Seduced by the Billionaire

by Barb Han

  The dress was funky, fashionable, and more importantly, totally her.

  There were no guests at the lighthouse ceremony where two people stood on the edge of the world and vowed to love each other for the rest of eternity.

  Ryker quietly promised to cherish Avery forever. The look in his eyes when he said it more than sealed the deal.

  Avery made a similar promise.

  Then she said, “I do,” while wrapped in the arms of the one man who made her feel—truly—completely—beautiful, and absolutely loved.

  The Billionaire Bargain

  by

  Barb Han

  Chapter One

  Rae Stevens tried to sidestep the charge nurse who’d blocked the doorway with her stout frame. “Wait. Cecilia. You know me. I’m not a visitor. I’m his daughter. He didn’t mean me.”

  The compassionate glance issued by the nurse nearly brought Rae to her knees. A hand gripped her shoulder from behind.

  “Ms. Stevens,” said Dr. Ralph’s familiar voice.

  Rae spun around, her gaze rolled up to the ceiling before fixing on the doctor. “What the hell’s going on?”

  The pitiful look shot by Dr. Ralph sent a shiver up her spine. The long pause issued next had Rae’s neck hair tingling. This is not good. So not good. Please, God, don’t let him be gone already.

  Tears blurred her vision.

  “Ms. Stevens, you’re aware of your father’s prognosis.”

  He’s alive. Relief washed over her. “What happened?”

  “He had a difficult night.”

  “Why didn’t you call me?”

  “He insisted you not be disturbed.”

  She glared at the doctor. “Why would he do that?”

  Dr. Ralph shrugged. A look of sympathy creased his forehead before he frowned. “We’re keeping him comfortable.”

  “Is he…” She couldn’t bring herself to finish the question.

  “Dying?”

  The word sat heavy on her chest. “Well is he?”

  Dr. Ralph’s grip morphed into a sympathetic pat. “He’s very sick.”

  “But this isn’t always terminal.”

  “It depends on a patient’s physical condition—”

  “I think we both know I’m talking about my father specifically.”

  His head shook. “I’m sorry. The will to live is a powerful force. So is the alternative.”

  “He can’t just give up like this.” A sob released. She swallowed the next one, snapping her fingers instead. “Let me think for a second.” The truth of the matter was she wouldn’t be able to gather herself in a minute…not in ten or twenty…nor a lifetime. “I need to see him. He shouldn’t be alone right now. Having support should help, right?”

  “I’m afraid that’s not possible.”

  “Because...?”

  “He was firm.” The doctor paused, allowing the words to absorb. “His orders were explicit. No calls. No visitors.”

  “I’m afraid I don’t understand.” This can’t be happening.

  “That was his last wish.”

  “Did he offer any explanation?”

  The doctor’s gaze darted around the hall as if unable to meet hers. “He scribbled a note for you.” The corners of his lips curled down in a frown. “Would you mind if I read it to you in my office?”

  “Okay.” Rae’s heart beat faster than her feet moved as she followed. He closed the door behind them.

  “Your father left instructions for you. May I read the note?”

  She sniffed back tears. “Please.” Hopefully, there was a sensible explanation as to why he would forbid her to see him. Some reasoning she could wrap her mind around and make this feel better.

  “Live your life, not mine, child.”

  Rae waited for the rest of the letter, the reassurance.

  When no words came, she fixed her gaze on Dr. Ralph. “How long does he have left?”

  “His body’s still strong. Could be as much as a week. Or as little as a few days.” He issued a thoughtful gap. “Of course, there’s always the hope he’ll improve. A lot depends on him.”

  The words grated across her taut nerves. You can’t give up. Not like this. I just found you. I won’t let you die. “Please keep him fighting until I get back. Text me immediately if anything changes.”

  “I’m not supposed—”

  “I don’t care what he said. I’m the one paying the bill,” Rae snapped, losing her tiny grasp on what little patience she had left.

  Dr. Ralph tensed as his blond brow hiked, and he crossed his arms.

  She didn’t break eye contact. “He’s all I’ve got. Please.”

  Dr. Ralph’s arms unfolded, and his shoulders relaxed. “I can make an exception for his only living relative. Be sure the nurse has your number.”

  “Thank you, Doctor.” She pinched the bridge of her nose to hold back a raging headache. “I’m sorry. I don’t mean to take it out on you. It’s not your fault, and you’ve been very kind. There are probably rules against sharing patient information. Even with family. I don’t want to get you in trouble.”

  A compassionate smile warmed his serious expression. “How about we keep this between us?”

  “Sounds good.” She didn’t even want to think what she would do if something happened to her father.

  If she were left all alone in the world...

  Rae shook off the terror that came with the thought as she thanked the doctor again. A ball of emotion tightened in her chest. She trained her gaze on the floor and hit the door at a fast clip. In the hallway, her pace increased. She had to get outside before the onslaught of emotion hit. No way did she intend for people to ogle her again while she lost it.

  The hot, balmy weather assaulted her as soon as she stepped outside. Dark, gray clouds rolled through the sky. The wind wound through her hair as the first raindrops descended. Hot, burning tears spilled down her cheeks.

  Suddenly, there she was. Six. Alone. Being handed off to a social worker. The memories pummeled her like physical blows to the chest. She was hurt, fragile, and abandoned.

  Rae squared her shoulders.

  She wasn’t a child anymore, dammit. And he didn’t get to be selfish. If she couldn’t give her father the will to live, she could provide every possible medical hope.

  The first, she had zero control over. One man could help her with the second. Yeah, right. And people in hell want a fire hose.

  ****

  Rae’s internal deadline of eleven o’clock had come and gone, and still she stared at the hunk of plastic on her desk. Make the call already. Being in her home office today was a joke. Even though she needed her job now more than ever, work was the last thing she could concentrate on.

  Not after her conversation with the doctor this morning.

  Then there was the call she needed to make.

  She slammed her laptop shut as fear roared through her with more force than the jaws of an angry pit bull. Dread settled around her heart like wet sand as she picked up the receiver and cajoled her way around Daegen Tan’s secretary.

  The seconds before he picked up ticked by slower than years. He would either be angry or shocked to hear from her after the way she walked out on him years ago. Maybe both.

  Or not.

  She was probably just a speck in his love life. He’d most likely moved on and long-forgotten her name. Especially if she could believe half of what the papers wrote about him.

  A tiny burst of hope he’d forgiven her inflated her chest.

  “Make it quick, Rae. Contrary to your belief, the whole world doesn’t revolve around you. I have important business waiting.” His deep baritone issued a warning, reverberating like thunder rumbling in the distance. And just like a far off storm, Rae couldn’t tell how disastrous this downpour would be when it struck.

  The balloon in her chest fizzled. She struggled to summon her voice because behind his anger, there was pain. Caused by her.

  Fingers of panic squeezed her windpipe.
Her grip tightened around the phone.

  “Speak,” he said harshly.

  A disgusted grunt escaped her. She didn’t need GPS to locate her voice after a comment like that. “I’m not a dog, Daegen. I don’t do tricks on command.”

  “No, you prefer to make others perform circus acts. Right before you walk out of their lives forever.” The echoes of humiliation and indignation deepened his tone.

  Guilt tensed the muscles in her shoulders. Touché. She’d been the one to leave without explanation. She deserved his angry response.

  Rae shook her head mutely. Didn’t need to dredge up the details of their painful past to know she was in the wrong. This seemed like a good time to remind herself the best defense was a good offense.

  “I need to see you.”

  “Impossible.” The word came out swift and definite.

  “Because?”

  “I’m busy. Tell me what you’re after, and perhaps I’ll reconsider.”

  “This is business, not personal,” she said. Her pounding heart and dry mouth belied her words.

  His throaty growl goose bumped her arms. “Yet you used our personal relationship to get past my secretary and convince her to interrupt an important meeting. Give me a reason not to end this call.”

  “Uh-I-well, don’t. Okay. It’s important.” She held her breath half expecting to hear a click as an invisible band tightened around her chest. Problem was she desperately needed to make her case in person. The phone was too impersonal, and she couldn’t read his body language to determine if she had the slightest chance of bending his iron will. Based on his reaction so far, a personal appeal was out of the question.

  “We both know you’re better at business than this,” he cut into her thoughts, “if commerce is your façade for this disruption, get on with it.”

  There was no trace of the feelings they’d shared, anger or otherwise, in his tone now. He shot daggers of ice and impatience. You had this coming.

  “Look. Take a meeting—”

  “Won’t do any good to pretend this isn’t personal,” he said slicing through her words. “How could it not be?”

  “It isn’t for me, Daegen, but I’m seeing it is for you,” she said, fighting off nerves threatening to make her body quake. “Let’s talk in person. Not over the phone like this.” She paused, hearing the shakiness in her own voice. She’d been fiercely determined to keep her emotions contained. Start crying with him on the line and she might never stop.

  Her fingers drummed on her desk. She prayed he wouldn’t demand an explanation.

  “Do I get to know why at least?”

  “I can make it worth your while.” Damn. Did that come out as desperate? If so, she’d lost any shred of leverage right then and there. She’d meant to say mutually beneficial. Worth his while put the situation in a totally different frame. Give him the upper hand and she might jeopardize her mission.

  “I leave tonight. You can arrange to meet with me in my villa through my assistant,” he said.

  Borneo. Oh, God, no. Her pulse climbed up her throat. Not there. Anywhere but there. The one place he’d shed his Kevlar-wrapped disposition and revealed a side of himself a rare few had ever seen.

  Before she could negotiate better terms, the line went dead. She stared at the silent receiver. A woman’s voice broke through Rae’s shock.

  “Mr. Tan will see you day after tomorrow. Evening.”

  “That’s not good for me,” Rae clamored, needing time to digest what the hell had just happened to her normally controlled emotions—emotions that had been turned inside out in one short phone call.

  Her senses were highly charged. She’d had the morning from hell. And yet the tingles of awareness alighting her nerve endings reminded her how much Daegen made her feel like a real woman. She needed to be very careful.

  “Mr. Tan thought that might be an issue for you. He asked me to tell you it’s then or not at all. I’m sorry.”

  Sympathetic as the assistant sounded, Rae found no comfort in the apology. She’d feared Daegen would play hardball, but forcing her to meet him in the one place they’d all but lost themselves to each other and to love? It seemed an exceptionally low blow. Then again, calculating, brilliant, absolutely gorgeous, powerful…a man like him didn’t sit on top of the business world by accident. If he was intent on revenge, he’d already scored a direct hit.

  And damn his voice—a tone that made her glad she was sitting down when she heard it again for fear the bones in her legs would pool at her feet along with all her carefully guarded defenses. So much for offensive plays. He held all the cards and knew it. Suddenly, facing him felt like a death sentence to her self-control, sketchy as her hold on it was.

  Not facing him? Not an option. She was desperate.

  “Fine.”

  “Mr. Tan would like to know if you’ll be requiring his help with transportation.”

  “No. I can arrange my own travel thank you very much.” Rae didn’t waste time saying goodbye. She clicked END. Couldn’t get off the phone fast enough to suit her taste. She extracted her hand from the receiver, staring at it like she half expected it to detonate.

  Panic gripped her. Why would he think she couldn’t book her own flight? It was impossible for him to know she was broke. Besides, she had decent credit. For now.

  Rae rubbed her temples. Shooting pain radiated down her neck. Her stress indicator, the exact center point between her shoulder blades, was on full alert.

  How would she ever pay her mounting bills?

  Didn’t matter. She’d sell her soul if it meant saving her father. Besides, she started off in this world with nothing. Looked like she’d end the same.

  Before she could wind up a good anxiety attack, she reminded herself the best thing she could do for her father was calm down.

  There had to be hope...

  Several deep cleansing breaths later, she rallied enough of her normal senses to seize the handpiece once more and phone her boss.

  She’d had to ask off a lot lately. Walt had been good about it until she lost her status as his top producer last month. He tolerated her requests now because she was still making good revenue. At thirty, he was the youngest company executive. He was a climber and didn’t have time for anyone who didn’t fit into his agenda. He answered on the first ring.

  “I need to leave town this afternoon.”

  “Okay. Fine.” He didn’t sound surprised or angry. His voice had a distinct lilt when he was upset. His southern roots shone through.

  Rae couldn’t pinpoint his mood.

  Papers shuffled. He was distracted. Or didn’t care.

  Damn.

  “I’ll be back in plenty of time for the meeting Monday afternoon.”

  “Be sure you’re here. This is your account,” he warned. There was the lilt.

  “You got it. Nothing will stop me from attending,” she reassured. “I’m already prepped and ready to go. It’s been on my calendar for a month.”

  “Good. Then I don’t have to remind you how important this client is to our business.” The emphasis he placed on the last word said he meant to her career.

  “Nope. Got it. I’m all over this. I won’t let you down.” Rae thanked him and closed the call.

  Stepping back, she released her pent-up frustration in a long, slow sigh.

  One call had nearly broken her heart. Another threatened her livelihood. Now another would crack her finances in half.

  She was beginning to hate phones.

  Cursing the hunk of plastic life-wrecker, she palmed it again. Within an hour, she’d arranged a flight—cringing as she gave the airline her credit card number. There was barely enough time to pack an overnight bag and prepare her laptop for travel.

  Rae fidgeted most of the twenty-four hour journey from Dallas to Borneo. Real rest was about as far away as Pluto. And just as authentic. Her eyes burned. How long had it been since she’d had real sleep? Or a sit down meal where she didn’t constantly check the clock t
o see if visiting hours were over? Or sex? asked a little voice in the back of her mind.

  Her body cried too long. No sex since Daegen. Three years. She could always remedy that by perusing the aisles to find the first attractive guy to proposition. Any gorgeous man would do. No strings attached. He need only want to join the Mile High Club. Right, like she was about to cruise the cabin. She smiled weakly. No doubt thinking of Daegen had shifted her mind to sex.

  If she couldn’t sleep, she might as well work to distract her.

  By the time the plane touched ground, she’d eaten breakfast and tidied up her work files. Approaching Daegen with her request wasn’t going to be so neat. After his reaction on the phone, he wouldn’t be waiting with open arms. Yelling was more like it. She said a silent prayer he would help her anyway. Beneath his cool veneer lay a beautiful heart. Down deep, she knew he wouldn’t let another person suffer if he had the power to help, no matter whom the person happened to be genetically linked to.

  If she had to appeal to Daegen at this most basic level, she would. Crawling back to ask a favor after the way she’d walked out on him felt sub-human.

  Frustration and exhaustion had her hands feeling heavy as she turned the ignition of the rental car. A weight centered itself on her chest making breathing a chore as she located the road to the villa. She did her absolute best not to go there in her mind—the place where she happily lay in Daegen’s arms. Yet reminders lurked around every bend. The rich whooping calls from Bornean gibbons. The symphony of sounds from millions of insects and birds in the nearby rain forest. The crush of sensual memories.

  Had it really been so long since she’d felt Daegen’s strong, lean fingers stroking the skin of her calf? A shiver ran along every muscle in her leg, warming the inside of her thighs.

  “That was a lifetime ago,” she said out loud as she cut off the engine. Three years to the day to be exact. And she seriously doubted Daegen would want to get anywhere near her thighs now.

  She plucked at her shirt, already drenched from the change in humidity. Her business suit clung to her body making her uncomfortable, hot and sticky.

  A cohesive argument still hadn’t formulated as to why Daegen should help her on a professional level. And if she couldn’t assess the break-even analysis on his behalf, there was little hope he’d find it either. Any optimism, however small it might have been, that he might help her because of their shared past was long gone. He’d been excruciatingly clear on where he stood. Rae would have to figure out how to get his help in spite of their history. Or beg.