of marriage proposals under her belt, she'd never been even slightly tempted to walk down the aisle. Her heart had been shattered once, and she had no intention of letting down her guard long enough to get hurt again. Her father complained about not having any grandchildren to carry on the Renault legacy. He seemed to forget that she hadn’t yet reached her twenty-eighth birthday. There was plenty of time to find her soul mate and to make him a grandfather.
Although Jack Renault was a brilliant businessman and a loving father, he was totally clueless about matters of the heart. Especially hers.
He had no idea that a moment in the moonlight when Olivia was ten years old had sealed her fate forever. Because of him. Because of Hunter Rawlings.
Olivia was nobody's fool. She'd heard the whispers in town about the fact that she didn't have a boyfriend. The gossip about her always spread like wildfire. The fine people of Savannah speculated that she'd fallen in love with a mystery man who'd stolen her heart and then married another woman. There was another story circulating through town that she'd dedicated herself heart and soul to the church, vowing never to fall in love. Although she considered herself a God-fearing woman, there was still room in her life for a soul mate.
If they only knew. If they only knew how she yearned for him, how she had grieved when he'd left, how deeply and irrevocably she'd loved him. How she still thought about him in the quiet hours between darkness and dawn.
She'd been seventeen years old when he'd roared out of town on a Harley with nothing more than a backpack and a pair of sunglasses as his companions. It had been ten years since she'd laid eyes on the man; A decade had passed since he'd kissed her on the forehead then raced out of town as if the devil himself was chasing him. Hunter Rawlings should have been nothing more than a faded memory, but he was etched in her heart like a permanent tattoo. Forever.
And now he was coming back, like the prodigal son Olivia read about as a child in Bible class. But unlike the prodigal son, Hunter was returning as a successful entrepreneur, one who'd achieved wealth and power beyond anyone’s wildest dreams. Contrary to many folks’ predictions, he'd made a success of himself. In her heart Olivia had always known Hunter would soar proudly like an eagle and take his rightful place in the world. Even so, he'd risen to heights she'd never imagined possible, building an empire worth hundreds of millions.
She smiled tenderly as she remembered the night Hunter had been caught stealing her Daddy’s ham. In that one brief moment he'd imprinted himself on her heart, leaving an indelible impression that hadn’t faded in all these years.
The cherub-faced young boy who'd bristled with rage after being caught red-handed with her daddy’s ham had tugged at her heartstrings, leaving her with no choice but to love him.
And even though she hadn’t seen him in a decade, his memory still lingered after all these years. And now, he was making his homecoming in honor of Jax and Callie’s wedding. As a result, her heart was pounding so fast within her chest she felt certain that she could almost hear it thumping.
“Girl, you look out of this world in that dress!” Lily let out a low whistle that drew her out of her thoughts. Lily ordered Olivia to twirl around so she could check out the dress from different angles. Olivia smiled at her bossiness and obediently followed her instructions. Lily was a perfectionist with regards to her dresses, she thought with a chuckle. It was her personal mission to make sure every client looked as impeccable as possible. As she twirled around she felt the extravagant fabric brush against her calves and a rush of excitement flooded through her as the realization hit her with full force. He was coming back!
“Wait till Marcus sees you in this little number, Olivia. I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if he drops down on one knee and proposes on the spot,” Lily said with a chuckle of delight.
Little did Lily know that Marcus had already dropped down on one knee and proposed to her, numerous times, in fact. With as much compassion as she could muster, Olivia had let him down gently and explained to him that she couldn’t marry a man she didn’t love. And she knew full well and good that he didn’t love her either! Marcus Devroe had been one of her childhood playmates, the son of Lisette and George Devroe, her parent’s oldest and dearest friends. For the last two years he'd been Jack Renault’s right hand man at Renault Industries, a keeper of the company’s vast secrets and innovations.
Olivia’s father had gently encouraged a romance between his daughter and his protégé, making none too subtle comments about Olivia’s single status and his lack of grandchildren. Jack thought the world of Marcus, and although Olivia knew her father loved her deeply, she was also aware he desperately wanted his family line to continue, no matter what the cost. In Jack’s opinion, she should get started in the business of making him some grandbabies to rock on his knee. She hadn’t taken Marcus up on any of his romantic offers, yet her father and Marcus continued to bother her on the topic.
If the truth be told, she didn’t care about Marcus’ opinion of how she looked in the sage green dress. He wasn't the object of her interest. And he never would be! She let out a long, heartfelt sigh. There was only one man’s opinion she cared about. As she gazed at her reflection in the mirror she prayed that she could pull off the perfect pitch to the one man on the planet who made her heart thunder inside her chest. There was so much riding on it – Renault Industries, her father's emotional well-being and her family’s legacy.
She also wanted to help her father save his company so she could concentrate on her own future—the running of Savannah House, the resort she had inherited from Miss Hattie Alexander along with her best friend, Callie, and four other lifelong friends—Morgan Lucas, Hope Matthews, Charlotte Duvall and Fancy Tolliver.
As far as Olivia was concerned, failure wasn't an option.
They needed a white knight to ride to their rescue. They needed Hunter Rawlings.
**
City of Savannah. Hunter couldn’t help but grin as he passed the sign notifying him that his return to Savannah was official. The beautiful shores of Georgia had risen up to greet him like an old friend, the beauty of the land immediately pulling him in like a moth to a flame.
He'd traveled all over the world, from the barrier reefs in Australia to the tropical shores of Bali, yet the sight of this precious land appealed to him more than any of the seven wonders of the world. Somehow, inexplicably, he'd forgotten the irresistible pull of his hometown and the feelings it roused deep inside of him. The trees were splashed with the vibrant colors of fall. Reds. Oranges. Yellows. The smell of burning leaves hung in the air, smoky and pungent. He inhaled deeply, savoring the rich, woodsy smells of his birthplace. He exhaled. He was home.
At barely nineteen years old he'd made it his life’s mission to leave his hometown and establish a life for himself on his own terms. His life in Savannah as a member of the dirt poor Rawlings family had been filled with poverty and charity, two things Hunter couldn’t abide. Mama had given her brood plenty of love and affection, yet he'd never been able to shake off the feelings of shame and embarrassment due to his family’s circumstances.
Although he'd made a dramatic exit out of town on the back of his hog, what no one but him knew was that the motorcycle had conked out less than three hours later somewhere in South Carolina. This time around Hunter was riding a top of the line Kawasaki, a fully customized motorcycle that had set him back a hefty sum of money. It was the best money could buy. Only the best. It was a mantra that he'd repeated to himself time after time through the years. It had served as a motivation to graduate Summa Cum Laude from Brown University, then on to Harvard business school where he'd earned his Master’s degree in record time.
In the next few years he'd ridden high on the hedge fund boom, wisely selling his shares and earning millions, then starting his own multimillion dollar co
rporation, Rawlings Corporation. As well as amassing a fortune and establishing a successful corporation, he'd achieved a level of notoriety after being profiled in financial magazines, featured on CNN talk shows, dubbed New York City’s Hottest Bachelor of the Year and becoming a highly sought after motivational speaker. People magazine had dubbed him “The Wonder Boy” when he was only twenty-five. At twenty-nine years old, Hunter Rawlings had made all of his dreams come true.
Except one, he thought ruefully. He still didn’t have a Queen by his side, a woman to love and be loved by. And he couldn’t help but think of the woman he had left behind right here in Savannah. Olivia.
As soon as he was able to, he'd fled his hometown and all it represented. Shame. Despair. Living hand to mouth. It had been his family’s way of life to depend on the generosity of other families in order to stay clothed and well fed. He'd spent most of his life wearing nothing but hand-me-downs and worn out shoes. It had burned his pride to accept the fact that he was considered a worthless nobody. As a result, he'd learned to hate Savannah and all it represented.
But there had been other things in Savannah that he had loved dearly, he conceded. Things he had sorely missed over the years.
Home. Family. Hearth. Mama’s sweet potato pie. Olivia. These were the things Hunter had tried to forget over the years as he built his empire, without much success. They'd always remained with him, living testaments to his humble origins and the things deep down inside of him nobody or nothing could touch.
He was a Georgia boy at heart, born and bred, tried and true. If he hadn't known it before, it had been made painfully obvious to him the moment he'd crossed over into the Georgia state line. His heart had soared like a high-flying kite and he'd felt happiness ooze into every pore in his body. For the first time in a long time he thought back to the decision he'd made that fateful day when he'd decided to leave town. Had he made the right choice? His life would have been so different if he had stayed.
He shrugged off the thought. What did it matter anyway? It was all in the past. What's done is done. The only thing that mattered now was the present. He'd finally come back, to lay claim to everything Savannah had once denied him and his family. Wealth. Power. Respectability.
When he'd received the ecru colored wedding invitation it had come as a total shock. One of his best friends in the world, Jax Holden, was marrying their childhood friend, Callie Duvall. Like Olivia, she had been one of the reigning princesses of Savannah. Both girls had been kind and sweet, despite their vast wealth.
Callie Duvall and Jax Holden request the honor of your presence at their nuptials.
Just seeing those words in print had made him smile. In all the world there couldn’t be a more perfect pair than the two of them.
There had been other news that hadn’t made him quite as happy. He was still digesting it. His mother Mae had just gotten engaged to Olivia’s father, Jack. Although his younger sister Sadie had hinted of a budding relationship between the two of them over the last few years, Hunter had always scoffed at the idea of a romance between his mother and Jack. He couldn't imagine his mother ever loving another man as thoroughly as she'd loved his father. Her recent engagement had proved him wrong, showing him very clearly that his mother was now committed to another man.
He wondered what Olivia thought of this late in life relationships between their folks. Olivia. The thought of her came to him like the sweet smell of honeysuckle on a spring night. Sweet, naive Olivia, who had offered to come with him on the day he left Savannah. She had practically been on her knees begging him.
He'd wanted to bring her along with him badly. Hunter had ached to take her in his arms and tell her that he loved her. He'd been tempted to hold her close and forget all the reasons he was running away. In that moment he'd wanted to be with Olivia more than he'd ever wanted anything in his life. It had taken every ounce of self-preservation to ignore the wild pulsing of his heart.
He'd known without a doubt that if he'd told Olivia he loved her, if he'd allowed himself that one pure moment of abandon, he would never be able to leave town and make his mark in the world. And leaving had been his destiny, from the moment he'd been old enough to understand that all roads in town led to Jack Renault and his almighty empire.
Olivia hadn’t taken his rejection lightly, though he had given in to his desire and planted a tender kiss on her lips, the memory of which had kept him warm on many a cold night. Although they'd kissed dozens of times before, this kiss was different from all the others. It had been a magical kiss, filled with all their unspoken feelings. She'd enjoyed it as much as he had, he remembered. She'd leaned into him, burrowing herself against his chest. He'd brought an abrupt stop to the kiss after he'd been struck with the realization that the kiss could go on forever and he'd happily die that way. He couldn't allow himself any distractions from his ultimate goal – leaving Savannah behind in his rear view mirror.
If he lived to be one hundred, he would never forget the way Olivia had pummeled him with her fists and cursed him for all she was worth. “Go! Run away! But don’t think for one minute I’ll be sitting around waiting for you, Hunter Rawlings!”
It had been so long ago, and yet he remembered every moment of their last meeting. It was indelibly imprinted on his soul. For some inexplicable reason, he now found himself on an isolated country road leading to Riverbend, the Renaults’ estate. The road was parallel to the Savannah River, which wound its way all the way to the Appalachian Mountains. Hunter had driven here on auto pilot, his impulses leading him to this destination rather than his brain.
In his mind there was nothing that symbolized achievement more than the Renault mansion. It stood like a beacon of light in the darkness, a pristine symbol of everything that was shiny and golden in this town. As a child he'd believed that there couldn’t be a finer home than Riverbend in the entire world, and if you were lucky enough to sleep under its roof you were destined to lead a charmed life.
Was Olivia leading a charmed life? he wondered. Was she still the fairytale princess come to life? Sweet. Mesmerizing. Stunning beyond measure.
Hunter gazed at the house, nostalgia creeping into his veins as the massive white colonial style structure leapt out to greet him. He stopped dead in his tracks. The Renault mansion didn’t look the same to him. Not by a longshot! It didn’t look quite as humongous as he’d believed it to be. After all these years, it looked worse for wear. As a man of immeasurable wealth, Hunter immediately noticed the chipped paint, the weathered roof and the subtle signs of neglect. Although he knew Jack Renault’s fortune had dwindled considerably in the last few years, it was still a shock to his system to see Riverbend in all its faded glory. What had he expected? he chided himself. It wasn’t as if time had stood still in the years since he'd left. Life had rolled on.
He swung one of his long legs over the side of the motorcycle and stood up, pausing to stretch out all the kinks in his lean physique. He hadn’t stopped for food or a bathroom break since he hit a dingy roadside diner in Virginia, and his stomach was growling for some of Mama’s down home cooking. Collard greens, fried chicken, biscuits and gravy, peach cobbler – his mouth was salivating at the mere thought of his welcome home meal.
Hunter ambled over to the spot where Jack Renault had caught him red-handed with his delectable Virginia ham, surprising himself by remembering the exact location. His lips twisted wryly as he recalled the vast range of emotions he'd felt in that one moment in time. Shame. Fear. Embarrassment. To this day, Hunter couldn’t stand the smell or taste of ham. The memories of that night came flooding back to him all at once, as strong and potent as if he had pilfered the Renaults’ ham yesterday rather than sixteen years earlier.
He smirked at the memory of who he used to be – the hungry, resentful, pint-sized know it all who'd raged at the world and stolen a ham to sustain his family. In some ways he was still that little kid on the inside – hungry, hard-headed and determined to rule the world. Although he h
adn't made good on his promise to own Savannah, he'd recently taken major steps to make an indelible mark, a move that would cause shock waves to reverberate through town. And when it was all said and done, the gnawing hole in his gut would be filled up by the culmination of a childhood dream. One day soon, he vowed, his journey would come full circle.
“Rascal, come back here! You’re soaking wet!” The soft, honeyed voice floated to him from across the yard, immediately causing a handful of goose bumps to pop up on his arms. Hunter’s gut tightened painfully as the familiar voice caressed his senses.
Olivia! Hunter turned towards the sound of her voice, a rush of emotion enveloping him as he watched the one that got away walk back into his life.
“Beauty that radiates from the inside never fades. It just intensifies.” Hunter Rawlings
Chapter Two
All grown up, Olivia was even more beautiful than he could ever have imagined. She was stunning, Hunter noted, with a beautiful face and shapely figure. She was dressed in a pair of jeans and a man’s white oxford shirt. Hunter took a moment to soak in Olivia’s beauty. He let out a low whistle as he gaped at Olivia’s heart-shaped face, her high cheekbones and the brown-hazel eyes flecked with gold specks.
Hunter wanted to shout out an Hallelujah to the man upstairs for making sure she had ripened into a beautiful Georgia peach. Her dark hair tumbled about her shoulders, the onyx locks waywardly covering her eyes so that she still had no idea of his presence as she stumbled across the yard, one hand wrapped around the collar of a feisty chocolate lab. Although Rascal couldn’t be any more than a few months old, he was giving Olivia a run for her money as she attempted to rein him in.
A Moment in the Moonlight (Secrets of Savannah Book 2) Page 2
