A Royal Entanglement: The Young Royals Book 2 (29 page)

I had been distracted all day.
 
Fortunately, Meredith was shadowing Alyssa and I wasn’t needed for anything important.
 
I’d like to think that I would’ve been able to corral my thoughts had it been essential, but sitting behind my desk with nothing more to do than the seemingly never-ending paperwork that crossed my desk, my mind wandered.
 
It wandered to last night and Freddie and how good it felt to be in his arms and how I needed to end things with him.

It was the right thing to do.

I liked Freddie, a lot, which was why I had to cut him loose.
 
I owed too much to Alyssa and Meredith and Freddie to let my family get their hooks into him.
 
For now my mother was enamoured with Bradley, but when she realised that I wouldn’t be getting back together with him, she would turn her sights on Freddie.
 
When she learned what Freddie was worth, all thoughts of me marrying Bradley would be vaporised.
 
I could almost imagine the dollar signs ka-chinging in her eyes when she looked into just who Freddie Bingham was.

I couldn’t do it to him, I just couldn’t.

Which meant putting an end to this…
thing
… that was between us before I fell any deeper under his spell.
 
Being in his arms last night as he swirled me around the dance floor was enough to get any girl to fall for him, even a jaded woman like me.
 
The man was just about perfect - he looked good, he was intelligent and well-read, he was a gifted conversationalist and he had a witty sense of humour.
 
What more could a girl want?
 
And when he looked at me, really looked at me, focussing all his attention on me, the rest of the world seemed to fall away.
 
If only that were true.
 
If only it could be just the two of us without the pesky interruptions of real life.
 
In that fantasy world in my head, Freddie and I could actually be something good and wonderful, but here, in the real world, there were too many secrets in my past, too many things that had the potential to tarnish him and I could never live with myself if that happened.

So I needed to be the realist and call it all off.
 
And I needed to do it soon while all the reasons were fresh in my mind.

“Penny,” I said to my assistant, “I’m going into town.”

“Sure thing,” she replied.

I gathered my things together and called for a car.
 
I kept my mind on the end game as I made my way out of the Palace and into the waiting sedan.
 
I was doing this for Freddie, because I cared about him and I didn’t want to see him hurt.
 
My own life had been a long list of disappointments so what was another one?
 
And, really, in the grand scheme of things, my life wasn’t so bad.
 
I lived in a beautiful suite in an incredibly beautiful country.
 
I loved my job, I had friends, and I had enough money to live comfortably.
 
Not having Freddie in my life would hurt, but there were bigger issues, bigger responsibilities.
 
Not everyone got their happy ever after and I was one of the lucky ones to at least get a happy enough.

The car pulled up outside Freddie’s office and I stepped out when the driver opened the door.
 
I wrapped my coat around my shoulders as a cool breeze blew in off the lake and steeled myself against the confrontation that was about to come.
 
I had to be strong, I had to tell Freddie that it just wouldn't work between us, that I didn’t feel the same about him.
 
It needed to be a clean break without recriminations or tears.

I walked purposefully into the building, past reception with a wave to the security guard and into the lift.
 
When I stepped out into the foyer of Freddie’s office suite, it was deserted, which was highly unusual.
 
I walked quietly past the vacant reception desk and into the outer office where Dayne usually held court.
 
But his desk was vacant too.
 
I was about to turn around and walk out when I heard voices.
 
I crept closer, not sure why I was tip-toeing, maybe the hushed atmosphere of the empty office made me do it.

The door to Freddie’s office was cracked just enough so that the voices inside carried out into the outer office.
 
I stood near Dayne’s desk, expecting him to come out any second until I recognised one of the voices coming from Freddie’s office, and it wasn’t Dayne’s.

“You think you’re better than me?” Bradley said and I could hear the sneer in his voice, “Aren’t you with Alex for the very same reason?”

I stepped closer, drawn by the use of my name and needing to know what was going on.

“The reasons for me being with Alex are leaps and bounds away from what you want her for.
 
Is the money that important to you?”

That was Freddie speaking and he was using his ‘Lord Bingham’ voice.

“You can posture all you want, Bingham,” Bradley said, “But you are with Alex for the very same reason that I nearly married her.
 
She makes the perfect wife; good-looking, but not too good looking, conservative, poised and she knows how to blend into the background.
 
She’s perfect for someone like you, gets your approval rating up, makes you look good to all the old-timers who don’t approve of your playboy lifestyle and you know she’ll look the other way when you stray because Alex hates scandal of any kind and will do everything in her power to ensure that nothing untoward will ever stick to the two of you.”

Could it be true?
 
Was what Bradley saying right?
 
Freddie had said that he cared about me, but was he just feeding me a line?
 
Was that why Bradley had asked me to marry him all those months ago?

“And marrying her to get not only your inheritance but a ten million dollar bonus is a better reason?” Freddie’s voice was harsh and I had to stifle a gasp.
 
What inheritance?
 
What ten million dollars?

“I’m doing it for my company,” Bradley said, “And to get what’s rightfully mine.
 
If Alex had only gone through with the wedding the first time around, we wouldn’t even be having this conversation.”

“And that makes it any better?
 
You’re a fool, Corsair.
 
Alex is—”

But I didn’t hang around to hear the rest of the conversation, I’d heard enough.
 
I fled the building and waved the waiting sedan away.
 
I hurried towards the lake shore, wanting to run, but not wanting to garner any attention.
 
I needed to think, I needed to understand what it was I had just heard.
 
Bradley wanted to marry me so he would get his inheritance and a ten million dollar bonus, there had to be something in his grandfather’s will about it.
 
That’s why he was here, it finally made sense.

But what about Freddie?
 
Was it true what Bradley accused him of?
 
Was he only with me so that I could polish up his reputation?
 
I didn’t want to believe it but… why else would he want to be with me?

“And that makes it any better?
 
You’re a fool, Corsair.
 
Alex is far too good for the likes of you.”

I scoffed, he obviously hadn’t met Alex’s parents.
 
“Oh my God,” I said, “You’re in love with her.”

Now it all made sense.
 
The guy had fallen for Alex, not that it would do him any good.
 
Alex was a cold fish who wouldn’t know what to do if a guy actually had genuine feelings about her.
 
Their’s had been a relationship of mutual benefit.
 
He knew she had only been with him for the respectability he could give her family and she knew that he was only with her because he needed a conservative wife so he’d look good for his investors.
 
What she hadn’t known was his grandfather’s obsession with him taking a wife and the old coot had taken a shine to her form the moment he introduced them.

“Why else would I be with her?” Bingham said, “Of course I’m in love with her which is why I intend to make sure you get nowhere near her ever again.”

He pulled out his cheque book and clicked his pen.
 
“How much is it going to cost me to make sure you leave Merveille today and never return?”

“You don’t have enough money to make that happen.”

“You don’t love Alex, so why her?
 
Go to Vegas, find a showgirl and offer her a tidy sum to marry you for five years.
 
Promise her a bonus for every child she produces and then offer her a nice settlement when the five years is up.”

It was tempting, I had to admit that.
 
There would be any number of women willing to take me up on the offer and it was my backup plan if things with Alex didn’t work out, but I still wanted Alex.
 
She was easy to get along with and wouldn’t demand any more of my time than I could give and there was no need for her to know about the will if I could just convince her to come back with me.

“I want Alex,” I said.

“How does ten million dollars sound?
 
It’s the same amount as the bonus, so you won’t be losing anything and if you accept the deal now and leave Merveille on the next flight out, I’ll call off Brooks.”

I swallowed, “Brooks Barry?”

“The very same.
 
He heard about your financial situation and he’s willing to make an offer.”

“I’m not selling my company to Brooks Barry,” I said a jolt of fear stabbing my gut, “He’ll destroy everything I built.”

Bingham shrugged, “Brooks isn’t known for his sentimentality which is probably what makes him so good at what he does.”
 
He looked up at me with a calculating smile.
 
“So what’s it going to be?
 
Your company or Alex?”

“I want fifteen,” I said boldly.

“Twelve and that is my final offer, but you have to leave by tomorrow night and Alex isn’t to find out about this conversation.”

“Done,” I said watching him fill in the cheque.

He ripped it out of the chequebook and handed it to me.
 
Twelve million dollars and all I had to do was leave town.

“Nice doing business with you,” I said as I turned and walked out of the office.
 
I pulled out my phone and dialled.

“The deal’s off,” I said.

“What?
 
You can’t do this to me,” Kiki screamed into my ear.

“I had a better offer,” I replied casually.

“No,” she said, “We had a deal and if you don’t keep up your end of the bargain, then I’ll be forced to go public.”

“Who will believe you?” I was smiling now.
 
The deal with Bingham was better than I had imagined.
 
Not only did I get more money than the bonus, but I also got to rid myself of the annoying leach that was Kiki Fornette.

“But you need Alex,” her voice was wheedling now.

“No, actually, I don’t.”

“What if I can arrange it so that she comes to you?”

Now that was an interesting thought.
 
I would be keeping up my side of the bargain with Bingham, I get to keep the twelve mil, collect the inheritance and the bonus.
 
It was almost worth having to put up with Kiki.
 
“Go on.”

“Leave it with me,” she said.

“I’m leaving tomorrow night.
 
Alex needs to be on that plane with me or we don’t have a deal.”

“She’ll be there.”

I disconnected and began to whistle as I walked through the town.
 
If Kiki could pull this off, then
 
I would be amazed.
 
But then again, the woman was devious, if anyone could do it, she could.
 
I stood on the boardwalk that skirted the lake shore and looked out over the great expanse of water feeling very good about myself.

“Is it true?”

I turned to see Alex looking at me with hurt in her eyes.
 
“Are you only here because of your inheritance?”