A Billionaire's Redemption(32)

Then we’ve died and gone to heaven,” she panted back.

He eased out of her limp body and lifted her in his arms, carrying her back to his bed. Next time, dammit, he would be gentle with her.

Except there shouldn’t be a next time. Any way he cut it, having sex with her was a mistake. She deserved more. He couldn’t give her what she needed, and continuing to have sex with her was selfish on his part, and potentially destructive to her. The last thing he wanted to do was hurt her. She’d already been hurt far too much already. It was clear she had a crush on him, and taking advantage of it made him the worst kind of cad.

Except he liked her, too. A lot. Too much, in fact. Was it wrong for the two of them to indulge in the private fantasy they’d both held for all these years? Maybe it was a good thing they’d scratched the itch between them. Maybe it would give them closure and allow them both to move on with their lives. Right?

Who the hell was he trying to kid? He’d seen her, he’d wanted her, he’d taken her. He was a first-class son of a bitch who ought to be thrown in the deepest circle of hell for taking advantage of a sweet, innocent young woman. End of discussion.

He lay her down in his bed, drew the covers up over her sleepy, relaxed body, kissed her gently on the brow with a murmured promise to come back soon and walked out on her.





Chapter 14

Willa opened her eyes and disorientation slammed into her. Where was she? In a moment, recollection came. Gabe’s bed. And last night...

A smile curved her lips. She stretched luxuriously under the soft cotton sheet, feeling better than she had in years. That man sure knew how to make her feel like a woman. An attractive, sexy, relaxed one.

She got out of bed and availed herself of his super-high-tech bathroom. It was kind of fun to watch the news on the plasma screen in the shower, and the full body dryer was amazing. Dozens of jets blew warm air at her, and in a matter of seconds, she was entirely dry. No shivering, dripping race to towel herself off this morning, no sirree.

Her clothes were nowhere to be seen in Gabe’s bedroom. If she was certain he would be alone in his living room and not using that video teleconferencing phone he’d shown her the last time she was here, she wouldn’t mind prancing out into the condo naked. But as it was, she raided his walk-in closet and found a T-shirt and gym shorts in the built-in drawers that opened silently at a touch. Too cool.

She padded, barefoot, out into the condo. It was silent and still. “Gabe?” she called out.

Nothing. Huh.

Computer?” she tried experimentally. “Where is Gabe?”

The British sexpot intoned on cue, “Mr. Dawson is not in this residence.”

Not here? “Computer, when did he leave?”

Mr. Dawson left the residence at 12:10 a.m. this morning.”

That was right after he’d tucked her into bed so sweetly last night! The sunlight streaming in through the huge windows dimmed a little. He’d left her?

And then it dawned on her. He must have been looking out for her reputation. He’d known she had bodyguards waiting downstairs. He’d left so they wouldn’t think the two of them had done...well, what the two of them had, in fact, done. What a gentleman. The sun regained its brilliance. She dressed and cooked herself breakfast with the help of the computer, who ably told her the location of everything she needed in the kitchen to fry up some eggs, make toast and brew a small pot of coffee.

She ate slowly in hopes of Gabe rejoining her, but he didn’t, and like it or not, she had work to do today. A quick text to her bodyguards got an immediate response that they would be out front in ten minutes. She washed up after herself in the kitchen, donned her pumps and headed out.

She exited the elevator in the building’s lobby, and winced mentally. If she didn’t know any better, she’d think Paula Craddock was stalking her. Worse, the woman had spotted her coming off the elevator. Backing into the conveyance would look cowardly and earn the reporter’s ire. Willa sighed and stepped forward, pasting on a smile.

Good morning, Miss Craddock, What brings you to this neck of the woods this morning?”

You, of course. Did you and Gabe Dawson spend the night together?”

Willa was abjectly grateful to Gabe that she could look the reporter steadily in the eye and answer honestly, “Of course not! He was kind enough to let me spend the night at his condo because of how late it was when I finished my business in Dallas. But he wasn’t here.” She added hastily when the reporter opened her mouth to pounce on that, “And I have no idea where he did spend the night, Miss Craddock. You would have to ask him that.”

She expected he’d driven to his little house in Vengeance, but she wasn’t about to help out the journalist.

Paula recovered quickly. “Do you have any statement regarding your shocking endorsement of your father’s opponent?”

Is it shocking? I wasn’t aware of that,” Willa replied mildly.

You abandoned your own party and your family’s long tradition of supporting the same party. People are calling it a posthumous slap in your father’s face.”

Willa smiled sweetly around her clenched teeth. “My father left his office to me to do with as I see fit. He trusted my judgment. Of course, if he were alive, I would have given him my full support. But in my father’s absence I made a rational, serious, thoughtful choice of who to endorse based on all the available information. Isn’t that what a United States senator is supposed to do?”

Paula mumbled something about supposing that was true. Thankfully, as the woman held out her microphone once more, Willa spotted the big black SUV and her driver pulling up at the curb.

I’m sorry, Paula. There’s my ride. I’m afraid I have to go. It’s been lovely chatting with you.”

About as lovely as a bad case of jungle rot. Willa smiled warmly at the second bodyguard who jumped out of the SUV and came inside to escort her to the vehicle.

She muttered under her breath to him, “Your timing is exquisite.”

We aim to please, ma’am.”

The SUV whisked her back to Vengeance and the guards deposited her in her father’s office in the mansion. Today she planned to tackle Merris Oil. She had no intention of involving herself directly in the business, but she’d inherited her father’s seat on the board of directors, and given Gabe’s dire predictions regarding the company’s future, she felt a driving need to educate herself as quickly and thoroughly as possible on the oil business.

Her father’s correspondence pertaining to Merris Oil was a mess. Without an efficient congressional staff to keep him marginally organized, his records were a disaster. Willa spent much of the afternoon simply sorting paperwork into piles. Clearly, John Merris had never heard of a thing called a filing system.

She spent close to an hour on the phone with some vice president at Merris Oil trying to get him to tell her whether Merris Oil was or wasn’t oil fracking, and never did get a straight answer from the guy. He seemed to think that, based on her gender, she was incapable of comprehending the possible variations on the process, nor could her delicate sensibilities handle hearing about the pros and cons of doing it as a company. She was thoroughly frustrated when she gave up, hung up and took a break to eat.

She grabbed a quick bite of supper in the kitchen with Louise. Apparently, Minnie was out to dinner with friends. Willa was delighted to see her mother rejoining the human race. For a while there, she’d been really worried about her mother’s ability to recover from the shock of John Merris’s murder.

She went back to work, plowing through various Merris Oil reports and making frequent visits to the internet to read about different oil-drilling techniques. She had just dived into the daunting pile of financial reports when she heard a lot of female voices in the front hall.

Seizing on any excuse to avoid the profit-and-loss statements, she stepped out into the foyer, folder in hand, to say hello to her mother and thank whoever’d managed to peel Minnie out of her bed.

Willa recognized all of the dozen women, who were of an age with her mother, and longtime friends of the Merris family. “Hi, Mom. Ladies. Did you have a nice dinner?”

Minnie turned to her, and Willa’s smile froze. Her mother’s eyes were bloodshot and Minnie wove a little as she completed the turn.

There she is,” Minnie said acidly. “My loving, sweet, loyal daughter. You just couldn’t wait to stick a knife in your father’s back, could you, you ungrateful little bitch?”

Oh, no. Minnie was on the warpath again. She steeled herself not to overreact and said evenly, “Father’s dead and buried, Mom.”

At the rate you’re going, you’ll be burying me before long, too, young lady. You’d just love that, wouldn’t you? And then you can have all of this for yourself.”

She knew her mother was drowning in a cocktail of booze and medications, knew Minnie didn’t know what she was saying and wouldn’t remember it tomorrow. But a little voice in the back of Willa’s head whispered that maybe this was really how her mother did feel about her. Had the liquor and drugs brought out long-hidden truths about Minnie’s real feelings?