Pawn of the Billionaire (12 page)

I
was humming
as I dressed carefully for the evening. I wondered how Toni would take it. She thought we were just going out for dinner, but I had a surprise for her.

We’d had a good couple of weeks. The launch of Chess had gone without a hitch, and thank the Lord that she’d discovered the flaw in time. The USCF and the online Chess.com had both reviewed it favorably, and it had rocketed high in the stores.

Toni seemed to be behaving more carefully around Paul, but was sparkling with excitement over her app. She still wouldn’t tell me what it was about though, and I indulged her, wondering if she wanted to surprise me with it. Even Tom hadn’t been able to discover what it was about from Paul, though I’d told him not to push too hard.

The best part of all was that I’d discovered she was an excellent player. Most evenings we had a tournament in my suite, and I’d surprised myself by taking it so casually that we played strip chess. I grinned at my reflection.

Occasionally, I sacrificed a piece so that I could get my shoes and tie off, but I was comfortably certain of getting her naked after that. But lately, I’d had to work increasingly hard. The clever girl was learning my style of play, and yesterday she’d taken the shirt off my back. Thank goodness I’d been able to unsettle her with a few choice comments and take back control. I was going to have to go carefully, though. International tournaments might never be the same if I couldn’t get the image of a naked, bright-eyed imp thinking her way around the board.

I was enjoying life since Toni, and tried to stop myself thinking too hard about what I should be planning to go back to. I heard a soft knock on the connecting door to her bedroom. “Come in,” I said and I turned to greet her, my necktie still in my hand.

She stepped into the room, and I felt as if I’d been punched in the gut. She was gorgeous. A delicate evening gown swirled around her elegant form, and silver slippers shimmered beneath the hem. Her hair was twisted on top of her head, making her even taller, and little tendrils escaped, framing her face and softening the effect. Diamond earrings sparkled and glittered on the necklace around her throat. I couldn’t stop myself staring, comparing her with my memory of her in that awful greasy diner. Her little half-smile became uncertain.

“Don’t you like it?” She sounded disappointed.

I shook my head. “It’s not that, it’s … you’re beautiful. I never expected this.” I stepped forward and lifted her hand to my mouth, kissing the back of it. “I couldn’t have wanted a more fairy-tale consort.”

She smiled in relief, and blushed, a delicate rose.

I took her hand and led her to a chair. “Would you wait just a moment? I’m nearly ready.” I turned back to the mirror and checked my tie. “Good.” My eyes sought hers in the reflection. She looked poised and beautiful. Elegant, born to a high station in life. My very own pygmalion. God! I couldn’t give her up.

Then I was taking her hand. “Let’s go.” I looked carefully at her. “Will that wrap be warm enough? I don’t want you to be cold.”

She smiled up at me. “Are we likely to be outdoors for more than about ten minutes?”

“No, not tonight,” I reassured her.

“Then I’m fine.” She picked up her tiny purse and tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear.

D
ownstairs
, Lawrence was waiting, and he followed us discreetly to the car, getting in beside the driver before we moved off.

Toni looked puzzled. “Why’s Lawrence coming?”

“Oh, he’s organized this for me,” I said lightly. “It’s easier if he takes care of the paperwork.” I didn’t tell her that he’d organized the security for this. I definitely didn’t want the media to find out what we were going to see, and the fewer people that saw us the better as far as I was concerned.

When we arrived at the airport and the car swept up to the jet, Toni turned to me. “Come on, spill the beans. This looks like more than just dinner.”

I grinned. “Oh, yes! I think you’ll enjoy what I have in store for you.” Lawrence was holding the door for her, and the driver opened my side. The pilot waited at the foot of the steps and he saluted us as we went past him and climbed up into the cabin.

Toni was open-mouthed. She looked around as the steward leaped to attention and greeted her. “Good evening, Miss Chapman. Would you care to sit here just for take-off? Then you’ll be able to move to a more comfortable seat.”

“Thank you.” She smiled at him. “It all looks very comfortable.”

I cheered inside. She was every inch a Countess. I dropped into the seat beside her.

“Seattle,” I answered her unspoken question. “Two hours.”

“And are you telling me why we’re going to Seattle?” I could hear her smile and her delight in the tone of her voice.

I pretended to think for a moment. “No, I don’t think so. You’ll just have to wait and see.” I reached across for her seat belt and watched her buckle up, before doing the same. The pilot came through and touched his cap to me.

“Ready for take off when you are, sir.”

I nodded at him. “Any time, Captain.” Then she reached for my hand and gripped it tightly. I turned to her.

“Are you all right flying?” I was surprised.

“Yes, of course, silly.” She rolled her eyes at me. “I just wanted to say thank you.”

I squeezed her hand back. “You’re very welcome, Toni.”

We had a wonderful flight. Toni explored the jet, exclaiming with delight at the cabins, each with their own bathrooms, the dining room, and lounge.

“I’d never have guessed all this was on board.”

I laughed. “Come and eat. We’ve got a light snack before we get there. Dinner isn’t until quite late.”

She gave me a calculating look, then did as I suggested without making comment.

I
t wasn’t
until we were in the limo, making for the hotel that she finally asked where we were going.

“To the hotel.” I said uninformatively. “It’s easier if everything comes to us there, rather than being seen going from one place to the other.”

She looked puzzled. “And we mustn’t be seen — why?”

“Oh, we can be seen all right.” I grinned. “And I expect we will be, tomorrow. But what we’re doing tonight is a secret, just for us.”

Her face cleared. “I thought you might be ashamed of being seen with me,” she murmured, looking down.

My heart stopped. I hadn’t wanted to hurt her. I had wanted to hide us being together, of course, because she wasn’t mine, she was Edward’s. But I couldn’t tell her that. Now, I didn’t care. Somehow I’d make it right with my father, and I’d keep her. I could find another girl for Edward, send her straight off to Switzerland. Then it would be Toni and me.

I squeezed her hand. “I’ll never be ashamed of being with you.” A platitude. She deserved better than that.

Then we were there, and the hotel manager received us respectfully, and ushered us through. Lawrence vanished into the office.

Toni looked around, then at me. “You’ve got to tell me now.” Her expression was curious. I wasn’t surprised. We were in a small, luxurious, private cinema.

I grinned. “You told me last week you like the James Bond movies. I’ve arranged a private screening of the new one.” I made a face and leaned back as she flew into my arms with a loud squeal.

“Oh, wow! You’re the best! But how can you have? It’s not even had its world premiere yet.”

I grinned at her enthusiasm. “I know. But I have. And you’d better have some questions for Daniel Craig and Sam Mendes afterwards. They’re joining us for pre-dinner drinks.”

Her eyes widened. “You’re kidding me.”

“Nope.” I enjoyed watching her recover her poise.

“Oh, well. I suppose they couldn’t be persuaded to stay for dinner too.” Her lips twitched, though she tried to seem serious.

I smiled lazily. “Not quite right, I didn’t invite them. I wanted you to myself for dinner.” She gave me a pointed look, and I shrugged. “If the conversation over drinks is okay, you may invite them to stay for dinner. The staff won’t take long to add a couple of places to the table.”

“Just like that,” she said as she shook her head.

“Just like that,” I agreed. Then I took her hand. “Let’s sit down.”

After we’d been furnished with every possible need by the hostess, I nodded to the manager, and the room darkened. I felt over and took her hand. I was going to enjoy her next to me.

She was a delight to sit next to. Entranced by the film, fully involved in it, she gasped and flinched in all the right places. I found I was watching her more than the screen though.

Now I’d admitted to myself I loved her, I wondered what would happen next. I couldn’t quite summon up the nerve to tell her yet, but I thought she loved me back. I loved her body, the way she became aroused by my control of her, and I had to shift slightly in my seat to ease the pressure of my hardness in my pants as I thought of her naked body under my hands.

Already I knew she was different than other girls. I’d always tired of them by now, their possessiveness, the way they tried to change me, the way they demanded more and more material things.

Toni hadn’t asked for anything. She’d accepted the help I’d arranged for her app but she was still determined to make a success of it herself. I loved her for that too. I couldn’t understand why I felt this gnawing anxiety around my feelings, though. A fear of losing her. I didn’t take in much of the film, and at the end, when she sighed with satisfaction and sat back, I hoped I wouldn’t make a fool of myself over drinks by not remembering the plot line.

In the private lounge, the two men waited for us. They greeted her respectfully, and I sensed her wonder at being noticed by two such well-known figures.

She was acceptably star-struck by them, but also restrained with it, and I swelled with pride at her. I sat back and let her lead the conversation. I was pleased that I’d won the fight over her elocution lessons. Her voice was better and she didn’t lose the tone when she was excited. Craig and Mendes didn’t blink at her being there, and they made her feel great, which was why I had got them.

She looked over at me after a while, and to my astonishment when she turned back to speak to them, she dismissed them.

“I’m so glad that you talked to us. I really appreciate it. You’ve a great film there, and I’ll enjoy watching it again. Thank you.” She looked over at me. “I believe we have to go now. It was such a pleasure to meet you.”

They took the hint and said their goodbyes.

I turned to her. “I thought you’d invite them to stay for dinner.”

“Yes, I know. But you don’t want that. I could tell.” She smiled. “So I didn’t.”

I was interested. “How could you tell?”

“Never mind,” she said and she shook her head, and I realized that we were becoming attuned to each other. I grinned and took her through to the dining room, trying to push away the strange looming sense of loss. Nothing would go wrong. I had the means to make sure of that.

I watched her as she took a long time to decide what she wanted to eat. I tried not to smile. She was like a kid in a candy store, whatever she chose it meant saying no to something else. Eventually, she decided on the grilled sea bass, and when the maitre d’ turned to me, I ordered the steak and salad and he bowed away.

“Don’t they ask you how you’d like your steak?” Toni seemed puzzled.

“Lawrence’ll tell them how I like it.” I didn’t think how that sounded, but she looked shocked.

“So why isn’t he eating here? With us?”

I tried to rescue the situation. “Toni, if he’s in here with us, he has to spend the whole time trying to anticipate what I need. As it is, he’s on call, yes, but he can relax otherwise.”

“Oh.” She didn’t sound very mollified, but let it slide although I could tell she wasn’t really satisfied with my answer.

We began discussing work and the chess app launch. Then I let the subject move on to her own work. Warmed by the excitement of the evening and the wine, she began to open up a bit.

“It’s a compatibility app. You download it and the first six entries are free, and after that it’s only a dollar a month, so nobody worries about paying up.” She moved the salt cellar a fraction.

“You enter the way you react and feel to what someone has done from a list of choices, and then it works out your personality type and the more you enter, the more it fine-tunes what you’re like, and tells you who you’re compatible with.” She looked over at me. “And of course, if you unsubscribe, then you lose all your data, so you get scared to unsubscribe in case it finds your perfect partner.”

I nodded. It wasn’t a bad idea, commercially. But it would be the devil of a programming problem. “So what happens if they enter none to the reactions it offers?”

She smiled. “It sends you to a box where you describe it in words, and then the app psychologist chooses the right reaction.”

I raised an eyebrow. “So you’d have the cost of an army of psychologists?”

She scowled. “No. Don’t be silly. I’d start with one, and then if we need more, it’s because we’ve a lot of subs so we can afford it. Paul says it’d work with …” She stared over at me.

“I knew you wouldn’t be interested. I know it’ll work. You think it’s just feeble and you’re only doing it to placate me. Well, I’m going to surprise you. Paul says it’s not long before it’s ready and then you’ll see.” She lowered her head, and viciously speared a bit of fish onto her fork.

“Toni, I’m not thinking that at all. Really I’m not.” I tried to think of a way to placate her. “Look, we’re doing everything we can to make it a success, aren’t we? My own first apps were hopeless, didn’t take off at all. It all takes time. And you’ve got that time. The way to succeed in this business is to keep trying.”

Her eyes were dark pools as she stared at me. “I shouldn’t have told you. Paul believes in me, you don’t.”

Her words were calculated to hurt and to anger me. They worked, but I wasn’t going to show it. I’d been trained from childhood not to show hurt or anger unless I wanted to. She wouldn’t know.

“Let’s not argue. It’s been a good evening, I want us to enjoy our meal.” I smiled over at her and turned the conversation over to the Bond movie.