Maid for the Billionaire (12 page)

Zhang’s black eyes glittered with an unveiled
threat. “Do what you have to, but without my support you may have
to call home for the funds for your return flight.”

"I don't like keeping secrets from him," Abby
said lamely, wondering if she looked as nervous as she felt. This
was not at all how she imagined her first foray into being
spontaneous. Like a snowball rolling down a hill, her anxiety was
picking up real weight. Meeting Zhang had proven to be just as bad
of an idea as eavesdropping on Scott and his men through the hotel
wall.

"Don't consider it a secret." Zhang added as
she stood, handed the server some currency and motioned for Abby to
remain seated. "Consider it your way of helping your man without
him knowing; a noble practice of many women ever since we dragged
them from the caves. Be ready for 10 am."

The patrons of the hotel’s tea salon watched
Zhang leave as if she were an untouchable celebrity. The crowd at
the door parted in deference. Like Dominic, Zhang existed in an
entirely different world, one that had its own set of rules and
expectations.

Abby traced the delicate design on her
teacup. Scott and his men still lingered, somewhat impatiently, in
strategic areas of the room. They blended with the locals about as
well as she did, but fortunately for them, a table of English
tourists was arguing with a server over the salon’s lack of food to
accompany the tea and they were drawing the attention of almost
everyone present.

Despite how out of place she felt in
Dominic’s world, she was no longer a tourist. She might know as
little about dealing with international mergers as those tourists
knew about the Chinese culture, but it didn’t appear that staying
uninvolved was going to remain an option.

Hadn’t she come to China because Dominic had
needed her? All today had proven was that his need went deeper than
simply emotional. She couldn’t afford to let her fear rule her
anymore. Dominic would never respect a woman who ran for the
airport at the first sign of trouble. No, if they were going to
have any chance of making it, she would have to be strong like
Zhang.

The thought inspired Abby. A woman like Zhang
wouldn’t let a bodyguard intimidate her. There was probably very
little that could stand between Zhang and what she wanted for
long.

Across the room, Scott pointed to the watch
on his wrist and motioned for her to finish her tea. Abby grimaced
back at him. She had no intention of leaving the lounge until she’d
decided if she would meet Zhang the next day. She poured herself a
fresh cup of tea and ignored the look of irritation that Scott
flashed her.

Abby waved the server over. This was going to
require a fresh pot.

Chapter Thirteen

That evening, Dominic returned to the hotel
suite, studied her face for a long moment, then glared at the
quickly departing bodyguards. "You look tired," he said. She could
have said the same thing about him, but her usual sarcastic retorts
melted away beneath the sincere concern in his expression.

"I'm fine," she said, barely able to hold in
Scott’s betrayal and the decision she’d come to in the lounge.

"They let you do too much," he said gruffly
as he loosened and removed his tie. He threw it on the back of one
of the dining room chairs, covering it with the jacket he shrugged
off with relief.

He walked toward her, eyes never wavering
from hers. She wasn’t sure if she closed the final distance between
them or if he had. One moment they were looking at each other with
pent up longing, the next she was crushed against his chest
exchanging the welcome home kiss she’d always dreamt of. His lips
asked then demanded. Hers opened and teased. He broke off the kiss
and rested his forehead against hers with a ragged breath. “What
did you do today?”

Abby shook her head to clear it. She couldn’t
think straight when he was so close. She knew she had to tell him,
but how?

“I explored the Summer Palace gardens. The
South Isle is beautiful,” she said, stalling for time.

He held her back from him, forcing her to
meet his eyes. "Scott should know better than to do so much on your
first day."

"It was fine, Dominic," Abby said, trying to
shake herself free of the cyclone of guilt that tore through her.
How could she have doubted him? Of course he had to maintain a
formidable image in the business world, but the man who was looking
down at her with such tenderness had done nothing to make her fear
him.

“I have something I need to tell you,” she
started and froze. The words wouldn’t come out. What should she say
first? Dom, I think the security you hired to watch me is actually
watching you. Or should she lead with the business side? I realize
you think negotiations are going well, Dom, and although I know
relatively nothing about your business – I’m meeting with a major
player tomorrow to see if I can help you.

Caving to her nerves, she hedged, "I won at
poker.”

That made Dominic smile. He ran his thumb
gently over her chin and said, "I never doubted you for a
minute."

Abby wished with all her might that she could
say the same to him. She’d let the situation and her overactive
imagination bring her to the brink of panic all day. Now was the
perfect time to set all those ridiculous fears aside and just say
what needed to be said. “Dominic…” she started, but forgot what she
was saying when he breathed in the scent of her hair as if it were
something he'd waited all day to do. All coherent thought left when
his hands moved across her body with all the gentleness of a
concerned lover.

"It's ok if you're too tired," he whispered
into her ear, "but I need to hold you."

She could always tell him tomorrow
morning.

He carried her to the lounger, sat with her
sideways across his lap and tucked her head beneath his chin. She
wrapped her arms around his center and let the steady beat of his
heart sooth her.

This was the Dominic she’d glimpsed during
their first meeting. His gray eyes were darkened with the weight of
his thoughts. She hugged him closer, searching for words that would
relieve some of his burden rather than add to it.

“Is it going that badly?” she asked against
the silk of his shirt.

Dominic returned her hug, sighing into her
hair. “The negotiations? No, I’m not worried about those. When it
comes to business, I’ve got the Midas touch. It’s just everywhere
else that I fail.”

Abby raised her head and simply waited, glad
that she had held her tongue. He was opening up to her in a way she
hadn’t dared dream he would. She knew this probably wasn’t forever,
but she also knew it would certainly come to an abrupt end as soon
as she shared her news.

Dominic stared at the wall behind her as if
meeting her eyes was too difficult of a task as he admitted,
“Nicole claims she has a plan to break my father’s will, but she
won’t say what it is. She says she’d rather lose it all than let me
help her.”

“She sounds a lot like you.” Abby shared her
realization softly, instantly finding those dark gray eyes riveted
to hers. She raised a hand to smooth the tension that was evident
in his jaw. “She’s proud, Dominic, and she’s hurting. What would
you have done if the roles were reversed?”

A hint of a sad smile pursed his lips. “I
would have thrown the offer back in my face and started my own
company.”

“Like you did with your father?” she
asked.

Dominic tensed beneath her. “This is not the
same at all. I am nothing like my father.”

“I know that, Dominic,” she whispered even
though she really didn’t know much about it at all. She wondered
what his father had done to earn such complete revulsion from his
only son. She felt anger rippling through his muscles and knew that
she had stumbled upon an old, yet still raw, emotional scar. “Tell
me,” she urged softly.

Dominic took a deep breath and pulled her
close against him again. He didn’t say anything at first. There was
an intimacy in their quiet, shared breathing that most would
associate with the afterglow of sex when lovers let each other in.
Abby had never felt such a bond before, not even during
relationships that had spanned several years. It shook her to the
core that she could feel so connected to a man she’d known less
than a week.

When he finally spoke, his voice was oddly
hollow, as if he was trying to distance himself even as he shared
the story. “I didn’t know my father very well. He worked all the
time. I mean, all the time. He kept us – me, Nicole, and our mother
– in a mansion in the Hamptons. I say kept because that’s how it
felt there. No one spoke or moved in that house without his
permission. Except Thomas when he would visit. He was the only one
who ever questioned my father’s decisions. I think they went to
school together as children and Thomas never let my father’s
success intimidate him.”

“And you admired him.” She stated the
obvious, wanting him to know that she understood.

Dominic made a sound of disgust deep within
his chest. “I did until he left, just like everyone else did, when
my mother disappeared.”

“Disappeared?” A shiver of fear ran down
Abby’s back.

“Yes, the formal investigation determined
that she deserted our family. The police said there had been a note
explaining that she wasn’t happy and asking for no one to look for
her, but I never believed that she would have left without saying
goodbye to me or Nicole. I never saw the note. I doubt there ever
was one. ” Dominic rubbed his hand absently up and down Abby’s
arm.

“Your father didn’t look for her?” Abby could
not even imagine the pain of not knowing. It was bad enough to have
lost her mother to death, but to spend a lifetime wondering if
something had happened to her or if she simply had run away would
surely be harder to bear.

His hand stilled. “He said she’d live a lot
longer if he never found her. I believed him. He had a vicious
temper. But I couldn’t accept that she didn’t want to be with us
and no matter what my father said, I had to find her. Eventually my
father tossed down an ultimatum, give up my search or lose my
inheritance. I walked out of his house that night.”

The last of Abby’s doubts about Dominic’s
character splintered and fell to the wayside. Mrs. Duhamel was so
right in warning her not to judge him on his tough exterior. He’d
left behind everything to search for the mother he’d loved. That
kind of devotion was rare. “Where did you go?” Abby asked, driven
by the need to know the rest of the story.

“I stayed with friends for a few days, but
that option dissolved when news spread of the change in my
financial situation. My father hoped to break me by removing my
options, but his interference only made me more determined to find
out what had happened.”

“And Thomas wouldn’t help you,” she guessed.
Abby imagined a much younger version of the proud man before her
turning to the one male figure in his life he trusted, only to be
abandoned by him also. The image was heart wrenching.

A ragged, shudder tore through the man
beneath her, bringing tears of empathy to Abby’s eyes. His voice
held little emotion as he said, “I begged him to help me, but he
said some things were better off left alone. Maybe he was afraid of
my father after all or maybe there was no profit in remaining too
close during such a scandal. I don’t know. Before seeing him at the
reading of the will, I hadn’t spoken to him since I left my
father’s house.”

“You never found your mother? I can’t believe
your father was never forced to produce proof that she was
alive.”

Dominic’s face twisted with disdain. “Money
made him untouchable. At least that’s what he believed, but I was
bringing him down. If he hadn’t died, I would have gotten the truth
out of him.”

“Do you really think he hurt her?” Abby asked
through the trembling fingers of one hand.

“He was capable of incredible cruelty in
business and he often forgot to leave that ruthlessness at work.”
Dominic took her shaking hand in his and kissed it softly. “I
thought that kind of anger was normal when I was young; the price
you had to pay to get and stay on top.”

“Oh, Dom….” She couldn’t help the tears that
slipped over her lashes and dripped onto his silk shirt.

He brushed her tears away with a light touch
that seemed uncharacteristic of such a powerful man and that only
made her cry all the more. Abby had seen men grow uncomfortable or
impatient around tears, but Dominic was the first man to treat her
like a delicate and precious creature he simply wanted to comfort
and was afraid of crushing. How could she have doubted him at all?
Tears for him turned to tears of shame that she buried in his
quickly dampening shirt.

He didn’t seem to care that her mascara
stained his clothing. He let her cry softly against him, gently
pushing the hair out of her face. His heart thudded loudly in his
chest. When she quieted, he said, “Don’t waste your tears on me,
little one. You wouldn’t look at me with such tenderness if you
knew half of what I have done to get where I am.”

Abby sniffed and raised her head. “We all
carry regrets with us, Dominic. Today is what is important. The
choices we make from now on are what define us.”

He wrapped a long curl around one of his
fingers thoughtfully. “You make it sound so easy, Abby, but you
don’t know me. I’ve been angry so long, I’m not sure who I am
without it. My sister was right, you should run, not walk away from
me. I destroy everything beautiful I touch.”

Abby put a hand on either side of his face,
forcing him to look down at her. “I may not have known you long,
Dominic, but I know one thing. You’re not nearly as awful as you
think you are. Mrs. Duhamel wouldn’t treat you like the son she
never had if you were the monster you’re describing.”