Cinderella's Billion-Dollar Christmas. SUSAN MEIER
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to her door to open it. She climbed out at the same time Nick did.
Nick led her to the small stack of stairs and into the jet. She had to hold back a gasp when she stepped inside. Three small groupings of white leather seats were arranged around the large cabin. The little windows had elegant gray shades. A silver and black bar sat discreetly in a back corner. A rich red carpet covered the floor.
She took a slow, measured breath. She could not be a country bumpkin about this. She had to stay sharp.
Pretending a calm she didn’t feel, she stopped by the first group of seats and slid out of her worn leather jacket.
Behind her, Nick said, “The flight’s about three hours. Then, because we use an airstrip outside the city, we’ll have about an hour-and-a-half limo ride.”
“Limo ride?” She swallowed, picturing her blue-collar self, in her ancient leather jacket and worn jeans, getting into a limo.
He took her coat and handed it to the flight attendant who scurried to the back of the jet with it.
“Don’t worry. You’ll acclimate. After a day or two in New York, you’ll realize a limo’s the easiest way to get around the city. Just like this jet is the most comfortable way to get from place to place.”
He motioned to the rear of the cabin. “The first room you walk into back there is a kitchen. If you want a snack you just ask Marie, but she’ll be serving lunch at noon. So, a snack might not be a good idea. Beyond that is an office-slash-den, complete with a pullout bed. Jace will probably go back there once we take off.” He winced. “He stayed up most of the night keeping an eye on your house. He’ll need the nap.”
“He stayed up all night?”
“That’s his job, remember?”
She did. She simply hadn’t connected him being a bodyguard to him sitting in his SUV all night watching her house.
“You’ll get used to it. For now, settle in. Get accustomed to the convenience that’s your new lifestyle.”
She couldn’t fathom riding in a limo let alone owning a jet. “If I’m an heir.”
“The lawyer for the estate all but said your DNA test is only a formality.” He pointed to the rear of the plane. “I have some work to do, so I’ll be back there if there’s anything you need.”
He turned to leave but she said, “Why are we in your jet instead of one of my dad’s?”
Nick faced her again. “What?”
“Why are we using your jet instead of one of Mark Hinton’s?”
“We’re not using one of Mark’s jets because we’re not using anything belonging to Hinton Holdings.”
“Why?”
He sighed. “We don’t want to alert anyone that we might have found an heir before we confirm you.”
“Because?”
This time he pulled in a long breath, obviously losing patience with her questions. “This estate is worth so much money that everyone in the world is curious about who you are. Danny devised a plan to find the heirs and keep you safe. Not using estate property is part of it. If we start using jets or houses and cars, people will know something is up and begin snooping. The longer we can keep the press and curiosity seekers at bay, the better.”
She held the gaze of his dark eyes for a second, then she shook her head. She didn’t think he was lying. But she did know he hadn’t told her everything. Until her DNA results were back, she probably didn’t have the right to push him. But she would watch him, pay attention to every word he said, because there was definitely something going on with him.
Nick breathed a sigh of relief as he headed to the seat in the back of the plane. He didn’t mind her questions. They were generic enough that he could answer them. It was her nearness that threw him for a loop. He was smarter than this, more in control. His whole body shouldn’t buzz just because they were standing close.
He reached the plush leather seat, but before he sat, he realized he’d forgotten his briefcase. He returned to the front and opened the overhead bin above the seat Leni had chosen.
She glanced up at him, her thick lashes blinking over her sultry green eyes, her long brown hair sort of floating around her.
“Forgot my briefcase,” he explained, trying not to stumble over his words. “I kept it on the plane, thinking we’d be leaving yesterday.”
She smiled in acknowledgment and his heart went from pitter-patter to a drum solo in one breath.
Stifling a groan, he headed to the rear of the cabin again, eager to return to New York to lose these crazy feelings he had around her. Part of it had to be surprise over how pretty she was. Mark Hinton wasn’t even a five on a scale of one to ten, but apparently Leni’s mother had been a twelve.
The other part was just plain attraction. Serious lust. Something biological that sprang up before he could control it.
So, it was wrong.
Had to be.
He didn’t get out-of-control feelings and he sure as hell never let emotions rule him.
A movement in the front caught his attention and he peeked up to see Leni get out of her seat to put her purse in the overhead bin. Her head fell back as she reached up, sending all that thick, shiny hair bouncing.
This time he allowed himself an internal groan.
This was crazy.
For the first time since Danny had laid down the rules for Nick’s trip to retrieve Leni, he was glad he’d been ordered to keep his distance from her. Because whatever he was feeling, he didn’t want it. He had priorities, a company to run, parents to keep happy. He couldn’t afford the weakness of a hellishly strong attraction.
He put his head down and went to work and didn’t look up until hours later when the jet began to descend. Choosing not to go up to the overhead bin again, he secured his briefcase under his seat, fastened his seat belt and waited for the jet to slide onto the ground, relieved that he only had a little over an hour more in her company. He would leave her with Danny and never look back.
GIVEN THE TIME difference between Kansas and New York, it was almost three o’clock when they landed in New York. Leni had eaten a fabulous lunch, served by Marie, prepared by a chef hiding somewhere in the back. Leni hadn’t seen her luggage since climbing into the SUV in Mannington, but she suspected someone had handled it. Nick had said to settle in and get comfortable with luxury...but, come on. A chef who had flown from New York to Mannington and from Mannington back to New York, just to make lunch? On a jet? For her?
It boggled the mind.
They boarded a limo and headed for the city, Leni feeling totally out of place in her worn jacket and jeans. Though Christmas decorations in shop windows, on streetlights and clinging to parking meters gave the area a familiar feel, she had never seen so many buildings in such a small place.
But she didn’t mention it. She didn’t want to be attracted to Nick or to mistrust him. But, unfortunately, she felt both things, and mistrust trumped attraction. She wouldn’t say anything around him that she didn’t have to.
When they pulled up to a building so tall that she couldn’t see the top of it, Nick said, “Our first appointment... Your lawyer.”
“My lawyer?”
“The lawyer for the estate.”
She gasped. “I’m