The Playboy's Fugitive Bride (14 page)

Adam’s expression stilled and grew serious as he stared at his cousin.  “What are your intentions with Nia, Massimo?” he asked blatantly, an indescribably challenge in his eyes and voice.  “I only just met her, but I feel that there’s something special about her.  She seems different from all the other women you’ve dated.  So tell me, is she simply a drive-by, or are you smart enough to hold on to her, get to know her, see where it leads.  You only have—”

“Adam,” Bryce and Erik shouted simultaneously, their glances shifting cautiously from Massimo to Adam.

Nia took a sideway glance at Massimo.  There was a lethal calmness in his eyes as he stared at his cousin.  “Nia and my relationship is none of your business, Adam, but if you must know, she’s not a drive-by.  I plan to keep her around for a very long time.”

His last statement caused Nia’s bones to quiver.  She took a sip of wine to hide her anxiety.

“Good,” Adam said with a contented grin on his face.  His eyes were soft as he stared at Nia.  “We would all love to know more about you, Nia.  Welcome to Granite Falls and our family.”  He raised his glass.  “To Nia and Massimo.”

“Here, here,” the others acquiesced, raising their glasses.

In spite of her uneasiness, warmth flowed through Nia at the welcome.  She liked Massimo’s friends, and his cousin.  She felt a little sad that she wouldn’t be sticking around to join their family.  It would be nice to have such powerful force in her corner.  A worm like Eddie wouldn’t dare look at her, much less threaten her if he knew the kind of company she was now keeping.

In the midst of the cheers, Massimo wrapped his arm around her and pulled her so closely against him, the heat from his body fused with hers.  “I’ve been dying to tell you that you’re a horrible little liar, pussycat,” he whispered for her ears alone.

Nia felt like she’d been doused with a bucket of ice water.  What did he mean he’d been dying to…

“I didn’t see lights at the lake house last night.”  Bryce cut into her distressed thoughts. “I live on Crystal Lake, for the time being,” he added for her benefit.  “Now that I have a wife and a rapidly growing family, I just began construction on a bigger house.”

“Oh don’t be so modest, Bryce.  He’s building an estate on Mount Reservoir,” Erik said, smiling at Nia.

“And once you and Michelle move into the LaCrosse Estate, we’ll all be happy neighbors,” Massimo added with a grin.  He ran his warm palm slowly up and down Nia’s bare arm and shoulders and along the baseline of her hair, sending explosive currents racing through her.

Nia gasped as she felt her breath literally being cut off.

“And to respond to your statement, Bryce,” he continued.  “Nia and I spent the night at the mansion.”  He sent Nia a seductive smile, deliberately misleading his friends into thinking they’d slept together.  Well they had, but not in the way he was suggesting.

A tense silence enveloped the room as the four men exchanged those peculiar glances again.

Nia’s body fought to blanket the hysteria of delight rising inside her at Massimo’s caresses while her mind worked to decipher his comment about her being a bad liar and the strange expressions on his friends’ faces when he told them he’d taken her to his mansion.  Well, Massimo did tell her that she was the first woman he’d ever taken to the mansion.  But why was it such a big deal?

Then there was Adam’s blatant question about Massimo’s intentions for her, and Erik’s and Bryce’s attempt to cut Adam off in midsentence.  What was he about to say, and why did Massimo’s intentions toward her matter to him, to any of them?

Voices suddenly gushed in from the hallway.  A mob stormed into the room.  The bright lights of a camera momentarily blinded Nia.  She was so startled by the invasion, she tipped her glass, spilling wine all over the front of her dress.

She heard Massimo swear as he pushed to his feet to stand between her and the mob, blocking their view of her.  His three large friends joined him at the line for reinforcement.

“Is it true Mr. Andretti?  Have you taken a new lover?  Who is she?”

As the infamous chaos of Massimo Andretti’s world enveloped her, Nia closed her eyes.  Her life as she knew it was over.  She wished she and her red wine-stained dress would just meld into the red sofa and disappear.

“Gentlemen, ladies, please, have a little respect.”  Massimo and his line of generals forced the crowd back into the hallway.  How the hell did they know he was here?  He’d arranged to meet his friends at the club in order to avoid this very fiasco.  Why weren’t they at the conference center groveling over pre-event tidbits?

For small-town paparazzi, they were the most ferocious vultures he’d ever encountered.

He should have kept Nia hidden until after their marriage.  Perhaps he should have taken her to Africa with Jabari this morning—hidden her in the Masai village, the only place on this earth where he found a little bit of peace.  Massimo wished he could snap his fingers and whisk Nia into the middle of the Mara Lands right now.

“You were seen leaving Bristol Mountain with a young woman, yesterday, Mr. Andretti.  The buzz around town is that you bought her a new car and wardrobe today.  Is that her?”  Lester Cobbs, a reporter from the local television station tried to peek around Massimo for a better look at Nia.

He and his camera were pushed back by Bryce.

“Lester, you should know by now that I make announcements only when I’m ready.”  Massimo blinked as cameras flashed in his face.  At least Nia was safe for now.  The last thing he wanted was for her to be photographed with that awful wine stain on her dress.  Not the way he wanted to introduce his future wife to the public.

“What kind of important announcement are you about to make, Mr. Andretti?”  A reporter from the daily newspaper asked.

“Yes, curious minds want to know.”

“Is it that you’ll be bored with her by tomorrow?”

“Or maybe tonight,” another chirped in. 

In the midst of their laughter, Massimo heard Nia gasp behind him. 

He clenched his jaws.  He should have known better than to subject Nia to this circus.   He swallowed his rage.  His well-laid plans were being waylaid.  He didn’t want Nia to know about his intentions until he had her where he wanted her.  But he couldn’t have the media publishing ugly gossip about her, either.  She was special and pure, and that’s the way he wanted to keep her—well, at least in the eyes of the public.  No one but Nia and himself would ever know the truth about the way they’d met.

Since tongues were already wagging, it was best they wagged the truth.  “Well, if you must know, Miss Sylk—”

“Silk?  Is that her real name?  Sounds provocative.”

Another round of laughter erupted from the crowd.

“Is she as soft and smooth as her name implies?”

Blood hammered against Massimo’s temples.  He’d wondered the same thing when Nia first approached him with her audacious proposal.  Hearing the thought verbalized from another’s lips made him sick to the stomach.  He hadn’t realized until this very moment what a big pointless joke his life was.  He wanted to punch some faces, break a few cameras, but that would demonstrate weakness.  Andretti men weren’t weak. 

“Miss Sylk and I will be married within a week,” he gritted out between clenched teeth.

A hush fell in the hallway as all jaws dropped, including those of his friends.  Massimo used the moment to snatch Lester Cobb’s camera before jumping back into the room and slamming the door.  His lips thinned in rage at the footsteps clambering down the hall like a stampede of wild beasts on the African plain.

He turned around to find an openmouthed Nia glaring at him, fury and contempt shooting from her eyes.

Pulling herself out of a daze, Nia shot to her feet, her chest rising and falling with the force of her breathing.  Her stomach churned.  Her legs were shaking so hard, she was afraid she would collapse on the floor.

How dare he make such a bombshell announcement about
her
future?  How dare he broadcast her name to the world?  At no time did they ever discuss marriage.  It never even crossed her mind.  Only a spoiled, insecure, gold-digging narcissist would marry a man like him.

As he walked steadily toward her, his squared shoulders, the firm line around his mouth, and the intense look of resolve in his eyes told her he had no regrets about what he’d just done.

“Massimo—”

“Nia—”

“Um... Mass...”

At the sound of Erik’s voice, Nia looked at the three men hovering close to the door.  She’d completely forgotten they were still in the room.  When Massimo dropped his bombshell, they’d seemed just as stunned as she was.

“We... we should leave you two alone.”  Erik sent her an apologetic smile.

“I think that’s a great idea,” Bryce added.

“We’ll catch up later, cousin.  It was really nice meeting you, Nia.”

The three men raced from the room like a swarm of bees was after them.

“Are you out of your mind, Massimo Andretti?”  Nia shouted.

Ignoring her question, he calmly opened the camera he’d snatched from the reporter, yanked out the small chip and tossed it into the fire.  “Am I out of my mind?  Perhaps a little,” he said in a barely composed voice as he set the camera on the mantel.

Even in her anger, Nia was grateful for his quick reaction in shielding her from the media, and his thoughtfulness to confiscate the only picture they had of her.  That still did not give him the right to...

“You have no right to tell anyone that I’m marrying you much less broadcast it to the world.”  Anxiety spiked her voice at the realization that the news might very well reach Brooklyn and Eddie.  He, along with her friends and acquaintances in New York, would know where she was, which would complicate her plans and her life even more—something she didn’t realize was possible.

Since she’d tossed her phone and didn’t dare try to Skype with Aaron from the mansion, he and everyone else she knew might try to contact her through Andretti Industries.  Massimo would question them.  And they would spill the truth not realizing that she was trying to conceal her identity from him.

God, this plan of hers had turned into such a mess!

Nia pressed her hands against the sides of her head and squeezed.  She wanted to cry.

“I had to tell them something to stop the insulting questions about you.  It worked.  They’re gone.” 

She folded her arms and jutted her chin at him.  “Why does it matter what they say about your reputation?  It’s not like you aren’t used to it.”

“I am used to it, but you aren’t.”  He watched her through keenly observant eyes.  “I’m sure you’re aware of the unfavorable manner in which my former lovers have been portrayed.”

“I would have gotten over it, Massimo.” 
By Saturday evening Nia Sylk will be old news, and by next Tuesday, she’ll be dead news.
  “Are you forgetting that once our...
little contract
is fulfilled, I’ll be leaving?” 

His smile had a spark of eroticism.  “You don’t think I’ll let you go immediately following the fulfillment of our... um…
little contract
, do you?  You didn’t put a time limit on this arrangement.  That makes it indefinite.”

Nia’s mind momentarily froze as he pointed out yet another flaw in her negotiation skills.  No wonder the man was so successful in the business world.  He covered every tiny detail of his deals.

“I plan to keep you around for a very long time, Nia Sylk,” he continued, seemingly satisfied that he’d rendered her speechless.  “I look forward to taking my time pleasuring you and teaching you how to pleasure me.  You’ll be slaking my passion and warming my bed for many a cold winter nights, my little pussycat.  You can count on that.”

Nia willed her mind to throttle the dizzying excitement his passion-filled promises evoked in her.  “Well, at some point, the affair
will
be over and you
will
let me go.  You’re going to look like a fool when a wedding doesn’t take place.  The second one in a few weeks.”

“I’m no fool, Nia Sylk.  Don’t you ever forget that.”

The silken thread of warning in his voice sent a chill down her spine.  Feeling the probing heat from his eyes, Nia walked to the window and stared at the snow-covered golf course and the lake beyond it.  Just before the mob had descended upon them, Massimo had called her a horrible little liar.  Somehow she knew he wasn’t just talking about the silly story she’d told his friends about their first encounter, but about every lie she’d spoken since they met.

It didn’t surprise her.  Any intelligent man would have figured her out by now. Massimo just stated he was no fool.  What he didn’t know was that Nia Sylk wasn’t simply running away from him.  In a few days, she would cease to exist.  He could spend all his money on every private investigator on the planet, and he still wouldn’t be able to find her.

Pleased with her adeptness at handling herself so far, Nia turned to face him.  “I’m just saying, your reputation as the irresistible playboy of the century will be ruined, Massimo.”

He closed the distance she’d put between them.  “So you care about my reputation, now? And here I was, thinking you only wanted sex and money from me.”

“Sex and money was all I asked for.”

“I’m offering you more sex and more money.” 

“You don’t need to marry for sex, Massimo.  You’re a rich playboy.”

“Even playboys get tired of the games at some point, Nia,” he said with a resigned twist to his lips.  “You just witnessed the circus I’m constantly pulled into.  Perhaps I want a little balance in my life.”

“And a wife will give you balance?”

“A wife and a child.”  His voice was calm, his gaze steady.  “I spend a great deal of time with both Erik and Bryce’s families.  I see how happy and balanced they are.  I’m man enough to admit that I envy them that kind of stability.  It would be nice to have a woman waiting at home for me at the end of the day.”

Maybe he was telling the truth, Nia thought.  He and Gabrielle Berkeley were supposed to be married by now, but he’d messed that up.  “You couldn’t even be faithful to Gabrielle for six months,” she stated on a shrug.