Billionaire's Blackmail Bride: Billionaire Brothers Kent - Ridge's Story (The BAD BOY BILLIONAIRES Series) (16 page)

“You can’t stop me,” she said, her look defiant.

“Oh, can’t I?” Before she could move his hands shot out and he
grasped her by the upper arms, dragging her down on top of him. “I’ll keep you
here all day and all night if I have to.”

“Hey, let go.” She was squirming on top of him now, doing more harm
than good. She might not even know it but with her little body wriggling on top
of him she was wakening the beast inside his pants. He was getting hard, real
fast.

“Stop squirming, will you?”

“I won’t,” she said, panting as she tried to pull her arms free.
“Not until you let me go.”

“You’re going to have a long wait.”

Those words seemed to incense Lani because she began to squirm anew,
for at least a full minute, and then she slumped down, exhausted.

As she lay on top of him Ridge chuckled deep in his throat.
Sometimes it paid to be a man with enough muscles to keep a woman in her place.

He’d just begun to get comfortable with her nestled against his
chest when Lani made a move he could not have anticipated. Sneaky as a snake,
she slipped her hand up under his armpit and began to tickle until he was
chuckling then laughing out loud, his grip on her loosening just enough that
she was finally able to wrest her arms from his grasp.

Immediately, she popped up and jumped away from him and although he
tried to grab her again it was too late. “I’m sorry,” she said again as she
backed away from him and out of the tent. "I’m going. I’ll leave you with
water and all the supplies you’ll need. I’ll be back in a few hours.”

“Lani, don’t play games with me. I said you’re not going.” Ridge’s
words fell on deaf ears or rather, absent ones, because by the time he got the
words out Lani was gone.

Ten minutes later she was back with bottles of water, boxes of
crackers, a couple of oranges and apples and some plums. “You can snack on
these until we get back,” she said. “I’ll ask Aurelio to snare some game on the
way back so we can fix you some dinner tonight.”

“So you’re going,” he said, still not believing it. “You’re leaving
me here in my injured state?”

“Oh, you’re a big boy,” she said, giving him a wave of dismissal.
“You’ll be all right. And besides, we’ll be back long before nightfall. I
promise.”

Ridge gave her a sour look. “And what am I supposed to do all day?”

“I’ve got a romance novel in my backpack. It’s pretty good. One of
those billionaire romance thingies.”

Ridge gave her a scathing look. “I’m supposed to entertain myself
with a friggin’ romance novel for the entire day?”

“I told you, this one’s pretty good. Now I really have to get going
so I can be back in good time. I’ll see you later.”

He didn’t get another word out. In a flash she was gone, leaving
Ridge on his back with her sorry pile of food to one side of him and her
romance novel bearing backpack to the other. Well, so much for being the man
who called the shots.

After she’d gone he lay there for a good hour but then he got sick
of it. There was just so much of lying still, listening to the birds in the
trees, that a man could take. With a groan he rolled over onto his side,
careful not to bump his injured ankle, and then he got to his knees. He crept
over to the tent opening and peered out. Nobody. Nothing but the breakfast fire
that was now just a pile of dead ashes and in the background, trees and bushes
all around their clearing. It was so still out there he actually felt lonely.
He just hoped the fact that the place was so quiet, no stray jaguar would come
wandering in.

At the thought Ridge crept backwards, back into the tent, and made
sure to pull his Bowie knife from under his pillow and slide it into the
waistband of his trousers. If a jaguar was going to attack he wanted to at
least have a fighting chance.

But then that thought led to another. Lani was out there in the
jungle with only an old man to protect her. Godammit. Why did that woman have
to be so stubborn? If he could have walked he would have been there by her
side. She knew that. Why couldn’t she have let well enough alone and just
stayed at camp with him?

Two more hours passed and all Ridge could do was keep glancing at
his watch. Had they reached their destination by now? Were they on their way
back? His chest tightening with each thought of Lani out there in the woods,
Ridge crawled to the tent flap and peered out again, knowing full well that
they wouldn’t be back yet, but just hoping for a miracle.

When the hunger pangs grew too strong Ridge munched on some of the
crackers Lani had left then washed the tasteless meal down with bottled water.
He crunched on one of the apples but when that was gone he turned away from the
food. That was all he could stomach for the moment. How could he eat when he
had no idea where Lani was just then and if she was safe?

Two more hours later, still no Lani and Aurelio. He’d tried
distracting himself with the romance novel she had left him but even though it
started out as good as she’d said it was, he kept stopping after every page,
listening for her voice. Then in the middle of the story his mind would wander
and then he’d have to start the page all over again. Finally, frustrated, he
dashed the paperback into the corner and slumped back on the sleeping bag.

Several more hours later, after he’d ventured out of the tent a
couple of times with a makeshift cruch, the sun was beginning to set and there
was still no sign of Lani and Aurelio. And if Ridge had been worried before,
now he was damn near frantic. Where the hell were they?

Raking his fingers through his hair he looked toward the east where
they’d gone. It was almost night, not the time to be wandering around in the
woods. What should he do now? It wasn’t like he could call them on a cell
phone, not all the way out here in this remote wilderness. The only way he
could reach them was to follow them into the forest. But that didn’t make a
lick of sense. They’d gone east but where exactly? And now that it was getting
dark, how the heck was he going to find them?

Muttering to himself again, Ridge shook his head. He had three
options as far as he could see – head into the forest after them, take the Jeep
and try to find his way back to the city, or stay put and wait for them to get
back.

He didn’t like any of them.

Half an hour later, when the moon began to shine its weak beam
through the leaves, Ridge decided he could wait no longer. He’d stayed at camp
long enough. Maybe too long. And even if he could get back to the city to round
up a search party there was no time. Poor Lani could be in trouble even right
at that moment. It was that thought that made Ridge decide to attempt the
next-to-impossible. He was going into the forest to find them.

Making sure he still had his knife, Ridge grabbed his crutch and his
flashlight and turned the beam toward the bushes on the east side. He began to
hop out of the clearing, trying his best to put as little weight as possible on
the ankle, but he stumbled and almost fell and the only way he could save
himself was to stomp down hard on the sick leg.

Sweat popping out on his forehead as the pain shot up his leg Ridge
sucked in his breath, clutched his stick closer and tried again. It took him a
good three minutes just to get across the clearing and into the bushes that led
to the stream. How in heaven’s name was he going to do eight miles?

He shook his head. He couldn’t think about that. He had to stay
focused on his goal. He had to find Lani.

He’d just sucked in his breath, preparing himself to make another
step, when he saw it. A light in the distance. The beam of a flashlight. And it
was coming his way.

“Lani. Is that you? Aurelio? Answer me.” Hobbling toward the light
he peered ahead, flashing the beam of his own light. “Guys, talk to me.”

And then he heard the sweet voice that made his heart swell with
relief.

“Ridge. We’re here. We’re coming.”

He heard the sound of branches breaking and leaves being slapped out
of the way and then the footsteps as his missing travel companions came toward
him.

Lani broke through the leaves to the left of him and when he saw her
his heart jerked in his chest. He wanted to run to her but he couldn’t so he
just held his arms open wide and let her walk right into them. As soon as their
bodies touched he wrapped his arms around his little woman and held her like he
would never let her go.

“A little air, please.”

It was only when Lani began to struggle that Ridge relaxed his hold
and set her just far enough away so he could look down at her. “What happened?
Where the hell were you guys?”

Aurelio, who by this time had come to stand close by, cleared his
throat but just as he opened his mouth to speak Lani broke in.

“We’re sorry, Ridge. We got sidetracked. I mean, I got sidetracked.
We went to check on something else and the time… I didn’t realize…it just flew
by.”

“You got…sidetracked.” Ridge frowned. “You promised me you would be
back in a few hours and then you got sidetracked?” He dropped his hands away
from her, not believing what he was hearing. “Do you know what you put me
through?”

“I know and I’m sorry but I thought you’d be all right, seeing that
you were here in camp and you had everything you needed close by.” She stepped
back and away from him then shrugged and turned toward the camp. “And you’re
okay, aren’t you? You seem pretty good to me.”

It was that casual shrug that did him in, sending his blood boiling.
“That’s not the point. You told me you’d be back long before nightfall. And now
you come strolling in at this time of night and that’s all you have to say to
me? You got sidetracked?”

By this time she was halfway to the tent but she stopped and turned.
“It’s no big deal, okay? We’re here now and we’re good and you’re good and that’s
all that matters.”

“No, it’s not, dammit. You owe me a better explanation than that.
You spend the entire day out in the bush then you stroll in as casual as you
please, and give me some cock-and-bull story about getting sidetracked.
Sidetracked? When you had me here wondering where the hell you were?” Ridge’s
voice was getting louder with each word he spoke but he really didn’t give a
damn. Lani had taken advantage of his semi-helpless state, staying out as long
as she wanted, and she hadn’t even spared him a second thought. And all that
time he’d been worried sick about her. “And don’t you walk away when I’m
talking to you.”

She’d started walking and now she waved her hand in the air like she
was exasperated. “I don’t need to listen to this. I don’t see why you’re making
a mountain out of a molehill.” She didn’t stop walking until she reached the
tent where she dropped her bag on the ground then crouched down and ducked
inside.

And all that time Aurelio stood staring at them, from one to the
other then back again, not saying a word.

It was darned embarrassing having the man you’d hired stand there
witnessing your wife defying you. Maybe that was the reason Ridge’s rage hit
the roof. Crippled though he might be he was not about to have his woman
disrespect him like that, and in front of an audience.

He set off toward the tent and though his ankle was no better than
it had been when he’d set out before, now he covered the distance in half the
time. “You get back here, Leilani Kent,” he growled. “You don’t walk away from
me like that.”

“Leave me alone.” Her words were muffled by the tent but there was
no mistaking the challenge in her voice.

“You don’t want me to come in there,” he said, deliberately making
his tone threatening.

“Or else what?” came the angry retort.

That did it. Ridge let go of his crutch, dropped to his knees and
pushed his way into the tent.

Lani was kneeling by the sleeping bag, stripping her shirt off,
leaving her upper body in nothing but her sleeveless undershirt. “You seem to
have forgotten something. I’m a grown woman and I don’t have to answer to you.”

“You’re a grown woman who’s my wife. That makes all the difference
in the world.”

“Is that so?” Her glare was fiery enough to scorch the skin.

“Yeah, that’s so.”

“Well, let me tell you something. From here on things are going to
be different.” She moved past him and lifted the tent flap like she was leaving
but then she paused. “I’ll fulfill my obligation and stay married to you till
my prison term ends,” she said, her voice cold, “but when we get back to Texas
I’m moving out.” 

***

Lani and Ridge were back in Manaus. She had the plants she’d come
all the way to Brazil for as well as the bonus samples Aurelio had gotten for
her, and now she would be able to do all the experiments she’d planned, and
more.

And Lani felt more miserable than when she’d been up to her ears in
debt and in danger of being thrown out onto the streets. How could she have
been such a bitch to Ridge? Now she was probably first on his list of 'Ridge’s
Most Hated'.

He’d left the hotel suite, saying he needed to go for a walk, but
she knew it was because he didn’t want to be around her. That was
understandable, after the way she’d behaved in the jungle.