An Heir for the Billionaire (7 page)

He pulled off of the highway and onto a two lane road, trees lining both sides of the road. They travelled for roughly ten minutes before his ranch came into view. Katrina gasped, her eyes widening as they surveyed the massive two story property coming into view, beyond a twelve foot high iron gate.

Damon slowed the car to the swipe and keypad situated several feet before the gate. Reaching into his inner jacket pocket he produced a car key and lowered the window. He swiped the card into the pad and then proceeded to punch in a code. The keypad beeped three times and then the gate creaked as it slowly began to part.

"My God Damon. This house is...." She had no words. To the left of the house was a massive stable, with several horses fenced in and lounging in the pastures.

The car proceeded into the property and moments after it cleared the gate, the gate slowly closed behind them. The drive to the house took another minute or two.

"Holy shit! Is that a..." Katrina undid her seat belt and sat up straighter in her seat, eyeing the massive, powerfully build grey and white dog coming towards them. But it wasn't a dog.

"It's a grey wolf." Damon offered.

"Is it your pet?" The wolf came rushing up the car, but kept a solid three feet away from the car, running on her side, eyeing her with both interest and suspicion.

"His name is Gabe. And yes, he's my pet. I've had him since he was a pup."

Katrina shifted excitedly in the seat, anxious to jump out and touch the massive beast. "I can touch him, right?" She took her eyes from the wolf to look over at Damon.

"You can, but there are some rules I need to go over with you first."

"Okay..."

"I get out first and once he's interested in me I want you to get out and slowly, but without fear, approach us. Once you're within six feet, crouch down and don't make eye contact. Let him come to you. Once he finishing his examination of you and his body relaxes, then you can face him, pet him, hug him, whatever... No sudden movements and if he nips don't bat at him or jerk away, he'll interpret the movement as you wanting to play and sometimes he plays rough. He doesn't mean to, but he's a big boy and..." Damon shrugged. "He doesn't realize his own strength. He treats humans as he would another wolf in his pack. You'll learn."

Damon placed the car into park and promptly got out. The wolf rushed around the front of the car to greet him. Katrina waited impatiently for Damon's signal for her to get out. She was itching to stroke his long, soft fur. When Damon motioned for her to exit she had to force herself to remain calm and not rush over towards the animal. Doing as told as she rounded the car, she crouched down, keeping her eyes averted. She heard the wolf approach with suspicion. Its nose nudged her under the chin, causing her to giggle. Her giggle seemed to rile him up and he nudged her a little more roughly, nipping at her shoulder. Keeping Damon's advice in mind she didn't react even though his teeth pinched, however, she doubted it broke the skin.

"It's okay you can look at him now."

She lifted her eyes and turned, becoming eye to eye with him. Her blue eyes gazed into his stunning yellow, green ones. She slowly lifted her hands and began to stroke his fur. Seemly pleased with being petted he opened his mouth and licked her face, smack dab on the lips.

"Oh-my-god, that's so gross," Katrina squealed wiping her lips, but didn't pull away, instead she leaned into him, giving him affection in the way she would any other dog. Enjoying the attention Gabe began to get a little rowdy, nudging her and nipping lightly, followed by several licks.

"Gabe. Enough." Damon's voice boomed and made Gabe freeze and slowly back away from her, head bowed.

"He's amazing Damon," Katrina said, awe in her voice.

Damon extended his hand to her, helping her to her feet. "Well, if you liked him, then you're going to love what else is on the property."

Childlike excitement rushed through her. "What else do you have? Show me!"

Laughing Damon shook his head. "Don't you want to see the inside of the house? Your room perhaps?"

"Nope. Show me the animals. You know animals are my weakness."

Damon kept her hand in his and they began to walk along the outside of the house, Gabe trailing along behind them. "Boy do I ever remember. You got me in a lot of shit over those two dogs in the shed."

"Oh my God, I totally forgot about them. Shaggy and Scooby."

"Yeah, Shaggy and Scooby had me tossed out on my ear and put into a different foster home."

Katrina laughed. While it hadn't been funny at the time, in retrospect it was. "The Johnsons were pretty pissed weren't they?"

Damon nodded, but laughed along with her. "Oh yeah. But in their defence the dogs did chew up the seat of their new Harley. And they urinated and shit on pretty much everything stored in the shed."

"They had no place to go. We had to save them," she protested, laughing harder.

"Uh-huh."

As they rounded the corner of the building a loud roar caused Katrina to freeze in her steps. Damon tugged on her hand and she continued to follow. "Is that a..." She didn't get the words out of her mouth, because they rounded the corner and she spotted the source of the noise. A massive tiger paced behind a fenced in area.

"Holy shit!" Hearing her voice a second one emerged from the woods.

"There are two. Both females. Sasha and Sophia. They're sisters. Both rescues."

"Rescues?" She picked up the pace, nearly dragging Damon behind her.

"Yup. The Humane Society had responded to complaints of a couple having exotic pets locked in their garage. As it turns out, they'd bought the tigers as cubs from a breeder and were told they were
miniature
tigers."

"What? Miniature tigers?"

He glanced down at her, brow cocked. "These people had two six hundred pound tigers locked in a garage. They weren't the brightest of people."

"Okay, so do you go in the cage with them?" She approached the cage and the tigers came to the fence to greet her, brushing up against the chain link and flopping onto their sides. She looked up at him.

Damon laughed. "You can't go in, but feel free to pet them through the links in the cage. They're very tame, but they're too big to risk being in the same enclosure. I doubt they would intentionally hurt a human, but they're too big and powerful to risk it. One swat or playful nip to the neck and..."

Katrina was slightly disappointed, but knelt and began to stroke the big cat's head. She tickled it behind the ears and under the chin. A ragged purr-like sound came from him, along with a low groaning.

"It's their way of purring. They can't purr like a normal small cat."

"This is so cool. But finish the story. How did you get them?"

Damon knelt beside her and began to stroke the fur of the other cat. "Well, usually I buy businesses to make money. But one of the Zoos in Houston was struggling. It was going to go bankrupt, so I stepped in and took it over."

"So it makes money now?"

Damon laughed. "No. It bleeds money. Anyhow, in the case of the wolf, one of the female wolves at the zoo had pups and I took one. In the case of the tigers, there wasn't enough space at the zoo and they were in desperate need of a place. I had the cage built for them. It spans a couple of acres. I have a permit that names the ranch an animal sanctuary and I have zookeepers come in each day to care for the animals."

"What else do you have?" Seemingly jealous of the attention the cats were getting Gabe came up to Katrina's side and bumped into her, knocking her to the ground. He proceeded to straddle her and give her another lick. Luckily she turned her head in time so his tongue lapped at her ear instead of across her lips. "Gabe!" Katrina squealed, while laughing and struggling to sit up.

"Off," Damon bellowed. Gabe immediately leapt from Katrina and sulked, its eyes downcast. Damon offered her his hand. "Come on. Let's go inside and I can give you the rest of the tour later tonight."

Katrina was slightly disappointed, wanting to see the rest of his animals, but she nodded and allowed herself to be pulled to her feet.

Chapter 7

Damon had shown Katrina to her room and then while she unpacked and made herself at home, he took the opportunity to answer some emails and check his messages. He'd called his secretary and had her postpone all of his appointments. The ones he couldn't postpone he was going to have his second in command, Kevin Gilbert, step in for him. He planned on devoting his whole week to Katrina. If things worked out as well as he expected and hoped then he's let her know about the cancer and perhaps pass by her the idea of getting married and bearing his child.

You should tell her now, just in case
, the nagging voice at the back of his mind stated. He growled and pushed back his conscience on the matter. Was it too much to ask that he have one week to enjoy Katrina's company before the hammer fell, the chemo started and he had to endure the look of pity in her stunning blue eyes? He thought not.

A soft knock came at the door, causing him to lift his eyes from the paperwork he was sorting through.

"Come in."

Opening the door to his study, the maid poked her head in. "I'm about to take off for the day. Is there anything else you need before I leave Damon?"

Damon shook his head. "No. And take the rest of the week off."

"But-"

Damon raised his hand, cutting her off. "You'll be paid Lily. Katrina is here for the week and we'd like some privacy, so we'll manage."

The older lady's hazel eyes lit up, a smile touching her lips. "She's a pretty girl."

"Yes, she is."

"It's nice to see you taking some time for yourself Damon. You don't do that enough and especially with what you've been through recently..."

Lily didn't realize the cancer was still rampant within him. As far as she knew he was cured. Her husband had passed just a little over a year ago due to cancer and he just didn't want to upset or worry her. She had enough on her plate. Lily was the closest person to him in the world and if his plan to have an heir didn't pan out and he was dead within the year, his fifty-five year old widowed maid would be a very rich woman.

Damon smiled. "I'm fine Lily and you're right. I'm taking the week to myself."

"You deserve it."

"Did you set supper out in the conservatory?"

"Yes. It's out and covered. Though I would hurry if I were you. Ralph was eyeballing it pretty good."

Damon laughed. Ralph was a massive blue and red macaw. He was a bit of a potty mouth, but he was a good bird and the entertainment value he gave was priceless. "Well Lily, have a good week off."

"Have you seen Damon?" Katrina's voice asked from down the hallway.

"He's in his office dear." Lily stepped back out into the hallway, to address Katrina.

Damon's ears perked up and his smile widened as he heard Katrina's voice from out in the hallway. "I'm in here Kat."

Lily and Damon's eyes locked and she gave him a knowing nod of the head. "Have a good week Damon."

"You too, Lily."

Lily disappeared and was replaced by Katrina. She'd changed out of the jeans and t-shirt and was now wearing a simple yellow spaghetti strap sundress. The bodice hugged her modest breasts and the skirt fell to just above the knees. Her hair was pulled up into a high ponytail that swung back and forth behind her head. She looked as fresh and beautiful as she had when they were young. It was like the clock had turned back, and he was sitting before the woman he'd left, possibly making the biggest mistake of his life.

"What?" She shifted uncomfortably from foot to foot, a flush heating up her cheeks. "You're looking at me kinda...."

Damon laughed as he stood. "I was thinking that you haven't aged a day since high school."

Katrina laughed with him, but lowered her eyes to the floor, her blush deepening. "I guarantee the cellulite on my ass and thighs would disagree."

Walking around the desk, his eyes lowered to her calves, her thighs hidden by the skirt. "From what I can see, your legs are incredible. But if you want to remove the dress I can give you a more thorough examination." He gave her a wink and she rolled her eyes at him.

"Your house is beautiful," she commented meeting his eyes and changing the subject.

"You went exploring?"

She chewed at her lower lip, her embarrassment evident in her eyes." I kinda got lost trying to find your office."

Taking her hand, he gave it a tug. "Come on, there's a part of the house I'm sure you haven't seen yet. And our supper is sitting in it, waiting for us." He couldn't believe he was so excited to show her the conservatory or the adjoining aquarium. She'd been so excited to see the other animals, he knew she'd be beside herself when she saw the aquarium and met Ralph.

"Oh? Maybe I have."

Glancing down at her, Damon smiled. "Oh, if you had, then you wouldn't be near as calm as you are right now."

*****

Damon's whole ranch was one big surprise after another. She absolutely adored it, but certainly wasn't what she'd expected. Maybe his place in New York was different, but aside from the size of the house, the cars in the garage, and the exotic animals living on the premises, the house reminded her of an average home. Abet a home of a wealthy person, but not one that was worth billions. It really made her curious about his New York home.