Читать книгу Cinderella's Billion-Dollar Christmas - Susan Meier - Страница 12

NICK KOURAKIS LEFT the diner, a mix of disappointment and confusion slowing his steps. He should have been focused on the fact that this unexpected trip was a chance to convince Leni Long to keep her dad’s money with his money management firm. But Danny Manelli, attorney for the estate, didn’t want him making a pitch to her. A clause in the will could give the estate trouble, and Nick could make it worse by talking about money before Danny could properly explain the clause to Leni.

Now that he had given her the basics that would get her to New York to start the process of vetting her, Nick wasn’t supposed to talk about anything except the weather and football. Two things Danny was sure wouldn’t accidentally tip them into talking about the estate.

That was good, sound logic. And normally Nick would be totally onboard with it. Instead, he was gobsmacked. Leni Long was the first woman he’d been overwhelmingly attracted to in a decade. But it was more than that. Something about her clicked with him. And that was so odd he couldn’t shake the feeling.

Telling himself that was absurd, he walked down the sidewalk and jumped into the passenger seat of the SUV.

Behind the steering wheel, Jace MacDonald, owner of Around the World Security, said, “Where’s the girl?”

“She wants a day to investigate us.”

Jace shook his head, then shifted to face Nick, the gun beneath his black leather jacket visible when he turned. “It’s going to be difficult to keep an eye on her here. Even for twenty-four hours.” He motioned outside. “Not only are the houses and businesses spaced in such a way that an extra person sticks out like a sore thumb, but so do cars. You should have seen the people sniffing around the SUV while you were in the diner. A strange vehicle parked on a street where everybody knows everybody else’s car? That’s like a neon sign.”

“I don’t care. You heard what Danny said. That woman is worth more money than the gross national products of several small countries combined. If the wrong people find out, she’ll be a target.”

“Yeah, of banks that want to compete for her business.” Jace snickered. “You do realize Danny’s keeping you from an excellent opportunity to convince her to keep her share of the estate with you?”

Nick peeked at him. “You’re not allowed to pitch your company either.”

Jace raised his hands in disgust. “Got the same sermon you did.”

“Then you know the problem with the will. After a few charitable bequests, Mark divides the remainder of his estate between his first child and any subsequent heirs. A good lawyer could argue that that gives Mark’s first child half, with the other half split between the other two kids. Danny wants to be the one to explain it to Elenore.”

Jace sniffed. “How the hell can pitching our companies’ services affect that stupid clause?”

“He just wants to be sure we don’t accidentally say something we shouldn’t.”

“That’s ridiculous.” Jace growled.

Nick totally understood his frustration, but he didn’t want to do anything that could make trouble for Danny. “Look, you knew Mark. He was a good guy. Nine chances out of ten, he wanted that estate distributed equally among his heirs. I’m sure Danny has a plan to get all three of Mark’s kids on board with that. That’s why he doesn’t want us talking to her. Muddying the waters.”

“Right.” Jace pulled the gear shift out of Park and headed toward the interstate. “There isn’t a hotel or even a bed and breakfast in this town. I’ll drive you up the highway until we find one, then I have to get back here to figure out a way to hide myself and this boat of an SUV we rented so I can watch her tonight.”

Nick winced. “Sorry. I couldn’t talk her into leaving today.”

“Not to worry. I’ll deal with it. How are you going to handle the fact that she wanted time to check you out?” He laughed. “What’s she going to find when she does a search on you?”

Nick faced the window. “Nothing.”

“You’re sure? The guy they call the New Wolf of Wall Street doesn’t have a skeleton?”

Nick said, “No skeleton,” but he lied. He’d talked his only brother into going out on a night when the roads were icy. A former Navy SEAL, he counted on himself to be one of the best drivers in unusual situations. But a combination of icy roads and other cars had bested him that night, and his only sibling had been killed.

But that was five years ago, and he didn’t think the story even popped up in internet searches anymore.

“Come on. Nobody meets a guy like Hinton without a story.”

“I did.”

That part was true. He’d met Mark Hinton in Dubai. They’d gambled. They’d skydived. They’d talked money. Especially investment strategy. In Nick’s world, there was nothing special about any of that. After Mark decided to trust Kourakis Money Management with most of his fortune, they’d had meetings on his yachts or while fishing in the Florida Keys. They drank tequila, talked about his financial goals and even about the kids who were now Mark’s heirs. Though never while Mark was sober. Powerful men didn’t admit weakness or failures without a nudge. Mark’s nudge was alcohol. With enough tequila, Mark would talk about his kids—without mentioning their names—and Nick would nurse his regret and sorrow over his brother’s death. That was why Mark was comfortable with Nick. Even with a thirty-year age difference, they understood each other. Understood mistakes. Understood regret.

Even now, it trickled from his subconscious to the front of his brain. He’d been too confident, cocky even. His brother hadn’t wanted to go out that night. His parents hadn’t wanted them to go. But he’d been so sure—

He was always so sure.

After Joe’s death, he’d had to stop jet-setting, return to New York and take over the family business.

But he was still the same guy deep down inside. Instead of taking risks on the slopes or in the sky, he played with money.

And no one beat him.

Ever.

He’d gotten so good at what he did that he liked it. Until he recalled the reason why he was the “New Wolf.” Even now, the grief of losing his brother sent guilt oozing through him.

He didn’t understand what had happened to him in that diner that he’d forgotten Joe, forgotten his guilt and laughed with someone he barely knew. But when they returned to New York, he’d be focused again, diligent. If he was going to lose even part of the Hinton money when the estate was settled and one or two of the heirs decided to hire new money management, he’d have to find big investors to replace it.

He would not let his parents down twice.

Leni’s mom only worked until two o’clock, but Leni’s shift didn’t end until three. Having evaded her questions about Nick Kourakis, taking Nick’s warnings seriously about the complications of people finding out she might be an heiress, Leni raced home and found her parents in the kitchen.

“Hey.”

Sitting at the center island, her dad looked up from his newspaper.

Her mom glanced over from the stove. “Hey. Finally going to tell us what the guy in the overcoat wanted?”

Leni forced a smile. Denise and Jake Long had adopted her when she was in the gangly stage for a little girl. No longer an adorable infant or cute toddler, with a bit of a history of being difficult at school, most potential parents overlooked her. The Longs had given her a home, made her their daughter. Now she didn’t merely know she had a biological mom out there somewhere who had given her up; she might have had a rich dad who hadn’t wanted her at all.

Once again, she thanked God for her adoptive parents.

She took a seat beside her dad. “First, what I’m about to say is a secret. So, you can’t tell anybody.”

Her mom said, “Okay,” as her dad nodded.

“The guy in the overcoat was Nick Kourakis. He owns a management firm in New York, and he told me that I might have inherited some money.”

Her dad’s weathered face brightened. A lifelong construction worker, he had wrinkles around his eyes that appeared when he smiled. “Well, that’s great!”

Her mother gasped and walked over from the stove to hug Leni. “I’m so happy for you.”

“Yeah, well, it’s not assured. I have to go to New York. There will also be a DNA test to confirm my identity. Honestly, I won’t quite believe all this is true until DNA says I’m an heir. So, our not mentioning this to anybody protects me from embarrassing myself if it doesn’t pan out.”

Part of her almost wished it wouldn’t. If her biological father had been a struggling factory worker, she could have understood him not being able to take responsibility for her, but a guy who was rich and not paying child support, forcing her mom to give her up when she got sick? When it was a decision between the medicine she needed and feeding her child?

It was demeaning, insulting, infuriating.

She’d have to deal with that if Mark Hinton really was her biological father. Those feelings would all go away if he wasn’t.

Her dad leaned back in his chair. “It’s always good not to get your hopes up, Kitten. But maybe this family’s due for some good luck?”

And that was the catch. Part of her would like to tell Nick Kourakis to take her biological dad’s money and shove it. She was educated now. She had a career path. She would be fine.

But her parents wouldn’t.

They’d never ask her for a dime, but she wouldn’t make them ask. If she’d inherited enough money to care for her dad, she wanted it.

“Okay.” She slid off her chair. “I’m going upstairs to do some investigating into everything. I’m not getting on a plane with a guy I don’t know.”

Her dad smiled. “That’s smart, my girl.”

The simple comment hit her right in the heart. She was his girl. His girl. Not the child of some sperm donor who’d never even checked to see if she was okay.

That was not a father.

Almost twenty-four hours from when Leni had met him, Nick Kourakis and a man she didn’t recognize pulled into the driveway of the Long residence in the big, black SUV. Nick had looked up her parents’ home phone number and called her the night before to say they’d be leaving at ten o’clock. He’d given her time to research him and his firm, to talk to her parents and to pack for a couple weeks in Manhattan, but that was it. They needed to get her safely to New York.

Her breath frosty in the cold, last-day-of-November air, she hugged and kissed her short, curly-haired mom and balding dad, saying goodbye at the front door of their house, her conflicted feelings about Mark Hinton dogging her.

Nick handed Danny Manelli’s business card to her parents, telling them that he was the lawyer in charge of the estate and if they had any questions, they could call him. Then he introduced her to Jace MacDonald, the guy in the black leather jacket who directed her to the back seat of the SUV. Nick got in beside her.

She frowned at the empty passenger’s seat in the front.

“Jace owns Around the World Security. He’ll be your bodyguard while you’re in New York.”

She gaped at Nick. “Bodyguard?”

Jace caught her gaze in the rearview mirror. “Trust me. If you’re worth billions, you’ll need one.”

She huffed out a breath. “Billions?”

Nick laughed. “Yes. Mark Hinton had billions. With an s. Plural. As in many billions.”

“I know. I researched him last night, too. It’s just so hard to believe.”

She shook her head and looked out the window. The guy had billions and he had left her mom so broke she’d had to put Leni into foster care.

The insult of it stiffened her spine.

Jace made a few turns and they headed north. Twenty minutes later, he pulled the SUV onto a private airstrip. When they drove up to a sleek red and silver jet, she gasped. “Holy cow.”

Nick laughed. “That plane is nothing. I’m just a simple billionaire.”

She knew that, too. She’d spent forty minutes the night before reading about how successful the investment arm of his family’s money management firm was. What she hadn’t expected was that they’d be riding in his plane. Not when her biological father was supposed to have so much money.

Something about that just seemed off.

She faced Nick again. “This plane is yours?”

“Yes.”

He glanced over, catching her gaze, and her breath shivered.

Damn it. Now was not the time to be feeling that stupid attraction she had to him. Not only did he seem to be in charge of her, but she was too confused about her potential biological dad to add an attraction into the mix. Plus, there was something wrong with Nick using his own plane to get her. This was not the man to be attracted to.

Jace exited the SUV and came around to her door to open it. She climbed out at the same time Nick did.

Nick led her to the small stack of stairs and into the jet. She had to hold back a gasp when she stepped inside. Three small groupings of white leather seats were arranged around the large cabin. The little windows had elegant gray shades. A silver and black bar sat discreetly in a back corner. A rich red carpet covered the floor.

She took a slow, measured breath. She could not be a country bumpkin about this. She had to stay sharp.

Pretending a calm she didn’t feel, she stopped by the first group of seats and slid out of her worn leather jacket.

Behind her, Nick said, “The flight’s about three hours. Then, because we use an airstrip outside the city, we’ll have about an hour-and-a-half limo ride.”

“Limo ride?” She swallowed, picturing her blue-collar self, in her ancient leather jacket and worn jeans, getting into a limo.

He took her coat and handed it to the flight attendant who scurried to the back of the jet with it.

“Don’t worry. You’ll acclimate. After a day or two in New York, you’ll realize a limo’s the easiest way to get around the city. Just like this jet is the most comfortable way to get from place to place.”

He motioned to the rear of the cabin. “The first room you walk into back there is a kitchen. If you want a snack you just ask Marie, but she’ll be serving lunch at noon. So, a snack might not be a good idea. Beyond that is an office-slash-den, complete with a pullout bed. Jace will probably go back there once we take off.” He winced. “He stayed up most of the night keeping an eye on your house. He’ll need the nap.”

“He stayed up all night?”

“That’s his job, remember?”

She did. She simply hadn’t connected him being a bodyguard to him sitting in his SUV all night watching her house.

“You’ll get used to it. For now, settle in. Get accustomed to the convenience that’s your new lifestyle.”

She couldn’t fathom riding in a limo let alone owning a jet. “If I’m an heir.”

“The lawyer for the estate all but said your DNA test is only a formality.” He pointed to the rear of the plane. “I have some work to do, so I’ll be back there if there’s anything you need.”

He turned to leave but she said, “Why are we in your jet instead of one of my dad’s?”

Nick faced her again. “What?”

“Why are we using your jet instead of one of Mark Hinton’s?”

“We’re not using one of Mark’s jets because we’re not using anything belonging to Hinton Holdings.”

“Why?”

He sighed. “We don’t want to alert anyone that we might have found an heir before we confirm you.”

“Because?”

This time he pulled in a long breath, obviously losing patience with her questions. “This estate is worth so much money that everyone in the world is curious about who you are. Danny devised a plan to find the heirs and keep you safe. Not using estate property is part of it. If we start using jets or houses and cars, people will know something is up and begin snooping. The longer we can keep the press and curiosity seekers at bay, the better.”

She held the gaze of his dark eyes for a second, then she shook her head. She didn’t think he was lying. But she did know he hadn’t told her everything. Until her DNA results were back, she probably didn’t have the right to push him. But she would watch him, pay attention to every word he said, because there was definitely something going on with him.

Nick breathed a sigh of relief as he headed to the seat in the back of the plane. He didn’t mind her questions. They were generic enough that he could answer them. It was her nearness that threw him for a loop. He was smarter than this, more in control. His whole body shouldn’t buzz just because they were standing close.

He reached the plush leather seat, but before he sat, he realized he’d forgotten his briefcase. He returned to the front and opened the overhead bin above the seat Leni had chosen.

She glanced up at him, her thick lashes blinking over her sultry green eyes, her long brown hair sort of floating around her.

“Forgot my briefcase,” he explained, trying not to stumble over his words. “I kept it on the plane, thinking we’d be leaving yesterday.”

She smiled in acknowledgment and his heart went from pitter-patter to a drum solo in one breath.

Stifling a groan, he headed to the rear of the cabin again, eager to return to New York to lose these crazy feelings he had around her. Part of it had to be surprise over how pretty she was. Mark Hinton wasn’t even a five on a scale of one to ten, but apparently Leni’s mother had been a twelve.

The other part was just plain attraction. Serious lust. Something biological that sprang up before he could control it.

So, it was wrong.

Had to be.

He didn’t get out-of-control feelings and he sure as hell never let emotions rule him.

A movement in the front caught his attention and he peeked up to see Leni get out of her seat to put her purse in the overhead bin. Her head fell back as she reached up, sending all that thick, shiny hair bouncing.

This time he allowed himself an internal groan.

This was crazy.

For the first time since Danny had laid down the rules for Nick’s trip to retrieve Leni, he was glad he’d been ordered to keep his distance from her. Because whatever he was feeling, he didn’t want it. He had priorities, a company to run, parents to keep happy. He couldn’t afford the weakness of a hellishly strong attraction.

He put his head down and went to work and didn’t look up until hours later when the jet began to descend. Choosing not to go up to the overhead bin again, he secured his briefcase under his seat, fastened his seat belt and waited for the jet to slide onto the ground, relieved that he only had a little over an hour more in her company. He would leave her with Danny and never look back.