Bargain Bride, Billionaire Groom Read online

  Moments later Golden got to climb those amazing log stairs. They led to a loft bedroom that looked out over the living room below. A fire leaped and sparkled in a gas fireplace beyond the big, bun feet of a wrought iron log bed.

  “I had housekeeping prepare this space for you. You and Lily may stay here if you like, or even rest here if you are tired.”

  “Thank you, Jio. Your home is so…beautiful.” She looked at him and offered up a smile.

  “Golden, what can I do to get you to relax?” he asked with a touch of frustration in his voice. “To enjoy being here with me? You’re wound up like one of Lily’s toys.”

  “I-I…we’re enjoying being here with you. Very much,” she added dutifully, and shuttered her gaze. The anxious tightening of his jaw didn’t escape her. Feeling a little tense now, Jio? Want me to enjoy you, Jio? Good.

  He was an absolute perfect host. His lovely manners and his thoughtfulness? None of it was an act.

  She expected some annoying habit of his to show up now that he was in his own environment, but nope. There was no burping, no farting, and no scratching of his privates around her. No being glued to his smartphone—that had been Enzo’s one obsessive habit as he followed the stock markets—but now she wondered…Enzo might also have been staying connected with his children, and their mothers, too.

  One thing about Jio did rack her nerves without her even looking at him. His voice caressed her body in ways that didn’t bear thinking about. When he smiled at her? Help. The way her hair stood on end and her heart rattled in her chest warned her she was in a predator’s midst.

  As her body ripened with excitement, she realized that coming here held the promise of being an epic disaster if she didn’t guard her heart, because her body was a useless tool in defending her from Jio’s brutal sex appeal.

  At dinner, Jio cut pieces of steamed vegetables into small pieces for Lily. Patiently he listened to Lily jabber away in toddler-speak. When he refilled Golden’s wine glass, he flicked a glance at her from across the table and caught the look of unabashed hunger she wasn’t quick enough to hide.

  Just as she lowered her lashes, his lips curled into a darkly humored smile.

  After dinner, Jio drove them back to the lodge in his own sport utility. He parked the vehicle and walked them to their suite.

  “Would you like to stay and help with Lily’s bedtime routine?” she offered to him.

  “I would like that,” he said with a smile.

  When Lily was a baby he’d been afraid to hold her. Now that she was older, Jio had no such reservations. After Golden bathed and dressed Lily in her pajamas, Jio read her a bedtime story, freeing Golden up to brush her teeth and wash and moisturize her face. By the time she stepped out of the bathroom, Lily was passed out, snoring in Jio’s arms.

  “She snores just like you,” Jio remarked, reminding her of the night she’d spent in his arms.

  Golden gave him a light smack on his arm for his troubles and blushed as his laughter teased and tickled her ears.

  Tired from a long day of travel, she had to admit she was pleased to see him, despite the little matter she’d come here to hash out. The wonderful meal they’d shared in his company left her too content to bother wringing his neck.

  Together they tucked Lily into bed, and as Jio dropped a goodnight kiss on her daughter’s forehead, Golden felt a softening toward him seep into her bones.

  “Thank you again for a wonderful night, Jio,” she said, walking him to the door of her suite. “I really mean that, I do,” she told him earnestly this time, dropping all pretense of being indifferent to him, and to his professional achievements.

  “You’re welcome. Have a good night, Mrs. Falcone.” Jio mocked the distance she placed between them by taking her hand and shaking it with exaggerated politeness.

  “I’ll call you in the morning,” he drawled, and as he lowered his head to hers she felt her female juices piercing through her core.

  She backed away before her common sense could scatter to the four winds. The wall met her spine and she came to a dead stop. Jio kept coming closer. Her mind flew back to that moonlit night in Maui, how the honey-ale and lust that flavored his lips tasted as her hips rocked and romped beneath his hands.

  She raised her hands to his chest and whimpered, wanting that again. Wanting it now.

  Jio seized her wrists and slammed them against the wall above her head. His mouth charging down over hers had her groaning seconds before impact. Funny noises escaped her throat as her tongue rammed against his. His skilled one captured it and held it down while he savored it, licked at it and lingered over his night’s victory.

  He thrust his pelvis up between her thighs.

  “Ah!” The force of his desire bounced her toes clear up off the floor!

  As he pressed and stroked his hardened bulge against her damp center, his hips rotated lazily in between her legs, rubbing sensually at her aroused nub. Erotic sensations, the animal sounds they were making, the crisp, clean way he smelled…it all served to taunt her and remind her of what she’d be missing out on tonight.

  When he wrenched his mouth free of hers, she huffed out a sound of outrage. He chuckled and wrangled himself out from her clutches. Then he backed his way toward the door while his devilish gaze roamed down her shuddering body.

  “Tomorrow, beautiful Golden. Be ready for me, hmm?” Without waiting for an answer, he blew her an adorable kiss, flashed his billion-dollar smile at her and then slipped out the door.

  Golden slid down the wall and sank to the carpet on weakened knees. She bit her lip from crying out for him to come back as his long-legged stride took his raging sex away from her.

  Dear God. What kind of heartbreak did I just sign myself up for?

  ~~*~~

  Golden awakened to the brush of a tiny kiss being planted on her cheek—then turbulence rocked the bed. “Momma. Up!”

  She opened one eye and peeped at the time on the clock, next to her on the nightstand. While it wasn’t even eight o’clock, she had overslept. On the island, she was always up at five in the morning, often much earlier, but this morning a sense of well-being weighted her bones.

  A good thing she felt rested because what was left of her willpower might come in handy today. She yawned, and smiled. How hard she’d slept! She might have gone to bed frustrated, but ooh…in her dreams, Jio made sure she was more than satisfied.

  How deeply she’d dreamed of her husband. Of the pleasure he’d given her as he’d crammed himself against her body, and the pleasure she’d received touching him. Of being trapped in his arms, lusted after and wanted.

  Lily clutched at her ski suit and teetered dangerously off the edge of the bed. Golden reached for her. “Come, sweetheart. Let’s get you dressed and ready to go,” she said as the phone on the nightstand rang.

  “Good morning, Mrs. Falcone,” Jio greeted politely, as if he and his pelvis hadn’t ground her into a blob of shivering mush against the wall last night. “I’m on my way. Are you ladies ready?”

  “I uh-ahh…we just got up! I’m now helping Lily into her suit.”

  “I see. She should be ready by the time I get down there, then. So while you’re getting dressed, I’ll take her to daycare.”

  “Sounds great, Jio. And don’t forget—sign me up for the same beginner classes Lily will be taking.”

  He chuckled. “She’s taking toddler lessons. Is that what you want?”

  “Sure. Why not?” Golden said with a laugh, before hanging up. As long as Jio wasn’t her ski instructor. Thank God he’d be off doing his own crazy thing on the mogul field, or on the advanced slopes. Her feet were awkward and clumsy around him as it were.

  A series of knocks on the door followed shortly. By then Lily was dressed in her ski suit and all booted up. Her gloves were stuffed inside her pockets and a little backpack with a juice box and snacks tucked inside was strapped on to her back. Golden let Jio in.

  “You’re still not dressed, wife,” he observ
ed.

  Dressed in black ski pants and a matching ski jacket, he looked sharp and ready for a day on the slopes while a heavy cotton robe covered her from shoulder to toes. His lazy appraisal of her hair, her cheeks and then her naked lips left her feeling feminine, desirable and powerful. Yes, powerful.

  He might’ve slipped from her bed in the middle of the night in Maui, and strolled away from her last night, but his gaze roaming her face and body let her know he’d stay, and be back for seconds…and thirds. If she let him.

  “I overslept,” she confessed.

  He grinned and scooped Lily up. “Looks like our little one is all dressed. Are you ready, Lily?”

  She nodded and held her hand out for a kiss. He chuckled and kissed her pudgy starfish fingers. Then he swung around to address Golden.

  “There are facilities and lockers at the base of the slope. Our ski gear has been delivered there. Now listen carefully, darling—the lodge’s ski shuttle runs every fifteen minutes. It will take you to the base of the mountain. There are several restaurants there, but meet me at the Columbine Bistro. We’ll have breakfast before hitting the slopes. Be there in forty-five minutes, or I’ll come looking for you here…and we’ll both be alone by a bed when I do.”

  Not ready to court her downfall, Golden arrived at the bistro twenty-three minutes later. She entered the dining room and as she slipped out of her ski jacket, the aroma of frying bacon teased her hungry stomach.

  Looking around for any sign of Jio, she tugged her gloves off her hands.

  “Mrs. Falcone, your husband isn’t here yet.” A waitress, tipped off to her arrival, explained that she hadn’t seen Mr. Falcone yet. “By all means, please sit, ma’am.” She pointed to a table in its own seating area, next to a fireplace.

  As she and the waitress made their way to the table, two men seated nearby openly stared at Golden. She couldn’t help but notice. One of them looked familiar, but she couldn’t place an event where she might have met him.

  They both stood up from their seats as she and the waitress walked by. One of them looked very distinguished and stood at least six feet tall. While his companion was shorter in height, his beefy build beneath his ski suit and his black shades gave him an intimidating air.

  “Excuse me, miss?” said the shorter man. Golden and the waitress looked at each other, and paused. “Miss, Prince Sebastiano of the Sovereign Principality of Costa Zaffiro wishes to say hello to you, please?”

  Her gaze shifted to the lean-built male standing next to him.

  “Golden Falcone?” The prince possessed deeply-lidded, emerald green eyes. A hawkish nose balanced the bold cut of his face, but it was his penetrating gaze that convinced her he recognized her, too.

  He smiled, and his white teeth contrasted handsomely with the glowing tan that pigmented his skin. “We met at Enzo’s memorial service.”

  Golden’s eyes widened. “You do look familiar to me, but please forgive me. I couldn’t remember so many names and faces from back then.”

  “Understandable. Please, will you join me for some coffee?” He directed an elegant hand at the seat across from him, and seemed hardly offended that she couldn’t recall meeting him—a prince.

  “I’d like that. At least till Jio arrives.” Maybe he’d invite Jio to sit and have coffee, too. She slid into the seat that the prince pulled out for her.

  He asked the waitress to bring another cup of coffee. “It is that exotic Kona coffee from Hawaii, where you are from, yes?”

  Impressed he remembered a detail like that when she barely remembered him, she said, “Yes, but Kona coffee comes from the Kona region on the Big Island of Hawaii. I live on the island of Maui, but my plantation grows our own gourmet coffee, too.”

  He cocked a brow, interested. “I must visit sometime. You and your baby have fared well, then?”

  “Oh, yes. Thank you for asking. She is here. Jio has taken her to daycare for some toddler ski lessons.”

  “Ah.” He smiled. “You and Jio still have your arrangement.”

  The smile on Golden’s face faltered.

  “I’ve spoken bluntly,” the prince murmured.

  “You’ve not said anything that isn’t true,” she confessed.

  He shrugged. “Such arrangements happen. I was in the lounge and saw Jiovanni walk with you and your little daughter into the lodge last night, and leave, alone. He owns a little chalet called Witchwood.”

  “Yes, he does.” She smiled and sipped her coffee. What was it with these gajillionaires and their little chalets and places up the lane?

  “If I were Jiovanni, you would have been there at eleven o’clock at night. In bed. Safe and sound there, instead of here.”

  Golden found his brazen words flattering. The way he eyed her up let her know she possessed power to attract other men—a prince, even—outside her little Maui. “We had dinner there last night.”

  “And this morning you are taking on the slopes?”

  “Jio is signing me up for lessons, yes.”

  His gaze gleamed. “I can give you lessons.”

  “Not today,” interjected a cool voice.

  Golden looked up at Jio and beamed. “Good morning! You’re early.”

  “Just in time, I think.” Jio glowered at the prince, who raised his coffee mug to his lips and ignored him. “Sebastiano, you and Sylvana are settled comfortably in your suites?”

  The prince’s amazing eyes veiled. “Sylvana is not with me.”

  “Hmm. Shall we?” Jio held his hand out to Golden, impatient to move on to their table, and the grim set of his lips let her know he damned well was in no mood for coffee with the prince!

  As she stood, so did Prince Sebastiano. “It was nice to meet you, again,” she said.

  “Have a lovely day.” The prince took her hand and kissed it. “I look forward to the day I see you again.”

  ~~*~~

  “He looks forward to the day he sees you again does he, Mrs. Falcone? Well, he can just go to hell!” Jio heard the laugh she tried to smother and scowled at her.

  “Jio, please. I think after last night we can get beyond the Mrs. Falcone business. You made your point.”

  “I did, yes?” he said smugly. “If you do not trust me, then do me a favor and trust the prince even less.”

  “Just so you know? He knows we’re not really married married.”

  He scratched his jaw. “Half of Europe knows that.”

  “Well, isn’t that nice? And all this time I thought we were being so clever. I don’t have plans for future contact with him,” she assured him. “But I’m impressed—you and Enzo knew such distinguished people.”

  He studied the menu. “Many aristocrats of obscure nobility such as Prince Sebastiano are businessmen with titles, and they do business with Falcone International.” He peered around his menu to tip a brow at her. “Does he interest you?”

  “He’s a prince. Of course he’s interesting.” She stared at her menu, thoughtful. Jio was jealous. As well he should be! “Is Lily settled in?”

  “Yes. She’s ecstatic. You did a good thing, socializing her with other children early on. She made friends right away and will very much enjoy the day’s activities. What would you like to eat?”

  “Whatever you recommend.”

  He ordered two Denver omelettes. After the waitress poured their coffee, he re-visited the subject of the prince being at the lodge. “He doesn’t hold back when he is attracted to a woman, Golden. Please steer clear of him.”

  She sighed. “Jio, be real. I’ve had a baby out of wedlock, been married once already to a man not the father of my baby. I’m ruined for any prince, forgotten or otherwise.”

  “The prince has no problem with single mothers.”

  “Well, then it feels good to know that I’ve got some options,” she teased him.

  His brows knocked together in a scowl. “Options? What about you and Marcus?”

  “And now a prince.” She beamed. “How about that?”

&nbs
p; His gaze grilled her, and she liked it. She liked that he could stew over another man showing interest in her. What are you going to do about it, Jio?

  When breakfast arrived, he engaged her in conversation about Lani Kai’s crops, and all the new restaurants Lani Kai now supplied produce to. He listened to every word and answered every business scenario she presented with thoughts and advice of his own.

  Time passed in an enjoyable haze with the two of them engrossed in conversation with each other.

  The prince was forgotten.

  After their fourth cup of coffee, Jio glanced at his watch. “Let’s go. It’s time for your lessons.”

  Inside a large, heated building located near the base of the slopes, Jio collected their skis and helped her get properly fitted into her ski boots. Then she followed him as he clomped through the snow over to the hills and knolls that were being used by younger, or less-experienced skiers.

  They hiked a short distance to a closed-off area where pine trees and evergreen shrubs kept them from being disturbed by the more experienced crowds.

  When she approached a group of adults also taking lessons, Jio asked, “Where do you think you’re going?”

  “Am I not taking lessons with them, too?”

  He shook his head and stepped into his ski bindings. “Not with them. You have private lessons.” Jio pointed to her skis, laid out in front of him on the snow. “With me. Come on over here, darling. We’re wasting time.”

  She trudged over to him. He took her by the hand and hunkered down alongside her. Then he held her hand against his shoulder to steady her. Pointing to one of her skis, he said, “Stroke the bottom of your left boot across the tops of the bindings.”

  She did as he instructed and found herself distracted by the warmth of his gloved hand over hers, resting on the shelf of his shoulder.

  “This knocks off any snow from your boot so that your boot sets inside the bindings properly.” He squeezed her hand reassuringly, then he took her other hand and had her do the same with her other boot. “Doing good so far?”

  “Mm-hmm.” His dark blond hair curled out from the bottom of his ski cap, and the angle he leaned his head in, close to her thighs, launched goose-bumps up and down her legs.