The Billionaire's Bargain. Naima Simone
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bleed from her expression at the reminder, but concern banked the flames in her eyes to a simmer, and the thin, grim line of her mouth softened. Neither of them needed to voice the worry that Darius harbored. Gabriella and Gage’s father, Baron Wells, had suffered a heart attack the previous year. Nothing could convince Darius that it hadn’t been grief over his son’s death in a sudden car accident that had precipitated the attack, added to long work hours, poor eating habits and a lax exercise regimen.
The last several months had finally seen the return of the imposing, dignified man Darius had known and admired all of his life. Still, a sense of fragility stubbornly clung to Baron. A fragility Darius feared could escalate into something more threatening if Baron glimpsed his dead son’s widow.
“I’ll go and find security so they can escort her out,” he said, the calm in his voice a mockery of the rage damn near consuming him. “You can locate your parents to make sure they don’t realize what’s going on.”
Yes, he’d have Isobel Hughes thrown out, but not before he had a few words with her. The deceitful, traitorous woman should’ve counted herself lucky that he hadn’t come after her when she’d skipped town two years ago. But with the Wells family shattered over their son and brother’s death, they’d been his first priority. And as long as Isobel had remained gone, they didn’t have to suffer a daily reminder of the woman who’d destroyed Gage with her manipulations and faithlessness. In spite of the need to mete out his own brand of justice, Darius had allowed her to disappear with the baby the Wells family doubted was their grandson and nephew. But now...
Now she’d reappeared, and all bets were off.
She’d thrown down the gauntlet, and fuck if he wouldn’t enjoy snatching it up.
“Okay,” Gabriella agreed, enclosing his hand in hers and squeezing. “Darius,” she whispered. He tore his attention away from Isobel and transferred it to Gabriella. “Thank you for...” She swallowed. “Thank you,” she breathed.
“No need for any of that,” he replied, brushing a kiss over the top of her black curls. “Family. We always take care of one another.”
She nodded, then turned and disappeared into the throng of people.
Anticipation hummed beneath his skin as he moved forward. Several people slowed his progress for meaningless chatter, but he didn’t deter from his path. He tracked her, noting that she’d moved from just in side the entrance to one of the floor-to-ceiling glass doors that led to a balcony. Good. The only exit led out onto that balcony, and the temperature of the October night had probably dropped even more since he’d arrived. She wouldn’t venture through those doors and into the cold. He had a location to give security.
It was unfair that a woman who possessed zero morals and conscience should exhibit none of it on her face or her body. But then, if her smooth, golden skin or slender-but-curvaceous body did reveal any of her true self, she wouldn’t be able to snare men in her silken web.
Long, thick, dark brown hair that gleamed with hints of auburn fire under the chandelier’s light flowed over one slim shoulder and a just-less-than-a-handful breast. Dispassionately, he scanned her petite frame. The strapless, floor-length black gown clung to her, lifting her full curves so a hint of shadowed cleavage teased, promised. A waist that a man—not him—could span with his hands flowed into rounded hips and a tight, worship-worthy ass that he didn’t need to see to remember. Even when he’d first met her—as the only witness and friend at her and Gage’s quickie courthouse marriage—it’d amazed him how such a small woman could possess curves so dangerous they should come with a blaring warning sign. Back then he’d appreciated her curves. Now he despised them for what they truly were—an enticing lure to trap unsuspecting game.
Dragging his inspection up the siren call of her body, he took in the delicate bones that provided the structure for an almost elfin face. One of his guilty pleasures was fantasy novels and movies. Tolkien, Martin, Rowling, King. And he could easily imagine Arwen, half-Elven daughter of King Elrond in The Lord of the Rings, resembling Isobel. Beautiful. Ethereal. Though he couldn’t catch the color of her eyes from this distance, he clearly recalled their striking color. A vivid and startling blue-gray that only enhanced the impression of otherworldly fragility. But then there was her mouth. It splintered her air of innocence. The shade-too-wide lips with their full, plump curves called to mind ragged, hoarse groans in the darkest part of night. Yeah, those lips could cause a man’s cock to throb.
He ground his teeth together, the minute flare of pain along his jaw grounding him. It didn’t ease the stab of guilt over the sudden, unexpected clench of lust in his gut. He could hate himself for that gut-punch of desire. Didn’t he, more than anyone, know that a pretty face could hide the black, empty hole where a heart should be? Could conceal the blackest of souls? His own ex-wife had taught him that lesson, and he’d received straight fucking A’s. Yeah, his dick might be slow on the uptake, but his head—the one that ruled him, contrary to popular opinion about men—possessed full disclosure and was fully aware.
Isobel Hughes was one of those pretty faces.
As if she’d overheard her name in his head, Isobel lifted her chin and surveyed the crowded ballroom. Probably searching for Baron and Helena. If she thought he’d allow her within breathing space of Gage’s parents, she’d obviously been smoking too much of that legalized California weed. He’d do anything to protect them; he’d failed to protect Gage, and that knowledge gnawed at him, an open wound that hadn’t healed in two years. No way in hell would this woman have another shot at the people he loved. At his family.
The thought propelled him forward. Time to end this and escort her back to whatever hole she’d crawled out of.
Clenching his jaw, he worked his way to the ballroom entrance. Several minutes later, he waited in one of the side hallways for the head of security. Glancing down at his watch, he frowned. The man should’ve arrived already...
Darkness.
Utter darkness.
Dimly, Darius caught the sound of startled cries and shouts, but the deafening pounding of his heart muted most of the fearful noise.
He stumbled backward, and his spine smacked the wall behind him. Barely able to draw a breath into his constricted lungs, he frantically patted his jacket and then his pants pockets for his cell phone. Nothing. Damn. He must’ve left it in the car. He never left his phone. Never...
The thick blackness surrounded him. Squeezed him so that he jerked at his bow tie, clawing at material that seconds ago had been perfectly comfortable.
Air.
He needed air.
But all he inhaled, all he swallowed, was more of the obsidian viscosity that clogged his nostrils, throat and chest.
In the space of seconds, his worst, most brutal nightmare had come to life.
He was trapped in the dark.
Alone.
And he was drowning in it.
Blackout.
Malfunction. Doors locked.
Remain calm.
The words shouted in anything but calm voices outside the bathroom door bombarded Isobel. Perched on the settee in the outer room of the ladies’ restroom, she hunched over her cell phone, which had only 2 percent battery life left.
“C’mon,” she ordered her fingers to cooperate as she fumbled over the text keyboard. In her nerves, she kept misspelling words, and damn autocorrect, it kept “fixing” the words that were actually right. Finally she finished her message and hit send.
Mom, is everything okay? How is Aiden?
Fingers clutching the little burner phone, she—not for the first time—wished she could afford a regular cell. But