Pregnant by the Maverick Millionaire (13 page)

Kade cupped the side of her face with his big hand and she finally saw the beginning of a smile. “For a bright woman, you can be incredibly dense on occasion.”

What did that mean? What was he trying to say?

Kade's thumb drifted over her bottom lip, down her chin. “I can love you. I do love you.”

Brodie felt her heart expand, fill with a warm, bright light. Before it could start dancing around her rib cage, she grabbed it in an iron fist. “In what way?”

“In every way that counts. “ Kade kissed the corner of her mouth. “And more. A lot more.”

She loosened the hold on her heart. “Meaning?”

“Meaning I love you, too. I will always love you. I never expected this to happen to me, not like this. We met again and I feel like I've been riding a hurricane and I've loved every minute. You drive me nuts, you turn me on. I think about you all the damn time.” He swallowed some emotion and Brodie blinked back her tears.

“I imagine the family we can have, the fun we'll have,” Kade continued, “I dream about the love that will color our lives.”

Brodie smiled slowly, her heart dancing. She placed her hands on his pecs and rested her forehead on his chest. “Oh, God, I feel light-headed. I am so relieved.” Kade's hand cupped the back of her head. “While I was running away, I realized I'd so rather be scared with you than be without you. I'd rather stand in an electrical storm with you than be safe by myself. You're my it, Kade—the blond, big man my eleven-year-old self recognized so long ago.”

“Brodie.” Kade's arms tightened around her and easily lifted her so her mouth aligned with his. “Welcome home, baby. Don't run away anymore.”

“Thank you for giving me another chance,” she murmured against his lips.

“I've missed you.” A mischievous smile crossed his face as humor and relief chased the last residue of hurt and disappointment from his eyes. “So does this mean I have to get rid of the girl in the bathroom?”

* * *

Brodie tapped on the door to Kade's office and popped her head in. It was the end of the day and her man sat behind his desk, his fingers flying across his keyboard. He looked up and the frown on his face disappeared as his smile reached his eyes. They'd been back together for a month and the butterflies in her stomach were still going mad, occasionally accompanied by a tiny flutter that was all Baby Webb.

“Hey, gorgeous.” Kade leaned back in his chair as she closed the door behind her. She walked over to his desk and plopped herself into his lap, lifting her face for a thorough, very sexy kiss. Kade pulled away and placed his hand on her round tummy. “How's my other girl?”

“Your
boy
has started to play ice hockey in my womb,” Brodie replied. “We have a doctor's appointment next week.”

“I haven't forgotten.” Kade looked at his watch. “As much as I love the idea of you surprising me at work, I thought you had a late meeting.”

“I did but I canceled.” She was about to add she forgot to wear her fake engagement ring but she knew that might prompt Kade to suggest he buy her a real ring. She knew a proposal was coming but she wanted to do something different...

Hence her visit to his office.

Brodie climbed off his lap and sat on the edge of his desk so she could see his face. “So, Wren called me and told me she's posted the final blog on our endeavor to find your happily-ever-after.”

“You're my happily-ever-after.” Kade placed a hand on her knee. “I told her to take that nonsense down. It's silly to have it on the site when everyone knows we are together, a couple, in love and that we are having a baby.”

“Still—” Brodie tapped her finger on the screen of his laptop “—take a look.”

“You've seen it?” Kade asked, sitting up.

“I approved it. I hope you do, too.” She licked her lips and watched as he double-clicked the icon on the screen to bring up the Mavericks' website. He went to the relevant page and started to read. Brodie tucked her shaking hands under her thighs and read along with him.

There was a photo of them in the top right-hand corner with the words
Kade's future
as a title.

As a matchmaker, I have matched many couples and it gives me great pleasure to play a small part in helping people find happiness in love. I have, in the process of trying to find Kade's life partner, found the same happiness and nobody was more surprised than I was when I realized Kade was mine.

I never thought that love, permanence and commitment would be a part of my future again but I am honored and thrilled to have found it with Kade.

He and our child are my future, my joy, my heart. So, sorry, ladies of Vancouver, but Kade Webb is officially and permanently off the market.

Yours,

Brodie

Brodie found her courage and said the words she'd been practicing for the past week. “So, my mom's engagement ring is very real and I'd like to wear it. Are you game, Webb?”

Brodie watched as Kade slowly turned and sent her his charming, emotional, full-blown smile. He leaned back in his chair and linked his hands across his stomach. “You proposing, Stewart?”

Brodie lifted one shoulder. “It's a suggestion...”

“I like your suggestion,” Kade softly answered her.

Warmth coursed through her, relaxing and rejuvenating her at the same time.

Kade gestured to the screen. “Why this, Brodes? It's a pretty public declaration.”

That was the point. Brodie attempted to explain. “I know, it'll be the only time I'll ever do or say something about us on social media, but I needed to. I've lived in the shadows for so long. I've protected myself so well, I wanted to show you exactly how committed I am to you, to us. I wanted you to know I'm still scared but I'm not going to run away.” She stared at her shoes. “Maybe it was just me breaking through my cocoon.”

Kade stood and tipped up her face. “Thank you.” He placed his hands on the desk and dropped a sexy, sweet kiss on her mouth. “I love you so damn much and I can't wait to marry you. Hand the ring over and I'll do the bended-knee thing.”

Brodie grinned. “I can't wait to see you on bended knee and I love you back.”

Kade smiled against her lips. “First and last time. Now that our future is sorted, let's talk about the important stuff.”

“Where we're going to live—your loft—and when we're going to get married? I was thinking the sooner the better.”

Kade's eyes glinted. “Actually, I was talking about the
really
important stuff, like how soon I can get you naked—”

The door burst open and they broke off their deep kiss and looked around to see Quinn standing in the doorway.

“Oh, for God's sake, do you two do anything other than grope each other?” he demanded, slapping his hand over his eyes.

“Not really, no.” Kade scowled at his friend. “What do you want, jerkoid?”

“Rory's on her way to the hospital, she's in labor. We're going to have our first Maverick baby!”

Kade grabbed his jacket and Brodie's hand. “We're right behind you.” At the door he kissed Brodie again and tucked her into his side. “The future looks good, babe.”

Brodie sighed and placed a hand on her stomach. “It really does.”

And this time, for the first time in far too long, she was convinced of it.

* * * * *

Pick up the first book in the
FROM MAVERICKS TO MARRIED
series, TRAPPED WITH THE MAVERICK MILLIONAIRE and these other sexy, emotional reads from Joss Wood

TAKING THE BOSS TO BED
YOUR BED OR MINE?
THE HONEYMOON ARRANGEMENT
MORE THAN A FLING?

***

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CONTRACT WEDDING, EXPECTANT BRIDE
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Contract Wedding, Expectant Bride

by Yvonne Lindsay

One

H
e was here.

She knew it by the way the energy inside the tranquil island castle shifted and switched up a gear. Ottavia smoothed her gown over her curves for the fifteenth time that afternoon and told herself again that she wasn't nervous. Not really. In her profession as a courtesan, she was accustomed to dealing with powerful men. Dealing with a king couldn't truly be that different...could it?

The exquisite French Charles X ormolu clock on the mantelpiece continued to tick quietly, marking the seconds as they dragged by. But thankfully, she didn't have to wait long. The ornate wooden doors leading into the high-ceilinged room swung open. Her stomach clenched in anticipation. A frisson of nerves shimmered down her spine. But, instead of the royal visage she'd expected to see, one of the king's advisers—Sonja Novak—stood there instead.

The woman was, as usual, impeccably dressed in a Chanel suit and her iron gray hair was swept into an impossibly neat chignon. Her classically beautiful features were schooled into a bland expression that, as far as Ottavia could tell, was about as close as the senior member of King Rocco's staff ever came to a smile.

“His Majesty will see you now.”

“I will see him here,” Ottavia replied as firmly as she could.

She should have known it would earn a particularly scathing look.

“Ms. Romolo, the King of Erminia summons you into
his
presence.
Not
the other way around.”

“Then His Majesty will be disappointed, won't he?”

Dredging every last vestige of courage, Ottavia turned her back on the woman and directed her gaze out the window. She counted slowly, regulating her breathing and slowing her rapid heartbeat with each number—one, two, three... She was at seven before she heard the huff of outrage, closely followed by the brisk click of heels on the parquet floor. Then, blessed silence.

Ottavia allowed a small, triumphant smile to curve her lips. He would come to her. She knew it as certainly as she knew the carefully composed face that greeted her in the mirror each morning. She'd seen the expression in his eyes at their first meeting and recognized it immediately. Granted, she hadn't been looking her best. Who did when they'd been held captive for several days without so much as a change of clothing? But, even dressed in the same traveling outfit she'd worn for almost a week, her face without makeup, she'd seen that look. He wanted her. And she had years of experience manipulating that want in the men she encountered.

Besides, he owed her. Not only had his sister kidnapped Ottavia, Princess Mila had had the cheek to steal Ottavia's clothing and borrow her identity, pretending to actually
be
Ottavia as she took on the engagement with the courtesan's current client. In the meantime, Ottavia had been held captive for several days until she'd been able to escape. Granted, she'd been held captive in a luxury suite in one of Erminia's best hotels, but that didn't excuse anyone from their part in what had happened. Then, when she'd rushed to the king to warn him what his sister was up to—in an attempt to muzzle her and keep her from speaking to the press, he'd
also
ordered her to be held captive. Not that it had helped. The story had gotten out anyway, even though Ottavia had done nothing to spread it. But the scandal had blown over eventually. And her clothing had finally been returned to her two weeks ago. So now only one obstacle remained—dealing with the king.

Ottavia rolled her shoulders in an attempt to loosen some of the tension that gripped her body but it was no use. It rankled to be at someone else's mercy. She was a woman used to being in charge of her own life, one who made her own decisions. Helplessness did not sit comfortably on her softly rounded shoulders at all.

Ottavia was so engrossed in her thoughts, so bent on stoking the fire of indignation that burned angrily inside her, that she almost didn't hear the doors behind her open again. She turned, instantly aware of the palpable presence of power that now filled the room. Despite her hard-won composure, she couldn't help the visceral reaction that rocketed through her body at the sight of her king standing before her.

Taller than her by at least six inches, she was forced to look up into his unusual sherry-colored eyes. His body was still, but those eyes—they were alive. Not for the first time, she was reminded of a sleek jungle cat stalking its prey, waiting to pounce. The idea should have terrified her—instead, it sent an unexpected shimmer of heat rippling through her body.

But he wasn't immune either, she noted with satisfaction. She saw the way his gaze was pulled to the column of her throat above the high neckline of her dress, then lower to where her beaded nipples made their presence known through the fine silk of her gown. Her lips curved in the slightest of smiles and she drew in a deep breath, one that made her breasts swell and rise gently.

Ottavia swooped into a graceful curtsy and bowed her head—she was more aware than most that you caught far more flies with honey—and remained beneath her king, waiting for his command to rise.

“Your deference is too little too late, Ms. Romolo,” he intoned, and his deep voice hummed through her body. “Rise.”

As she did so she looked up at him from beneath her long lashes, noted the firm set to his lips, the tiny lines that bracketed his mouth and the tension in his jaw. He was displeased. It was a risk she'd thought worth taking. Ottavia rose to her full height, squared her shoulders and held her tongue.

* * *

The woman stood in front of the window and he had to admire her strategy. Silhouetted by the filtered late afternoon light—every lush curve and gentle swell of her body limned with a golden glow—she was an eye-catching sight. But she had tangled with the wrong person if she thought positioning would give her any psychological leverage. He hadn't ruled Erminia for the past fifteen years without learning an almost inhuman level of self-control. His duty to his country demanded no less.

Rocco stepped closer to her until there was a scant foot between them. To the courtesan's credit, she didn't so much as flicker an eyelash even though he knew damn well he was an intimidating presence—he'd spent his life working on making people believe it. And, no matter how angered or amused he might have been by her audacity in attempting to invoice him for her time spent as his captive, he certainly had no plans to show it.

He thrust a sheet of paper toward her.

“What is the meaning of this?” he growled.

“I believe even you must be familiar with the term invoice?” she said.

Her voice was low-pitched and perfectly modulated, rolling over him like a velvet touch, heightening his awareness of her on a physical level that took him by surprise. Was this how she plied her trade? he wondered. Seducing a man with her voice before using the other wiles she doubtlessly wielded with expertise? His lips curled in defiance. She would soon learn he was no simple mark easily swayed by a beautiful woman.

“You are my prisoner.” He rent the invoice in two and let the pieces drop to the floor at his feet. “You have no right to
bill
me for your time here. As my captive, you have no rights at all.”

She raised one perfectly plucked arch of an eyebrow in response.

“I beg to differ, Your Majesty. The way I see it, your family owes me a great deal.”

He had to admire her gall. There weren't many who dared challenge him.

“We do? Enlighten me,” he demanded.

“There is the matter of my not being able to fulfill my contract because first your sister, and subsequently you, have kept me against my will. Like most of your subjects, I have financial responsibilities. I find myself unable to meet them when I am not paid for my time.”

Rocco let his gaze drift over the woman. It certainly was no hardship to do so. Her neck was long and graceful, tapering gently to sweetly feminine shoulders exposed by the cutaway sleeve line of the deceptively simple gown she wore. The ruby hue of the fitted dress complemented the softly tanned glow of her skin. Was she this color all over, he wondered, or did her skin pale in those enticing hidden areas?

She did not seem to appreciate having her words ignored. “You have treated me unfairly and you continue to do so,” she said. “Release me.”

There was passion beneath her words and a spark of fire in her eyes making them burn bright. He found he quite enjoyed needling a reaction out of her.

“Release you?” He watched her carefully as he paused and considered her request, and saw the flash of hope that sprang into her gaze. “I think not. I'm not finished with you yet.”

“Not finished?” she all but spluttered. “You never even started.”

“Ah yes, and there is the problem, Ms. Romolo. You have invoiced me for your time here. I imagine that has been calculated at your usual rate?”

She inclined her head with consummate grace and elegance.

“Then you would agree, wouldn't you,” he continued smoothly, “that I am owed a discount for
lack
of services rendered.”

He stepped back and watched the unguarded flurry of emotion that caught her enchanting features. She composed herself quickly and drew in a shaky breath.

“Does Your Majesty wish to avail himself of my services?” she asked.

If she had asked him five minutes ago, he would have given her an emphatic no in response. This woman had caused him no end of trouble. If she had not accepted a contract to serve as temporary courtesan to King Thierry of Sylvain, both Rocco's kingdom and Thierry's could have been spared an endless amount of trouble.

Thierry had been, for several years prior, betrothed to Rocco's sister, Mila, in an arranged marriage. Discovering her betrothed's plans to avail himself of a courtesan had driven Mila to the reckless step of trading places with Ms. Romolo, so she could ensure her husband-to-be would take no lover other than herself. Her plan had worked—at first. But when he'd discovered her deception, Thierry had been incensed—and when the news had, somehow, leaked to the press, making them into a media spectacle, Thierry had called off the engagement entirely. It had taken a disastrous event to reunite Mila and Thierry...but finally they had reconciled and wed, and were now blissfully happy. It had all worked out in the end.

That didn't make him any happier with Ottavia Romolo, though, without whom all of this could have been avoided. So no, he had never truly considered availing himself of any of her considerable charms. He'd been too busy wishing that she'd take herself to another country entirely and let them deal with the chaos she brought in her wake.

But now, with his senses tingling and his mind intrigued, he found himself considering a far more affirmative response.

“I haven't decided yet,” he answered.

“Nor have I offered,” she countered.

Oh, she was good—valiantly holding on to her pride and dignity even while the threads of control of this situation escaped those long slender fingers. Heat burned low in his groin at the challenge she presented—and the temptation. His response to her both irritated and stimulated him. Much like the woman herself.

“You are mistaken if you think you have a choice, Ms. Romolo.”

She lifted her chin defiantly. “I always have a choice. I am glad you have destroyed my initial invoice,” she continued with a smile.

Rocco was surprised. Of all the things she could have said, he hadn't expected that.

“I'm pleased to hear it,” he said. “But why?”

“Because, Sire, my price has gone up.”

Copyright © 2016 by Dolce Vita Trust