With These Four Rings - Book Five: Wedding Bonus (Billionaire Brides of Granite Falls 5) (5 page)

Libby placed her hand on the doorknob. “You want me to tell him you’re here?”

“No. I’ll catch him between meetings.” She would have loved to deliver the news at the end of his day, preferably after they’d made love and he was still trembling inside her. But he would be gone for two days, and she couldn’t keep Desire in limbo any longer. Business was business.

CHAPTER THREE

Kaya backtracked to Elaine’s desk, hoping to engage in small talk to keep her mind off the impending conversation with her husband. But Elaine was busy on the phone scheduling meetings and arranging travel plans for Bryce—both domestic and foreign—for the next few months.

She strolled back to the commodious waiting area outside Bryce’s office. It was classically decorated with black and white leather sofas and chairs, arranged around glass and marble coffee tables that were topped with the latest issues of the leading newspapers and business-related magazines in the country.

A variety of life size trees in terracotta pots were scattered strategically about, blending nicely with the sky-blue interior and the natural landscapes of the White Mountains and Crystal Lake made visible through the walls of glass.

Since it was erected fifteen years ago, Fontaine Enterprises had been voted the most architecturally aesthetic building in Granite Falls. Yet no one but Bryce knew the identity of the young architect, who preferred to remain anonymous. Bryce hadn’t even confided in her, not because he didn’t trust her, but because he’d signed a contract of confidentiality. Business was business.

Kaya began sorting idly through a stack of magazines on one of the tables, and her eyes popped when she saw the heading of an article sprawled across the top of the latest issue of
Granite Falls People News
. “Love and Marriage – Granite Falls Billionaire Husbands Tell All.” An elegant photo of the four couples embracing and staring into each other’s eyes took up the entire cover. Kaya remembered the husbands insisting on posing for that photo last July during the private family party at Mountainview Café—the party where the wives had made their husbands kneel and propose to them properly. Philippe had taken several photos of them.

Kaya immediately called the other wives—conference style. Like her, they weren’t aware that their husbands had done the interview with Lester Cobbs.

After hanging up, she flopped down on a sofa that gave her full view of Bryce’s office door, and flipped open the magazine to page four. They’d gone public with the news of their renewal of vows midway between Thanksgiving and Christmas, hoping that people would be too busy with holiday planning to pay them much attention. They couldn’t have been more wrong.

Just hours after the news broke, Granite Falls had become a beehive of activity with paparazzi from every corner of the globe buzzing around. Their phones had been ringing nonstop and the streets close to their individual estates had been lined with photographers and news reporters, trying to snap pictures and procure interviews. It wouldn’t have been so bad if they didn’t have children to protect. Michelle, who’d just given birth to Fiona, and Tashi, who was six months pregnant with Alex, were in greater danger than the rest of them.

Escaping Granite Falls was the only solution. Since they had an in-house OB/GYN, they’d all given their household staff and nannies a long paid vacation, packed up their immediate and extended families, and jetted off to
Michelle
in the Seychelles for Christmas. They’d enjoyed the peace and quiet so much that they’d decided to make it an annual ritual, spending the holidays on each private island in turn. After Christmas, the parents had left their ten children in the capable care of seven grandparents and two uncles in the Seychelles, and flown to the newly acquired island of
Tashi
off the Amalfi Coast to ring in the New Year in naughty, grownup style.

By the time they all returned home to Granite Falls, the buzz had died down.

Kaya smiled as she began reading the men’s versions of how they met their wives, how they knew right away that each woman was
the one
and when they first knew without a shadow of a doubt that they were hopelessly in love.

Erik spoke about his instant attraction for Michelle when she came sashaying up his driveway hauling a suitcase behind her to interview for a nanny position, and that he fell in love with her when she made the most horrible pig face that made Precious laugh. He also talked about his mistakes and how he almost lost her forever. “When I found out that the man who raised her—the man she thought was her father—was the one who’d killed my first wife, like a blind idiot, I took out my hurt on Michelle. That was the biggest mistake of my life.” He attributed the reason they made it back to each other to Michelle’s big heart and forgiving spirit. “She proved to me that even idiots deserve to be loved. Even after five years of marriage, every single day I wake up thinking of ways to make it up to her.”
Grins widely
. “I’m the happiest idiot in the universe. I love Michelle more than life itself.”

Kaya’s heart trembled as she read Bryce’s story. “When I first saw Kaya, my heart stopped beating for countless seconds. She was the most gorgeous woman I’d ever seen. I just wanted to wrap her up and take her home, unwrap her and gaze at her loveliness for hours on end. Boy, was I smitten. Then my jets cooled when she showed her strong, stubborn-to-a-fault personality.”
Looks away dreamily
. “I knew she was
the one
when I tried to pay her to give me custody of my godchildren who’d just lost both their parents. Kaya practically told me to take my money and shove it.”
Chuckles
. “I knew I loved her when I walked into the nursery and found her at her wits end trying to comfort a cranky baby. She had no idea what she was doing, but I saw my future with her and our children. At that moment, I knew I would do anything to make, and keep her happy.
Anything
. But as men are wont to do, I hurt her. Thankfully, she forgave me and has given me a reason to live again. I’m nothing, nobody without Kaya. I love her like I’ve loved no other woman. Ever.”

That public declaration included Pilar
, Kaya thought on a sob. “I love her like I’ve loved no other woman. Ever.” Kaya said the words out loud.

Tears blinded her as she moved on to Massimo’s partially invented story. He couldn’t tell the world that he’d met his wife when she offered to sell him her virginity for four million dollars. That was a story best kept in-house. He’d instead reported that he’d fallen in love with Shaina’s eyes when she was only seventeen years old—which was actually true—but that he had to wait seven years for their paths to cross again when she fell on the slopes in front of him while skiing. That was their public story and they were sticking with it.

“Many people don’t know, but shortly after my father died, I almost followed him into eternity.” He talked about his run-in with the injured rhino and about Jabari who dragged him back to the Masai village. “For months I lingered between life and death, and each time I fell into the blackness, Shaina’s eyes led me back to the light.”
Heavy sigh
. “Here’s something else I’ve kept from the public: in his will, my father stipulated that in order to gain my inheritance, I had to marry before my thirty-fourth birthday, stay faithfully married for three years, and produce an heir within one.”
Shakes his head
. “Talk about pressure. When I met Shaina, I was two weeks shy of my birthday.”
Chuckles
.
Waves hands in the air
. “My announcing our engagement that day at the country club made her mad as hell, and she did everything in her power to run. Who could blame her? I was a notorious playboy who wanted to marry her for money—a fact that she was unaware of at the time.” Massimo went on to explain about drawing up a prenup for a three-year marriage, and having Shaina arrested, then giving her the options of either staying in jail or marrying him. “Not very heroic, but by then I was deeply in love with her and would have done anything to keep her in my life. I threw out the prenup, of course.”
Chuckles again.
“Shaina saved me from a life of emptiness and loneliness. She has changed me in ways I never imagined I could be changed. She provides everything I need and want in a woman. Since the day I met her, I’ve never given another woman a second glance or a thought. Shaina is the only woman I’ve ever loved. Will ever love.”

Adam recaptured the moment he and Tashi collided with each other in Mountainview Café. “My world stopped spinning that very moment. One glance into her emerald eyes and I felt as if I knew her, like we’d been together in a previous life.”
Chuckles and combs fingers through hair
. “I’m a man who’d been hurt, twice, and so
skeptical me
brushed it off as the hormonal reaction of a boy to a girl. But the universe was working against me, or perhaps for me, and two more times, it brought Tashi and me together.”
Chuckles again
. “The third time, as they say, is really a charm, although there was nothing charming about that meeting.” He went on to explain how he had to crawl through Tashi’s bedroom window to rescue her from dying of food poisoning, and that when he saw her lying weak and helpless on her bed was the moment he knew he loved her. “Tashi and I were born to love each other. My life is complete. There’s nothing else in this world that I want or need. I loved Tashi before life and I love her beyond death.”

As expected, there was no mention of Tashi’s New York troubles. Like Massimo and Shaina, there were portions of Adam and Tashi’s story that needed to remain private.

“Kaya, darling.”

Kaya started at the sound of her husband’s voice. She glanced up to see him standing at his office door, his face shrouded in surprise at seeing her. She turned her head in the direction of the receptionist area and realized that she’d been so preoccupied with the article that she hadn’t even noticed Elaine had left for lunch. That she could understand, but how the heck had she missed Marcus Spencer leaving Bryce’s office and taking the elevator next to it? Had she dozed off?

Bryce strode toward her, his surprise turning into open exhilaration.

Kaya smiled as he drew closer, looking scrumptiously sexy in a pair of gray trousers, white shirt, and gray and white striped tie. He’d removed his jacket, and even from a distance of a few yards, she could see his powerful muscles rippling under the silky material of his shirt. Overcome with affection, Kaya dropped the magazine on the sofa and raced toward her husband. “I love you, Bryce. I love you so much,” she panted throwing her arms about his waist.

“Sweet, Kaya. I love you, too, baby.” He picked her up and hugged her close as his lips opened over hers.

Kaya wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him tighter as his tongue worked its way into her mouth. He was bold and masculine, and tasted like peppermint, and the familiar fire that blazed to life whenever they touched began to spread heat through her. Bryce’s low throaty groan and the bulge of his erection pressing into her belly were evidence that he too felt the electricity between them. Her panties were already wet. Even though he was busy, she knew it would take very little to entice him to carry her to his office and make love to her.

But she hadn’t come here to seduce him. She’d come to destroy him.
I’ll do anything to make and keep her happy. I love her like I’ve loved no other woman. Ever.
Kaya hoped Bryce would remember those words when she dropped the bombshell of Desire on his head. She tugged her mouth from his and wriggled out of his arms.

“We said our goodbyes this morning,” he said, steadying her on her feet, “but I’m glad you stopped by.”

He sported a happy sexy smile that filled Kaya with guilt. The man had to prepare for another meeting in an hour and then a conference tonight. She was a terrible wife to mess with his head at such an inopportune time.

“How long have you been waiting?” he asked.

“Since Libby brought you those files.”

“She didn’t tell me you were here.”

“I asked her not to. I didn’t want to bother you.”

He pulled her into his arms, and tangled his fingers into her hair. “Sweetie, you’re never a bother. I would excuse myself from an audience with President Obama to see you.”

His last statement brought Kaya a mixture of joy and pain. “Oh, Bryce.” She sighed into his chest.

He eased her away and gazed lovingly down at her. “What’s the matter, baby?”

“Have you eaten lunch, yet?” she asked, stalling for time.

“I grabbed a sandwich from the cafeteria earlier. I ate it during my last meeting.”

“Where’s Mr. Spencer? I didn’t see him leave.”

His eyes narrowed and he dropped his hands from her shoulders. “How do you know I was meeting with Marcus?”

“Libby told me.”

“Did she tell you why?” He crossed his arms and stared at her.

“No, Bryce. Why are you acting so suspiciously?”

He passed his hands down his face. “I’m sorry. I’m just tired.”

Kaya swallowed another mouthful of guilt. “Is he still in your office?”
Say yes. Say yes
.

“Um—no. We took the back stairs from my office down to the garage, and I took it back up. You know that’s how I stretch my legs between meetings. If I hadn’t come out to grab something from Elaine’s desk, I would have missed you.”

I wish you had
. Maybe she should just go home, and tell the girls that Desire was out. She cared more about her husband’s sanity than about throwing the perfect wedding. They were already married anyway, so who cared…