Brides for the Billionaires: The Billionaire's Marriage Bargain / The Billionaire's Marriage Mission / Bedded at the Billionaire's Convenience

‘Perhaps we should try to disconcert him and go over and say hello,’ she suggested softly, aware that the majority of the guests were now watching them. They were all aware of Dominick’s takeover of Carlton Cosmetics—it had been a nine-day wonder in the newspapers a month ago—and they were obviously curious to see what would happen next, the media in particular.

But as there had still been no announcement of the impending divorce between Kenzie and Dominick—he still hadn’t signed and returned the papers—none of the press seemed to be aware of any estrangement between the two of them, thank goodness!

Jerome gave her a glowering glance. ‘You go over and say hello—I’m going to get myself another drink!’ he muttered disgustedly before disappearing into the crowd.

Kenzie closed her eyes briefly. Six and a half more months of her contract, that was all she had to get through—

‘You’re looking very beautiful this evening, Kenzie,’ Dominick whispered huskily as he appeared at her side.

He watched as Kenzie turned to look at him with startled green eyes, her cheeks seeming to pale slightly beneath expertly applied make-up.

Make-up that Dominick knew only too well Kenzie didn’t really need, her natural beauty such that it required no enhancement.

She looked amazing in her clinging red dress, her breasts pert, waist slender—perhaps a little more so than he remembered—and her hips were curvaceously sensual. She seemed to stand out in this roomful of ‘beautiful people’ with the brightness of a shimmering flame, so much so that Dominick had had no trouble in immediately locating her when he had arrived, even as he’d smiled for the cameras that had clicked so annoyingly in his face.

‘Champagne?’ He offered her one of the two glasses he had carried over with him.

She raised her dark eyebrows at him. ‘Shouldn’t you be offering that to Caroline?’

He shrugged. ‘I believe she has gone over to have a chat with her elder brother.’

Kenzie glanced across the room to where Jerome and Caroline looked to be in the middle of a heated, if muted, conversation. ‘Not a pleasant one, by the look of it,’ she dismissed coolly, totally ignoring the champagne he offered her. ‘Doesn’t it bother you that you’ve caused a total rift in the Carlton family?’

Knowing how important Kenzie’s family was to her—important enough for her to have made the bargain with him in the first place!—Dominick could see that being a problem for her, possibly more of one than his usurping Jerome’s control over Carlton Cosmetics had been.

‘But of course it doesn’t bother you,’ Kenzie answered her own question dismissively. ‘I’m sure it only serves to confirm for you once again the fragility of family relationships!’

Dominick’s mouth tightened at the barb. The last five weeks of deliberately staying away from Kenzie hadn’t been easy for him, his emotions fluctuating between wanting to see her again and knowing that he was the last person she wanted to see. Something she had made very plain the last time they had been together.

The problem—and it was a problem that had grown greater with each passing day—was that he wanted to see Kenzie.

That last time they were together, making love beside the pool at Bedforth Manor, had been earth-shattering for him, and was a memory he hadn’t been able to get out of his head.

Kenzie had told him their marriage was over, that she wanted a divorce, and yet could she have made love to him in the way she had if she felt nothing for him?

More to the point, could he have made love to her in the way he had if he didn’t have feelings for her …?

He had always been a man completely in control of his emotions, and yet that day beside the pool he had completely lost that control—and had felt truly alive for the first time in months!

It hadn’t helped that, with Kenzie’s departure that day, the anger that had burned so dangerously in him for the previous four months seemed to have disappeared, leaving him with a feeling of leaden nausea that refused to go away.

It had always been his intention to actually be present when Jerome Carlton was told that he had lost control of his own company, but after that last conversation with Kenzie, and the look of disappointment and disgust she had given him before she had left, he had stayed away rather than have to see that look in Kenzie’s face again.

Whatever madness had possessed him after Kenzie had left him five and a half months ago had disappeared now, and in its place was only the realization of Kenzie’s hatred, along with the knowledge that in his desire for revenge he had single-handedly destroyed any feelings she might ever have had for him.

All this time he had thought that was what he wanted, only to learn, once Kenzie had left him for good, that having her hate him wasn’t what he wanted at all …

No wonder Kenzie had felt sorry for him five weeks ago.

He would feel sorry for himself if he didn’t abhor self-pity!

Because he had been the fool, more of a fool than he could ever have guessed. But the realization had come too late!

‘I don’t think about fragility where your own family is concerned,’ he reminded her softly. ‘I seem to remember that I agreed to come to Kathy’s wedding in order to help you in your effort not to upset or distress your father after his illness …?’

Something flickered briefly in her deep green eyes, something so fleeting that it had come and gone before Dominick had time to analyse it.

‘For a price, Dominick,’ Kenzie said scathingly.

He frowned darkly at being reminded of that price. ‘I’m not responsible for the rift in the Carlton family, either—Caroline’s greed is responsible for that.’

Kenzie shrugged. ‘No doubt you made her an offer she would have been a fool to refuse!’

Yes, he had. And it was obvious what Kenzie thought of such a manoeuvre.

The self-disgust he felt was as alien to him as the self-pity.

His mouth tightened. ‘Carlton could always make me an offer I can’t refuse and buy them back from me!’

Kenzie gave him a searching glance, finally shaking her head in disbelief. ‘Just so that you could have the satisfaction of telling him no? I don’t think so, Dominick!’

‘Maybe I wouldn’t say no.’ He shrugged. ‘After all, I’ve achieved what I set out to do—’

‘Revenge on Jerome and humiliation for me?’ Kenzie cut in harshly, not sure how much longer she could continue this conversation. Her legs had started to feel decidedly shaky, and little flashes of light were dancing in front of her eyes.

It was probably because she’d had nothing to eat today, she thought. She had been too nervous about seeing Dominick again this evening to even contemplate the thought of food, and had actually been physically sick this morning due to her apprehension.

But her shakiness now told her that she should have forced herself to eat something later in the day, because she was definitely in danger of fainting at Dominick’s feet.

‘I didn’t—’ Dominick broke off his impatient reply, his brow creasing into a frown as he looked at her closely. ‘Kenzie, are you okay?’

‘No, I’m not okay,’ she answered irritably. ‘This situation is even more impossible than I thought it was going to be!’

He could see that by the pallor of her cheeks and the dark shadows beneath her eyes. And she was thinner than when he had seen her five weeks ago …

His frown deepened. ‘I think you need something to eat—’

‘And I think I just need you to leave me alone!’ she told him, agitated.

But he couldn’t do that now that he had seen her again, talked to her again. He didn’t know how he was ever going to let her walk out of his life again!

‘If you’ll excuse me, Dominick.’ Kenzie grimaced, determined that she wasn’t going to collapse; if she fainted at all then she wasn’t going to be anywhere near Dominick when she did it!

He reached out to touch her arm. ‘Kenzie—’

‘I need to go and powder my nose,’ she continued firmly, shaking off his restraining hand. ‘You’re welcome to join me, of course,’ she added derisively as she saw his frowning expression, ‘but I think it might look a little odd if you were to follow me into the Ladies’ room!’

Instead it was Dominick’s gaze that followed her longingly as she moved easily across the room, pausing to talk and smile with several of the other guests as she did so.