Maid For The Untamed Billionaire

Nothing like today, Jake thought ruefully as he lifted the glass to his lips for a deep swallow. Today would not go down as good. Or happy. Or carefree. Today was…what?

He wasn’t sure how to describe it.

Dangerous came to mind. And not in a good way. Jake had enjoyed danger in his life at times. But this was a different kind of danger. This wasn’t physical danger. This involved his emotions. Intense, uncontrollable emotions.

Jake didn’t like intense, uncontrollable emotions. They made you do things which never ended well.

Jake carried the glass and the bottle out to his courtyard, where he placed the bottle on the small circular glass table he liked best then sat down in the chair next to it.

When his phone rang, he saw that it was Olivia.

He didn’t want to talk to Olivia just now. He didn’t want to talk to anyone. So he just turned off the phone and went back to drinking his wine.

CHAPTER FIVE (#u76a56ca2-61b7-5606-9892-0121d0b641aa)

WITHIN SECONDS OF arriving home Abby rang Megan, not wanting to procrastinate over the call. Megan would only be even more suspicious if she waited too long to give her the good news.

‘Hi there, kiddo,’ Megan answered, a term of endearment which often led people to think Megan was the older sister. And whilst there wasn’t much between them, Abby was actually older by fifteen months.

Abby had already decided that the best way to play this was to sound very happy about it. And she was happy. Just a bit wary about her sister’s reaction.

‘You’ll never guess what’s happened,’ Abby said brightly as she dumped her bag on the floor and plonked herself into a nearby armchair.

‘Something good by the sound of things.’

‘Unbelievably good!’ And she launched into an explanation of the day’s events. As planned, she left out the part about the travel fund money and only mentioned the new car. Naturally, she didn’t include the bit about her bursting into tears and Jake hugging her.

Megan exclaimed a shocked, ‘No!’ at the news about the new car, but thankfully didn’t make any sarcastic crack about what Abby might have done with Jake’s uncle to deserve such an incredibly generous gift. Things might have been different, however, if she’d mentioned the twenty-five thousand dollars as well. Though possibly not. Maybe Megan instinctively knew that Abby would never do anything sexual with a man she didn’t love. Wayne had been her first and only lover because he was the first and only man she’d ever loved.

‘Aren’t you a lucky duck?’ Megan said without a trace of jealousy in her voice. ‘A brand-new car! And you don’t even have to wait for probate to come through, since your hunky boss is buying you the car himself. This Saturday, you said?’

‘Yes. This Saturday.’

‘It’s a wonderful gift. Especially when you hardly knew his uncle. But perhaps not so much if he was filthy rich. Was he filthy rich?’

‘He must have been. Jake said he’d inherited heaps. That’s why he doesn’t mind forking out the money for me for a car.’

‘Oh, right. Still, it’s nice of him to do that. He’s not legally obliged to, I would imagine.’

‘Probably not, but he said he would never go against his uncle’s deathbed wishes.’

‘Did you see this letter his uncle left him?’

‘Well, no, but why would he lie about something like that?’

‘Maybe he fancies you.’

‘Oh, don’t be ridiculous! Why would he fancy someone like me when he has that gorgeous girlfriend? I’ve been thinking, Megan, since I’m getting a new car, would you like the ute? I know it’s done a good few miles but it goes really well. Wayne put a new engine in it not long before he died.’

‘Oh, I’d love it. Thanks, Abby.’

‘Jake is going to take me to see his uncle’s grave as well,’ she blurted out before she could think better of it.

The silence at the other end of the line was telling.

‘Oh, is he?’ Megan said at long last in one of her knowing voices. ‘And why is he doing that?’

‘Because I asked him to,’ Abby said, angry with herself. ‘And, before you jump to conclusions, we’re just dropping in at the cemetery on the way to the car yards at Parramatta. It’s hardly out of his way. And you are so wrong about his fancying me.’

Megan laughed. ‘We’ll see, hon. We’ll see.’

‘Oh, for pity’s sake.’

‘You’ve always underestimated your looks, Abby. Even when your teeth were not great, you were gorgeous. Now that you’ve had them fixed, you’re a knockout. And your figure is to die for.’

‘Oh, go on with you!’

‘No, I mean it. Your fantastic figure was one of the reasons Wayne was so possessive of you. And why he didn’t want you to work after you were married. Because he didn’t want other men lusting after you.’

Abby’s first reaction was to hotly deny what Megan said. But in her heart of hearts she knew it was true. Wayne had been very possessive of her. Right from the start, he’d wanted her all to himself. Which had suited Abby fine. All she’d wanted back then was to be Wayne’s wife, plus the mother of his children. She’d been only too happy to stop work and not have to face the world every day with her horrible teeth. Not so happy, however, as the years had passed and the nursery remained empty.

‘That’s probably the reason he wouldn’t pay for you to get your teeth fixed,’ Megan continued. ‘Because he was afraid you’d be too beautiful and he’d lose you to another man.’

‘That’s ridiculous!’ Abby protested. ‘The reason I didn’t get my teeth fixed back then was because it’s very expensive and we had a huge mortgage. Besides, Wayne already loved me, even with my horrid teeth. As for being too beautiful, please don’t make me laugh. Even if by some miracle I’d become the most beautiful woman in the world, I would never have left Wayne, no matter what. I loved him.’

‘Did you, Abby? Or did you just love that he loved you with the kind of crazy obsession which can be oh, so flattering?’

‘I did so love Wayne,’ she insisted. ‘Very much. We would have been happy together if we’d had children.’

Megan sighed. ‘If you say so, Abby.’

‘I do say so. Now, I do not wish to discuss Wayne any more, thank you. I didn’t realise how much you disliked him.’

‘I didn’t dislike him. I just didn’t think he was good enough for you. You deserved someone better.’

Abby didn’t know whether to feel flattered or frustrated. ‘Such as who, Megan? Prince Charming?’

‘Yeah, why not? And let me tell you something else, kiddo. If you bought some new clothes and put on some make-up occasionally, you would be so hot that every man you met would be drooling. And that includes your handsome hunk of a boss.’

Abby didn’t like to tell Megan that she was being delusional—about Jake at least—so she just laughed.

‘Yeah, you can laugh if you like. Just you wait and see. Speaking of your boss, did you happen to watch his show today?’

‘Hardly. I was too busy cleaning his house.’

‘He interviewed Maddie Hanks. You know, the latest Aussie actress who’s made it big in Hollywood?’

‘I know who you mean. She was in that biblical epic. Played a slave girl.’