The Billionaire's Unwanted Virgin by Doris O'Connor Read Free Book Online Page B

open arms.   Alice looked so damn worried, however, that he couldn't stop himself. He
brushed a kiss across her lips, catching her shocked exhale in his mouth, and
she melted against him for one precious second, before he stepped back and out
through the door.
    Yes, Mrs. Wanderlund would need some
convincing to play along. And he would need her support for what he had in
mind.
    ****
    Alice's lips still tingled from the
unexpected kiss, and she had to suppress the urge to touch them.
    "I can't believe you brought
that man in here, Alice. I really can't." Her mother's terse words shook
her out of her kiss-induced daze. Heaven help her if he ever kissed her
properly. She would be putty in his hands. She pushed the disturbing thought
back into the box it had popped out of and concentrated on her mother
instead.   This is what she was here for,
not to moon over her fiancé. A silent thrill had gone through her, when he'd
called her that in front of that irritatingly chirpy and well-coiffed Barbie
doll lookalike, who had made Alice feel like the frumpy girl at the school
disco again.
    "Mum, what happened with
Beth?" The starch went out of her mother at the mention of little Beth,
and she sat back down on the bed with a heavy thump. She picked up the little
girl's teddy, and a tear rolled down her cheek.
    "I didn't know what to do. The
oxygen wasn't working, and she just got worse and worse. She called for you,
and she got more and more agitated when you didn't come."
    Alice pulled her mother in for hug,
and she was once again shocked at how frail she felt in her arms. Beth's
illness was taking its toll, and no matter what her mum thought of Lakota,
Alice knew deep down in her heart and soul that she was doing the right thing
by marrying him. He had surprised her tonight with his quiet, yet forceful,
efficiency. He hadn't needed to bring her here, to go through all this trouble.
She was his to do with as he pleased, and the cold man she'd encountered at
this mansion could have easily not cared about her family. The fact that he
did, the fact that he must have set the wheels in motion long before Beth's
crisis, gave her a suspiciously warm glow inside.
    He hadn't been at all surprised when
she'd mentioned that her niece was ill, but then what had she expected? A man
like Lakota would leave nothing to chance. No doubt he had a file on her a mile
long, and for whatever reason he had decided to help her family.
    "I had no choice but to call for
an ambulance, and if you hadn't been with that man, you'd have been there with
us. She needed you, Alice."
    The accusation stung, much more than
it ought to, and the unfairness of it all, of the whole situation in fact, made
Alice's reply much sharper than it normally would have been.
    "That man, as you call him, is
paying for all this, mother. I've always been there for you and Beth, dammit.
Do you think I'm doing this for fun? Do you think I want to marry a man who
doesn't fucking love me? Do you—"
    Her mum's hand over her mouth stopped
the flow of words.
    "Back up there one minute?
You're marrying him? And do not swear, young lady. There is no need for that,
no matter what the circumstances. I thought you'd sold yourself for one night.
How has that turned into a marriage? What are you not telling me?" Her mum
had stood up during that little speech, and the glare she gave her took Alice
right back to her childhood, when that look could stop her dead across a
crowded room.
    "It's complicated, Mum, and it
really doesn't matter right now. What matters is Beth, and that we can now
afford the treatment she needs."
    "Then un-complicate it, Alice,
right now, right here. Why does he want to marry you? What have you
done?"  
    Alice winced as her mother grabbed her
by the shoulders and shook her. Frail she might be, but right now, she wanted
answers, and Alice knew it was useless to even try to evade her. Before she
could say anything at all however, the door opened, and all the fight went out
of her