Illegitimate Tycoon by Janette Kenny Read Free Book Online

wasn’t acting now. This was genuine affection.
                 “Katie
and I were sorry you couldn’t make the wedding,” Nathaniel said, moving to his
wife now and slipping an arm around her shoulders.
                 “As
was I,” she replied, her apologetic smile flicking from him to Rafael.
                 The
accusatory glint in her husband’s intense eyes scorched through her. He didn’t
add that she would have known who Katie was if she had accompanied him to his
brother’s wedding. He didn’t have to, for his eyes said it all.
                 The
yacht took a sudden dip and her stomach heaved along with it. Terrified she’d
become ill in front of the world, she muttered an apology and fled toward the
lower deck and the toilets.
                 She
kept the contents of her queasy stomach, only to find that Rafael had stayed on
her heels and was waiting for her to exit.
                 “Are
you ill?” he asked.
                 She
shook her head, for how did one explain one was sick at heart?
                 “Absolutely
not,” she said. “I drank too much champagne on an empty stomach. The movement
of the boat made me woozy. Being on the water always does that.”
                 His
brow narrowed, as if considering her words. “That is a convenient answer.”
                 “It’s
the truth. I find these parties cloying,” she said. “Maybe I’ve just been on
too hectic of a schedule of late to appreciate the party crowd, but right now I’d
kill for some quiet time where I could just relax.”
                 He
gave a curt nod. “Then let’s leave.”
                 She
pressed a hand against the muscled wall of his chest and shivered at the heat
and power beneath her palm. “Stay and enjoy your party.”
                 He
closed his hand over hers, but his dark gaze gave nothing away of what he felt.
“I wouldn’t dream of it. If we part company on the first night, the paparazzi
will have a field day with speculation.”
                 All
for show.
                 Nobody
understood the need for publicity stunts more than she. She’d lend Rafael her
support, and he’d do the same for her at the premier of Bare Souls . She never doubted he’d be there for her.
                 But
would he once he’d learned what she’d kept from him?
                 “Besides,”
he continued, “I’ve thought of nothing except getting you alone.”
                 “Very
well,” she said. “Get me out of here.”
                 Rafael
kept his thoughts secreted on the short boat ride from the yacht to the dock.
He’d said nothing when the boat had picked up speed and Leila had taken his
hand in a death grip.
                 The
tremors rocketing through her told him everything he needed to know then. She
wasn’t fine by any stretch of the imagination. She was putting on a brave
front, and if there was one thing he understood, it was how to stand tall in
the face of adversity.
                 His
troubled childhood had taught him that bitter lesson!
                 That’s
when he’d buried his own pain of being William Wolfe’s unwanted bastard into
learning the intricacies of computers, discovering what made them work, and
what to do to make them work better.
                 He
suspected Leila did the same with her modeling. That was her escape, or perhaps
her triumph and celebration, over her bout with anorexia.
                 His
gaze lifted to La Croisette and the cluster of fans, paparazzi and celebrities
moving about. The tents crowding the beach were the same, though the lights
were more subdued. More intimate.
                 At
one time they’d have enjoyed the nightlife. Now he selfishly wanted Leila to
himself. The question remained if she was still