Running From Love
Page 16
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Acknowledgements
Thank you to my readers, because I wouldn’t have this amazing job without your support. Thank you to my agent Kristin Nelson and her entire team at NLA. Thank you to Lori Bennett, the NLA Digital guru who makes everything digital work. Thank you to Angie Hodapp, for her patience and interior design of all my paperbacks. Thank you to Kim Killion, for another great cover and the entire vision for the Eligible Billionaires Series covers. Thank you to Jennifer Brown my editor, for her awesome editorial skills. Sarah Altman, virtual assistant extraordinaire, thank you.
Thank you to RWA, LARA, and WFWA, who provide me with information, knowledge, and fabulous friends.
Thank you to an exceptional group of women readers who support my work and keep me motivated and moving forward: Lindsy Henderson, Melissa Lamoureaux, Rosemary Feil, Sheila Nolin Schwartz, Roxana Perez Hidalgo, Debra Knotts, Megan McCaule, Laura Akers Collins, Kimberly Dawn, Victoria Schultz, Denise Boyd, Michelle Haxton, Amanda Weber, Christy McGlauchlen, and Kathy Church. I appreciate each of you and can never thank you enough for your kindness and support.
Thank you to my family and friends especially: Margaret L. Marr, Nancy Veskerna, Lauren Harrison, Gavin White, Nealie White, Linda and Bill Henderson, Lindsy and Mark Henderson, Eloise and Dixie Marr, Gayle Leftwich, Joyce and Tom Leahy, Paula and David Glasscock, Garrett L. Marr, Amy and Brent Zacky, Victoria and Karl Makinen, Sheryl and Steven Ross, Peggy Cafferty, Maria Seager, Sylvie Fox, Beverly Diehl, Kady Ambrose, Rebekah Ganiere, Debbie Decker, Christine Ashworth, Cami Brite, Chandra Years, Sarah Vance-Tompkins, Julia Blake, Jane Porter, Megan Crane, and Bob.
To my husband and my children, the love and laughter you give me each day exceeds my wildest dreams and my every expectation. Thank you; I love you.
An Excerpt from A Forever Love
A Forever Love, book six in The Eligible Billionaires Series, coming soon from Maggie Marr.
Aubrey sipped her white wine and glanced around the wedding reception. Before today, she had never met any of the people at her table. Paloma, Aubrey’s best friend and the groom’s first wife, had on occasion mentioned a fondness for Prim Baxter, who sat to Aubrey’s right, next to her billionaire husband Tristan Rhoades.
Having worked in investment banking before returning to her childhood home, Aubrey knew Tristan by reputation. She’d heard a multitude of stories about his ruthless nature and his habit of buying and dissecting companies. But the man who sat beside Aubrey with his arm around his wife, teasing Prim about what Tristan called her near-addiction to anything colored gold, was much more jovial and charming than all the reports Aubrey had heard.
Aubrey glanced at the long head table where Ryan and his bride Charla sat. She was so very different than Paloma, but the bride did share one similarity with Ryan’s deceased wife: Charla seemed to love Ryan in that never-ending way that Paloma had loved him. Aubrey smiled. Paloma would be pleased, very, very, pleased that Ryan had found love once again.
“Aubrey, you mentioned that you live in Kansas?”
Aubrey turned to Prim and nodded. Prim was lovely, with her light brown skin and dark brown hair. Her smile was warm, and a quick intelligence inhabited her eyes.
“I run Rockwater Farms in Hudson,” Aubrey said.
“Wow, Kansas? What’s that like?” Tristan asked.
Aubrey’s smile widened. “Pretty great, actually. I was in investment banking for years, but when my mom passed away and my dad started to fail, it just seemed like the right time to go home.” Of course she wouldn’t mention the extenuating circumstance that had predicated her return trip from the heady atmosphere of investment banking in New York City to the Heartland of America.
“Wait? Rockwater Farms? Isn’t that the where the Red Barn is located?” Prim inquired.
Aubrey nodded. “The very one. Nina Hayes, the chef, is my sister.”
“Oh,” Prim nodded toward her husband. “Then don’t let this woman fool you. Rockwater Farms and The Red Barn is one of the best-kept secrets in America. I just read a profile on you in Women Executives. You’re building a farm to table model and a soon-to-be three star Michelin restaurant. ”
Heat pulsed through Aubrey’s face. Attention wasn’t something she craved and, well, tooting one’s own horn might work on the coasts, but in the center of America people put their heads down and worked.
“You’re very kind, but I can’t take all the credit. It’s my sister’s talents that have made The Red Barn so successful. I just run the farm side and take care of the numbers.”
“In Kansas?” Tristan asked.
Prim smacked him on the arm. “Stop. Not nice. Not funny. Warren Buffet is from Nebraska, for goodness’ sake, and it borders Kansas.”
“It does?” Tristan tilted his head. “I thought Nebraska bordered Oklahoma?”
Aubrey took another sip of her wine. Yes, she knew from experience that Midwest geography was as mystifying to most Los Angelinos and New Yorkers as Mandarin Chinese. She glanced down at her watch and did some quick math in her head. “Excuse me, won’t you?”
Tristan and Prim and the other five people at her table smiled her way. She grasped her bag and skirted the edge of the Versailles room to the outer lobby. She pulled her phone from her purse and pressed “Home.” She had just enough time to catch Max before he went to bed.
“Hey Mom.”
Where once upon a time Max would have been tap-dancing around and singing when she called, she now got a practiced junior high-schooler’s nonchalance.
“Hi baby, how was your day?”
“You know. Math, science, English, and history. Helped Aunt Nina for a while. Now grandpa and I are splitting a pizza. When are you coming home?”
Aubrey glanced about the room at the crème de la crème of the financial and business worlds wandering about the lobby of the Versailles room. “Tomorrow,” Aubrey said.
“Got it. I think Aunt Nina wanted to talk to you, said she’ll call you later tonight.”
“Tell Grandpa I love him, and Max, I love you too.”
“Yep, got it Mom. Be safe. Love you.”
A tiny ache of longing pulsed through Aubrey’s heart with her son’s words. She closed her eyes and took a long deep breath. She had every right thing she could ever want. She opened her eyes. Yes, she’d given up the “glamorous” lifestyle of private jets and high-end luxury resorts and more money than any one person could ever want or need, but what she’d gotten in return was so much more than she’d ever imagined possible. She’d gotten her son and her freedom. She slipped her phone into her bag and walked back toward her table. Just as she entered the room she stopped.
Fear trickled through her blood. Across the room? Was that Justin Travati? No. He wouldn’t be here, would he? She held her head high and squared her shoulders. Ryan didn’t really travel in the same circles as Justin, nor did he pursue the same sort of exploits. But when you dealt with the billionaires of the world, the orbit wasn’t large.
Aubrey focused her attention on her seat and walked quickly toward the table. The man she’d spotted was tall and imposing, with olive-colored skin and lush black hair that spoke to a Mediterranean heritage. He carried himself with the regal Travati air. They were such arrogant men, the Travati brothers, and in some ways understandably so. They’d swept through the society and financial worlds, breaking hearts with their breathtaking good looks and banking billions with their astute business sense.
Tristan Rhoades stood when Aubrey approached the table and pulled out her chair. Such a gentleman.
“Thank you.” With one last swift glance toward the far side of the room, her heart froze. From across the room, the Travati brilliant blue eyes, the one homage to t
heir mother’s Irish heritage, locked upon her.
Adrenaline spiked her blood. She forced her face to remain neutral. So similar in looks, so similar in bearing, but thankfully not Justin Travati. No, the man across the room was the youngest Travati brother, the bon vivant, who would jet set and in fact orbit in the high-end resort circles that inhabited Mesquale. She nodded toward Justin’s brother, Devon. His eyebrow hitched upward. He might recognize her, might have some vague recollection of her working at Travati Financial, or he might just wonder where he’d met her before today. Not enough to raise the alarm. Not enough to draw questions and inquiries, or even to make Devon comment to his older brother, Justin, that he’d run into a former employee.
Her palms were moist and her fingertips tingled. A deep breath, a forced smile, and then faked attention to the conversation around her that revolved around a story involving Prim, Tristan, and a mishap with a fire hose. How funny. She really wasn’t listening, but she laughed and let her gaze slip to where Devon had been sitting. His chair now empty, he was gone. She gave a silent prayer of thanks, because the last thing she would ever want in this world was for Justin Travati to know was that she was now residing in Kansas and raising his only living child.
***
You can continue reading Aubrey and Justin’s love story in A Forever Love, book six in The Eligible Billionaires Series, coming soon to all major eRetailers.
RUNNING FROM LOVE
Maggie Marr
Copyright © 2015
All Rights Reserved.
978-1-62051-166-4
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