Billionaire's Accidental Wife

Chapter 4

Dave sighed. Looking at Chelsea seemed like just a dream, and damn, she was even lovelier than he recalled. No longer the model sweetheart girl who'd been his sister's best friend. No longer the little pretty girl next door who used to delight in racing through the male population of massive billboards, but a matured woman with a refined beauty that stirred everything male in him.

Not to mention his friend down there. What happened to them anyway? A year ago, after his sister's wedding, he vanished into nothingness to avoid anyone tying Chelsea into his life just because he didn't want to repeat what happened. He knew Alfonso wasn't kidding when he told him that the woman he loved was under the bastard's watch and anytime they could kidnap and hurt Chelsea in any way, he avoided her like the plague.

Memories of a night two years ago came to life in his mind in vivid, erotic detail. Her warm, naked skin against his. Her sweet, breathless cries as he tasted every virgin inch of her beautiful body. Her trusting, open-hearted gaze as he made love to her for the first-and only

-time.

How she must have hated him afterwards. Yes, he knew Chelsea wasn't the commitment type of gal and she detested being in a relationship, but he hoped for something else, but fate intervened.

He'd despised himself enough for both of them. If he'd been in the least to blame for pushing Chelsea toward another man-especially one like Hermano-he would never forgive himself. And if he wanted to pretend he had forgotten her even for a moment during the past year, seeing her beside him now was as if all that time had simply evaporated.

He didn't know what he was going to do with her now. She sure as fuck hadn't been part of the equation when he'd set out on tonight's mission, but seeing her again had changed everything. Once he had spotted her inside the mansion, nothing would have kept him from making sure she was safe.

Not even Chelsea herself could have stopped him. So much for a simple operation going according to plan. Dave forced his gaze away from her and put both hands back on the wheel. His eyes trained on the road, he buried the Ferrari's accelerator and headed for the highway that would take them back to the nearest airport, back to London.

*****

Chelsea couldn't wake from the sleep that cocooned her. Nor did she want to. Warm fingers stroked the side of her face as she slept, soothing her with a touch that was both sheltering and enticing. So strong. So infinitely gentle. Dave's touch.

Wait, what?

Her senses knew it, even if her mind struggled to comprehend it. His caress felt like a dream, but it was real. As real as he was, seated close enough to her that his scent filled her lungs with each waking breath she drew. No, this was no dream. This was something deeper than sleep.

Her head felt heavy as if her mind were cushioned in cotton. Then she remembered. The shock

of seeing Dave inside his father's mansion. Her dread at learning what he had come there to do. She remembered him insisting that she leave with him, go somewhere safe. When she refused, he reached up to touch her brow... He'd drugged her to sleep! How dare he!

Outrage speared through her. The sudden jolt of adrenaline and fury helped shake off the loose threads of the fading trance. She opened her eyes and found Dave glancing at her. His handsome face and solemn hazel eyes held her gaze in the dim light of the vehicle's dashboard.

Beneath her, the low purr of an engine vibrated. "Are you okay?" he asked, drawing his hand away from her face now. She instantly missed the warmth, despite the alarm that was flooding her veins.. "What are you doing?" She dragged herself out of her slump in the soft leather seat. On the other side of the passenger window, the nighttime landscape was a blur. Jesus, Dave was driving like a bat out of hell. She swung an anxious look behind them. "Where's Hermano?"

"Don't worry about him. He was mine to deal with. And I did."

Fresh horror swamped her. "You killed him?"

Dave looked at her, his expression was grim. "I hope so, but there wasn't time to verify that."

Oh, God. "Where are we going?"

A frown creased his brow. "I'm taking you to London, Chelsea. You'll be safest at my command centre there. My comrades and I will make sure of that."

The what? As shocked as she was to realise the golden, charming young man she had known all those years ago now made his living dealing in violence, she also knew that no one-not even the Order-could protect her from the worst of Hermano's threats.

For all she knew, it was already too late. "Let me out of here, Dave. Let me out right now." "What do you mean, let you out?" He gaped at her as if she had lost her mind. "Sweetheart, we're going a hundred and twenty miles an hour." "I have to go back. Please, Dave!"

Overcome with worry, she fumbled with her seatbelt, unfastening it and tearing it away from her body. She had to get out of the car and go back to beg Hermano's forgiveness.

If he was still alive.

Dear God, don't let him be dead.

Don't let her family be killed because she failed to protect them. A sob racked her throat." Goddammit, I said stop this fucking car!" He slowed the growling sports car and eased off the empty highway to the shoulder. As soon as the vehicle stopped, she leapt out. She paused only long enough to toss her high heels into the grass, then started running the opposite way on the rough gravel that edged the pavement. Dave's curse exploded behind her. "What the hell are you doing?"

He caught up to her instantly. He blocked her path, his big male body filling her vision and all

of her senses. When she tried to dodge him, his hands came down firmly on her shoulders, holding her still.

"Talk to me, Chelsea. Tell me what this is about."

"My family... my step-sister and her son." She couldn't contain the shiver that rocked her when she thought about what they might be enduring because of her, possibly at this very moment. "Hermano promised me that if anything ever happened to him, he'd have them killed."

"Stepsister?" "Yes, from my mom's side. It was a secret, I didn't tell anyone about them." Dave's scowl deepened. "Your father might have something to say about that." She gazed up at him, shaking her head in misery. "My father's dead. I guess you didn't know. How would you, right? You left and never looked back" He flinched as if her words stung as much as a slap. Yet when he spoke, there was only quiet, patient concern in his deep voice. "I heard about your father, um-Thailand. What happened?" "They were his associates from his treasure hunting business," she said, still wounded by her father's fall from grace-and the betrayal that followed. "Three years ago, my father made the mistake of turning over his business to Hermano, his closest friend and ally. Hermano was... well... wealthy, and belonged to a very rich family in Russia. Things didn't go very well. My father was careless with the accounting of his own business. Worse than careless. None of us realised how deeply in debt the business was-or why-until his secretary confided in me about his father's gambling and debt. He was worried for him. But it was already too late. My father got mixed up with bad people, the worst of them being Hermano." Dave let out a sharp curse. "The idiot. Your father owed him money?"

"A lot of money. More than any of us could pay. By the time we learned what he'd done, Hermano was out of patience. He tortured my father's secretary, nearly killed him." Chelsea took a fortifying breath. "My father was scared and desperate, in fear for his life. He couldn't have been thinking clearly... At least, that's what I've had to tell myself to forgive him for what he did to me. That's why he was back into his treasure hunting," She watched Dave's eyes darken with grave understanding. "Your father is the reason you're with Hermano?"

She gave a nod. "Yes, a month before he died in Thailand. Hermano showed up at our mansion one night with a dozen armed men. He wasn't there to negotiate. The men shot our staff in front of all of us. Father was going to be next. He made all sorts of commitments, offered to give Hermano the mansions, his business-everything he could think of."

"No," Dave said, his voice dropping to a hoarse growl. "He didn't, Jesus."

Chelsea gulped. "Dad told him about me, um-being a stepdaughter and being a model and famous. He told Hermano to imagine how much richer he could be if he had me to use against his enemy. My father promised that I was worth ten times as much as the debt he owed. In the end, I'm sure he was right. Hermano took me away that night, after giving his men the order to kill my father's men, leaving him alone with nothing."

ve's eyes were no longer dark but crackled with amber shards that glowed with his wrath The tips of his teeth glinted dazzling white behind his lips as he spoke. "That cowardly son of a bitch. If your father was alive right now, I'd fucking kill him personally." He reached up to touch her face, and she could feel the intensity of his rage beneath his soft fingers. "It doesn't matter anymore. I did what I had to to survive. Christie and my little nephew are what matter most to me. They're the reason I stayed with Hermano. He held their lives ransom to make sure I never crossed him or tried to get away." "Well, he can't hurt anyone now," Dave said. "As of tonight, Hermano's either dead or damned close to it."

"No. You don't understand." She stepped back, shaking her head. She wished she could stand there all night under the warmth of his caress, but her dread was only intensifying by the moment. "You don't realise what you've done, Dave. He gave instructions to his entire criminal network to hunt down Chisty and little Peter if anything ever happened to him. If he's dead, so are they. Or they will be soon." Dave studied her for a moment before hissing a tight curse. "um-are they still at your place?"

She nodded. "Here in Paris, in my apartment."

"Fuck That's an hour in the opposite direction," he said, his face bleak but determined. "The Ferrari should get us there in under thirty minutes if we push it."

"Does that imply you'll assist me?" "Until my last breath, Chelsea," he said, cupping her face in his powerful palm, his eyes burning with purpose and something more. Something that reawakened a dormant hope in her chest and made her veins thrill. She knew he was feeling the same way. It was seen in his sparkling eyes and the lengthening points of his pupils. He may have abandoned her without explanation a year ago, but the attraction and need that had existed between them remained, blazing within both of them. "Come on," he finally murmured after a long pause, his voice raspy. "We'd better get going."

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