The Unknown Billionaire (Captured by Love Book 6) (11 page)

Oh, hell. Tears? She wasn’t playing fair.

“I’m not trying to pay you back. I’m just... wanting to give you an early Christmas present too.”

“I shouldn’t have bought you that suit,” Marilyn muttered.

“I love that suit! Come on. Don’t be like this.”

“This is too much, Jarryd,” she said in a fierce whisper.

“And the suit wasn’t?” he asked dryly.

“You know what I mean.”

He slowly let out a sigh. “This dress comes in black too and would have matched my black suit at home. Why did you get the black-and-gold dress instead of the black version of this?”

Marilyn huffed. “I don’t want money to come between us, so what does it matter?”

“
Exactly.
I don’t want money to come between us either. And I
can
afford this, so please don’t worry.”

“You don’t need to buy me this kind of stuff to please me.”

“I know. But it
pleases me
to buy you this kind of stuff.”

“That’s not good use of your money,” Marilyn said insistently.

“And it’s good use of your money to buy me what you just bought me?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“Because...” Marilyn swallowed. “Because I have more money than you.”

He laughed. If she only knew—

He sobered. She couldn’t know yet.

“Look,” he said, caressing her cheeks with his thumbs. “We both don’t want money to come between us, so let’s agree to not discuss money, okay? I promise that I won’t spend beyond my means, but only if you promise not to make a big deal of it if I choose to buy you things or pay for our dinners or trips or whatever.”

“So you’re saying you won’t go over the top with presents for me?”

“That’s not what I said. I said I promise I won’t spend beyond my means.”

Marilyn searched his face, trying to understand his statement.

“Come on, babe,” he said quietly. “Arguing about this is ridiculous. Let’s stop it. Please.”

“Okay,” Marilyn said with a resigned smile. “I promise to accept whatever you pay for wholeheartedly
if
you promise to only spend what’s within your budget. I don’t want you getting into any debt, credit card or otherwise, for anything concerning me.”

“Deal.”

They sealed it with a kiss.

*****

J
arryd sat on the bed and ran his hand on Marilyn’s naked back as she lay on her stomach. “Do you want to sleep or do you want me to start heating up the food?”

Marilyn mumbled an answer against the pillow.

“What did you say? You’d rather stay in bed and make love again?” he teased.

Marilyn rolled to her side, her lids droopy even as she grinned. “You’re insatiable. I know I said you could imprison me here for the whole weekend, but aren’t you going to let me rest?”

He chuckled. “If my memory serves me right, the last two rounds were your idea. We were going to have an afternoon nap, but you seduced me instead. Then we were going to eat our food when it arrived, but you dragged me back to bed.”

“The last two rounds might have been my idea, but the five before that have been all yours.”

“Five? I thought it was six. Anyway, three of them happened yesterday, so they shouldn’t count towards today.”

“Are you keeping a daily tally?”

“Just making up for the next few days that I won’t see you. I’m not looking forward to missing you like crazy.”

Marilyn clasped her hands behind his neck and pulled him down to her. “I have the sweetest boyfriend.”

“See? You’re doing it again,” he said against her lips.

“Doing what again?”

“Seducing me.”

“I am not,” she said with fake indignation. “I’m just kissing you.”

He rolled his eyes. Didn’t she have any idea how arousing her kisses were?

Marilyn’s tummy grumbled loudly and they both laughed.

“I think I have to feed you first before I make love to you again. Stay here and I’ll prepare dinner.” He rubbed his nose with hers before pushing himself off the bed.

“Thank you, honey,” Marilyn murmured, closing her eyes.

He smiled as he strutted to Marilyn’s kitchen. He retrieved three takeaway containers from the fridge and divided the contents into two big bowls before popping the first one in the microwave. Marilyn should enjoy having their Thai dinner in her bed, considering she didn’t seem to want to get out of it.

He’d love a snooze too, but he’d wait until it was truly time to sleep. He hadn’t been kidding when he’d said he was trying to make up for the one whole week that he wouldn’t be spending with her.

Marilyn would be busy with Christmas functions every single weeknight, both for work and for charity. Pity he couldn’t accompany her to any of them. He himself had a project that absolutely needed to be finished by Friday—the last working day of the year for Westbourne Constructions before they took a break during the holiday period.

Jarryd hoped that Marilyn could take time off between Christmas and New Year as well. She’d promised she’d try to get urgent things done this week so she could. Once he got her confirmation, he’d book a romantic trip somewhere.

He couldn’t wait to spend several days alone with her. It wasn’t simply a matter of wanting to—he needed to. The new year would be bringing with it some challenges that would affect their relationship, and he was keen to keep showing her how much she meant to him. He hoped that before the inevitable storm came, she wouldn’t have any doubts that his feelings for her were real—that he’d never use her for his own gain or that of Greeves Minerals.

He rubbed his face. He was itching to tell Marilyn everything so that the guilt he’d been carrying around with him would finally go away. But no matter how much he looked at things from all angles, he always ended up with the same conclusion: he couldn’t yet, not if he didn’t want to take the risk of Marilyn and her parents misunderstanding or, worse, disbelieving him. He’d kept the truth hidden about him co-owning Greeves Minerals for too long after learning about Patrick’s invitation for Marilyn to appear on
Biz Q&A
and Grant Ace’s bid for Well of Brilliance. Revealing his secrets now would only do more harm than good.

There was still a month to go before the Tramwells would either announce their decision on which offer to accept, or ask more questions regarding the bids. Lorna and Ben Tramwell had already gone on their respective holidays overseas.

That was a blessing. That gave him and Bray time to sniff around and see if Olivia and Elliot were planning something dishonest.

The possibility that Olivia and Elliot were planning to sabotage Grant Ace in the name of Greeves Minerals was giving him sleepless nights. But without any concrete proof, it would be stupid to get any formal investigation going. So far, Olivia had given him nothing except to assure him that she and the Greeves Minerals team were doing their best to win Well of Brilliance. She’d been stonewalling him when it came to how they were handling any moves by the competition. He didn’t want to push too hard, though. If Olivia picked up that he suspected something, the more she’d try to cover things up.

And then there were Margaret’s wishes. She’d clearly wanted to win Well of Brilliance, having initiated the negotiations to buy it. He hated feeling disloyal to his birth mother and the legacy she’d left him, but if Olivia and Elliot were doing something shady, how could he not fight against it? Margaret would have understood that, wouldn’t she?

He exhaled harshly and concentrated on fixing their dinner. There was nothing he could do about any of his problems this weekend, so he would ignore them, which he’d been very good at doing when he was with Marilyn.

He smiled. He bet Marilyn would be asleep when he came back to the bedroom, and he’d have a fun time waking her up.

Ah, he just couldn’t get enough of her.

When all the food was heated up, he arranged their dinner bowls on a bed tray and added a glass of water they could share. Then he carried them back to Marilyn’s bedroom, his own stomach grumbling from the delicious smells coming from the beef massaman curry, chicken and basil stir-fry, and jasmine rice.

He pushed the door open and found Marilyn sitting up against the headboard, the sheets tucked under her armpits to cover her nakedness and the phone held up against her ear. She smiled when she saw him, but he could tell that whatever conversation she was having with whomever had made her quite angry.

“Is there anything I can do?” Marilyn asked the person on the other end of the line. “Gavin?... Okay, I’ll see what I can do.”

Jarryd’s brows rose. Someone must be in a spot of bother to want to talk to their private detective friend, Gavin Redford.

“I will, Dad,” Marilyn said. “See you guys next week at the party. Bye.”

Jarryd’s heart raced. He placed the tray in the middle of the bed and sat next to Marilyn. “Everything okay?”

Marilyn moved closer to him. “Remember when I said that my parents want to buy a company that they want me to head?”

He nodded, dread lodging in his chest as he guessed what she was about to say.

“Well, the CEO called Dad from the US, where she’s having a holiday. Apparently, a contact told her that Grant Ace is only using Well of Brilliance—that’s the company we’re trying to buy—as leverage to get a better outcome on another deal my parents are trying to secure. The CEO’s acquaintance said that Grant Ace is not really serious about Well of Brilliance, and that we would pull out of the negotiations once we finalise the other supposed deal. It’s all false, of course, and Dad is furious, especially since the CEO refused to name her acquaintance who’d passed on the accusations.”

So it had begun.
He let out a calming breath before speaking. “I heard you mention Gavin.”

“Yeah. After Dad convinced the Well of Brilliance CEO that what she’d heard has no basis to it, she agreed to keep considering Grant Ace’s bid. But, Dad being Dad, he wants to get to the bottom of the fake rumour. He’d asked me to talk to Gavin since Gavin’s someone he knows he can trust.”

Jarryd gulped involuntarily.
Trust
. That word just pounded his guilt back into him.

“Dad did say to wait until after the holidays before I mention it to Gavin. Since the CEO accepted his explanation, it’s not urgent. But he still wants to find out who started it all.”

He took a deep breath. He had to tell her now. “Okay, let’s talk about this,” he said, steeling himself for this conversation.

But Marilyn shook her head vigorously. “No, let’s not. I’m so overloaded with work that I don’t want to think about this right now. I just want to relax this weekend. Come Monday, I’ll be having one of my most hectic weeks of the year trying to get everything done before the Christmas break. The time for this problem is after New Year’s.”

“Okay,” he said, relieved and glad for the reprieve. He still had time to think about what to do next. But he was in deeper trouble now that Marilyn had shared this issue with him.

He
had
to be the one to confess to Marilyn and the Grants
before
they discovered his secrets. How and when he was going to do that, he had absolutely no idea.

M
arilyn checked her watch for the umpteenth time, wondering why Jarryd was late. He was usually never late for their dates.

It wasn’t that they’d agreed on a specific time he was supposed to arrive today. But when she’d asked for him to come early so they could have lunch together before they got ready for her parents’ Christmas Eve party tonight, she assumed he’d be here at—well, no later than eleven?

She rolled her eyes at herself. It was just that she missed him so much. With the last week being one of the busiest times of the year for the both of them, she couldn’t wait to be with him again.

Fortunately, she was taking time off between Christmas and New Year’s. She normally worked through those days as it was the best period to get things done without interruptions, but Jarryd had been persuading her to take a break for the next two weeks. He didn’t have to say it, but she knew he was planning on taking her on a trip somewhere. Of course she wouldn’t want to miss that!

She should start preparing their roast beef sandwiches for lunch, just for something to do to while the time away. She opened the fridge, and the doorbell rang.

Yay, he was here! Was it too early in their relationship to give each other keys to their places?

She groaned, shaking her head at herself as she hastened to answer the door. Goodness, what had Jarryd fed her that she was so head over heels?

She was aware of her big smile when she opened the door. “Hi.”

“Hi,” Jarryd answered, leaning in to kiss her lips. “Missed you,” he murmured.

Her heart sang. “Missed you too.”

“Can I hang this in your bedroom?” Jarryd held up his suit bag.

“Of course. I’ll be in the kitchen making our lunch.”

Jarryd frowned at her.

“What?”

“We didn’t see each other for a week and all you can think of is lunch?”

She grinned. “It’s roast beef sandwiches. One of your favourites.”

Jarryd curved an arm around her waist. “But I’ve been looking forward to my fill of Marilyn Grant.”

“Fine,” she said, pretending to be stern. “But you only have two hours to feast on me.”

Jarryd bent down and lifted her over his shoulder. “Two hours is nowhere near enough, but I’ll take it.”

She giggled, slapping his sexy ass from her upside-down position as he took her to the bedroom. Her hand hit something like a box in Jarryd’s back pocket. She braced herself to see what it was.

Her own bottom felt a whack.

“Hey, don’t look at it,” Jarryd warned.

“Why not?” She tried again and glimpsed something blue. A distinctive Tiffany & Co blue. Her breathing shallowed. Had Jarryd bought her a Christmas gift?

“Naughty girl,” Jarryd said as he put her down on the foot of her bed and went to her en suite to hang his suit bag.

She followed him with her eyes. “What is it?”

“It’s my suit,” he quipped.

“No. That thing in your back pocket.”