Christmas With The Billionaire (9 page)

“What are you thinking about now?” he demanded, pushing her hair away from her face. “If you won’t tell me the reason for that frown, I’ll have to fuck it out of you.”

“Would you?” She smiled slowly. “Would you, please?”

He shrugged. “If I must.”

“I think you must—”

She exclaimed with excitement as he lifted her and slammed her against the wall. She locked her legs behind his back as he supported her. She loved it when he cupped her buttocks, holding her in place. “Now,” she commanded, biting down hard on his shoulder.

Jason pulled his head back to look down at her. “First, explain why I can never get enough of you?”
 

“Because I’m the best?” she teased.
 

“You are,” he said, turning serious and surprising her.

But that wouldn’t change anything, she thought, gasping as he sank deep. This was amazing, but this was now, and tomorrow everything might change.

Her mouth opened on his shoulder to drag in air. Jason was so good at this. He was her master of pleasure. He thrust rhythmically, dependably, deep, and within seconds she was screaming her release. Her body bucked convulsively, out of control, but not out of Jason’s control. He held her safe until she quieted, and then he kissed her so tenderly, intimately, almost as if he felt the same bittersweet shadow brushing over them too.
 

After they showered, they got dressed and went out arm in arm to catch breakfast. They ate muffins and caramel wafer biscuits, and drank hot chocolate with cream piped on top—everything Jason’s fitness regime, and Kate’s half-hearted attempts at slimming, would prohibit. They had chosen the first steamy café packed with people they came across on the busy road, and had to muscle their way through the good-natured crowd to reach the counter. They were starving. They hadn’t realized how hungry they were, and they laughed as they ordered more and more food to fill the yawning gap.
 

“Sex makes me hungry,” Jason admitted.

“You don’t say!” She laughed as Jason moved in for a kiss. “Me too.”

“You’ve got a cream mustache.”
 

“I’m trying to compete with your stubble—”

The breath left her lungs in a rush when he kissed the cream away, and his lips lingered on hers a few moments longer than she had expected.
 

They left the café to do all the things that Kate had ever wanted to do in London at Christmas. Coming from the countryside, she had dreamed of this, and she guessed that Jason had missed out too. He certainly embraced the opportunity to explore London with her, and there was so much that was free to enjoy, and she suspected that was a novelty for him, as everything in Jason’s life seemed to come with a hefty price tag.
 

Braving the crowds, they bought hot chestnuts from a street vendor, and went skating in the park, where she fell over and they were both laughing so much Jason couldn’t lift her up, and in the end had to grab the hood on the back of her jacket to yank her up. He wrapped his arms around her to keep her safe after that, and took her slowly around the rink until she built her confidence enough to skate alone. He praised her and she felt ten feet tall.

They bought hot dogs to feed the ducks with the bread. He kept her warm inside his jacket when the snow began to fall. They rode the Ferris wheel and her teeth chattered as she snuggled into him. But it was worth braving the cold to have this view of London through the misty air, and to see monuments that appeared to be floating, and the River Thames flowing like a ribbon to the sea. Walking away from the wheel, they found a fairground stall where Jason won a ridiculous fluffy dog, which he handed to her with a flourish.

“As if we need more dogs!” She laughed, and just for a moment allowed herself to believe that they were a proper couple with a regular home life that included dogs.
 

But Jason frowned and the spell was shattered. “Talking of dogs—we’d better get back.”

She turned for home, sensing that this wonderful day had been a moment out of time for both of them, and might never be repeated again.
 

Everything went a bit flat when they got back. Kate supposed reality had kicked in for both of them. They carefully avoided the topic of what would happen next. The answer to that was probably nothing. This remained the elephant in the room as if they were both trying to hold on to the magical Christmas they’d shared for as long as they could.
 

Woolly had stayed in Kate’s apartment to keep Yappy company and it seemed so final when Jason clipped the leash on the big dog’s collar.
 

“I’ll call you later,” he promised.
 

She hoped so, but there was an empty feeling inside her that refused to go away, and that feeling said there was no later.

Cupping her face in his hands, Jason’s expression turned serious as he did his best to reassure her. “Don’t go anywhere,” he whispered.

She stared for a good few seconds into his eyes. “I won’t,” she promised.

Chapter Eleven

“Gone?” He stepped back with alarm. “What do you mean, she’s gone? Gone where?” He stared at the thin-lipped woman in front of him with disbelief.
 

“She’s gone wherever these girls go—” Lady Vallender stared at him impatiently. “The North of England, I suppose.” She made a dismissive gesture with her manicured hand. “That’s where I’m told the agency gets most of their girls. They’re cheap,” she explained, “because they’re not used to London wages.”
 

It wasn’t the girls who were cheap in his opinion. “Is that something to be proud of?”
 

“You may not like it, but it’s a fact of life,” the so-called lady told him. “And, frankly, I would have imagined a man of business such as yourself would not only understand why these girls are so popular, but approve of hiring them because they cost less.”

“That,” he said through gritted teeth, “is because you don’t know me, Lady Vallender.”
 

He stepped back as she slammed the door in his face.

He was eaten up inside at the thought Kate might have left him, and that she might even be homeless. It took him a moment to calm down enough to order his thoughts. He had never experienced anything like this before. Once he had everything back on an even keel, he swung around, reasoning Kate would be safe. She was sensible, and had always been quite open about the fact that she was only house-sitting the apartment for the holidays.
 

She must have gone home. But where was home? The North of England? Great. That was a vast area. They’d spent so much time in bed he hadn’t thought to ask for her address. There hadn’t been much conversation between them, but he should have thought to ask when she was leaving.
 

Swearing beneath his breath, he took the stairs to the penthouse two at a time. He’d been away in Paris on business and had just gotten back. He’d had to leave on short notice, and when he’d returned he’d called Kate, but she hadn’t answered. Then his mind had been wrapped around the problem of getting Woolly back safely to his estate in Scotland. A ghillie, one of the assistants to his gamekeeper, had flown to London to collect the big dog, so that problem was easily solved, but Kate disappearing had really thrown him. He’d called the agency, but they wouldn’t tell him anything. He’d texted, called, emailed, and left voicemails for Kate, who had apparently disappeared from the face of the earth.
 

Or maybe it was over between them as far as she was concerned, and she just hadn’t bothered to answer his calls, which was also possible.

No. He refused to accept that. There was a bond between them. She felt it as much as he did. And he wasn’t going to leave it here. Kate was special, and special was in short supply. She had brought her northern warmth and sparkle to London, and now she’d gone back home. Why would she wait for him? She was an independent woman. She’d never been needy, but he’d taken her for granted like everything else—anything Jason Kent wanted, Jason Kent could have. But not this time. This time he had to fight for what he wanted. And what he wanted was Kate.

He walked into his apartment where the silence mocked him. His sense of loss was unique and painful. He’d never take anything for granted again. Picking up the phone, he called his investigator. The woman was surprised when he gave her the brief, as she usually looked at companies for him.

“This is more important,” he assured her.

“I gathered that.”

“I’m going to get in the car now and start driving north. Call me when you’ve got something.”
 

“You did like our gifts?” Kate’s mother began cautiously.
 

“I loved them—every one of them,” Kate was quick to reassure her mother. Her tension eased as she ran through the thoughtful presents from her family in her mind. “Especially the ‘grow your own sports car’ from Nathan.”

“Someone must like you...” Her mother lifted the necklace Kate was wearing to examine the tiny hearts. “All our names are engraved here, Dad,” she called out to Kate’s father, who was sitting behind his newspaper in front of the fire, and who grunted, while Kate avoided her mother’s gaze.
 

She should have known her mother wouldn’t give up easily. “Someone nice give it to you?” she prompted.

“It was a gift from all my new friends at the party,” Kate reported truthfully. “Santa found it at the bottom of his sack.”

“Santa...?”
 

When she didn’t rise to the bait, her mother added, “Well, it was very nice of your new friends to think of it—very nice indeed. You did remember to bring your wooden hearts back?”

“I would never forget them.”

“No, I don’t suppose you would.” Her mother searched Kate’s eyes with concern. “Ah, well, we’d better get everything ready for when your brothers get back. It’s nice to have the boys home for once.”
 

“It must be,” Kate agreed, though her brothers were hardly boys now. They were all powerful men in their own right, with a number of different interests that had taken them away from the farm. She was glad for her mother’s sake that they had decided to come home for Christmas.

At the mention of her sons, her mother had turned from tender concern to bustling efficiency. “They’ve been out on High Top seeing to the sheep. I’m only glad the girls are staying over at their friends’ overnight. That blizzard is only going to get worse, according to the weather man.”

“It’s good to be safely home,” Kate agreed as she went to help her mother prepare the main meal of the day, which, when the weather was against them as it was today, was designed to be consumed whenever the men could spare the time to eat it.
 

“I’m glad you made friends in London,” her mother observed as she topped up the mountain of food that she’d already laid out on the table. “I worried you’d be sitting alone brooding over Christmas, and I know how much you love it here—”

“Our Kate, brooding?” her father piped up. “Doesn’t sound like our Kate to me. I expect you were too busy to brood, weren’t you, lass?”

“That’s right. I was.” Kate injected her voice with energy. She could tell her parents were worried about her, and knew her well enough to sense that London had been a mixed experience.
 

And then her brothers barreled in through the door, and everything changed in a trice from calm and relaxed to testosterone central, with the icy air from outside blasting through the cozy kitchen for good measure. There were suddenly too many big bodies jostling for the available space in the room, and deep male voices pitched loud enough to carry across an open field.

“I made a lot of friends in London,” Kate assured her mother quietly in response to the worried glance that said her mother would have liked more time alone with her.
 

“You make friends wherever you go,” Kate’s oldest brother Bastien observed as he leaned over the two women to steal a cake. “Did you get everyone organized?” he teased as Kate slapped his hand.
 

“I held a Christmas party.”

“Of course you did.” Her mother hugged her. “That’s your gift, Kate. Making people feel good is what you do.”

“We have to get back out there again as fast as we can,” Bastien explained, causing their mother to look at him worriedly.
 

Her other brother, Elijah, added, “We’ll eat and then go chase up the rest of the sheep.”

“I’ll come with you,” Kate’s father insisted, putting down his newspaper.
 

“And I’ll prepare the barn for the animals,” Kate said.
 

“—While I make more soup,” her mother added. “Goodness knows when you’ll get back. Just stay close and keep each other safe, will you?”

She waited until Kate’s brothers were busy eating, and then she asked her daughter discreetly, “So, why so sad?”
 

Kate pulled a face. “You don’t want to know.”

“A man?” her mother guessed.

“Yes. But not a man like He-Who-Must-Never-Darken-Our-Doorstep-Again.”

“You mean not like that scum who borrowed your credit card to pay off his own debts and who left you in debt instead?”