Snowbound With The Billionaire (HQR Presents; SS) Read online

  ‘The idiot!’ Jake growled. ‘I gave him implicit instructions not to do that—I told him the house was a surprise for my wife. What the—’

  ‘Don’t you see, Jake? That isn’t the point!’ Caro wailed her distress. ‘From that single telephone call I made an assumption— Well, not that single telephone call,’ she recalled with a wince. ‘I also telephoned your hotel suite in New York, to let you know about the estate agent’s call. When a woman answered—a woman with a sexily husky voice—and told me that you couldn’t take the call because you were in the shower—’

  ‘Caro, could we go back a couple of steps?’ Jake cut in grimly. ‘Exactly what assumption did you make when that stupid estate agent told you about the house?’

  Caro swallowed hard before standing up to move away from him. ‘There was the woman in your hotel suite, too…’

  He nodded. ‘Who I can only assume was Mrs Williams…’

  ‘Your PA?’ Caro shook her head in denial. ‘It didn’t sound like Mrs Williams at all.’

  ‘She had a cold,’ Jake explained. ‘A single day in the below-zero temperature of New York and she caught what she assured me was the worst cold of her life. It was because I finally had to send her off to her bed, making it impossible for her to assist me with the paperwork on the deal I was making, that I was delayed in New York for that extra day.’

  This just got worse and worse! Caro realised achingly.

  The woman who had answered the telephone in Jake’s hotel suite in New York could have been Mrs Williams with a cold.

  No—it was no good trying to make excuses, Caro reproved herself; it had been Mrs Williams with a cold. As Jake had said it was. Just as he had bought this house for her as a wedding anniversary gift. As he said he had.

  ‘Caro,’ Jake spoke slowly, carefully, as if he wanted there to be absolutely no more misunderstandings between them, ‘are you telling me that you left me a year ago because you thought, you assumed from those two telephone calls, that I was involved in an affair with another woman?’

  Caro’s heart seemed to stop and she could no longer breathe; that was exactly what she had thought. What she had assumed!

  Jake would never forgive her. How could he when she had left him, denied him knowledge of his own daughter, because of a mistake? She didn’t deserve to be forgiven.

  ‘Caro, can you ever forgive me?’

  She blinked across at him dazedly. ‘Can I forgive you…?’ she whispered. ‘You mean it’s true after all?’

  ‘No, of course it isn’t true, damn it!’ Jake stood up suddenly to cross the room in two long strides, standing only inches away from Caro as he reached out to take both of her hands in his. ‘Caro, do you have any idea how much I love you?’ He looked down at her searchingly.

  Her lips moved, but she uttered no sound. Instead she could only stare up at him with wide, disbelieving eyes.

  ‘No, of course you don’t,’ Jake muttered in self-disgust. ‘I’ve never told you that, have I? Never once in all the time we were together.’

  The pink tip of her tongue moistened her lips before she spoke. ‘I— No, you haven’t.’

  ‘No,’ Jake acknowledged grimly. ‘Caro, I’ve been so busy protecting myself from the same heartache my parents suffered, because they really did love each other, but just couldn’t live together, that by not telling you I had fallen in love with you the moment I first saw you I actually created the situation that led to the two of us parting.’

  ‘But I left you,’ she gasped. ‘I kept Magdalena’s existence from you.’ She shook her head. ‘In the circumstances, that was completely unforgivable!’

  ‘Caro, I think you should let me decide what is or isn’t for givable,’ he chided huskily. ‘Yes, I regret that I wasn’t at your side during your pregnancy, during Magdalena’s birth and the months since, but…’

  ‘You regret it?’ Caro echoed, still in shock. ‘Jake, I was wrong. About everything. Because of that I—’

  ‘Stop beating yourself up, Caro.’ Jake gave her hands a gentle squeeze. ‘Do you still love me?’

  She swallowed hard. ‘I— You—’

  ‘No, you probably don’t,’ he accepted heavily. ‘But will you give me a chance to try again, Caro? Not because of Magdalena, but because I love you more than life itself. This past year without you has been absolute hell,’ he admitted, lowering all his barriers and making himself completely vulnerable to her for the first time. ‘You could live here with Magdalena. I could come down and visit both of you. Perhaps spend weekends here. We could get to know each other all over again. At least think about it before saying no, Caro,’ he pleaded when she didn’t answer him.

  Caro couldn’t have spoken at that moment if her life had depended upon it. Jake loved her. He had always loved her. From the first moment he saw her.

  ‘I can’t—’ She stopped, not even knowing where to begin telling Jake how much she loved him.

  He gave a pained wince as he released her hands and stepped back. ‘You can’t love me again?’ he guessed sadly. ‘Perhaps I deserve that.’ He ran an agitated hand through the dark thickness of his hair as he turned away. ‘I should have told you how I felt when I asked you to marry me. Should have taken the risk and stopped protecting my own damn heart.’

  ‘No, Jake. I mean—yes, Jake. You should have told me how you felt when you asked me to marry you,’ she corrected as she saw the way his face had paled. ‘But you weren’t the only one to blame for the misunderstandings between the two of us. As you said, we—we’re both a product of our upbringing. Your parents spent holidays together because they sincerely believed it was the right thing to do for you. As you know, my own parents stayed married to each other because of Gavin and I.’

  ‘Neither is exactly good PR for the perfect family,’ Jake acknowledged ruefully.

  ‘No.’ Caro gave a humourless smile. ‘Jake, I— Did I ever tell you that my father had affairs? Oh, they were discreet enough. But nevertheless as Gavin and I got older we always knew whenever he’d become involved with someone new. He and my mother would get along better, and he would take Gavin and I out to the cinema and shows. All in an effort to salve his conscience because he was sleeping with another woman.’ She bit her bottom lip. ‘It isn’t an excuse for the way I’ve behaved, but I think—believe—that in my heart of hearts I always felt the same thing might happen to me. That if I ever married my husband would eventually grow tired of me and turn to other women. But when I met you, fell so deeply in love with you, I forgot all about those fears. I was so sure that we would have a good marriage. A happy marriage.’

  ‘And instead I never told you that I loved you, allowing those fears to resurface,’ Jake realised, clenching his fists in agony. ‘To the point that my buying this house and the presence of a woman in my hotel suite that day all pointed to my behaving in the same way your father had.’

  ‘Yes…’ she whispered.

  Jake groaned and shook his head. ‘Caro, I haven’t so much as looked at another woman from the very first moment I set eyes on you! Damn it, I can tell you that until the end of time,’ he rasped. ‘It isn’t going to matter at all when you no longer love me!’

  ‘But of course I love you, Jake,’ Caro protested emotionally. ‘I’ve always loved you,’ she told him. ‘And I always will love you,’ she vowed. Then, because she could no longer bear to be apart from him, she launched herself into his arms. ‘I love you so much, Jake, that this past year apart from you has been absolute hell for me, too!’

  Jake kissed her long and deeply, trembling slightly minutes later as he drew back to rest his forehead against hers. ‘I really thought you would come back that day, you know. Believed you were just upset that I hadn’t managed to get back for our wedding anniversary.’ He smiled shakily. ‘After two days I went to see Gavin—was convinced you would be staying with him.’ He breathed raggedly. ‘Gavin didn’t even know you had left me, let alone where you were.’

  Caro winced. ‘I thought at first that
if you did bother to talk to Gavin after I left, it would be easier for him to deny all knowledge if he really didn’t have any idea where I was.’

  ‘If I bothered?’ Jake repeated incredulously. ‘Once I realised you weren’t coming back I was frantic! I spoke to all your friends. Your work colleagues. I checked with Gavin several times a day to see if he had heard from you. But no one had any idea where you were.’ His face was haggard with the memory of those days and weeks of searching for her. ‘Then Gavin said something to me that forced me to stop making a damned nuisance of myself…’

  ‘Gavin did?’ Caro frowned.

  Jake nodded. ‘He pointed out, quite bluntly, that if you had wanted me to find you then I would have done so.’ He gave a shuddering sigh. ‘I realised that he was right. That as far as you were concerned our marriage really was over.’

  ‘Oh, Jake!’ Her arms tightened about his waist and she clung to him. ‘How can you ever forgive me?’ she choked.

  ‘Quite easily, when I love you so much,’ he assured her firmly. ‘And by knowing that there’s two ways we can do this. I can lose my temper because you dis trusted me,’ he explained as she looked up at him questioningly, ‘and we can waste another year—or two—until either you’ve forgiven me or I’ve forgiven you. Or we can both just accept, hard as this last year apart might have been for both of us, that without it we might never have got to this point.’

  Tears glistened in Caro’s eyes. ‘I don’t understand…?’

  ‘Don’t you see, Caro, that without that telephone call from the estate agent, without the mistake you made about Mrs Williams, you would have flown to New York that day and surprised me, told me about your pregnancy, given birth to Magdalena? And all without my ever feeling any need to tell you how much I love and cherish you.’

  ‘Well…yes. But—’

  ‘Just think about it for a moment, Caro,’ he encouraged huskily. ‘I’m more than willing to forget the pain of this last year for what we have here and now—how about you?’

  Could they do that? Could they really start again and forget all the past heartache?

  If he could do that, then so could she!

  ‘Oh, yes, Jake,’ she said brokenly. ‘Let’s do that. Let’s start again,’ she pleaded as she clung to him. ‘Let’s live in this house together from now on. Fill it with love and children and—’

  ‘God, I love you, Caro!’ Jake groaned as his arms tightened about her like steel bands. ‘In future I intend telling you that a dozen times a day. A hundred times!’ he vowed fiercely. ‘I never, ever want you to doubt my love for you again—let alone even think of leaving me!’

  Caro gave a shaky laugh as she looked up at him, with her own love for him shining brightly, clearly in her eyes. ‘Now that I know you love me I won’t ever doubt you again, Jake. Or leave you,’ she promised. ‘From now on we’ll make every day as happy as this Christmas now promises to be.’

  Jake reached up to cradle each side of her face as he looked down intently into her eyes. ‘I’ll love you until the day I die, Caro Montgomery. Longer! You’re the air that I breathe. The sun, moon and stars to me.’

  ‘As you are to me, Jake Montgomery,’ she whispered emotionally.

  It was more than enough.

  Much, much more than enough…

  * * * * *

  Now, read on for a tantalizing excerpt of Michelle Smart’s next book,

  A PASSIONATE REUNION IN FIJI

  Workaholic billionaire Massimo Briatore has convinced his estranged wife Livia to accompany him to Fiji for a family celebration. It’s supposed to be one final weekend of pretending to be happily married. But, trapped in paradise, there’s no escape from the memories of the tenderness and heat that once bound them together. An explosive reunion is on the cards—but only if their passion can burn away their past…

  Read on for a glimpse of

  A PASSIONATE REUNION IN FIJI

  CHAPTER ONE

  LIVIA BRIATORE CLIMBED the metal steps to the sleek jet’s cabin, her heart hammering so hard she felt the vibrations in the tips of her hair. The sun was setting, the growing darkness perfectly matching the darkness that had enveloped her these recent months.

  THE FLIGHT CREW, the same crew from when she’d first boarded this plane over two years ago, greeted her warmly but with questions ringing from their eyes.

  Livia responded with a smile but the effort was such the muscles of her mouth protested. She didn’t think she’d smiled once these past four months.

  Sick dread swirled in her stomach. Clamping her teeth together, she straightened her spine and raised her chin, then stepped into the luxurious cabin where she was destined to spend the next twenty-six hours flying to Fiji.

  Immediately her senses were assailed by the familiar smell of expensive upholstery mingled with the musky yet citrusy scent of the man on the plush leather seat, a laptop open before him.

  She almost doubled over with the strength of the pain that punched through her stomach.

  The first time Livia had stepped on this plane her heart had pounded with excitement and anticipation. Her body had run amok with brand-new feelings.

  That first time in this plane, taking off from this very same airport in Rome, she had been filled with more happiness than she had known existed. The man whose attention was currently fixed on his laptop had hardly been able to wait for take-off before dragging her into the bedroom to make love to her.

  All that was left of the flame of the passion that had seen them married within a month of meeting was ashes.

  She blinked the painful memories away and forced her leaden legs forward.

  She’d made a promise and she would keep it, however much it hurt.

  The plane had four luxury window seats facing each other with the aisle between them. Massimo had raised his partition and when she took the seat diagonal to his, all she could see of him were his shoes. They were as buffed and polished as they always had been, a quirk she had thought adorable. Her husband was the least vain man she had ever met but he always took pride in his footwear.

  She fastened her seat belt then laced her fingers tightly together to stop herself giving in to the need to bite her nails. She’d had an expensive gel treatment done on them the day before, masking that they were all bitten to the quick. She didn’t want Massimo to see them like that. She couldn’t bear for him to look at her and see the signs of her broken heart.

  Livia had patched her heart back up. She’d licked her wounds and stitched herself back together. That was the only good thing about her childhood. It had taught her how to survive.

  She would survive the next four days too. Four days and then she need never see him again.

  The captain’s voice came over the tannoy system, informing them they were cleared to take off. His words brought Massimo to life. The partition acting as a barrier came down as he closed his laptop and stored it away, then fastened his seat belt. Not once did he look at her but Livia was aware of every movement he made. Her heart bloomed to see the muscles of his tall, lean body flex beneath the expensive navy shirt with the sleeves carelessly rolled up, the buttons around his strong neck undone. No doubt he’d ripped the tie he would have worn to the conference from his neck the moment he’d left the venue. A maverick even by usual standards, Massimo conformed to rules only when he judged it necessary. She supposed the engineering conference in London he’d been guest of honour at had been an occasion he’d decided was worthy of bothering with an actual suit.

  Livia only knew he’d been in London because his PA had casually mentioned it in her email when they’d been making the arrangements for today.

  It wasn’t until the plane taxied down the runway that the soulful caramel eyes she had once stared into with wonder finally met her gaze. It was the briefest of glances before he turned his attention to the window beside his head but it was enough for Livia’s stomach to flip over and her throat to tighten.

  Massimo’s face was one she’d been familiar with
long before they’d met. Employed as his grandfather’s private nurse, she’d stared at the large Briatore family portrait that had hung in his grandfather’s living room too many times to count. Her gaze had always been drawn to the only member whose smile appeared forced. It was a beautiful face. Slightly long with high cheekbones, a strong Roman nose and a wide firm mouth, it was a chameleon of a face, fitting for a construction worker, a banker or a poet. That it belonged to one of the richest self-made billionaires in the world was irrelevant. She would have been drawn to that face no matter who he was.

  Seeing him in the flesh for the first time, in the church his sister was getting married in, had been like having all the oxygen sucked out of her.

  The first time she’d seen him smile for real her insides had melted as if she’d been injected with liquid sunshine. She had brought that smile out in him. She couldn’t even remember what she’d said, only that after hours of sidelong glances at each other throughout the wedding ceremony and the official photographs, she’d gone to the bar of the hotel the reception was being held in and suddenly the air around her had become electrified. She’d known before even turning her head that he’d come to stand beside her. Her tongue, usually so razor sharp, had tied itself in knots. Whatever she’d said in those first awkward moments had evoked that smile and in that instant all the awkwardness disappeared and it was as if they had known each other for ever.

  And now he couldn’t even bring himself to look at her.

  She had no idea how they were going to get through a weekend with his family, celebrating his grandfather’s ninetieth birthday, pretending to still be together.

  * * *

  Massimo watched an illuminated Rome disappear beneath the clouds and tried to clear the hot cloud that was the mess in his head.

  When he’d agreed to speak at the engineering conference in London, it had made sense to fly to Rome afterwards and collect Livia en route. It had been logical.

  He’d assumed that after four months apart, being with her again would be no big deal. He hadn’t missed her in the slightest. Not that there had been time to miss her with all the hours he’d been putting in. Without the burden of a hot-tempered wife demanding his attention, he’d been able to devote himself to his multiple businesses just as he had before she’d collided into his life and torn it inside out. The day she’d left, he’d bought himself the bed for his office which the mere suggestion of had so angered her. He’d slept in it most nights since. It was far more comfortable than the blanket on the sofa he’d used the nights he’d worked late and decided it wasn’t worth driving home.