Taming Graeme (Taming the Billionaire) (57 page)

 
“Thank goodness the wedding is tomorrow evening,” was all she said.

 
Gideon took her down the freight elevator to the basement, where a Range Rover with darkened windows waited. They climbed in and pulled away. They had to drive past the front of the building. There were four photographers waiting to snap her picture. She sighed. “I suppose I’ll have to cancel my hair appointment in the morning.”

 
“I’m sure the hairdresser will come to you, Olivia,” smiled Gideon.   He liked her so much.

 
Her mobile pinged. It was a message from Linda.

How does it feel to be famous? Graeme suggested I come and keep you company for the day. Be there by eleven. Michael bringing me.

  The two women drank tea, searched the internet for mentions of Olivia, helped Mrs. Green prepared food for the wedding dinner, admired the wedding dress, drank more tea, watched a celebrity gossip program to see if she was on it (she wasn’t) and giggled a lot.

Rose called to tell them of Graeme’s explosive meeting with Amanda, accusing her of leaking information to the press. Amanda, blameless for once, had tearfully protested her innocence.

  Sir David, hearing the shouting had come in and pointed out Amanda hadn’t been told of the functions or the house purchase.

 
Graeme had scathingly replied that Amanda was such a snoop and a gossip he couldn’t count on her innocence. And that she had known of both the visit to the bridal salon and the house purchase and had tried to push her no-talent brother on him as the interior designer. She’d run crying from his office.

 
Louisa had called her father. The leak had come from William, waxing loudly over whiskey in a pub.

 
William was now officially in the doghouse.

 
Graeme had the grace to apologize to Amanda. 

 
Olivia called the salon and arranged for the hairdresser to come to the townhouse, and the manicurist. Linda and Olivia played with make-up, packed Olivia’s cases ready for Bermuda, and generally did not have a bad day.

 
Graeme and Michael arrived together. They told the girls that there were now photographers on the street outside the townhouse, waiting for Olivia to arrive.

 
They shared a very nice dinner, roast Cornish game hens, prepared by Mrs. Green. Much better than the ones Mrs. Pyle whipped up.

 
Michael took Linda home at nine. Graeme took Olivia into the bath, and they soaked together.

 
“Are you still willing to marry me, ‘Livi? Now that you know for a little while anyway, it’s going to be like living in a fishbowl?”

 
“It will have all blown over by the time we’re back from Bermuda,” she smiled.

 
“Amanda is furious with you and with me and thinks she should be your bridesmaid
if
we are getting married, which she says she doubts,” Graeme told her. “She plans to tell you off when she comes to dinner tomorrow night if you are here. First she told Rose and Hailie that she wasn’t coming to our dinner tomorrow evening, and then she relented, saying she was going to tell us both off. Rose said to her that perhaps she was jumping to conclusions and you are just friends with Lady Christine, and Amanda actually considered that possibility because she can’t imagine that you and I would be involved and she wouldn’t know.”

 
“Amanda can be as furious as she likes.”

 
“Your grandfather called the Bank and demanded to speak to you. Switchboard put him through to me. He wanted to know if it was true you are marrying a millionaire. I told him the papers always wrote nonsense and you were now a charity volunteer and he couldn’t speak to you because you were in Belize. He wanted to know where Belize is and if you were coming home for the weekend because he needs you to fetch some Battenberg cake. Then he wanted to know if you were getting a raise soon. I told him you were resigning to do full time volunteer work. He said you were a silly bitch and if you didn’t have money to give him, not to bother to go to see them. I told him not to worry, you wouldn’t.

 
“Then three women called who all claimed to be relatives of yours, two who said they were your mother and one who said she was your sister. All said they were meeting you after work and needed to know what time. They all said they’d lost your mobile number and wanted to know what time you were leaving work. No doubt all were reporters.

 
“Francine called me through the switchboard and asked if I was getting married soon. I’d blocked her from my mobile so she was steamed about that.

 
“Hailie came in and said Glen had asked her to come to a dinner party with us tomorrow night and she wanted to check that it was alright to accompany him. She didn’t seem to know we’re getting married tomorrow night, so I said fine. She did ask if we were engaged. I didn’t tell her yes or no. I just gave her a cold stare and she left my office in a hurry.”

 
“I think we should confiscate all mobile phones at the door,” said Olivia mildly as she soaped his cock and then rinsed it, stroking it so that it was starting to rise out of the water.

 
“Yes, Gideon thought so too. Personally, I think if we confiscate Amanda’s and Hailie’s we’ll be safe from leaks. Rose did say Amanda plans to send photos of the girlfriend to her, you and Hailie, if it isn’t you, that is.”

 
“As it pleases my master,” she smiled as she lowered her head. Just before her mouth engulfed him, she looked up and smirked, “You do realize that this will be the last blow you receive as a bachelor, don’t you?  The next one, you’ll be a married man.”

 
“And when will that be?”

 
“Oh, about the same time tomorrow night…you will want a bath before we fly off to Bermuda, won’t you?”

 
“Then make it a good one, kitten, if I’ve got to wait that long,” he smirked.

 
She made it outstanding.

THIRTY SIX

  They’d just climbed into be
d
when the telephone rang. Sighing, Graeme reached over and looked at the call display. It was Gideon. He answered it curtly.

 
“What’s up, Gideon?”

 
“Your security system has just been breached. The Police are on the way. Where are you?”

 
“Bedroom.”

 
“Lock the door”.

 
Graeme was already half way there.  “Done. When were we breached?”

 
“About a minute before I called you. Davis was on the desk. He saw your alarm flash, pressed the connection for the police and then called me. Your CCTV system is picking up two men going from room to room on the ground floor. I suggest you go into your panic room
now
. I’ll head down there immediately.”

 
“We will do that.”

 
Graeme grabbed the clothes they had been wearing and turned to Olivia, the cordless telephone still at his ear.

  “’Livi, come with me.” He strode toward the window, and opened the French doors to mislead the intruders into thinking they’d accessed the balcony.

 
He spoke into the phone again. “I’ll call you when we’re in the panic room from the system in there.”

 
“Right, Graeme. I expect the call within one minute.”

 
Olivia was already pulling the covers back up over the bed.

 
Graeme took Olivia’s hand and switched off the bedroom lights. The only illumination came from the moonlight and streetlight glow visible through the partially opened curtains and doors.

 
He led her into the dressing room, pressed a panel beside the full length mirror on one wall, and the mirror slid aside. He pushed her in front of him, released his hand from the panel as he stepped after her and the mirror slid in place behind him. A steel door slid across as the lighting in the room activated.

 
“Get dressed, Olivia. The temperature in here isn’t as warm as the bedroom.”

 
Olivia nodded and pulled on her clothes. Graeme sat down at a desk that had a wall of video screens in front of it. He picked up a headset and pressed a speed dial number as he flicked a switch that activated the CCTV display.

 
“We’re in the panic room, Gideon. I left the French doors to the balcony open as per standard plan. Olivia and I are both safe. CCTV shows them on their way up from the second to the third floor now....”

 
“Police will be there any minute now, Graeme.  They will approach with care. I’m right behind them.  Can you see their faces?”

 
“They’re both wearing a baklava pulled up over their faces, Gideon. Both armed.  They just reached the third floor landing, and they’re kicking doors open.  Now they’re at our bedroom door and they’re trying to kick it in...Hold on, I think one of them is picking the lock...”

 
“Don’t speak again, Graeme. Leave the line open and I’ll talk to you...we don’t want them picking up the sound of your voice with a hearing device. If I hear the sound of your voice I’ll know it’s because they’ve managed to get in to you...” Gideon went silent then. 

 
Olivia and Graeme stared that the monitors in front of them.  She was surprised to see that the bedroom had two CCTV cameras, one covering the door in and that side of the large room, and the other pointed at the French doors leading to the large balcony adjacent to the room. She was relieved to see that neither covered the bed, and the one in the bathroom focused on the door in, not the bathtub.

 
Graeme stood behind her, holding her tightly to him. They watched in morbid fascination as the door to the bedroom swung open and the two masked figures dressed in black entered the room, guns at the ready. The taller of the two eased his way onto the balcony, and then stepped back into the room, his gun at his side now.

 
Olivia jumped as a well remembered voice came softly over a speaker on the desk. Graeme reached over and turned it as low as he could and still hear the men in his bedroom.

 
“I think they heard us, Dave.  I can see how they could have dropped down from here to the deck below and then left the house as we came up here...”

 
“You think so, Tim?” 

 
“I dunno. That’s what they do on the television, isn’t it?”

 
“Yeah, but is Browning that athletic?”

 
“He seemed pretty fit to me. He was mentioning to me in Belfast that they both work out at the gym everyday with personal trainers...Let’s just have a look around and make sure they aren’t hiding in the wardrobe or the bathroom...”

 
“I’m surprised no alarm went off when we picked the lock on the front door.”

 
“They probably hadn’t turned it on. He’s got other things on his mind tonight what with those tabloid stories. We could make a few quid, Dave, telling the tabloids they’re already married...cover me while I check the bathroom.”

 
Dave’s gun came back up and he followed Tim over to the door of the luxurious tiled room.

“They’re not in here, Dave, but come in and have a look at how the billionaires live,” called out Tim.

  Dave was more observant than Tim. “Hey, they had a bath recently. These towels are still damp in the hamper here.”

 
“They could have left at the same time that couple did an hour ago. We only saw the couple in the front of the car, but the windows were tinted so maybe Browning and Olivia were already in the back seat. Maybe they’ve all gone out for a drink or something...”

 
“Must have. They aren’t here. We’d better check the wardrobes, though. Where are they? I’d have thought they had fitted wardrobes,” muttered Dave. Both men pulled the baklavas off and stuck them in their pockets.

 
“He probably has a dressing room, Dave. I mean, this is a pretty fancy house isn’t it? Obviously your break and enter excursions have all been to art galleries.”

 
Tim opened the door to the dressing room and flicked on the light. He started to open the wardrobe doors.  “Wow, the man must have thirty suits, eh? And at least a hundred pairs of shoes...wonder if this is where he’s got his safe hidden?  I didn’t see one behind any of the paintings downstairs.”

 
“Look at all these shirts, Tim...And ties, he could open a men’s wear shop...hey, look at these leather pants and vests. I’ll bet he has a collection of motorcycles to go with these. And her clothes take up this side of the room, but she doesn’t have nearly as many as he does...and these suitcases, they must be going away.”

 
“Never mind Browning’s clothes. Look on the floor of the cupboards, Dave. They may have set the safe in the floor...”