The Billionaire's Secrets (10 page)

The castle had been passed down through the oldest sons until it came to
Gaelan
- and he supposed one day it would go to
Sophia
. There was no chance of a son
now
.
And while he had reservations about her inheriting the house
,
they
had nothing to do with her being female.
Times had changed
,
and
Gaelan
believed for the best - at least where
women stood. Regardless, any other child
would mean another woman in his life, and he was determined that no matter how hard his body rebelled against his rigidly imposed celibacy, there would never be another.

He looked up then and saw her.
Chloe.
She appeared from the mist, her
strawberry blond
hair floating on the breeze, as ethereal and ghostly as the morning.  He felt the memory of her body against his and wondered if he could resist this woman’s attractions.
Turning away from her, he
looked out again over the water, now a swirling wall of white, and forced himself to concentrate on the task at hand.

“The fog is so thick,” she said quietly behind him. “When I was in my room,
I could still see the icebergs, and now there’s nothing but this.
”

“Yes, it can roll in pretty fast,” he said, his voice sounding strangely flat and emotionless to his own ears. He would not let her hear the impact she had on him.

She did not say anything for a moment, but he could feel her presence, the fog wrapping them up together in a white misty blanket
until they could barely see each other
. “I’m ready to go,” she said at an attempt at brig
htness. “I think it
best I leave before
Sophia
gets up.”

“That won’t be necessary,” he said, addressing the Atlantic Ocean. “You can stay.”

He told himself he was doing this for
Sophia
. He had failed the child in so many ways.
Poor kid.
It wasn’t her fault - but he simply couldn’t help it. He felt like a monster sometimes, but he just couldn’t feel any affection for her. Instead, he bought her presents
, toys, books, her cat, knowing as he presented them
that all the toys in the world could not compensate for a father's love. And now he would give her Chloe, another compensation for his lack of affection.

He had watched Chloe with
Sophia
the night before. Despite having known
Sophia
for only a couple of hours, Chloe seemed genuinely fond of her. She had tucked her in and kissed her goodnight. The little things a parent would
do,
the little things he hadn’t done since she was a baby, when he had thought it possible for them to be a family.
He, Colleen, and
Sophia
.
But they weren’t a family
, and he was a failure as a father
. And so h
e would let Chloe stay for
Sophia
’s sake.

But was that really true? Was he only thinking about
Sophia
? Or was he thinking about himself too? He remembered her black silk neglig
é
e, the way it clung to every curve of her body, the glimpse of shadowy cleavage before she pulled the wrap around her. And he was surely thinking about himself when he had grabbed her in his study. Really, afterward he had been ashamed of himself. It had been less than dignified and rather brutish. Really he deserved the slap across the
face,
even if he could still swear she had enjoyed that kiss every bit as much as he had.

He looked down over the cliff, but it was like looking through clouds, and while he could hear the water against the rocks, he could see nothing but white fog. It was as if nothing in the world existed but he and this woman
. He could barely see her, but he could feel her presence
- so
close he only had to turn around and reach out to touch her. His common sense told him this
was how it started
, a physical attraction
,
then
bang
!
In
over your head.
He was plunging toward disaster. He knew it, and he knew he should do something to stop it, but he had never felt so powerless in his life.

Suddenly he was aware she had yet to respond to his offer. Not trusting himself to turn
toward her
, he made it again. “If you still want the job, it's yours.
On a three-month trial basis, of course.”
He would not throw caution completely to the winds.

“I think
Sophia
will be very happy,” she said at last.

“And you?” he asked in a low voice. “Will you be happy?”

“I don’t know...I did quit...”

He suddenly felt angry at her hesitation and knew that as much as he was attracted to her, he was far from trusting her. What would Windy say?
Once bu
rnt, twice shy?
There seemed to
be
something calculably coy in her indecision, and he felt like she was playing games with him. And he’d had enough games from Colleen to last a lifetime. He turned around to face her
, taking a step forward so he was just arm’s distance away
. “If it's about last night, don’t worry. I can assure you it won’t happen again.”

He had hit a nerve, he could see that in the way she narrowed her eyes and straightened her shoulders. “I should hope not,” she snapped back loudly. So loudly that
Gaelan
decided she was protesting too much. He did not know whether that pleased him or not.

“So, you’ll take the job?” he said impatiently. “Come on. I don’t have all day.”

“Yes. I will,” she said quietly, and
Gaelan
tried to read her thoughts. “I’ll go and see if
Sophia
is up yet,” she said and turned away.

“Wait,” he said
,
and
he
put a hand on her shoulder to stop her. It was an unconscious gesture
,
and yet as he pulled his hand away he wondered if he hadn’t wanted an excuse to touch her. She turned but stepped away from him, putting distance between them, seemingly unsure of what was about to happen next. Did she think he was going to kiss her again?

“I want to make a couple of things absolutely clear,” he said firmly. He was serious, he told himself - it was not going to happen again. Not with Chloe and not wit
h anyone else.
“You are here to teach
Sophia
. I do not want to be bothered.
Ever.
No parent-teacher interviews, no cute little plays or recitals. I do not wish to be bothered.”

He
noted
her look of disapproval but did not acknowledge it. He couldn’t bear signs of affection from
Sophia
, every one of them making him more acutely aware of his own inability to show affection and warmth for her. “The second thing,” he continued.
"
Sophia
’s mother is dead, and we do not speak about her. I expect you to respect that if ever
Sophia
should mention her.”

Chloe looked as if she was about to protest, but he silenced her with a glare. “Got it?”

She nodded. “Is that all?” she asked.

“Yes. Do you think you can handle it?”

“I guess I’ll have too.” Her hair fell across her eyes
,
and she pushed it back impatiently. “For
Sophia
’s sake, I’ll take the job.”

* * *

Chloe followed
Gaelan
back to the house, avoiding the patches of snow that still dotted the ground. She would have liked to have lingered by the cliff to collect her thoughts and enjoy the view, but the fog was now so thick she could barely see the house, and she was not keen on getting lost.

She honestly didn’t know how she felt about staying. During the largely sleepless night, she had become so convinced it was better she left that now she had to convince herself all over again of why she wanted to stay.
For
Sophia
’s sake
, she would keep reminding herself. The poor child needed someone who cared for her. Her decision, she told herself firmly, had nothing to do with this man whose arrogance and coldness by far made up for his dark, romantic looks. This man, she decided, made her ex-boyfriend Shawn
,
even
with his refusal to consider children,
look downright chivalrous.

They finished the walk in silence. Inside the front door, she picked up her bags and carried them back up to her room. Yet again,
Gaelan
did not bother to help
. T
alking in a hushed tone into his cell phone, he walked
right past and down the hall that led to his study
,

Sophia
was not in her room. Chloe found her in the kitchen eating breakfast with Windy.  The room was warm and cheerful. A fire burned in the huge fireplace
,
and the air was fragrant with the smell of wood smoke, coffee, and homemade baking.
Bunches of herbs hung from the dark ceiling beams, adding their own pungency to the mix.
“Chloe!”
Sophia
shouted,
jump
ing
from the table. She launched herself at Chloe and wrapped her arms around her waist. “I don’t want you to go!”