Riley’s Billionaire by Sunny Cole Read Free Book Online Page A

you alright?’
    Amelia shook her head. She dabbed her eyes with her napkin. ‘I fear dinner is over for me. Patrick, would you see me back to the house?’
    ‘Of course.’
    Amelia faced Jack, her eyes troubled. ‘You and your wife stay, please. I shall be alright. This coughing fit has given me a headache, that’s all.’
    Jack nodded, ‘Of course.’ The look in Amelia’s eyes told him something was wrong, and whatever it was related to what Patrick had just said. Did the man really know Riley? Could his words have been calculated rather than off-hand? With Fitzgerald, it was hard to tell.
    He had been so concerned for Amelia, Jack hadn’t so much as glanced at Riley until now. She sat quietly, breathing in quick, short gasps, her lower lip trembling, her eyes wide.
    Jack touched her arm. ‘Riley?’
    He’d been so angry with Patrick, he hadn’t bothered to consider maybe Riley had been offended.
    ‘How...?’ She didn’t seem able to finish her thought.
    Jack bristled. If Patrick had seen Riley’s body enough to know she held scars or tattoos or whatever, in places only a bikini or nakedness would reveal, then the two of them had been intimate, and the thought nearly pushed Jack over the brink of sanity.
    He held his anger in check as a wave of realisation hit him. Amelia had choked because she knew it was possible. Patrick had more than likely played with Amelia’s grandchildren twenty years ago — they’d have all been close to the same age, with Patrick being a little older. As for Riley, what must she be thinking? Wondering? Of course, she hadn’t been with Patrick as an adult. Jack would’ve detected it. Riley wasn’t that good at hiding her emotions. Those eyes were the window to her soul.
    ‘I’ve never showed — I haven’t told — I mean, how could he have known?’ She looked at Jack, frightened, beseeching him for an answer.
    Jack stood, lifted her from her chair, and held her tightly. ‘Riley, it’s probably just a coincidence. Many people probably have scars on their abdomen, but you’ve nothing to worry about.’ He kissed the top of her head, feeling her tremble.
    He had questions of his own, but they’d have to keep until he and Riley were upstairs in their suite. This wasn’t the place or the time for intimate conversation.
    ‘What do you say we have dessert delivered to our room?’ he asked. ‘It’s our restaurant after all, just across the lawn from us, and we’re talking a matter of a few minutes to have someone bring us our food.’
    She said nothing, but Jack felt her nod,
    Perhaps it wasn’t meant to be that he and Amelia keep secrets from her. But at what cost? If Patrick was close to discerning the truth, how quickly would someone else who had known Riley as a child? And what if that person still meant her harm?

Chapter Five
    Riley was tired. She kicked off her shoes and placed them in the closet Jack showed her was hers. So many rows of empty shelves and rows of hangers without clothes. She’d never fill them. Sure, Jack had sent most of the purchases they’d made in Sydney ahead, so the closet wasn’t barren, but there was no way she’d ever have enough things to make this closet as orderly and packed as Jack’s.
    Patrick’s words troubled her. She was positive she’d never met the man, so how could he know a detail about her she’d never told anyone? In fact, except for the medical staff at the orphanage and the doctor she’d used in Sydney, nobody knew about that scar, and she hadn’t been able to tell her own physician how she’d got it.
    Lucky guess? But how many women had not only a scar, but a jagged one on their stomach?
    Jack was particularly attentive after dinner. He’d insisted she change into a dressing gown, a lovely peignoir. She figured he must’ve purchased it when she wasn’t watching.
    ‘I thought it a fitting gift for my wife.’ He nodded his pleasure at the baby blue fabric. ‘Come, sit on the balcony. Our tiramisu and coffee