The Billionaire's Blackmail Bride

Chapter Three

Nina was fast regretting her little attempt at blackmail as she was trying to calm things down but the reporter and photographer that she’d brought with her were being aggressive. She didn’t belong here, she was no con artist. The poor housekeeper was looking terrified as she tried to shut the door in their faces. Nina had no French vocabulary to reassure her, to explain that all they wanted was to see Daniel Beaumont. And she knew it would only be a matter of time before the guard at the gate found out they had snuck in. Even though they had been able to get through during the security guards’ shift change through the hole that she had found earlier and clamber through thorny bushes and trees, Nina didn’t doubt for a second that security here was top of the range. The photographer made a sprint for the door again and knocked Nina’s head, her face cap tumbled off and at that moment the door swung back and everyone stopped moving.

Daniel Beaumont stood there, magnificent and devastatingly handsome. His dark, blue eyes taking in the small, disheveled group. He spoke a few curt words and the housekeeper disappeared behind him. He stepped out of the door and closed it.

Nina couldn’t speak, her throat was dry and itchy. Just like last week, she felt overwhelmed, weak. Incapable. Did he remember who she was?

He looked calm, yet Nina could feel the barely controlled energy coming off him in hypnotic waves. He folded his arms with an indifference that said he’d sized them all up and found no threat. His gaze came to rest on her. And her heart stopped. She swallowed.

The reporter’s voice came from behind her.

‘Monsieur Beaumont, do you know this woman?

Dante knew the local paparazzi like the back of his hands. They were trash. He relaxed a bit, and the initial apprehension that had surged through him was gone. In its place now was anger that they were tainting his property, affecting his peace, and the reason they were here had to be this woman. He took another look at her, his gaze rested on her face and a tingling feeling caught the back of his neck. An image rushed into his mind.

Last week. At his offices in Manhattan. This woman had been there. He had thought of her being a fragile, little woman when she’d almost crashed into him that day. The impression he’d had last week was the same as now and the strength of his own thoughts shocked him; he hadn’t realized that he’d even taken that much notice. His eyes ran up and down her slight frame. There was not an ounce of femininity.

Her pulled back hair was like the rest of her, no colour, texture and shape.Yet, to his surprise, even as he had that thought, he noticed huge, brown eyes, beautifully framed with long lashes that looked at him like a startled doe. No threat.

‘Yes,’ he responded with a measure of surprise,

‘I believe I do.’

So he did recognize her.

Did he recall what she’d said? Well, this was her moment, her chance. She was going to take it.

Even if he threw them all out and they didn’t get pictures, the reporter would still have a story and Daniel would be forced to at least take some responsibility for her sister’s condition. He would be forced to think of Katie then. She thought of her sister. She thought of the way he’d dismissed her last week and his model lover at the steps of the hotel recently. Just as she was about to speak, the reporter scrambled forward roughly.

‘Your tiny friend here tells us that she has a juicy story about you.’

Daniel went rock solid inside. He could see the woman’s mouth open to speak, the spark of anger burned in her eyes and in a flash he also remembered the words she’d thrown at him last week. He had been in the middle of some business dealings at the time, which was how she’d caught him slightly off guard.

‘You’re the father of my sister’s baby and if you think you can leave her high and dry without taking responsibility then you're in for a rude awakening.’

He hadn’t acknowledged her or her words at the time because it was just a ridiculous accusation. He didn’t even have to think about it; he hadn’t been seeing anyone in Manhattan and knew exactly who his recent lovers had been and none of them would be remotely related to her. He was a billionaire; his choice of lovers have always been meticulous. He knew better than to get anyone pregnant so he was always very careful. If this woman thought she could trap him with a phantom pregnancy out of nowhere, she’s got another thing coming. She wasn’t the first woman to attempt it, but he had no time to try and figure out where she’d come from, if she was an employee…

He also realized very quickly that she evidently meant business as she’d followed him all the way to France.

Nina seized the opportunity she’d come so far for with both hands.

‘This man,’ she started, but her voice sounded husky with the remnants of her cold. She carried on.

‘This man is responsible for—’

Before she could utter another word, her lips were drowned in a cruel onslaught from his hard mouth. The world went dark and confusion took over. Shock made Nina stiff under the onslaught. Daniel Beaumont wrapped those strong arms around her, pulling her off her feet and into his chest. Her senses were so overloaded that she couldn’t breathe properly as her heart pumped blood faster and faster. At this rate, she just might have a cardiac arrest.

He smelled heavenly, of musk and heat. His taut, hard chest felt like home. And his mouth. Oh, that mouth, firm and exploratory, plundering her mouth like spoils of war. Suddenly she didn’t feel stiff any more; she was melting, unable to stop the heat that flooded every part of her. His tongue was a silky, heated colonization that he pushed past shocked opening lips that belonged to someone else, not to her. Because, right now, she wasn't in her own body any more; it was someone else. Someone who had gone temporarily insane.

Daniel lifted his head and it felt heavy. His eyes, cloudy with a lust that burned harder than any other time he could remember. The clear, calculated reasons for doing what he’d just done were gone now as he looked down into a dirty face, marred with blood where she’d been struck by thorns from the trees surrounding his property. Huge, liquid brown eyes stared up at him, lashes tangled and even more beautiful up close. Those luscious lips were plump and pink.

Shaking. Her entire body trembled in his arms; her hands were curled into his chest. Where had this sylph come from? Had he just gone mad?

There was a noise up ahead , and Daniel felt his sanity return to him. He lowered her back down abruptly , almost dropping her like she’d burned him. And she had. He had to acknowledge the fact that he was aroused, he had almost forgotten the woman was his enemy.

He had wanted to shut her up, yes, but had kissing her been the only option?

The reporter shouted out, ‘Monsieur Beaumont, you were spotted with Jeanette Dubois earlier. Is she your girlfriend?’

On a normal day, Daniel would have responded with a short ‘No comment’ but not today.

He was certain of one thing. He couldn’t let this woman go now because she was certainly mad.

Of course his guard would confiscate the camera and delete the images, but who knew whether they hadn’t obtained an image of the kiss another way. He had just kissed her in front of these men, they didn’t need a picture.

‘Wait.’ Daniel’s voice cracked out. The security man stopped.

Nina was taking all this in but she felt ghostly. His kiss—if it could be called that—had found its way into her blood, into her brain, and had hijacked her ability to speak or think. She could only watch helplessly as Daniel pulled her tight into his side.

He smiled, dangerously.

‘I’m afraid that you’ve been used as a pawn in a lovers’ tiff. It’s true I was out with Jeanette earlier. She, I’m afraid, was my attempt to make my woman jealous.’ He looked down at Nina and lifted her hand, brought it to her lips, and kissed it. To their audience, it must have felt like a declaration of love because the reporter’s mouth went round in shock.

The reporter shouted out,

‘Where is she from?’

‘Come now, some things are better kept away from the papers. Plus, we both know that if I want a relationship that lasts, I have to keep her out of the spotlight, don’t you think?

Daniel smiled caustically. The reporter had his story anyway and if Daniel called the police it would only cause more chaos.

‘I am sure I don’t need to say this but let me be clear. If I ever catch you or anyone else trespassing again, there’ll be hell to pay. You should thank my woman today. I am only letting you go because of our love. Daniel held Nina’s hand tighter, making her gasp painfully.

And with that the reporter and his accomplice were marched down the driveway. With all that had played out, Nina knew she was in so much trouble.