The Billionaire's Temporary Bride (Scandal, Inc #3)(49)

"You know, we could open the window and fall asleep to the sound of the waves tonight if you'd like."

"Charlotte, it's twenty five degrees outside."

"I'll just open it a crack. Besides, I have you to keep me warm."

Jack rubbed her shoulder, and kissed her earlobe.

"You have that right," he whispered.

"Good, then we have a deal," Charlotte said.

She rolled out of bed and pulled the window open just enough to let in the sounds of the ocean raking against the beach. Tendrils of cold air crept through the opening, and she felt it tickle her bare stomach. As she crawled back into bed and into Jack's arms, she knew she would sleep very well that night.





Chapter 18

Charlotte rolled over and pulled the blankets tight up to her shoulders. There was still a chill in the air, but Jack had closed the window at some point in the night. Jack was standing by the side of the bed, fully dressed and holding something in his arms.

"What's going on?" Charlotte asked. "Is it even light out yet?"

"It's time to go," Jack said.

"Home?"

"No, I mean it's time to go outside. There's something I want to show you."

Jack tossed a thick pea coat onto the bed. He held a thermos in one gloved hand and a pair of binoculars in the other.

"Come on. I want to show you something. Will you come? I've got a hat and gloves ready for you downstairs. Let's go."

There was an urgency in his voice. It was the first time in their relationship that Charlotte had felt like Jack was really asking her for something instead of telling her what to do. She reached over and took the jacket, slipping into it as she crawled out of bed.

"A pair of pants wouldn't hurt either," she said.

Jack laughed and nodded to the closet. "Get ready, and I'll meet you downstairs in five."

"This better be worth it," Charlotte said.

Jack paused in the doorway. "About losing my temper yesterday," he said.

"You don't have to apologize for that."

"I'm not. I just wanted to thank you again for reeling me in when I got a bit too far from shore. It's something I have to work on. There's something about being back home that makes you feel like you're fifteen years old again, isn't there?"

"Yeah," Charlotte said. "Don't worry about it. You're doing fine."

When she got downstairs, Jack was waiting by the side door. He handed her a hat and gloves.

"We have to hurry, or we'll miss it," he said.

He led her outside, and the first rush of cold air stung at her skin before she pulled the lapels of the coat up to her chin.

In the gray half-light before dawn, the headlights of Jack's car traced a dim path along the driveway. Halfway back to the gate, Jack slowed and turned onto a narrow path, barely wider than the car. If Charlotte had reached out the window, she could have touched the tall grass that threatened to overwhelm the lane. The path grew narrower, and Jack slowed the car further. The crushed shells had given way to dirt, and soon Jack parked the car in a small clearing not much wider than the track that led back to the driveway.

"We're here," Jack said. He handed Charlotte a thermos and stepped out of the car.

The thin wisps of frost crackled underfoot as Charlotte followed Jack across the clearing to the edge of a boardwalk. The sky was starting to take on the color of dawn, growing brighter and warmer on the horizon.

"Where exactly are we going?" Charlotte asked.

"The sun will melt the frost within the hour," Jack said.

Charlotte watched the cloud of breath escape his lips as he spoke, obscuring him for just a second.

"I wanted to give you a chance to see how beautiful this place could be before we head back to the house and deal with its ugliness for a while longer. When I was a kid, this whole place was my grandfather's domain. My parents, my aunts and uncles, everyone did whatever he said to do. He built the whole family empire from scratch."

"Was he the one everyone was yelling about last night?" Charlotte asked.

As they walked down the boardwalk, the boards creaked with every step. A light breeze stirred the tall grass of the marsh back and forth in ripples, drowning out the sound of the ocean in the distance.

"That tends to happen when he comes up," Jack said. "He owned a couple of fishing boats when prohibition started, and within two years, he had a fleet of ships running liquor up and down the East Coast. By the time they lifted the ban on alcohol, he had already become one of the most powerful men in the country."

Jack slipped his arm around Charlotte's shoulder as he led her through the maze of walkways.

"He was a man of great ambition, and he aimed to grow his empire in whatever way he could, whether that was financial power, political power, or anything else. He was a teenager during prohibition. He managed to get his hands on his father's fishing boat and used it to run liquor from Canada. By the time the law was repealed, he had managed to build one of the largest liquor smuggling businesses on the East Coast. He wasn't even twenty one years old. He used to hide his cash in boxes in the basement of his father's house.

"He had a few run-ins with the mob, but he was tough in the kind of way none of us ever could be. At the same time he was also meticulous. He kept track of every detail. He built this all himself. He bought the land in the late forties for nearly nothing. He designed the main house. My dad and his brothers were kids then, and none of them seem to remember living anywhere but here.