The Billionaire's Unwanted Virgin (18 page)

She pushed away from him to
be able to see his face, and he wrapped his hands in her hair and smiled—a toe-curling
sinful smile—that made her want to jump him again in an instant.

"And if I want to cross
it, what then?"

He grew serious and studied
her from under hooded lids.

"Baby steps, my sweet.
Baby steps. I will not be rushed on this, and bratty little Alices need to be
punished."

She grinned in answer and got
on all fours, wiggling her butt at him.

"Well,
Sir,
what
are you waiting for?"

He growled in answer, and the
slap when it came stung, really stung.

"Ouch."

She glared at him over her
shoulder, and he laughed.

"You should know by now
that I don't do what you expect me to. Now be a good girl and wait here, whilst
I draw you that bath. No arguing, or I will have to think of a suitable
punishment involving a feather duster."

"You wouldn't…"He
simply grinned and slapped her ass again, gentler this time, before he got off
the bed and disappeared into their en-suite. The sound of running water
confirmed that he was indeed running her bath, as promised. Alice settled back
down against the covers and looked down at the marks on her body with a small
sigh. Surely, all this must mean that he cared for her a little?

No man could be that focused
on giving a woman pleasure, and not feel something for that woman, could he?
Damn it, she would have to ask Sara. If anyone would know the answer to that if
would be her experienced friend. She didn’t even know that they were back in
the country yet. Or maybe she did know. Alice recalled the flashbulbs going off
with a sinking heart.

She had almost forgotten that
here in London, their marriage had caused more than a ripple in the pond. The
newspapers had hounded Lakota before she'd come on the scene, and now they
would be even more ruthless. They had been at the hospital, too, she remembered
now.

"Why the frown, my
sweet?" Lakota's deep voice shook her out of her thoughts.

"Nothing much. I was
just thinking that our honeymoon is over. Now we're back, and there is so much
to sort out."

He, too, grew thoughtful, and
the bed depressed as he sat down next to her.

"I know, but we'll sort
it."

"Starting with your
father? Because, you know, I really do think he means it. He wants to get to
know you. This could be like a fresh start for all of you, if you let him. Will
you at least try?"

Instead of answering her, he
picked her up, and in a few short seconds she was settled deep in the bath,
with him sat behind her.

"Yes, I'll try, if only
to shut you up, woman. Now shush, before I gag you, and let me get this stuff
of you."

He grabbed a sponge from the
side of the bath and proceeded to wash her. By the time they finally made it
out again, the first streaks of sunrise were just about visible above Hyde Park,
and they fell into an exhausted slumber in each other's arms, having stripped
the bed of the soiled covers and dumped them outside the door for housekeeping
to find.

Lakota had winked at her,
when he hung up the “do not disturb” sign.

"I'm not quite ready to
leave our honeymoon behind yet, Alice."

Despite Lakota's best
intentions life had other ideas. The next morning saw them in a hive of
activity, not helped by the papers being full of their pictures, just like
Alice had feared. Lakota himself was needed at Langton Enterprises, now that
he'd decided to keep the company on, which left Alice at a loose end. She spent
her time with Beth and her mum, and had an interesting heart-to-heart with
Sara, when she'd voiced her concerns about the state of her marriage.

"Girl, sometimes you're
just too dim for words. The man worships the ground you walk on, anyone can see
that. Seriously, I don’t get you. From what you tell me, the sex is phenomenal.
Well, you don't have to tell me, it’s written all over your face. You've got
that glow girl, ya know. The I've been fucked any which way since last Friday
look. I'm quite jealous, actually. The man is a hunk, and a filthy rich one at that.
So what if he doesn't say he loves you. He treats you right, that's all that
matters, and if you ask me he's halfway in love with you already. He's just too
stubborn to admit it to himself. And you're so far gone it's quite funny."

"I'm not." Alice had
tried to protest, but Sara had just laughed at her.

"Pull the other one.
It's got bells on it. If you don't love the man then why did you turn green in
front of my eyes when you saw the pictures with him and that
Lady Horsley
bitch
as you called her, rather aptly I think. I certainly don’t like the
look of her. Too bad he has to deal with her on a daily basis. But he's a big
boy…" Sara had dissolved into hysterical fits of giggles at that, until
Alice had had to join in. "So, anyway, he can handle himself with the
likes of her. She had her greedy little hooks in his brother, didn't she?
 
Word has it that she had set her cap at
Lakota, and when he wasn't interested she moved in on his younger brother. That
boy never did have any sense. Sadly, he was a good looking fellow. Wouldn't
have minded wrangling an introduction, if he was still around."

Sara had nudged her and
laughed at Alice's outraged hiss to keep her voice down. They'd been attracting
far too much attention as it was, and for once it wasn't Sara that drew the
eyes, but Alice. Sara had taken her on a shopping spree, stating that the new
wife of the great Lakota could not spend her days running around in her usual
jeans and tees. The designer dresses she'd come home with showed off every one
of Alice's curves, and damn that Sara she had been right again.

Far from being annoyed at the
outrageous amount they had spent, Lakota had looked at her as though he was
going to eat her, and the minute Sara had left, had done just that. Several
times, in fact. Alice giggled now recalling how she hadn't been able to walk
properly the next day. She had been hopelessly teased by Sara, who had dropped
hints about dresses having worked their magic all day long in front of Beth and
her mum, until Alice had wanted the ground to swallow her up.

Today was Beth's birthday,
and she had been allowed to come home from the hospital. Lakota had spared no
expenses in giving the little girl a birthday party to remember, and Alice
couldn't recall when she had last seen her niece so happy.

The entertainer and all of
Beth's classmates turning up hadn't been the only surprise of the day. At his
request Lord and Lady Langton had also joined in with the celebrations. Whilst
it would take a lot longer than a few weeks to heal the rifts between father
and son, they had reached an uneasy truce, and Vivienne had surprised everyone
by her willingness to get down on her knees and get involved with the children.

"She doesn't seem as
stuffy as I was led to believe," Alice's mother said, and Alice could only
nod her agreement. When Lakota had been locked away with his father, Alice had
taken the time to get to know the older woman.

"No, she isn't really. I
was so hoping that Lakota would let them get involved. She shouldn't have done
what she did, but I can understand why she did it. She loves Lord Langton with
all her heart, but she knew he married her under duress. He'd needed the money
for his business, and her father supplied the cash on the condition that
Ashleigh married her, and dropped all association with Lakota's mum. From what
I can gather Wichipa was the love of his life, but he knew his father would
never agree to him marrying a commoner, let alone a Native American one. How
dare he dilute the blood lines and all that? When push came to shove, he had no
real choice. Money talks, as they say."

"It does, but it's not
the be all and end all of everything." Alice leant into her mum's
comforting hug. "What's this all about? You've been melancholy all day.
Have you and Lakota had a row or something?"

"No, nothing like that.
It's just…."

Alice squirmed under the
intense scrutiny of her mother's close regard.

"I'm fine, really, it’s
nothing."

"It's far from nothing,
young lady. I know that look. Something is bothering you, and if you can’t tell
your mum about it then who can you tell? You're not letting those silly little
rumors about Selina get to you, are you?"

Alice took a step back in
surprise.

"How do you know?"

"I read the papers, and
I've developed a liking for gossip mags having been stuck in hospital waiting
rooms for far longer than I ever care to repeat. Pay them no heed. She may have
got her rich daddy to get her a into a position where Lakota has to deal with
her on a daily basis, but that doesn't mean that she will succeed in getting to
him. He only has eyes for you, or he would have if he ever got off that damn
phone."

Sure enough Lakota was once
again scowling down the phone. He stopped briefly to drop a kiss on Beth's
forehead and then disappeared into the garden without as much of a glance in
Alice's direction. Were it not for the fact that he made love to her every
night, Alice would have felt quite neglected.

She gave herself a mental
shake and threw herself back into the party. By the time the last guests had
left, little Beth was exhausted. Lakota carried her up the stairs to her
bedroom, and Alice had to smile when Beth shooed her away.

"Lakota can read me a
story. Go away, Alice."

"Now that's not very
nice, Beth. I'm sure Alice can read stories far better than I," Lakota
said.

Beth was having none of it.

"No, she can't. Want you
to read to me. Your voice gives me little bubbles in my tummy, and your scruff
tickles. I like that."

Lakota laughed and winked at
Alice, and she made to leave— only she hadn't. Stood on the landing outside
Beth's room she had listened to his deep baritone telling the story of The
Gruffalo over and over with infinite patience, and she'd bitten her lip to stop
herself from crying.

Lakota would make a brilliant
father one day, but she highly doubted that she would be the mother of those
children. It took more than fantastic sex to make a marriage work, and theirs
was on a collision course to disaster. With Lakota re-united with his father
and in charge of the company there was only the arrangement to bind them
together, and he would tire of her soon enough.

Selina had been at great
pains to point out that someone as inexperienced as Alice would never be able
to hold Lakota's interest for long. Alice had gone to surprise him with a
picnic lunch, and had encountered Selina in the corridor first.

"Oh, it's the little
wife. Come with homemade goodies, have we? How very quaint. Too bad for you
that we're booked in for lunch at Chez Pierre's. It's a business lunch, of
course, so you can't tag along. Lance is on the phone, and he's ever so busy.
We're already running late, so why don't you take your little basket and go
feed the needy or something. You'll fit right in, after all."

She'd tapped her fire engine
red nail on her matching, painted lips, and smiled a saccharin sweet smile that
had turned Alice's stomach.

"That's okay. I will
stay right here and wait for him to tell me that."

"Aw, so obedient. It
won't work, you know. A man with his tastes. You'll never hold onto him."

Alice had drawn herself up to
her full height and glared at the smaller woman.

"I'm sure I don't know
what you mean."

"Oh don't play the
innocent, and if you really don't know what I'm talking about, then you really
do not know your husband at all, do you?"

Before Alice had been able to
challenge her on those words, the door had opened, and Lakota had stepped
through. He'd looked annoyed and even though he'd recovered quickly and had
drawn Alice in for kiss—sadly only a quick peck on the cheek—a sour taste had
remained in Alice's mouth at Selina's poisonous words.

"I'm sorry, baby, I'd
love to have lunch with you, but we're running late for a meeting. You should
have called."

"I would if I could get
hold of you these days. I thought we could discuss Beth's birthday plans,
that's all, but if you're busy…"

Selina had smirked behind his
back, and Alice had had a devil of a job to not give in to her instinct to
throw the picnic basket into her heavily made up visage.

"I haven't forgotten,
and the arrangements are all in place. Don't worry. She'll have a great
birthday." He'd glanced at his watch, and Alice had taken the hint.

"Okay, I get it, you're
busy. It just would have been nice to get involved, and to have some say in it
all. She's my niece after all." He'd frowned at her then, and Alice had
known that she'd sounded like a petulant child.

"We'll discuss this
tonight when I get home, little Alice."

With Selina listening to
every word in the back ground, the endearment she'd grown to love had grated,
and she'd stomped her foot in annoyance.