Wilde Heart (Wilde Women Book 2) (42 page)

Jumping down the last few steps, she landed with a loud thud and turned, ready to throw herself into the foray. Roman’s look of utter astonishment hit her as funny until she saw who was causing all the commotion.

Liam.

At her door.

Liam at her door looking like sex on two legs.

Steel grey eyes locked on hers, and in that instant, all the breath left her body.

“Oh,” she murmured not believing what she was seeing.

How long they stood there staring at each other she couldn’t tell. Not when the tension arcing between them seemed to make the air around them fuzzy and heavy.

She heard him say, “Rhiann,” in a strangled voice, and then Roman, who was standing between them, simply moved to the side giving Liam a straight shot.

In seconds, he was in front of her. Rhi felt tears sting her eyes. When he reached out and gently cupped her face, tilting it upward, she started to shake.

Would he say it? He did. “
Milaya moya.
”

In that instant, she knew she’d kill anyone who came between her and this fucked-up, complicated man. Even if it broke her heart again and again and again . . . she’d choose him over just about anything. Fame. Fortune. None of it mattered. Not when he looked at her that way.

“Liam,” she muttered on a shaky sob, putting her hands on his as they cradled her face.

He blinked and shook his head, glancing at the bulky brace. Seeing it set twin flames of menace into his gaze that made his normal scowl more frightening than ever. But seeing it only made her feel safe. And loved. He hadn’t said the words, but that look told her all she needed to know.

And then he lowered his mouth to hers, taking her lips with a reverent gentleness that melted her heart. With his tongue slowly tracing the line of her lips, she whimpered and parted her mouth in sweet surrender.

When at last he pulled back, she heard him whisper as he gathered her against his hard body, “Are you still mad at me?”

Burrowing into his neck, Rhiann inhaled his unique scent and bit back a groan. “I hate you,” she told him.

His arms tightened their hold, and he sighed. “I’m going to make this up to you, baby. I swear.”

“You better,” she murmured, losing herself in the tender, bittersweet moment.

Roman cleared his throat, but Liam ignored him. When he did it again, he finally relaxed his hold on her shaking body, enough that she was able to turn toward Roman.

Grinning shyly, she said, “Is cock blocking in your job description?”

It was just the moment of levity the situation called for as both men cracked up, laughing at her jest.

“Remind me to revisit your duties, Bishop.” Liam chuckled. “You don’t play fair.”

Roman hooted a laugh. “Did you really think I would?”

“All right you two.” Rhi giggled. “Someone care to tell me what’s going on?”

“Exactly my question, too,” Roman griped. “Care to explain, Boss?”

Taking Liam by the hand, because now that she had him where she could touch him, she wasn’t letting go—Rhi led him from the door and up the staircase into the great room.

“Wow. This place is amazing,” he told her with that half scowl, half smile thing he did so well. “Do you like it?” he asked. “Should I buy property here?”

Roman barked a laugh. “Watch it, Boss. She plays Monopoly like it’s real.” To her, he mock-whispered, “Play your cards right, Princess, and you’ll have the deeds to Park Place
AND
Boardwalk.”

Smiling wickedly, she made the universal gesture for crying and burbled, “Wah, wah.”

They each took a seat around the big wood table in the dining area with Rhiann taking the chair at the head of the table putting the men on each side of her. She wanted to be able to see both their faces having decided that the time for silent communication was over. She was either part of whatever the fuck was going on or they were going to get it verbally from her with all filters off.

“So,” Roman questioned. “You’re here, why?”

Turning expectant eyes on Liam, she waited for his answer but before a single word came from his mouth, she blurted out, “And why are you wearing a suit? You do know we’re at the beach, right?”

“It’s his uniform,” Roman snarkily interjected. “I think he wears a damn tie in the shower. What do they call that?” he mocked. “Never nudism?”

Rhiann had to bite back a laugh at the befuddled expression on Liam’s face. Teasing was
so
not his forte—neither giving nor receiving.

“I am not a gymnophobe,” the scowling man griped. Running his fingers down his tie and into his vest, he frowned deeper and muttered. “It’s just how I feel most comfortable.”

“Well, I have no fucking idea what a gymnophobe is but if it has anything to do with a reluctance to get naked, we’ll have to see about that.”

He looked at her with stark hunger in his expression. Getting naked together was something they did really, really well. “And, you’ll be losing the suit, too. Immediately,”

“I don’t have anything but suits,” he muttered grumpily. “And I don’t appreciate being the butt of your jokes.”

“Then don’t dress like a butthead!” she teased.

When Roman chuckled and she grinned at him, he finally loosened up and cracked a half smile.

“Point taken but I don’t think a trip to the local Wal-Mart is in the cards.”

“Oh, sweetie,” she giggled, patting his hand for reassurance. “Just leave it to me. We may be pretty far from the fashion district but finding you some clothes meant for actual humans on vacation won’t be a problem.”

Eyeing him lazily, she turned to Roman and joked, “What do you think? Jeans and an OBX hoodie?”

The lighthearted moment was just what they needed before getting down to the nitty-gritty.

“All right, all right, you two,” Roman cut in. “Time to get serious.” Looking at Liam he again asked, “Why the surprise visit? I take it something happened?”

“Yeah. What happened is that I got tired of waiting for Kim to make her next move. Even Jill agreed that playing it so cautious was only dragging things out.”

Glaring at Roman, he added, “And, by the way, you dickhead, thanks for not telling me your fake British friend was gay. Came as quite the shock to find her swapping spit with her girlfriend yesterday morning in my kitchen.”

Roman slapped his hand on the table and burst out laughing as he gave her a conspiratorial wink. “Knowing you were squirming was the most fun I’ve had in ages.”

“Did you know about this?” he asked Rhi. She nodded and bit her lip with suppressed laughter that earned her an adorably stern frown.

“Anyway,” Liam muttered darkly, “I had Marjorie send that putz in legal off to Montreal after feeding him some bullshit about being an up and comer and telling him BPG wanted to see if he was ready to step up to the plate. If he does what he’s supposed to do, he’ll be finalizing a deal to buy a string of hotels and will be out of Kim’s orbit.”

“Hm
mm.
Good move, Boss.”

“And then there’s Kim. She’s been MIA too long for comfort. Gary has her tattooed boy toy in the crosshairs, and it appears whatever she’s up to doesn’t involve him. I think, and they do, too, that she’s moving in for the kill.”

Rhiann groaned at his choice of words and dropped her head into her hands.

“She’s here,” Roman offered. “Donna, the woman across the street,” he explained, “thinks she ran into her on the jogging path along the beach road. Sporting a black wig and some really tacky sneakers that looked a bit too new to be believable, it looked to Donna like she was checking the house out. Probably trying to figure out what Miss Wilde and I are up to.”

“Were you planning on telling me this?” Rhiann crossed her arms in front of her chest and huffed with a glaring sulk.

“Of course,” he assured her. “No more secrets, I promised.”

“There’s something else,” Liam muttered.

Two pair of eyes turned their questioning gaze his way.

“A blind item showed up on one of those fucking insider gossip sites. Marjorie saw it and brought it to my attention. Some asshole blogger with a hard-on for what he calls the domination of the people by financial monoliths.”

Roman and Rhiann both groaned and shook their heads. Good grief. What the hell did that even mean?

Liam’s scowl deepened. “He wrote about the Ward takeover. Called it an example of patricidal arrogance. Basically, the inference was nothing short of slanderous, but it got tongues wagging. It’s only a matter of time before someone asks Ward for a comment.”

“What the fuck,” Roman growled while Rhiann followed along silently and tried to read between the lines on something she had no clue about. Did not require footnotes to figure out that whoever this Ward person was, these blind items didn’t bode well for BPG.

She looked to Roman for clarification, but he shook his head and said, “That one’s for him to explain.”

“By bringing Adam Ward into this fucking mess, she forced my hand. I don’t give a shit about any of that, but if she’s willing to throw down what she sees as her ace in the hole, that tells me shit’s about to get real. And fast.”

It was so quiet as the two men pondered the situation at hand that Rhiann could make out the muffled sound of the waves crashing along the shoreline.

“I came because Rhiann is my responsibility and I’m tired of playing a hand that someone else dealt. Fuck that. Plus, it’s too easy for Kim to blend into the sidewalks in the city. Down here, in an environment she’s unfamiliar with, she’ll stick out like a mangled thumb—something your Donna has already confirmed.”

“It’s time to end this thing,” Roman declared. Pushing back from the table, he stood and pulled his cell phone from his pocket. “If you two will excuse me, I’m going to touch base with everyone and get our security set to high. That way, when she makes her move, we’ll be ready.”

He began to walk away but turned back before he’d taken more than a dozen steps and looked at Liam.

“I’m leaving Miss Wilde in your hands, Boss. Try not to piss her off, okay?” To Rhiann, he said, “Do as you’re told, Princess.” His tone didn’t allow for comment so she said nothing and just watched as he left the room, cell phone already at his ear.

L
IAM WAS VIBRATING WITH A mixture of anger and flat-out lust. Anger at Kim for putting Rhiann in danger and lust because . . . well, because his woman was within touching distance. The temptation to flatten her on the huge table and lose himself inside her sweet body was hard to ignore.

Looking at her, he saw her green eyes flare and knew she was picking up on his desire, and if he wasn’t mistaken, she felt the same. The way she softly gasped for air let him know he wasn’t the only one feeling the heavy, primitive arousal that was pulsing all around them.

“I’ve missed you, sweetness.”

Her answer? “I was so worried about you.”

The words and the feelings they expressed seemed foreign to him. Liam couldn’t remember anyone, but his mother, ever caring enough to worry about him.

His reflexive answer didn’t please her—something the tight lips and tilted chin drove home. “No need,” he told her as her expression hardened then turned bleak.

“You have to let me in if this is going to work.”

He didn’t know how to respond. She was right, but the habits of a lifetime were hard to cast aside.

Rhiann sighed and reached for his hands where they rested, clasped together, on the table.

“Liam Ashforth,” she growled. “You are not alone. You do not need to be so controlled all the time. There are people around you who care. Genuinely care about you. Why is that so hard for you to believe?”

“I don’t know,” he muttered. “Habit, I suppose. After everything I’ve done . . .”

“Oh, Jesus,” she groaned. “Here we go again. Have you killed anybody?” she barked in exasperation. “Ever kicked a puppy?”

Rhiann.
Always cutting right through the noise in his head. He understood the point she was trying to make and knew he had shit to tell her if he truly wanted a future with the girl he’d given his heart to a long time ago.

“Adam Ward was . . .
is
my father.” The words tasted bitter on his tongue, but he said them out loud and waited for her reaction.

“Uh-huh. So?”

Okay, Ashforth. Time to tell her his truth and hope to god that she didn’t walk away once she knew the entire sordid tale.

“Carolyn worked for Ward . . . secretary pool. She was young, stupid, and completely bowled over by him. He took advantage of her innocence and when he was finished with her, when he’d taken all the light inside her and turned it into shades of regret and heartbreak . . . she never got over it.”

“He’s a pig,” she assured him, gently stroking his hands with her delicate fingers.

“Agreed. If only it was that simple.”

She smiled into his eyes. “You’re sitting here with me, Liam, which tells me whatever happened, wasn’t simple. You weren’t immaculately conceived now were you?”

“No.” He snorted. “Hardly.”

“Go on,” she encouraged with a slight squeeze of his fingers, which she now clasped in hers.

“My mother was devastated when he broke things off. Desperate and thinking she loved the fucking bastard, she begged for a second chance. Second chance for what?” he howled as the anguish overtook him. “Second chance to get used then thrown away?”