The playboys fugitive br.., p.15
The Playboy's Fugitive Bride, page 15
part #3 of Billionaire Brides of Granite Falls Series
CHAPTER TEN
“Are you sure no reporters will be there tonight?” Nia asked Massimo as the limo began its journey from the mansion to Fontaine Conference Center. She didn’t need that kind of attention or distraction while she made her escape.
“I’m one hundred percent sure, cara. It’s just a business meeting. Bryce will be there, so at least you’ll know one other person besides me.”
“He’s a really nice man. Large, but nice,” Nia stated on a smile, remembering how Bryce had planted his Goliath frame beside Massimo, Adam, and Erik to shield her from the local press. The bond of brotherhood between the four men was obvious. They didn’t even know her, yet the simple fact that she was with Massimo propelled them into action at the slightest sign of trouble. She wondered if they would have been so eager to jump to her defense if they knew she was about to swindle their friend out of two million dollars. “I must remember to thank him and Erik and Adam for helping you out yesterday.”
“That’s what friends do. Help each other in times of need.”
“Have you ever been in need, Massimo?” Nia studied his profile in the dimly lit limo. He’d shared a lot of himself at lunch, but there was still so much she didn’t know about him. Why do you care? You’re leaving in a little bit. “You were born with the proverbial silver—” She paused. “No, in your case, platinum spoon in your mouth. What could you possibly have ever been in need of?”
“Plenty.” There was a faraway, almost regretful tilt to his tone. “And I have been lucky enough to have friends who have come to my rescue time and time again. What about you? You spoke a lot about your students today, but nothing about friends or family. Do you have friends you can count on, Nia?”
She’d deliberately not talked about her friends and family. The less Massimo knew about her, the less likely it would be for him to find her once she left this town behind. “I get on with my coworkers,” she said on a shrug.
“Just get on? Do you ever go out together—to the movies, dinner, drinks?”
“Sometimes.” Not nearly enough as she would have loved. With a teenage boy to support and keep out of trouble, there just wasn’t time for anyone or anything else in her life. If she’d had time for boyfriends, the chances she’d still be a virgin were slim—a fact she was grateful for since it was the only reason Massimo had accepted her proposal.
She sucked in her breath when Massimo reached out and picked up her hand that was lying on the seat. He laced his fingers through hers as if it were a natural thing for him to do.
“I could be your friend, you know. You can tell me anything, anything at all, cara. Everything that’s wrong in your life, I’ll make right again, or at least try to.”
Can you bring my father back from the dead?
Nia blinked back the tears that stung the back of her eyes. She could not let Massimo’s all-of-a-sudden gentle attitude get to her. Yes, they’d spend a pleasant afternoon together, but she knew better than to trust the devil. She had no idea what it was, but she was certain he had his own plans to sabotage her escape tonight, a plan she was certain he’d put into place the day they met.
In spite of his suspicions about her, he’d adhered to their agreement. She had the money in her possession; now all she had to figure out was how she was going to get from Fontaine Conference Center back to the house to retrieve the briefcase, and then back into town and her getaway car. She couldn’t just walk out of the Center since she knew Massimo would have his guards posted at the exits. But she was sure the answer to carrying out the final details would come to her by the end of dinner.
“What about family?” Massimo interrupted her escape mapping. “Do you have any?”
Nia cleared her throat. “No... No… I’m an only child.”
“We have something in common, then. We’re both alone in the world. I’ve been alone since my father died. We weren’t close,” he added, a steely edge drifting into his voice. “I didn’t agree with many of his principles or choices. We fought frequently, but he was the only family I had after my mother and my grandfather died.” His fingers tightened around hers.
“I know your mother died while giving birth to your baby sister,” she said. The story about the death of the wife of the textile tycoon, Luciano Andretti, was public knowledge. Nia had read about that period of Massimo’s life on the Internet. He was only ten. No details of her death had been leaked to the public. “What happened? Was something wrong with the baby?”
Nia watched his Adam’s apple vibrate above the knot of his black tie as he fought to control some emotion. “If you don’t want to talk about it, I understand.”
“Mom went into premature labor.” His voice faded, losing some of its steely edge. “She started hemorrhaging and died half an hour after giving birth. Aria’s lungs weren’t developed enough and she followed within seconds. It was the longest thirty minutes of my life.” He paused and swallowed. “Even after twenty-four years, I still miss her. I feel as if I was robbed of the most important person in my life.”
Nia knew exactly how he felt. She was twelve and Aaron was seven when their mother died from a brain aneurysm. It was the saddest day of her life. She’d stood at her mother’s bedside, along with her father and brother, praying for a miracle as the life ebbed slowly out of her.
The ensuing six years were difficult. She’d felt her father’s love for her and Aaron. He took exceptional care of them, making sure they never wanted for anything, but he was never the same after her mother died. Gone was the comical, teasing father she’d known—the one who used to chase her and Aaron around the house, climb the willow tree in their backyard with them when they were hiding from their mother, color with them, and who, when she was really little, would let her put makeup on his face, barrettes in his hair, and paint his nails glittery pink when they played dress-up. And when she’d gotten her period for the first time, he’d sat her down and told her about sex. He was a remarkable father.
A strong, remarkable man who’d been broken by Massimo Andretti. Nia remembered the many nights she’d lain awake and listen to her father cry after he lost the mill. She’d cried along with him, and when morning came they tucked their pain away and went about their day, keeping up appearances for Aaron’s sake. He was too young to be burdened with the dismal uncertainty of their future.
Then there were times Nia had watched her dad staring off into space with a smile on his face. His brown eyes would light up as if he could see her mother. It was the same smile she’d seen on his face when she stood at his side and watched him take his last breath. He was finally at peace with the love of his life—forever. Now that was a fairy tale that had come true.
Her father’s death was the beginning of a life of difficulty and turmoil for her and Aaron. Her father didn’t have medical insurance and the hospital had come after her, his next of kin. To add to her woes, child welfare services had placed Aaron in a foster home because they’d been staying in a homeless shelter when their father died. The first chance she got, Nia had taken Aaron and fled Maine, leaving child welfare services and that medical bill behind. She hadn’t known about Eddie until a short while ago.
Taking a deep breath, Nia forced her emotions under control. If she continued evoking memories of her past, she just might break down and cry and she couldn’t do that in front of Massimo, the man who’d made her an orphan and caused her a lifetime of heartache.
“How old were you when you lost your parents?” Massimo asked, caressing the inside of her wrist with his fingers.
She sucked in her breath at the currents whipping through her body. “My mother died from a brain aneurysm when I was twelve and my father passed away a few years ago.” Nia clenched her teeth tightly as she felt her body begin to shake. She tried, but she could no longer hold back the tears that rolled down her cheeks.
Massimo’s arms immediately circled her and she found herself cradled against his huge frame, her cheek resting on his chest. She felt as safe and cherished as she used to in her father’s embrace. She was very much aware of the steady beating of Massimo’s heart beneath her ears as she fought back her grief. It was soothing. It made her want to lay down her arms at his feet, end the war, and surrender completely to him. But she couldn’t. He was the enemy.
Nia gathered the strength to pull herself together and struggled out of Massimo’s arms. She pulled a napkin from a holder close to her and dabbed at her eyes. She’d ruined her makeup, but that was the least of her problems tonight. She took a deep steadying breath and straightened her shoulders. “I’m fine now.”
“Our experiences are very similar, cara,” he said taking her hand again. “We both lost our mothers at very tender ages and were raised by our fathers.”
Nia never thought of them in that way. She never thought of them in any way, except when she was a doting teenager and thought he was God’s gift to women.
“Was he a loving father to you? Did you have a good relationship?”
“He was the best,” she said, her mind flooding with happy memories.
His mouth curved with tenderness. “It’s a frightening feeling being alone in the world. Perhaps we could find a way to help each other heal. Alleviate each other’s loneliness?”
Nia’s guard snapped back into place as the grand seducer was unmasked. She pulled her hand from his. “You of all people should know that sex doesn’t fill the void in anyone’s life, Massimo. If it could, you wouldn’t be lonely still.”
Was that why he had so many affairs? Was he searching for someone or something to fill the void in his life? Did he move so quickly and frequently between women because he couldn’t find fulfillment from any of them? The man’s life seems to be an eternal quest. She was just another prescription in his search for a cure for whatever ailment he was suffering from.
“You’re wrong, cara. My interest in you is more than sexual.” His eyes were filled with warmth and passion as he leaned closer to her. “I will prove it to you one day.”
“How?”
“I don’t know, yet.”
“There’s actually something the omniscient Massimo Andretti doesn’t know?”
He sighed and leaned back into the seat. “Yes, Nia, there are quite a few things in this life that baffle me. But,” he added with a note of determination in his voice, “I know that one day, you will grow to like me.”
“What makes you think I don’t already like you?”
His bushy brows arched upward. “Do you?”
Nia turned her head and gazed out at the dark moving shadows as the limo sped along the highway. Truth is, she was beginning to like Massimo Andretti—the one she’d spent the afternoon with. And just now when he shared his pain with her, Nia felt herself warming to him in a very unexpected way. Instinct told her that she was the first woman with whom he’d talked about his mother.
Knowing that he’d shared an intimate part of himself should give her a sense of empowerment, but instead it had become an awakening experience that left her reeling in an ever-vaster sea of confusion. When she left Brooklyn to find him, there was only one thing she’d wanted from him: two million dollars. She had the money and she was just hours away from ridding herself of her nemesis, but the harder she tried to ignore the truth, the more it persisted.
She needed Massimo’s money to save her and Aaron’s life, but deep down in her heart, Nia knew she wanted more from him, had always wanted more from him. The feelings she thought she had for him for the past six years weren’t anger and hate at all. She’d been infatuated with him, and now that infatuation was rapidly turning into something else. Something she dared not put a name to.
“You look very beautiful, Nia.”
At the sound of his husky voice, Nia turned and gazed up into his coral blue eyes—tranquil now. Blushing under the intensity of his gaze, she glanced down at the black evening dress he’d picked out for her to wear tonight.
It was simply elegant with an off-the-shoulder neckline that was accented with tiny pearls and sparkling sequins. It had an empire waist that extended into a soft flowing skirt that swept the floor. Each time she moved, Nia was aware of the soft fabric caressing her legs and ankles. She ran her hand down the sheer long sleeves and across the bodice that were perfectly detailed with the silkiest black appliques.
The dress was beautiful, and it made her feel feminine and desirable. Massimo had asked her to wear her hair down and so her long wavy mane cascaded off her bare shoulders and lay against her back like a lustrous satin drape—at least that’s how he’d described it when he saw her.
“The credit is all yours, Massimo,” she said, turning to face him again.
His face lighted into an appreciative smile. “Ah, I can’t take all the credit. It probably wouldn’t look half as good on another woman. It’s perfect for you and on you. I’ll be the envy of every man tonight.”
Heat warmed the surface under Nia’s skin as she remembered the look of enthrallment on his face when he’d stood at the bottom of the stairs gazing up to where she stood at the top. She’d felt like a princess and her breath had caught in her throat as Massimo, looking irresistible and devilishly handsome in his black silk suit, snow-white silk shirt and black tie ascended the stairs toward her. She’d almost fainted from sheer bliss when he took her hand and escorted her downstairs.
She was Cinderella on her way to the ball with her handsome prince, but at the stroke of midnight, she’d be gone.
Things could have been different, she thought, recalling the day Massimo had visited the mill shortly after his father died. He’d seemed sincere in his promises, especially the one to stop by the mill regularly to keep abreast of its renovations. His words had given her hope that they would later meet during one of his visits.
Her stilettoes weren’t made of glass, Nia thought, bringing her thoughts back to the present, but she would leave one on Massimo’s nightstand to remind him of the woman who’d duped him. “You have exceptional taste, Massimo,” she said, giving him a smile, and deciding then to enjoy the rest of the evening until she could vanish quietly into the night.
“In clothes, or women?”
“Both. I have to give you that,” she answered with a hint of modesty. “At lunch you briefly mentioned that the meeting tonight had to do with energy production, and a company you and Bryce started together,” she said, to change the subject to something less personal.
The lacy panties Massimo had placed on the bed for her to wear were already wet. She’d been trying to ignore the spasmodic little tremors and electric bolts of desire that had been crashing through her body since Massimo told her she looked beautiful. Or perhaps they’d begun an hour ago when she slipped the lacy panties over her hips, knowing full well that Massimo’s hands had been all over them. Her sex pulsed as if he were stroking his long fingers across her soft flesh. “You didn’t elaborate, though.”
“I didn’t want to bore you with the details.”
He was probably tired of women falling asleep when he tried to tell them about his business, what he did on a day-by-day basis. “I wouldn’t be bored and since you demanded that I accompany you, I think I should know a little bit about what’s going on. I don’t want to seem like a total idiot during light conversation.”
He uttered a short chuckle. “Ah, Nia, one thing I would never mistake you for is an idiot.”
Nia frowned at his compliment. Was it a compliment?
“But since you asked, Fonandt Energy is the largest and most productive wind farm in the Northeast. Bryce and I are thinking of expanding nationally and eventually globally, of course.”
“Of course,” Nia concurred with a shrug.
He absorbed her sarcasm with a smile and continued to hold her gaze steady. “In a nutshell, something needs to be done about global warming. Bryce and I, along with several other wind farm owners from the US and around the world are convening to address alternatives to energy. Dignitaries from several third-world countries will also be attending, mainly to choose a company like Fonandt Energy to service their countries’ needs, whether to build, aid, or takeover the operations of current inefficient and unproductive farms.”
You’d probably want to takeover.
“In the past year Bryce and I, like our competitors, visited several of these countries to gauge the possibilities for wind energy. It would be life-changing for people in undeveloped countries to receive the gift of light, indoor plumbing, and clean water—basics of life that are too expensive now.” His voice rang with enthusiasm and conviction. “Bottom line: at the end of the evening only one company will have the contracts to service these countries. Of course, Bryce and I want that company to be none other than Fonandt Energy.”
“That’s a good cause,” Nia said, noting the pale blue rays around his iris brighten. “Global warming is a huge problem and if nothing is done to reverse or at least control its effects on our atmosphere, there won’t be a world to leave to future generations.”
“Precisely. As you know, Andretti Industries owns numerous factories throughout the world. I proposed investing in wind farms and geothermal energy to both my father and grandfather, years ago. I pointed out the benefits for our mill employees working in safer, cleaner environments. They thought it was too costly to initiate such a project. I was furious at their lack of concern for the planet, especially when our factories contribute so much to the depleting ozone layer every single day.”
“Not to mention the chemical waste that needs to be disposed of properly on a daily basis. At the rate we’re going, planet earth will eventually become a giant chemical waste dump if we do nothing to stop the destruction,” Nia supplied.
“I’m surprised you’re so passionate about the subject, cara. The women with whom I associate—” He stopped and took a deep breath. “The women with whom I used to associate cared only about the latest clothes, hairstyle, and diet and exercise fads. Although I sense that you far exceed any other woman I’ve known in beauty, brains, and personality—a fact that touches me deeply, I would never have thought of you as an environmentalist. I’m impressed,” he added on a soft and gentle note. “Something else we have in common.”
