Liam

by Katie Dowe

  “So, I look like you?” Liam asked him in amusement as they came up to the group.

  “Darling congratulations!” Leesa said with a laugh as she tucked her hand through his arm.“I must say that if I had not seen it with my own two eyes, I would not have believed it. But to deprive her of an actual ceremony? What were you thinking?”

  “I would say that he and Adam are kindred spirits,” Amber said dryly. “Adam decided that we should get married and immediately whisked me to Vegas.”

  “She is quite a lovely woman, Liam. You met her at a gallery opening?” Kelly asked him.

  He laughed softly at that. “No. Can you keep a secret?”

  “Of course, we can!” Stacey told him, very curious to hear where they had met.

  He looked around and when he was satisfied that no one was within earshot he started talking. “I originally met her at a party, never knowing that the meeting was orchestrated.”

  “What do you mean?” Leesa asked him curiously.

  “What he means is that she set out to get his interest with the calculated plan of robbing him,” Timothy said dryly.

  The rest of the people in the group stared first at Liam and then Timothy in stupefaction! “I am sorry, did you say she was planning to steal from him?” Amber asked.

  “And she actually managed to do it too,” Liam said with a grin, enjoying their shocked expressions. “A priceless Renoir that I had hanging in my bedroom at the apartment. It was done after we made love and I was sound asleep.”

  “She is a thief?” Kelly stared at the darkly handsome man in shock.

  “She was,” Liam said with a grin. “She tells me that she is reformed and that was her last job and I am hoping it was. Can you imagine the scandal of my wife lifting jewelry and pieces of expensive art that belong to my friends?”

  Those very friends stared at him as if he was speaking a foreign language! “You are not at all concerned?” Adam demanded.

  “Of what?” Liam asked with a shrug. “I was furious at first and I wanted to turn her over to the authorities, I wanted to punish her for making a fool of me, but fate had something else in store for me. I fell in love with her!”

  *****

  “Darling here you are!” With a determined smile pinned on his narrow face, Hanson took her arm and marched her over to a corner of the deck where they were afforded privacy. “I thought that man would never leave your side.” His eyes searched her face quizzically. She had called and told him that she had a surprise for him and had told him to make sure he came to the party tonight. “I have a gallery opening,” he had said. “When did you get back?”

  “More than a week ago,” she had responded.

  “Your apartment has been empty so where have you been?” he had asked her.

  “I will explain all of that to you when you come.”

  “Isn’t this Liam Moses’ yacht?”

  “Yes.”

  “Darling considering that we stole from him should we be attending a party that he is throwing?” he has asked.

  Now, standing next to her and seeing for himself that she was well and truly married to Liam Moses, he could not help the anxiety darting through his body and he also had another concern that was making it very uncomfortable for him! “How much does he know?” Hanson hissed.

  “Everything.”

  “Oh dear Lord!” His eyes darted frantically over to where the man was standing with his very rich and powerful friends and he felt like running for the hills.

  “Is he waiting for the party to finish to get me in handcuffs or is he going to string out the torture?”

  “He does not know that I stole the painting for you,” Amani assured him.

  “Darling, your husband,” he shook his head as if he could not believe the turn of events. “Liam Moses is a very clever man, who knows everything as you put it. He had you investigated which means that he had me investigated as well. Trust me when I tell you that he knows.”

  “Even if he does, he is not going to do anything about it,” she insisted.

  “That particular painting costs over three million dollars,” Hanson told her grimly. “I know his family has in excess of one hundred billion dollars, but surely they are not prepared to let something like that go.”

  “He said he would, and I believe him.”

  “There is something else,” he told her tensely.

  “What is it?”

  “The person who commissioned me to get the painting is here.”

  “What?” Amani whispered as she turned and looked around. “Who?”

  “Gaston Armstrong.”

  The name dropped between them like a death knell and Amani stared at Hanson with a horrified look on her exquisite face. “You had me steal the painting for that toad?”

  Hanson shifted uncomfortably. “He was paying an awful lot of money for the privilege of owning it.”

  “Gaston Armstrong is a despicable moron who gets off on ruining people!” Amani passed a shaky hand over her forehead. She could just imagine him gloating secretly that he had an expensive piece of art that belonged to Liam! And now that she was married to Liam, he would see the connection and it would make things worse if he discovered that she was the one who had stolen the painting from her now husband!

  “Hanson how could you?”

  “I had not the faintest idea that you were going to sleep with him much more marry the man,” he said sulkily. “What are you going to do?””

  “I am going to do my last job.”

  “What is that?”

  “I am going to steal the painting back from Gaston.”

  Hanson looked at her horrified. “You cannot do that!”

  “I have to and when it is done you are going to return his money.”

  Chapter 16

  Liam watched as she took the earrings from her lobes and carefully put them away along with the necklace and sat there staring into the mirror. The party had broken up some minutes to two and it was now the two of them inside his cabin. The staff had gone to their quarters a few after cleaning up. He had noticed that she had not been quiet right after she had finished talking to Hanson and had wondered about it, but didn't got the chance to say anything to her about it yet. He did not know her and he realized that, but it did not stop him from loving her and hoping that she was in love with him too.

  His eyes met hers in the mirror as he came up behind her and put his hands on her shoulders, kneading the flesh slowly. “You told your friends about me.”

  His gray eyes twinkled as he returned her gaze. “They asked me how we met, and I told them the truth.”

  “Now I am going to be watched in fear that I am going to take off with the family heirlooms” she said dryly as she leaned back against him.

  “Maybe.” He chuckled softly as he remembered his friends’ reactions to the fascinating and absolutely unprecedented road that led them to where they were now. Adam and Timothy had pulled aside later and demanded to know if he had any idea what he was doing! He had clasped them both on the shoulders and told them that his wife was his business and that he did not care if she robbed him blind, as long as she was with him, and he meant it! He stepped back and she swiveled around on the stool, watching as he hunkered down in front of her.

  “What’s on your mind?”

  Amani stared down into his fathomless gray eyes before wandering over his classically beautiful face with the straight nose, the thick brows and the sensuous lips that had the power to drive her completely crazy! “Hanson has concerns,” she said lightly. She lifted a hand and pushed back a lock of her black hair from his forehead. She brushed her fingers through the strands of the thick softness of his hair and wondered at the abundance of it. “Should there be?”

  He took her hand and brought it to his lips, drawing over her palm and causing her to shiver. “I am offended that you are doubting your new husband darling,” he reproached her. With a twist of his wrist he pulled her down on top of him, sliding back onto the fl
oor as she sprawled over him. His hands tightened around her small waist. “I told you that I would let it go and I meant it. You don’t think that I would go back on my word, do you?”

  She shook her head and propping her head on her arms she stared at him. “You are awfully pretty for a guy,” she murmured softly. “No wonder women flock all around you. I saw the longing looks from the women who were at the party earlier and wondered how many of them you had sex with in this very cabin. Ten? Twenty? More? I also found myself wondering how often you have someone change the sheets. How often are the sheets changed?”

  He had to forced himself not to laugh! She was wonderful and outrageous, and he loved her so much that he felt it filling him up all the way!

  “Liam?”

  His brows lifted. “Oh, I am sorry. Am I supposed to answer?”

  “I would appreciate that, yes.”

  “I had the place cleaned and the linens changed before we came aboard,” he said soberly.

  “And the women? How many that were at the party have been in this cabin?”

  “I am not going to answer that,” he told her firmly.

  ‘That’s a wise decision because throughout the night I was wondering if I should stage a robbery, get rid of some of the jewelry they were wearing out of pure spite.”

  His eyes narrowed as he looked at her. “If I ever have the slightest thought that you are planning a heist, I will lock you up inside the apartment and never let you out. Am I clear on that?”

  “As crystal.” She started to roll away, but he held her fast.

  “I love you.” His tone was sober and his face intense as he held her gaze. “I have fallen in love with you and I have wanted to tell you that for a while now. I love you more than I ever dreamed I could love another person and I want no one else but you, I will never want anyone else but you. Is that clear?”

  She looked at him dazedly. “You don’t know what you are saying,” she whispered.

  “Maybe you are right.” He sighed dramatically, and she laughed at the expression on his handsome face. “Maybe finding out that a beautiful slip of a girl got one over me and stole from me is actually doing something to my brain. Maybe all this sex with one woman has addled my brain so much that I am in danger of spending the rest of my life with just one woman!” There was an exaggerated look of horror on his face that had her choking with laughter! “What do you think darling?”

  “I think that you are an idiot and I should not listen to anything you say,” she said between bouts of laughter, her head bowing to his chest and a warm feeling surrounding her as she felt his warmth against her. She was not sure she believed what he told her, but she knew that right here with him was definitely where she wanted to be and for the first time in her life she felt wanted, and needed, and belonged. She belonged with this fabulously rich and handsome man and she needed him in her life.

  He cradled her gently, sensing that her emotions were in a turmoil. He lifted his head and kissed the top of hers, his hands wandering down her back in a soothing manner. She lifted her head and looked at him, her eyes soft with longing and wonder. “You are an idiot,” she whispered, as she bent her head and touched her mouth to his.

  “For you I am,” he whispered back as he took her lips in an achingly tender kiss that had her trembling on top of him.

  *****

  “You summoned me?” Liam’s thick dark brows lifted as he strode into the man’s office the following Monday afternoon. They had decided to cut short the stay on the yacht as Amani had told him that she was getting a little seasick and he had some business to take care of as well. He had left her at the apartment this morning to attend several meetings and had answered Hanson’s call as he was about to leave from the meeting he had just finished. “You mean a hell of a lot to my wife but that does not give you leave to call me to come to you–”

  “I am sorry, but I could not tell you what I have to with Amani around.” Hanson twisted his slender hands nervously and gestured the tall, imposingly powerful and handsome man to have a seat. “I know that Amani did not tell you the entire story–”

  “That you are involved in this con she had going on?” Liam sat down and leaning back against the chair he propped his ankle onto his opposite knee and stared at Hanson with a look of amusement on his face. “My wife did not have to tell me that, I actually figured it out on my own.”

  Hanson slumped back in his chair. “She said you were not going to do anything to me – to us.”

  “I happen to be in love with Amani, you I feel absolutely nothing for.”

  Hanson quaked with fear as he stared at the man! “She – she said you would not–”

  “Relax man! I was just playing with you,” Liam told him with a grin. “I made a promise to my wife and I intend to keep it. Now what did you want to see me about?”

  Hanson was still trying to recover from the fear clutching his heart at the thought of what the man sitting in front of him could do to him! He took a deep breath and continued, finding the conversation he was about to have with the man who was married to his charge very distasteful and a little daunting! “You know Gaston Armstrong.”

  “We are on several committees. Why?”

  “I – I never knew that you and Amani would end up together–” He stopped and clasped his hands on his desk. He could not go on.

  “I am waiting.”

  “The painting that is missing–”

  “The painting that Amani stole you mean?” Liam interrupted him dryly. “Get on with it man, I don’t have all day.” There was more than a hint of impatience in his tone. He found the man nauseatingly fastidious and a tad too shifty for his own good. If it was not for his promise to Amani, he would have no qualms in throwing him in jail! Yes, he had rescued her, but he had also turned her into a seasoned criminal as well!

  “I – ah – I sold it to Gaston Armstrong.”

  Hanson watched Liam’s face closely and did not see a change of expression on the classically beautiful face. So, either he knew before or he was very good at hiding what he was feeling!

  “I see,” Liam said slowly as he got to his feet.

  “There is something else,” Hanson said desperately.

  “I rather thought there might be.” Liam was doing his best not to show his rage and grabbed the slender well-dressed man by the throat. The only thing stopping him was the damned promise he had made to his wife!

  “Amani is planning to steal it back from him.”

  Liam felt the rage coming to a boiling point inside him and he wanted to lash out at the cause of it! “I am assuming you talked her out of it?” His voice was deceptively calm as he looked at Hanson.

  “No, she would not listen to me so that’s why I had to call you. Gaston is –” He spread his hands. “Well he is not the friendliest man there is and would not take kindly to being double crossed. But Amani got it into her head that he does not deserve to have a painting that belongs to you, so that he can have the satisfaction that it once belonged to you. She wants to steal it back for you.”

  “The painting means nothing to me! Not if it means that Amani will get herself in trouble.” Liam shoved his hands into his pockets and visualized shaking his beautiful wife until she saw sense! She had promised him that she would never pull this stunt again and here she was thinking of doing something foolish! “I will deal with her.”

  “Thank you.” Hanson said humbly.

  “Don’t thank me yet,” Liam said coldly. “I hold you responsible for the course she started on.”

  “She was a thief before –”

  “And you used that to make her into a damned con artist!” Liam blazed, his gray eyes murderous. “You sent her to college and encouraged her to use her brains for something as dangerous as siphoning things that neither belong to you nor her.” He took a deep breath as he reined in his temper. “I will deal with my wife.”

  *****

  The first thing Liam did was to get back the painting from Gaston Arms
trong. The man had the gall to try and make a deal with him, so he had to exchange his own painting for a fine piece of emerald that Gaston had his eyes on ever since he had seen it around Lorelei’s neck a year ago. It had infuriated Liam to give in to the despicable man’s demand, but he had told him in his slow drawl that Liam could not prove that he had the painting. He also told Liam that he happened to know that Hanson was the man who had brought Amani up and he was wondering what the scandal would be like if it was leaked to the press that his wife was associated with Hanson, and that Hanson had been the one to procure the painting for him.

  Liam lugged the expensive art into his apartment later that evening, still in its frame, and propped it against the side of the bed. She had told him that she had afternoon plans with some of the wives and would not be back until later in the evening. “I am not sure what I am supposed to talk about with a bunch of rich and entitled women who already know what I did for a living Liam,” she had complained after telling him that she was going to blow off the invitation. “What could I possibly have in common with them?”

  “You are married to a very wealthy man, you are a beautiful African American woman who comes from humble beginnings, as do most of them, and they are involved in more charities than I can even begin to count. They make a difference in society and are responsible for the building and maintaining of many half way homes and children’s homes. They have raised more money for cancer patients than anyone other entity I know. You are no longer going to be the person who goes into people’s homes and steal their valuables, so I suggest you try and find something better to do instead.”

  She had given him a dirty look and walked into the bathroom. Now he sat in their bedroom with a bottle of scotch and a glass as he waited for her to come home. He was furious with her and the longer he waited, the more he realized that he could not stay angry with her for very long! He poured himself some more scotch and brought the drink to his head. He also admitted to himself that he was scared that she would try and run. He was married to her and he had no idea where he stood with her. What if she decided that she did not want to stay married to him? What if she decided that she wanted to continue her life of crime and he was standing in her way? He jumped slightly, causing the drink to slosh over the glass as he heard the bedroom door open. He had been so deep in thought that he had not heard her enter the apartment.