The Billionaire's Weekend Bride (9 page)

“Oh no, we'll be right in, Gloria,” said Sonia. “Just catching my breath. We'll come straight into the living room in one second.” She held Damian's hand and swung it back and forth with a loving smile on her lips. Damian responded by kissing the hand holding his.

“Fine. I'll see you inside.” Gloria Merriman turned to leave but stopped after a few paces. “By the way,” she said.

“Who's Sonia?”

“Um,” Sonia said.

“My mother!” Damian blurted out. “Penny reminds me so much of her, I sometimes mix up the names.”

“Sweet,” Mrs. Merriman said, going back to the house, still with that serious expression.

“Do you think she heard what I said?” Sonia whispered when she thought Mrs.  Merriman was out of earshot.

“No,” Damian inhaled and blew out a long breath. “If she did, she would have come right out with it. I don't think our cover is blown. I'm going to have to wrap this up quickly. I'll say you're tired, if that's all right with you.”

“Fine,” she replied.

“Okay, good. I'll get Merriman to sign and we'll be on our way.” They began to walk back to the house, still holding hands. Sonia slipped her hand out of his.

By the time the two of them entered the living room, they were all smiles again.

“Oh, Penny,” Gloria Merriman said, rising from her chair. “All better?”

“Yes. Thank you.” Sonia took a seat on a sofa upholstered in kingfisher blue. Damian sat very close beside her. They were instantly served black coffees and offered cream and sugar.

“Just black for me, thank you,” Damian said. “So, Joseph, I hope now we can get down to business.”

“Business. Yes,” Merriman said. “I don't have to repeat how important family values are to me, do I, Damian?”

“Of course not. We both know that about you and completely admire it, don't we darling?” He lightly touched Sonia's thigh and returned his gaze to Joseph.

“Well, then, Damian. You will also know that honesty comes hand in hand with these values.”

“Oh, definitely,” Damian replied with a wide grin, taking Sonia and Gloria Merriman into his scope of vision. “But what has that got to do with the matter at hand? I mean, I am right in thinking that you've made a decision. Aren't I?”

“I think I have. But, you know, honesty is everything, Damian. Now, before you leave for DC, there is one more thing I want you to do for me before I sign my hotels over to you.” Merriman replaced his coffee cup. He began to toy with the cigar box.

“Anything,” Damian said.

“Well, tomorrow morning, I'm going to call one final meeting at my offices in Manhattan.”

“A final meeting? I don't understand?”

“I've been discussing it with Gloria and we've come to a decision. We will be signing over the hotels but we decided that one last meeting would help us seal the deal. I'm very sorry that it seems like we're procrastinating, but this is very important to us and I hope you will allow us to sleep on it just one more night.” He gave a very sincere smile to his guests. “So? Can you be there tomorrow morning, Damian?” Mr. Merriman asked.

“Yes, of course I can, Joseph.” He gave a confident look. “This is unbelievable,” Damian enthused, looking optimistically at Sonia, who smiled sweetly in return. “I thought by the time I left tonight you would have made up your mind to sell to me and would be drawing up the contracts next week sometime.” Another quick look at Sonia. “But looks like you want to go ahead and sign on the dotted line tomorrow morning!”

“Yes, that's right,” Joseph Merriman said. “You did still plan to be in New York tomorrow, didn't you?”

“We should have been flying back in the late morning but we can just as well fly back on Sunday.” Damian was beside himself with pride. He'd done it. He'd gotten the hotels. All these months of patience and his hard work was paying off.

“And of course, Penny you'll come along?” Merriman said looking directly at her.

Sonia's mouth dropped. He had caught her off guard and she didn't know what to say. She had already told herself that this was the end for her and Damian. How could she bear to see him yet again?

“I do have a lot of things to do tomorrow morning, Mr. Merriman,” she managed to say. “Especially as our flight was supposed to be late morning.”

“Surely, Penny, after all this time you'll want to see your husband seal the deal?” Mrs. Merriman added.

Damian looked at Sonia with another one of his sweet smiles. “Looks like that's your nail appointment put back by a few hours, darling,” he said.

“Yes, I know. Oh well, what's a few hours?” Sonia grinned. “Of course I'll be there. At what time?”

“Will ten o'clock be all right for you both?” Mr. Merriman asked.

“Perfect,” said Damian.

They all continued what seemed like a normal conversation, even though it moved from hotel deals to small talk. It lasted for another half hour before Damian suggested they call it a night. They all stood and the Merrimans saw them to the door.

“It's been a wonderful evening,” Damian said, shaking hands with Joseph Merriman. “Thank you for your hospitality and we look forward to seeing you tomorrow morning.”

Damian kept up the loving husband act as he helped Sonia into the back seat of their chauffeur driven car.  When they pulled away along the long gravel drive, Damian and Sonia waved to the Merrimans, who stood on the front step, waving them off.

“I can't believe that just happened,” Damian punched the air. Sonia, on the other hand, was not so happy.

Chapter Six

“You could at least look pleased for me, Sonia.” Damian folded his hands behind his head in the back of the car as if he'd just won a gold medal for his country in the Olympics.

“Pleased? Yes, of course I'm pleased,” Sonia said. “But don't go looking like the cat who got the cream just yet, Damian. Have you forgotten what Mr. Merriman asked us to do? He wants us both to turn up tomorrow at ten in the morning.
Both
of us, Damian. You paid me to show up tonight, don't forget. Don't assume that the money is good for another day or were you just taking me for granted?”

“Well, no, I … I just thought … well, that you were on board with me on all of this. But if you want me to pay for you to turn up tomorrow, I will. I'll do whatever it takes. This is really important for me, Sonia.”

“Yes, I know that, Damian. Forget about the money side of things,” Sonia sighed. “In my head, I'd built myself up into thinking that this would be it – that we'd never see each other again. You're supposed to get on that plane and I'm supposed to stay here and try to rebuild my life.”

“Rebuild?” Damian sounded surprised. “You make it seem as if your whole life all came tumbling down since I arrived.”

“Well …” She hesitated and continued in a stern voice but quiet voice. “In a way, I suppose my life has blown up in my face.”

“Blown up in your face?” He craned his neck to face her to make sure she faced him. “So, you're blaming me for the ridiculous rules of an escort agency and a raid on a bar? That's just crazy.”

“Well, you would see it like that, Damian. Your life hasn't altered one bit.” She'd raised her voice but then tried to control it. “Look, I'm not blaming you, okay? But if it hadn't been for you …”

“I knew you couldn't forgive me,” he said, turning to face out of the window. “I just knew it.” He swung around. “Do I have to get down on my knees and beg you to believe I'm sorry that bad things have happened to you?”

“No, but you could just get on a plane and stop having me get involved in your business deals.”

“Sonia, don't flake on me now. I need you. If it's about the money -”

“It's not about the Goddamn money!” she yelled.

“So, why are you shouting at me?”

“Why are you shouting at
me
?” She exhaled loudly and edged completely over to one side of the seats and pinned her gaze on the city streets.

They were both seething, the atmosphere hot and unbearable. The driver checked his rear view mirror to satisfy himself that the couple had simmered down. It was late, but there was a considerable amount of traffic and he needed to keep his wits about him, not referee what he thought was a lovers' argument.

“Why can't we be together and not argue for five minutes?” Damian said after a while. He leaned his arm along the back of the seats and when his hand touched the back of Sonia's neck he stroked it tenderly. “I mean, when we're not at each other's throats, we've always managed to find better ways to spend our time.”

She sat forward abruptly. “You seriously think I'm going to sleep with you after you made me look like a fake in front of the Merrimans.”

“You are a fake,” he retorted.

“Thanks a lot.” Sonia slumped back in her seat. Damian hadn't moved his arm away and lightly touched her skin again. Waves of emotion filled her body and took her mind back to the first night they shared a taxi and what happened when he dropped her home.

“You are a fake.” Damian's voice softened. He edged a little closer. “But a wonderful fake. A talented, beautiful fake, and I love …”

“What do you love?”

“I love being in your company, Sonia.” He smiled. “And it would do me a great honor to have you fake being my wife again.”

“Well, now you're just trying to butter me up,” she said, not looking at him.

“Give me break, Sonia!”

“You don't have to put on an act, Damian. It's fine. I'll do it. But that's the very last time.” She held out a hand and moved away from the fingers touching her skin. “Okay?”

“Okay!”

All of a sudden, the car came to an abrupt halt. The two of them got jolted forward out of their seats.

“Apologies, Mr. Hedley … miss,” the driver said, looking at them through the rear view mirror again. “The traffic just stopped suddenly. I think there might be an accident up ahead.”

“Damn it,” Damian said. “Can't we reverse?”

“Already another couple of cars right behind us, Mr. Hedley. They'd have to back up, but I think another two have just joined us. Yep, there's no backing up now.”

“Can you turn around?”

“Sit tight sir, I'll go see if I can make myself some space ahead to do just that. I'll need to speak to the drivers in front. Otherwise, this is going to be a very long night.” The driver got out and headed to the car stopped right in front of him. He was shaking his head. It didn't look good at all.

Just then the sirens of a police car could be heard. There was silence in the car at last. At least the two of them had stopped arguing. They both craned their necks to see if they could make out what was going on. They saw police car lights flashing and heard several car doors slam as impatient drivers got out and tried to get a handle on what was going on.

“You know what, Damian?” Sonia said. “If you don't mind, I think I'll go see if I can find a taxi. I need to get home. I'm really tired.”

“You hate being in my presence that much, you'd rather make your own way home?” he asked.

“No, Damian. No, I don't. Like I said, I'm tired and I'm tired of arguing. So, if you don't mind …”

She opened the door but Damian followed right behind.

“I'm coming with you,” he said. “You know I can't allow you to walk out into the night on your own.”

“Damian, I do it all the time.”

“Well, I'm here now. Just let me tell the driver we're going.”

“Suit yourself.”

Sonia watched the way he walked over to the driver, the assured way he spoke, the handsome outline of his face and pretty soon she was having thoughts she told herself she mustn't have.

“There,” he said running back to her. “All done. Let me escort you home.”

“Thank you.”

They walked a little way and turned onto a main road. There arms were practically brushing together. Sonia turned to Damian after a while. “I prefer it when we don't argue,” she said.

“You could have fooled me,” he chuckled.

“Damian! Let's enjoy the peace. Like this, my life becomes a lot less complicated.”

“It doesn't have to be complicated, Sonia.”

“No more talking, Damian. If you're escorting me home, then that's the deal.”

“Fine with me.”

He hailed a taxi and once they were inside and on their way to Sonia's apartment, she kept thinking back to their hot and passionate night again and visualized them ending up in her bed. She felt weak at the knees, but fought against the urge to invite him in once they got to her building. Sonia almost ran out of the taxi to the front door to stop herself uttering the fateful words that would put her back to square one of this emotional roller-coaster ride she'd been on since the day she met Damian.

“I'll swing by at about a quarter past nine tomorrow, okay?” Damian called after her.

“Okay,” she said over her shoulder. She let herself into the building and bolted for the elevator.

Damian was having a mixed bag of emotions on his journey back to his hotel. He was annoyed with the Merrimans for not just getting out the contract there and then and signing on the dotted line. Why did they have to make him jump through hoops all of a sudden? It was ludicrous.

That frustration was nothing compared to the hurt he felt at how easily Sonia could walk away from a night like this. They had argued, but there had been sparks of electricity between them. How could she not feel them? Sometimes, he felt glimmers that she actually liked him but then she turned cold and businesslike at the drop of a hat.

Now he had to see her again and act like her fake husband; pretend to be loving and adoring when all he wanted was a chance to get somewhere close to making that real.

Back at his hotel he made two calls. The first was to his secretary.

“Mr. Hedley? Do you realize what time it is?” she grunted in the phone. “And it's the weekend.”

“I know that, Penny, and I'm sorry. I wouldn't have called you unless it was important. Don't be mad. I need you to change my flight back to DC. Get me on a much later flight than the one I already have would you? A night flight. And text me the details.”

“You what, now? Couldn't you do that yourself?”

“Penny, please. I'm in the middle of the deal of my life. I know I can rely on you to help this happen. Thank you so much, Penny.”

He could tell she was furious but he'd always been able to smooth talk her. Even when she got wise to him, she could still never refuse. But, after all, wasn't that always the way women had been with him. Always. Up until now that is.

He sighed at the thought and went on to make his second call.

“Damian – what the hell, man? It's Friday night, I'm busy.” His friend Max was not pleased by a call when he was out drinking with a few of their friends back at their favorite haunt in DC

“If you don't want to talk to me, then don't pick up.”

“Jesus, Damian, don't bite my head off. You called
me,
remember? Don't tell me – something went wrong. Did you lose the deal?”

“No, the deal is still on. At least I think it is. The Merrimans want one more night to think about it. So I'm staying in New York until tomorrow. I just wanted to let you know that I'll have to cancel that round of golf.”

“No worries, my man. I understand. But what else is up? You could have sent a text to cancel. Is there trouble in paradise?” Max asked.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean you don't sound yourself. Wait, is that escort girl with you?”

“No, she most definitely is not.” Damian was back to grunting in the phone.

“So you managed to pull it off without her being there?”

“No, she was there, all right. It took a lot to persuade her to pose as my wife but she came round. About a quarter of a million dollars worth of persuasion.”

“Are you kidding me? Are you fucking kidding me? No deal could make me part with that amount of money with an escort.”

“Don't say escort like it’s something bad. There's nothing wrong with Sonia. It was just a job and I owe her big time. You have no idea.”

“And at that price I don't want to know,” Max laughed. He had moved outside the bar he was in. Damian could tell that there was less background noise. When all was said and done, Max would always be there for him.

“Look, Max, I'll be home late on Saturday with a string of hotels under my belt. That's all you need to know.”

“Good news. I knew you had it in you. So what's your problem, exactly? You want to talk about it?”

“Forget it, Max. There is no problem. I'll see you on the golf course next weekend.” Damian hung up the phone.

He had been sitting on the sofa to make his calls and decided to recline onto his back. He drew his legs up onto the sofa and crossed them, placing both hands behind his head.