An Unbreakable Bond (13 page)

“Yes!” What was she thinking, feeling like she could be vulnerable in front of this man? She’d just lied to save herself, but now she didn’t care. The most important person in her world was in threat of slipping through her fingers. Visibly shaking and with pure adrenalin cursing through her veins, she yelled back at him, “Just like you will marry that piranha Boone woman and have lots of heirs to add to your companies!”

His eyes spit forth fire. “Ah, but April is already my heiress. Once we change her surname she will become a proper Hemsley-Ford.”

Total fear clawed at her. “That’s exactly why you can’t have her Tristan. You will have her shipped off to some boarding school, tutored to deal with billions and be an empty shell inside just like you!”

Tristan sucked in his breath.

They were circling the table now, each getting ready for a battle of wills.

Flushed and primed to win at all costs, he leisurely followed the contours of her body. Barefoot and barely reaching his chin, she looked like a spitfire with hair fighting itself loose from that morning’s chignon. Bringing his gaze to her bottom lip, he noticed it was swollen from the constant biting she seemed to do. Was it only this morning when he thought he was childless and marrying someone else? He shook his head disbelievingly. Going back to Texas without having her in his life was not an option. The thought of her marrying Daniel and him touching that creamy skin and kissing those adorable lips made his veins want to explode and he couldn’t comprehend April calling any other man, ‘dad’.

Looking into those feisty emerald green eyes of hers, he smiled lazily, revealing his dimples. “There’s only one solution Ma Belle.”

“Oh, and what’s that?” A ball of fear uncurled in the pit of her stomach.

“You’re going to marry me and become my wife.”

Was that her stomach that had just dropped to her feet? A tingle of fear ran down her spine. “Are you nuts?” She stopped dead in her tracks.

That moment of weakness was all he needed to advance on her from around the table and lock his arm through her waist, pulling her into his arms. “At any cost, I will have you and April in my life.”

Damn! She couldn’t move. Where were her stilettos when she needed them? “You can’t force me Tristan. I’m not some young girl that can be toyed with.” The top of her head reached just under his chin and she tilted her head back to look directly into his eyes, which had gone from cobalt blue to virtually black. Anticipation flooded her veins as she felt his bodily heat against her breasts which were crushed against his chest.

Just who does he think he is! Unconsciously, she moved her gaze to his lips and then back up to his eyes and her tongue darted out and caught her bottom lip.

Watching her dampen those delicious lips was his final undoing. “Bloody hell,” he murmured, as he lowered his lips to hers to claim them.

Deciding to be stubborn and prove that she couldn’t be pushed about, she kept her lips firmly closed and refused to co-operate.

Not easily deterred, he smiled hotly against her lips and sensuously kissed her from the corner of her mouth, down her jaw and into the hollow of her neck and back up again.

Sumptuous wisps of delight pulsated down her body and she closed her eyes, slightly parting her softening lips, feeling his tongue as he ran it along her bottom lip, enticing her open. Shyly she allowed her tongue to come out and greet his. Feeling bolder, she pulled back her tongue and lightly nipped his bottom lip with her teeth.

Jumping with electric fire, he loosened his grip and she reached up around his neck and drove her hands into his hair, urging him closer. She had to have more of him.

Answering her desire, he sank his tongue into her mouth and played provocatively with hers, taking her higher and higher until a fire spread through her legs, making her sway with weakness. Caressing his hand down her back, she moaned and he pulled her further into his groin. The length of his erection grated into her abdomen and she wriggled against it.

“You’re driving me crazy,” he groaned as he ran his other hand up to her breast, massaging its fullness and drawing his thumb over her nipple and teasing it as it protruded through the thin material.

Floating in a mist, she let go to the sheer wonder of it and pulling away from his lips she leaned into his neck and nipped at his velvety skin tracing a path with little kisses up his neck. She could hear his breath catch in his throat and a throb of excitement raged through her body at the power of his response and she could hardly contain herself.

“Marry me Ma Belle,” he whispered huskily.

The blow of his words caused her to freeze and she pushed away from him. “This was just one of your games, wasn’t it?”

He looked flushed and his eyes were heavily lidded with passion. “I want you Annabelle.”

“No, no, that’s not true. You want April and you think you can control me and bully me into getting what you want.”

It felt like someone had thrown a bucket of ice cold water over him. Stepping closer, menace lit up his eyes and he rose to his full height, exuding power. “There are others ways of getting April,” he sneered.

Jolting backwards, she blindly felt for the kitchen unit behind her. “What are you saying?” Her whole nervous system stood on alert.

“I am a very wealthy man and I have a lot of political power available to me. I could have you steamrollered through the courts within weeks and before you know it, I will have shared custody of April, and if needed, I could push it further.”

“You wouldn’t?” Her heart shattered into tiny pieces and she felt her lungs seize up. In that moment she knew he could do exactly what he wanted and she was powerless to stop him. She was just a mouse to his cat.

His gazed softened. “If you won’t marry me Annabelle, then at least
give
me some time to get to know my daughter? I have missed out on so much.”

“How much time?” she choked, she knew an ultimatum when she saw one.

“I want you both to leave with me tomorrow for my ranch in Mount Vernon, Texas.”

Shock poured through her veins and she could have been knocked over by a feather. “I can’t just leave! What about my work? What about April’s school?”

Brushing away her concern with his hands, he replied, “We can get April a tutor and Katie can look after your work.” He narrowed his eyes at her. “Or is it because you'll be leaving behind your precious Daniel?” He flung out Daniel’s name as a growl and she flinched.

“How long will we be gone for?”

He smiled coldly. “I have ten years to catch up on, so as long as it takes.”

Looking at him in horror, she pleaded, “But she has family here and what about George, your Gramps? She loves him dearly.”

At the mention of his grandfather, Tristan’s shoulders tensed even further. “Just like you, he too has a lot to answer for. What you have both done is unforgivable”

Panicking at the look in his eyes, she knew what was about to come between Tristan and his Gramps. “I asked George to remain silent. He has been my confidant for most of my life. Even my parents and Wade don’t know that you are April’s father.” She was fretting, knowing her small comfortable life was about to be smashed into pieces and be rearranged.

Tristan had heard enough. “Tough!” He looked at his watch. “You have until nine in the morning to sort out everything before I return to collect you both.” He stormed out of the kitchen and into the front room to collect his jacket.

Following him down the hallway to the front door, she bitterly called out. “I think you have overlooked one tiny detail.”

“Oh, and what’s that?” he replied whilst opening the door.

“You’re getting married to Cara in three months.” She crossed her arms and smiled triumphantly.

He returned the triumphant smile. “As of this morning she and I are no longer together, and for the record, I don’t make a habit of asking one woman to marry me whilst still engaged to another one.” Shutting the door on her he growled out. “Be ready for nine Annabelle.”

Leaning on the closed door, she took a deep breath. It would be seventeen hours before he returned. They needed to escape, but where would they go?

Chapter 8

Tristan stormed through the village to Edingthorpe Hall like a mad man. The limo was gone, which meant Cara had left and this gave him some relief, but anger refuelled itself as he entered the great hall and shouted, “Gramps, where are you?”

The butler stepped out of the shadows. “Lord Hemsley-Ford is in his study waiting for you.”

“So, the lovely Cara has already informed him of our little discovery!” he spat out sardonically, before turning and strutting in the direction of the study. “Bring me the photo albums now!”

Gramps sighed as he heard the exchange. After a long ten year wait, this moment was now inevitable. Cara had in fact filled him in on the details earlier and he knew that the time had come.

Tristan entered in a shroud of darkness reflected by the lethal look on his face. He took one look at the aged man sitting behind his desk and clenched his teeth. “Why?” he ground out in a low menacing voice.

“Take a seat
Tristan,
we have a lot of ground to cover.”

Ignoring him, Tristan paced the room. “What you have done is unforgivable. You knew about her and you kept my own daughter from me.”

Gramps shook his head slowly. “I refuse to speak to you until you take a seat like a mature man.”

Looking into the calm blue eyes of this great man, Tristan noted the stubbornness that he saw there. Dropping heavily into the seat he replied, “You have exactly five minutes to give me a valid reason as to why before I walk out of here and denounce the whole family name.”

Gramps barely nodded. Inwardly, he’d spent ten years preparing himself for the truth that was about to emerge. “I have known the
Summers
family for most of my life. Annabelle’s grandfather was a cherished friend of mine and I have had a soft spot for Annabelle since she was born.”

A knot of tension gripped Tristan.

Gramps tapped his fingers on the desk. “I have had the honour of watching her blossom into a beautiful young lady and I knew how she felt about you. The second you came here she followed you around like a lost puppy, but you were so filled with your own carnal desires, that you were blind to her affections and instead you teased her endlessly.”

“Gramps, I was only sixteen for god’s sake!”

“Love is not governed by numbers.”

“What? Are you saying she was in love with me?” A pink flush infused his neck and his stomach turned over.

Gramps just stared at him with a questioning look.

Tristan clenched a fist and dug it into his palm. “That doesn’t explain why you or she didn’t tell me that I had a daughter?”

“No it doesn’t.” Gramps leaned back in his chair and rested his hands in his lap. “After you left for Texas I didn’t see her for over two months, which was unusual because she came to the stables weekly for horse riding lessons. I was going to enquire with her family when one day she just turned up. We sat here in this very study and she told me what had happened that night and she also revealed her pregnancy. I was the first person she had spoken to about it.”

Tristan unclenched his fist and a surge of anger shot through him.  “Why didn’t you ring me or tell me to come back?”

“At first she was very afraid. We talked about it a lot over the following weeks until things got emotionally easier for her. She asked me to keep silent and I agreed.”

Tristan shot out of the chair. “So, your loyalty was to her and not to your own grandson!” He began pacing the room again.

“No Tristan, my loyalty was to the unborn child.”

Tristan stopped and looked at his grandfather’s face. A shadow of great pain fell across his eyes.

“I only ever fell in love once, with your grandmother, she was a beautiful woman.” He dropped his head and the room went silent.

Tristan sat back down and waited.

Finally, Gramps lifted his head and his eyes were damp. “Your father was our firstborn and I thought my life was complete. We tried for more children, but there were problems and after several stillborn babies and miscarriages, your grandmother could no longer conceive. We raised your father with a firm but loving hand and I believe we showed him that a bond made in marriage was a wonderful thing to have.” He sighed. “But your father decided to walk a different path and became a ruthless power orientated man and he wanted the same principles for you.”

Tristan thought about his father and the coldness that he remembered from his childhood. “If you raised him with the right values then something must have happened to make him like he is?”

“Yes, perhaps two events were to be the catalyst for the change in your father. When he was twenty he fell in love for the first time. The young lady was sixteen at the time and she adored him. They spent every moment together and just before the summer ended your father had planned to ask her to marry him, but he was unexpectedly ordered to Texas by the committee board for his initiation into the company.”