Stealing Hearts

by C. D. Samuda

  “I told Roy I’d be back by morning so they don’t yet know that I have quit. I could return and find this out for you Master Braeden.”

  Resting a hand on the man’s shoulder, Braeden looked him in the eye. “There is such a thing as a telephone. The staff do have their own cellphones, right?”

  “Ha! Yes Sire.” Charles nodded. “Roy, the young butler has one.”

  “Can he be trusted?”

  “After what happened with your wife Sire, he is a strong ally.”

  “Then please find out quickly.”

  He left Charles to do his investigation. Shade’s eyes opened as he pushed her door. A smile presented on her lips when she saw him and then it disappeared. She turned her head away as though she didn’t want to see him. His heart did a little dance before its heavy drumming began.

  Pulling up a chair he took her hand which she tried to pull away. “How are you feeling?”

  “How do you expect?”

  “What my grandfather did … I don’t know how to make that right.”

  She turned her head and made contact with his eyes. “What about what you did?”

  He was puzzled. “What did I do?”

  “After all that old coot did to you and your family, you’re just going to give up?” she snapped. “Why’d you do that, and for me? Are you crazy?”

  “I didn’t do it for you, I didn’t want your blood on my conscious.”

  “He wouldn’t have risk doing anything. It was just to frighten us and it worked.”

  “That was not a chance I was willing to take.”

  “I’m a home less nobody remember,” she snickered. “No one would remember me.”

  Braeden got up from the chair and perched on the bed where he took her shoulders and looked straight into her eyes. “You’re Braeden Harrington’s wife, even if it’s temporary. You’re not a ‘nobody’.”

  He couldn’t believe he was defending her like that. The many times that he himself had referred to her that way was too numerous to count. But somewhere during all the pretending and she caring for him, he realized that she was something special. If only he believed in love, he would gladly love someone like her.

  As the thought entered his mind, he released her and straightened. A ball of warm cotton opened up in his chest and began to spread all over his body. She was looking at him with those brown eyes and that feeling in his chest intensified. No. Shade, you’re not going to steal my heart too.

  Rather abruptly, he stood. “I have to go make some calls.”

  “Braeden,” she said softly. “Thanks for choosing to save me.”

  He was at the door when she spoke and his back stiffened. Her voice made his insides quiver. He reached out and opened the door, while mumbling under his breath. “I didn’t do it for you.”

  Kurt was waiting for him in the hallway. “Hey man, what’s going on?”

  “It’s a long story. I’ll tell you over coffee.”

  “This is your opportunity to regain control over the old bastard,” Kurt declared.

  “What are you talking about?”

  “Tell him you will expose him and have him arrested if he doesn’t do as you say.”

  Braeden shook his head. “No. Moreover there is no evidence.”

  “Yet,” Kurt said. “If he put something in her food, they will find it.”

  “I asked Charles to find out what it was.”

  “Are you sure Charles can be trusted?”

  “I think so.”

  “You have to confront him when you get the evidence,” Kurt replied. “You can’t let him get away with this man.”

  “You’re right. But I’m not taking him on because of his estate. I’m doing this because of Shade.”

  “What?” Kurt’s face twisted in confusion. “Why? Have you fallen for her?”

  “Are you out of your mind?” he sneered.

  Kurt didn’t seem convinced. “You two haven’t … you know.”

  “Of course not. She risk her life and even so she insisted that I take what was mine. She faced him and never backed down when he insulted her. She even insisted that I stay and get what’s rightfully mine when I wanted to leave.”

  “That’s because of the money you promised her.”

  “No, there’s something more about her.”

  “Okay, I have an idea,” Kurt said, changing the subject. “My FBI friend will come with us and we’ll scare the life out for you grandfather. Even if he doesn’t hand over his assets to you, he must pay damages for what he did to her.”

  “That way, she won’t leave this marriage empty handed. I mean, I would have had to sell some of my shares in order to come up with that amount since I wouldn’t have had control over the banks accounts. Getting rid of stock in the middle of a quarter would drive down the market price and the shareholders would throw a fit.”

  It was high time he confronted his grandfather about many things including his parents break-up and mother’s subsequent disappearance. Most of all, about his father’s suicide. But knowing the old man, he’d need proof in order to confront him about Shade. Richard would deny everything and then fire the cook. He was hoping that Charles would have some news soon.

  After their talk, Braeden went in search of Charles but the man seemed to have left the hospital. He spent the next few hours lounging in the waiting area after Kurt left. He found himself constantly wondering about her, thinking about her and even fantasizing about their shared moments. It was difficult thinking of anything else when he was so worried about her.

  Every time Braeden stood to go see Shade, his heart flipped over and a quiver ran through his torso. Each time that happened he gritted his teeth and cursed those feelings.

  He was about to leave the hospital without going to see her when Charles returned. The man seemed to have been sprinting as he was huffing and sweating profusely.

  “Where have you been?”

  Charles gulped for air. “I went to see Edna. It turns out it’s her day off and she went to visit her parents at the nursing home.”

  Reaching into his pants pocket, the butler pulled out a small vial with some pink powder and handed it to Braeden. He turned it over in his hand.

  “What it is?”

  “Sedatives,” Charles replied. “Roy told her he was the one to crush them. But she doesn’t trust Mr. Harrington and believes it might be something else.”

  “And she just happened to have this with her?”

  “As precaution, she says. In the event that anything happened to Lady Harrington, she would have this as her security.”

  “Lady Harrington?” he chuckled at the title wondering how Shade would react upon hearing it.

  Chapter 24

  The pink powder turned out to be sedatives as Charles said, and no trace of it was found in Shade’s blood. That did not clear Braeden’s grandfather from the intent to harm her. Kurt was adamant that when confronting Richard, his FBI friend should be there, unofficially to scare the old man.

  The plan was to go to the estate in a few days after he made sure she was okay. She was well enough to be discharged, the diagnosis being exhaustion and a mild case of hypothermia. She had been wearing nothing but a bikini and a sheer wrap in the freezing basement for hours.

  The drive home was in silence as he pondered what would happen next. The marriage was supposed to be until the time stipulated by his grandfather but that agreement became null the moment he refused to accept the assets. After meeting with Richard, he hoped that he could agree upon a settlement for her so that she wouldn’t have to go back to living on the streets. He wondered if maybe she’d like to return to school, get a job or start a business of her own.

  The subject of her future was one he wanted to bring up, but he himself had no inkling as to why he even cared. Therefore he shoved it to the back of him and concentrated on how he would approach Richard.

  They arrived at the apartment sometime in the late afternoon. He parked and quickly got out of the car, ski
pping around to the passenger side. By the time he got there Shade was already getting out, without thinking, Braeden swept her up in his arms, kicked the door shut and began walking towards the lift.

  “What do you think you’re doing?” she tried to set her feet down.

  “Stop struggling,” he ordered.

  “I can walk just fine.” She tried to push away from him. “If you don’t put me down, I will bite you.”

  Braeden paused and narrowed his eyes. “Hmm … did you say bite? If you don’t stop struggling, I’ll just have to kiss you.”

  It’s been an intense need of his since the last kiss at the mansion. He’d thought about her lips, holding her close to him, the feel of her breast crushed against his chest for every moment since their last encounter.

  “You wouldn’t,” she scoffed. “I know…”

  Before she could finish the sentence, his lips covered hers. She resumed her struggles, but as he plunged his tongue into her mouth, he felt her shudder. His body responded with a quiver in his belly and a lurch of his manhood. That soft cottony feeling in his stomach returned with the feeling of warmth that began to spread through him.

  A soft growl escaped his throat as he felt himself getting weak at the knees. Braeden broke the kiss, thinking he’d completely lost his mind. Shade rested her head on his shoulder and he continued towards the lift. The feeling that he would have to let her out of his arms within a few minutes did not appeal to him. She snuggled up to him like that, gave him a distinct feeling of fulfillment.

  “I must be losing my mind,” he muttered.

  “Hmm?” she murmured against his neck

  “Nothing,” he replied.

  His arms tightened around her as he closed his eyes, savoring the electrical charges galloping through his entire body. Her arms crept around his neck as she snuggled closer. He could feel her warm breath on his skin and the side of her breast on his chest. How he wanted to push her up against the elevator wall and stick his cock into her hot wet flesh.

  The lift opened in the apartment and he trotted to the bedroom. It was when he was inside his own room and setting her down on the bed that he noticed where he was.

  “What are you doing?” Shade opened her eyes and looked around. “This is your room.”

  “Rest for a while, you can go to your own room later.”

  As he moved away she took his hand and tugged. He sat on the bed, a wrinkle in his brow.

  “You okay?”

  “I am asking a favor.”

  “Anything,” he replied easily.

  “Please make amends with your grandfather.”

  He stood. “I don’t want to talk about him.”

  She grabbed his hand with both of hers and pulled him back down. “Please, just hear me out.”

  “Two minutes.”

  “He’s the only family you’ve got. I know he did some terrible things, but you don’t want him to die with you carrying around all that bitterness.”

  “You expect me to just forget?”

  “No, I expect you to move on so that you can be happy.”

  “Happy?”

  “I know I’m not your real wife and I’ll be out of your life soon, but that doesn’t mean I don’t want you to be happy. There’s nothing more I’d rather see happen.”

  “You want me to be happy?” he asked, not believing he was hearing right.

  Who the hell was Shade Montgomery and why did she enter his life now? They barely knew each other and she wanted to see him happy.

  “Yes, I want you to be happy.”

  “Why?”

  “Because everyone deserves some happiness.”

  “What about you?” His voice softened, his hand coming up to caress her cheek. “Don’t you deserve to be happy?”

  “We are not talking about me.”

  “Maybe we should.”

  The conversation had taken an awkward turn. For the last couple of days, all Braeden wanted was to protect Shade. Now, he was trying to secure her future and that was the only reason he agreed to confront Richard. Did that mean he wanted her to be happy as well? He wasn’t sure about that. What he was certain about was that he would not allow anyone to hurt her the way his grandfather did, even if that meant keeping her in that apartment.

  As the through crossed his mind he snatched his hand away and jumped to his feet. Frustrated at his train of thought, he left the room and went into the kitchen to see what was there for dinner.

  While he prepared some chicken and a salad, that darn cat would not leave his legs alone. He’d had to skip over the critter several times. He left his preparation to feed the darn thing, but the animal ignored the food and kept trailing after him. It became so bad that he was compelled to take him in his arms and pet him.

  “You and your mom are alike, you won’t stop until you have me falling all over you,” he grated. “But it won’t work. I am not falling for you or her.”

  “Who are you talking to?”

  He’d had his back to the kitchen door and was startled at the sound of her voice. He was holding the cat in his arms while rubbing its head. The cat purred contentedly as Shade stared at them both.

  Putting the cat down, he demanded. “What are you doing out of bed?”

  “I’ve been lying in the hospital for three days now. Please, no more bed please. I had hypothermia, nothing else.”

  “It could have been fatal.”

  “One less homeless off the streets.”

  Her words punched him in the stomach, affecting him in a way he never thought possible. Braeden strode up to her, grabbed her shoulders and gave her a vigorous shake. “Don’t you say things like that.”

  She pushed his hands away. “What does it matter to you anyway? I’m just a homeless nobody.”

  “I told you, you’re not a ‘nobody’. You weren’t this down on yourself before. Remember how you told me that you had no ordinary bone in your body?”

  She shrugged and walked away. “Maybe I’m an extraordinary homeless bum.”

  Chapter 25

  Shade was growing sick of being nursed by Braeden. The man took the entire week off to stay at home. It was strange. This was not the man she met at the police station that night. His guilt about what happened was the driving force behind this treatment and Shade could stand it no more. Every time he touched her cheek, she wanted to just rub up against him.

  His affection was pulling her closer, making her heart ache whenever he turned his back. This was not the plan. The plan was pretend love only in public and now that he had broken ties with the old man, she was not needed anymore. She knew the time to leave had come, but saying goodbye was going to be the most difficult thing she’d ever had to do.

  The sadness and heartache at the thought of never seeing his beautiful eyes, or hear his rich baritone voice caused a permanent ache in her heart. Breathing was becoming difficult now and she found that she was shedding little tears here and there.

  When she’d run away at sixteen years old, she never experienced this kind of sadness. She’d never been in love before … in love? She chuckled at the ridiculous thought. But she knew she was in denial, because even the innocent knew when they’d fallen and she’d fallen for Braeden.

  It was a week after she arrived home from hospital when he announced that he’d be going out for the day. He never told her where he was going and she assumed he was going to work.

  He left the morning around seven and Shade knew her time had come. He’d been working from his study for the last few days and had left the door open. It was her first time venturing inside. The room smelled of leather from the chair behind a mahogany desk and the leather armchair to one corner. She ventured in and approached his desk where she found a writing pad.

  The next few minutes were spent drafting a counter contract which stated that the one she signed was null and void. She spent another minute leaving him a note encouraging him to forgive his grandfather, for his sake.

  Shade was angry and she wou
ld have pressed charges on the old man, but what good would it do now? She wanted to punch him in the face and wipe his bigoted smirk off his face, but the one that would be left with the deepest scars was Braeden. He’d been burnt and was living his live with that bitterness.

  Bitterness eats at you until it devours your soul and leaves you with an empty shell. He didn’t have to forget, but confronting the old man and getting everything out in the open would be good for him. Richard could die at any moment and Braeden would be left to pick up the pieces. At least he would be free of that resentment and could move on from there. What he needed was closure.

  After finishing her writing, she gathered her cats and left. All she took were the litterbox and the cat food. She left the note, contract and the credit card stuck to Braeden’s bedroom door in an envelope she found.

  As the lift opened, she turned and scanned the living room, remembering the first time she entered. For such a short time as his wife, there were many moments to remember. They argued quite a lot, but there were also those intimate moments which she never wanted to forget.

  “Goodbye, Braeden.”

  Stepping into the left, she kept her eyes on the living room until the door closed and she was going down. She would miss this place, but it wasn’t meant for her. She would miss Braeden, but he wasn’t meant to be hers either. What he needed was someone to love him and wipe away his past pains. She would love to be the one to do that, but she knew that was just a pipe dream. She hoped that someday he would meet the woman who would love him enough to ease all the anguish he’d suffered.

  Braeden could not get his mind off Shade as he and Kurt made their way to the estate. Several times he took his cell phone out to dial the house phone, but held himself back. He didn’t want to get too attached to her, so he stuffed the phone back into his pocket and concentrated on where they were going.

  “You’re worried about her?”