Maureen Child - The Jarrods - Temptation - Claiming Her Billion-Dollar Birthright / Falling For His Proper Mistress / Expecting the Rancher's Heir

“Why? I mean, what drove you to want this?” She asked the question quietly, not wanting to disturb the intimacy of the moment. Despite the fact that they were surrounded on all sides by happy, chattering guests, it felt as though they were alone, just the two of them.

He smiled to himself and tucked his hands into his jeans pockets. “I told you I grew up here. Well, in Aspen.”

She nodded but didn’t say anything, encouraging him silently to continue.

“My first job was as a busboy in the main restaurant in the Manor.” He glanced back over his shoulder at the palatial mansion, its rose brick walls nearly radiant in the bold, summer sunshine. “I loved it. Well, not working in the restaurant, but being here. Being a part of it all.” He paused, as though he were gathering up stray thoughts and straightening them out. “My dad died when I was three. My mom worked constantly, but it was hard, you know?”

Erica nodded, caught up in the soft cadence of his words, the faraway look in his eyes.

“Anyway …” He took a long breath and released it again. “I knew what I wanted. I wanted to belong at a place like this. So I worked my ass off in school, got a scholarship and eventually, with Don’s help, went to law school.”

“Why did he help?” she asked, curious now about the father she would never know.

“To tell you the truth, I don’t really know,” he admitted with a half smile. “There was never any telling what Don would do or why. I like to think he saw something in me he thought would work well here. That he knew I’d do the job for him.”

“Sounds like that’s exactly what he thought,” she told him.

Christian sent her a glance. “Maybe. I’ll never know for sure. I do know that he helped shape me into the kind of lawyer I am. And I helped him reshape this place into the growth it’s enjoying now.”

“Then you did what you set out to do,” Erica said. “Made a place for yourself. Ensured that you belong here.”

“Yeah, I did. And I owed Don a lot—which,” he added wryly, “he never let me forget.”

“What’s that mean?” It didn’t sound good and by the look on his face, Christian wasn’t happy about whatever he was going to tell her.

“It means, that in my contract with the resort, Don laid it out just the way he wanted it. Hell, he even made sure the codicil was in his will, just in case I needed reminding.”

“What?” A curl of apprehension settled in the pit of her stomach. Erica had the distinct feeling she wasn’t going to like what he was about to say.

Christian locked his gaze with hers. “For me to keep my invested shares in Jarrod Ridge, I’m to remain loyal to the business.”

“That doesn’t sound so bad.”

“Then there’s the added warning to stay away from his daughters.”

“What?” Erica shook her head as if she hadn’t heard him right. “Say that again.”

Christian huffed out a breath. “He didn’t put it in those words, exactly, but the meaning’s clear enough. I might be a big-time, rich lawyer now, but Don still saw me as the poor kid looking for a chance. And he didn’t want that kid anywhere near his daughters. Either of them. Bottom line, Erica? You’re off-limits.”

“But that’s ridiculous,” Erica argued, astounded at this turn of events.

He shrugged. “That’s Don.”

“It’s medieval.” She took a step away from him, turned around and came right back. Looking up into his chocolate eyes, Erica felt that bone-deep hum she always did when she was around him. She knew he felt it, too. She could see desire in his eyes, feel heat rippling off him in thick waves. Erica looked up at him. “Why are you telling me this?”

“You know why,” he said and his eyes darkened even as his mouth tightened into a hard line. “Because there’s something between us.”

“So you want to stop it.”

“Didn’t say I wanted to,” he corrected with a shake of his head. “But this is my life. One I worked damn hard for.”

“That’s right,” she countered. “Your life. And mine. Don Jarrod has nothing to do with this.”

He snorted a laugh. “The fact that you can say that and mean it just goes to prove you didn’t know him.”

“No, I didn’t. But even if I had, I wouldn’t let him make my decisions for me,” she snapped. Anger shot through her and she let her words ride the wave of it. “I didn’t let Walter decide whether I’d move here or not. I won’t let Don decide who I become involved with or not.”

“You think I like this?” he asked, reaching out to grab hold of her shoulders. “Do you think I like dancing to Don’s tune? I don’t. It goes against everything that’s in me.”

“Then why?”

“My mom worked hard her whole life,” he said tightly. “Thanks to my work here, my shares of Jarrod Ridge, she’ll never have to work again. I bought her a condo in Orlando. She has friends. She plays golf. She gets her hair done in a fancy salon and she buys her clothes at the best boutiques in town. She takes cruises with her friends and she has fun for the first time in her life.”

Her heart twisted in her chest as everything nebulous that she’d felt for him over the last several days solidified into something bigger. More important. Staring up into his eyes, she saw the kind of man she used to hope she’d meet. The kind who saw loyalty as a virtue. The kind who took care of his family no matter the cost to himself. The kind who put his own needs last behind everyone else in his life who mattered.

“No matter what I feel for you, or might feel for you,” Christian said, “I won’t take that away from her.”

“I wouldn’t ask you to.”

“So you understand that this can’t go anywhere.”

“No,” she said, “I don’t. But I understand why you believe that.”

He hissed in a breath, grabbed her hand and said, “Come with me.”

She refused to move when he would have tugged her along. “Where?”

“We need to talk this out and … I want to show you something.” His gaze searched hers for a long moment until he said, “Please.”

Erica nodded and went with him, her fingers curled tightly around his. He led her off the concrete path and down a short slope that ran behind a short row of shops. In the distance, the forest loomed, green and filled with shadows, and he was walking right for it.

“Where are we going?” She held on to his hand and quietly enjoyed the rush of heat that linked them together.

“Thought I’d show you something here that Don Jarrod had nothing to do with building.”

“You’re kidding, right?” she asked as she ran to keep up with him. “I thought this was completely his.”

“Most of it,” he said, glancing back over his shoulder. “But this part was here first.”

He led her through the trees, his steps sure as he continued on, deeper into the cool gloom. The farther they got from the resort, the quieter it became. Erica heard birds high overhead and from a distance, there was a muted roar of sound that got louder and louder as they approached.

Erica looked back over her shoulder and couldn’t see the resort at all. The trees were so thick it was as if a dark green wall had been erected between them and the grounds of Jarrod Ridge.

When Christian at last came to a stop and released her hand, she was simply staggered by the beauty around her. A river rushed past them, growling and roaring over stones in its path. Lined on either side by thick stands of trees, and a narrow ribbon of rock and sand, the water was frothy and beautiful and completely untouched. It was an oasis of privacy in a sea of people and Erica loved it.

She walked closer to the water’s edge, her sandals sinking and sliding on the sand. She felt the spray on her face as a soft wind kicked up, rattling the leaves of the trees until they sounded like whispered conversations.