The Millionaire’s Seductive Revenge (Australian Millionaires(16)
Author: Maxine Sullivan

“She had breakfast with me,” Brant said before she could speak. “And I feel fine.”

The doctor nodded. “That’s good. What about lunch? Did you eat together?”

Brant’s gaze stabbed her. “No.”

Kia wanted to groan. There was no getting around this. “I had something to eat in town,” she said and saw Brant’s shoulders tense.

The doctor frowned. “Hmm. Did you eat with anyone else? If you did, we’d better contact that other person and see if they’re feeling okay. If they’re not, we’ll have to let the authorities know straightaway.”

Kia glanced at Brant, who glared back in waiting silence. It was just as well she wasn’t having an affair with anyone else. She’d be caught out otherwise. Not that she’d live to tell the tale.

“I had brunch with my father.” She named the restaurant. “If you need to contact him, his cell phone number is written down near my phone.”

“I’ll call him now,” Brant said, heading for the door, but not before she caught a glimpse of relief in his eyes. Her heart jolted painfully. He really had believed she was capable of an affair.

She was still mulling over that fact when he came back in the room.

“He’s fine,” he said, the unreadable look on his face telling Kia her father had been his usual irksome self but that Brant wasn’t going to say anything about it to her. She swallowed a lump in her throat, suddenly overwhelmed by a strange feeling of relief. Brant truly didn’t think any the less of her because of her father. In her heart, she hadn’t been sure.

“Good,” the doctor said, closing his medical bag with a snap. “I’ll leave you something for the nausea.”

“Thank you, Doctor,” Brant said, then shortly after escorted the older man out of the bedroom.

A few minutes later he came back with a glass of water and a couple of the pills the doctor had given her.

He helped her sit up while she took them, then laid her back against the pillows and tenderly pushed some blond strands of hair off her cheek.

Yet, oddly, his gesture brought to mind the time she had chicken pox and her father hadn’t been able to hide his distaste at her appearance. Suddenly she felt self-conscious.

“I must look a mess,” she said apologetically and tried to pat her hair in place.

He stared at her for a moment, then something flickered in the back of his eyes. “Never,” he muttered, swinging away from her. He picked up the glass of water and took it into the bathroom.

Her heart jumped in her throat. She had the feeling he meant what he said. And if that were the case…No, she wouldn’t get her hopes up.

He came back in the room, then straightened the light blanket over her. Suddenly he put his hand under her chin, making her look at him. “Why didn’t you tell me you met with your father?”

Even feeling sick didn’t stop the tingle that shot through her at his touch. “You’re relentless, aren’t you?”

“When I want something, yes.”

She scarcely dared to breath. “And what do you want, Brant?”

“A straight answer.”

She noted that’s what he wanted from her, yet he wasn’t giving any himself.

“You don’t own me,” she said quietly, feeling they were walking on dangerous ground. “Is that straight enough for you?”

He dropped his hand from her chin, then moved back from her, his expression inscrutable. “Get some rest. I’ll stay and make sure you’re okay.”

“There’s no need.”

“Yes, there is.” He left the room without further explanation.

Kia woke a couple of hours later and the nausea had gone, though she still felt a little headachy.

“I see you’re awake,” Brant said, lounging against the doorway.

She jumped in fright, then let out a slow breath as her gaze went over him. At least there was nothing wrong with her eyes. She could still appreciate how handsome he was. “You stayed?”

“I had to make sure you didn’t collapse again.”

“I didn’t collapse the first time.”

“No, but you would’ve if I hadn’t been here to help you inside the house.”

Her mouth tightened. “Perhaps if I hadn’t been accosted in the driveway I would have been inside before I felt sick.”

He straightened and walked toward her. “Don’t hide anything from me, Kia. You’ll find it’s not worth it in the long run.”

Suddenly she felt too weak to argue. Anyway, she couldn’t tell him she loved him, no matter what. He wouldn’t want to know. Not after his reaction last night when he’d held himself back from her. That more than anything proved he wasn’t ready for a serious relationship.

As if satisfied that he’d gotten his message across, he walked over to the window and looked out. “I think we should go away for a few days.”

She blinked in surprise. “Wh-what? With you?”

He turned to face her. “It had better not be with anyone else,” he drawled.

The thought of having Brant to herself sounded wonderful. “Do you have a place in mind?”

“I have a house in the wilderness about an hour’s drive south of here. I like to escape there every so often. It has enough luxuries to keep any woman happy.”

Her bubble burst. How many other women had he taken to this house of his? “Sounds fine to me,” she said stiffly.

His expression softened. “Kia, I’ve never taken another woman there, I promise. I want to get away from people when I go there.”

Relief filled her. “When do you plan on going?”

“Tomorrow, if you’re up to it. I have a couple of things to finish first, then we’ll leave mid-afternoon. You just stay in bed and get yourself better. I’ll swing by and pick you up around two.”

For once, she would do what she was told. She didn’t want anything spoiling these few precious days away with the man she loved. It would be moments like those she would always treasure.

The next morning Kia felt more alive than she’d ever been. All lingering nausea had disappeared during the night, and now she was ready to face the world. In fact, today she would embrace it. And for the next couple of days she would revel in her love for Brant. He need never know.

But first she’d drive into the office and leave a note for Evelyn, in case the other woman decided to pop in during the next week to check things over. Knowing Evelyn and the way she took her job seriously, she would want to make sure there were no problems.

And deep inside, Kia couldn’t wait until this afternoon to see Brant. Her heart was full of love for him. So full she was almost bursting.

Her steps light and buoyant, she stepped from the elevator and headed down the hallway to Brant’s office. Not only were her steps light but her whole body—as though she could float to Brant’s office….

“You’ve got it all wrong, Royce,” Brant’s voice warned from inside the office.

A feeling of apprehension shivered down Kia’s spine and she stopped dead. Royce? Wasn’t that Brant’s brother?

“So you deny meeting Julia on numerous occasions?” the other man demanded with all the menace of a tiger about to pounce.

“No, I don’t deny it,” Brant answered, his tone firm. “But it’s not what you think.”

Royce gave a harsh laugh. “Yeah, right. I heard her calling you on the phone, telling you she needed you.”

“To talk. That’s all.”

“At a hotel?”

There was a moment’s damning silence, and Kia’s breath caught sharply in her throat. She prayed there was some sort of mix-up. She waited for Brant to speak, to explain….

“There are other reasons for being at a hotel,” he finally said, and Kia’s heart sank at his detached tone.

What other reasons? Please, Brant, tell us.

“I’m not a fool,” Royce snapped, obviously unconvinced, too. “I took away your fiancée and now you want her back.”

“Don’t be so bloody stupid. Julia loves—”

“Stay away from my wife or you’ll be sorry. I don’t care if you are my brother.”

Kia felt as though her legs had been cut from under her. Julia had been Brant’s fiancée? They’d been engaged? Had been contemplating marriage? And Brant hadn’t bothered to tell her.

A lead weight settled in the pit of her stomach. Dear God, it showed how little he thought of her. She was just another one of the harem. Oh, what a fool she was. An absolute idiot. Brant was no different than her father. She had believed Brant because she’d wanted to believe him.

She needed to get away. Be alone. She whirled around to leave, but then Brant spoke again. Her heart pounded. His voice sounded closer. He was going to come out of his office and at any moment he’d catch her eavesdropping.

“You’re jumping to conclus—” He followed his brother through the doorway, stiffening when he saw her.

“Kia!”

She swallowed, her gaze going from Brant to his brother. Somehow seeing Royce Matthews in the flesh made the accusations, the possibility of Brant’s affair with Julia, more concrete. The younger man wore a business suit and looked rich and successful, and perhaps it was empathy, but in that split second she could see past the anger to the shadows under his eyes, to the bone-deep misery emanating from every pore of his skin. And she knew how Brant’s brother felt.

Betrayed.

“Remember what I said, Brant,” Royce warned, then strode past her and toward the elevator.

For a long moment Kia stared at Brant, trying to hold on to her composure. She heard the elevator door open with a whoosh, then close. And she knew this was the end for them. Utterly and totally. Anguish ripped her heart apart. The feeling was far worse than she’d expected.

Yet somehow, dear God, she had to face him with dignity. Experience with her father had taught her how.

She forced her expression to turn cool. “I have to get something from my desk.”

Brant watched her in tight-lipped silence for a moment. “You should have phoned. I would have collected it for you.”

“Perhaps it’s better this way,” she said pointedly and saw his gaze narrow.

Finding strength in her legs was difficult, but she managed it. She stepped past him.

He put his hand on her arm, stopping her. “What’s the matter?”

She looked down at his arm, afraid to show him her eyes…and the pain that must be there. “Nothing.”

“So you’re all packed?”

“No.” She shrugged off his hand.

“No?” he repeated, his tone hardening. “Why not?”

She looked up, unable to stop herself from spitting fire. “I’m not going away with you, Brant. I’ve decided I’ve got too much self-respect to play second fiddle to Julia.”

His jaw tautened. “I presume you heard Royce and I talking just now?”

“Yes.”

“And you think Julia and I are having an affair?”

“That pretty well sums it up.”

A sudden chill hung in the air. “Really?”

“I know what I heard.” She went to spin away.

But he held her back. “What if I said you mean more to me than Julia ever did?”

A lump lodged in her throat. “Then why didn’t you tell me about your engagement?”

A muscle flicked at his jaw. “It wasn’t important.”

“It is to me.”

“Look, what Julia and I had—”

“Is none of my business,” she finished for him. “Yeah, I get the point. I guess your brother does, too.”

His eyes darkened. “Royce isn’t thinking straight.”

“Gee, I wonder why?” Her lips twisted. “Or maybe it’s because of his drinking problem,” she said with sarcasm.

His gaze stabbed her. “You think I lied about that?”

“How else could you hide your affair from me?”

Cold dignity descended over his face. “I’m only going to say this one more time. Royce does have a drinking problem, whether you believe me or not.”

Oh, how she wished she could. But the evidence spoke otherwise. “Then why didn’t you tell him that was the reason you’ve been meeting his wife?”

His jaw went rigid. “There’s more to it than that.”

“More?”

His eyes flicked away from her. “That’s all I can say.”

Because he was guilty. Guilty of loving his brother’s wife. Just thinking about it squeezed pain through Kia’s heart.

“None of this matters now anyway, Brant. It won’t work between us. It’s never going to work. I won’t be second best.”

Without warning, he grabbed her and kissed her hard. It was like kissing a stranger.

Until he softened it. And for a split second she turned boneless. The moment she did, he broke off the kiss.

“Does that kiss feel like you’re second best?” he demanded, still holding her shoulders so she couldn’t escape.

“Yes,” she whispered. “That kiss was about you, not me.”

He swore. “Kia, don’t be so damn—”

“Let it go, Brant. Let me go. There’s nothing more to be said.” It was over. The end had come sooner than expected.

“Kia, it’s not—”

Just then, the elevator doors opened and a female voice cried out Brant’s name. Kia heard him take a harsh breath, and her head snapped around to see a slim blonde fly past her and into Brant’s arms, her face pale.

“Oh, Brant, he was here, wasn’t he?”

Brant’s arms wrapped around the other woman even as his gaze flickered to Kia. She saw a flash of despair in his eyes, and a hot ache grew in her throat. This man loved Julia so much he was willing to fight his brother for her.