The Tycoon’s Secret Affair / Defiant Mistress, Ruthless Millionaire: The Tycoon’s Secret Affair

“Ignoring me won’t help.”

Finally she turned, sure she must look guilty. Now she felt childish for being so obvious, but the man made her nervous.

“We need to clear the air on a few matters. Mainly your firing.”

She stiffened and clenched her fingers into small fists. “I’d just as soon not discuss it. No good can come of it, and I am supposed to keep my stress level down.”

“I never intended to have you fired, Jewel. It was a despicable thing to have happened to you, and I accept full blame.”

“Well who the hell else’s fault would it be?” she demanded.

“It wasn’t what I intended,” he said again.

“Whether you intended it or not, it’s what happened. Mighty coincidental that I got the sack as soon as you found out who I was, wouldn’t you say?”

Piers blew out his breath, and his gaze narrowed. “You aren’t going to make this easy, are you?”

She leaned back, this time giving him the full intensity of her stare. “Why should it be easy for you? It wasn’t easy for me. I had no money left, no job. I came here because it was the only place I had to stay, and waitressing was the only quick job I could land. Then I started getting sick.” She stopped and shook her head. She wasn’t going to get into it with him.

“You’re right. I’m sorry.”

He looked and sounded sincere. Enough so that her next question slipped out before she could think better of it.

“If I wasn’t supposed to be fired, how exactly did I end up sacked and escorted out of the hotel?”

Piers winced and dragged a hand through his hair. “As I said, it’s completely my fault. I told my human resources manager to reassign you, or promote you or even to pay you for the term of your contract but I’m afraid the first words out of my mouth were to get rid of you. The rest, unfortunately, he didn’t hear because the connection was severed. By the time I returned to the hotel and discovered the misunderstanding, you were gone. I had no luck tracing your whereabouts. In fact, I’d given up ever hearing from you again until you called.”

She stared at him in disbelief. First, she couldn’t believe he’d actually admitted his wrongdoing. Second, she couldn’t fathom him looking for her afterward. It sounded suspiciously like he genuinely regretted what had happened.

“I don’t get it,” she said with genuine confusion. “Why couldn’t we have just been adults about it? Why was it so important to you to get rid of me? I realize it wasn’t an ideal situation, but it was an honest mistake. Neither of us knew who the other was or God knows I wouldn’t have gone to bed with you that night.”

“Then I guess it’s a good thing you didn’t know who I was,” he said softly.

She looked down at her belly. “Yes, I don’t regret it now at all.”

“Did you then?”

He didn’t look offended, only genuinely curious. He’d been honest with her so far, so she couldn’t be anything other than completely honest with him.

“No. I didn’t regret our night together.”

He seemed satisfied with her answer. “To answer your question, it wasn’t personal. What I mean is that it’s not as if it was something you did. I have a strict policy about allowing anyone to work closely with me who has had any sort of a personal relationship with me. It’s a necessary rule, unfortunately.”

She raised an eyebrow. “You say that as if you were once burned.”

“In a manner of speaking. My brother’s personal assistant was enamored with him, but she was also selling company secrets and framed my sister-in-law.”

“Sounds like a soap opera,” Jewel muttered.

He chuckled. “It seemed like one at the time.”

“You could have simply told me. You owed me that much given the fact we had spent the night together,” she said, pinning him with the force of her gaze. “If you’d been up front with me, none of this would have happened. There would have been no misunderstanding.”

“You’re right. I’m afraid the shock of finding out who you were made my judgment particularly bad. I’m sorry.”

His quietly spoken apology softened some of her anger. If she was honest, she still held resentment for the easy way he’d summarily dismissed her from his life. Not that she’d expected undying love and commitment, but hadn’t the night meant something? Even enough to rate a personal dismissal instead of the job being handed off to a stooge?

Still, if this marriage was to be anything short of difficult and laced with animosity, she knew he had to let go of some of that resentment. Be the bigger person and all that jazz. Funny how taking the high road was never particularly fun.

“I accept your apology.”

Surprise flickered in his dark eyes. “Do you really, I wonder?”

“I didn’t say you were my best friend,” she said dryly. “Merely that I’d accepted your apology. It seems the thing to do in light of our impending nuptials.”

Amusement replaced the surprise. “I have a feeling we’re going to get along just fine together, yineka mou.” His gaze dropped to her stomach. “That is if you’re telling me the truth.”

For a moment, pain shadowed his eyes, and she wondered what sort of hell occurred in his past that would make him so distrustful. It went beyond mistrust. He didn’t want to be the father of her child. He wanted her to be a liar and a deceiver. It was as if he knew how to handle those. But a woman telling him the truth? That was the aberration.

She must be insane to walk into this type of situation. There was every way for her to lose and no way to win.

“It does me little good to tell you that you’re the father when you’re determined not to believe me,” she said evenly. “We’ll have the paternity tests done and then you’ll know.”

“Yes. Indeed we’ll know,” he said softly.

“If you’ll excuse me, I need to go dig out my laptop,” she said as she rose from her seat. “I need to send an e-mail.”

“And I have arrangements to make for our wedding.”

She nodded because if she tried to say anything, she’d choke. Not looking back at him, she hurried to the doors and went inside. Piers hadn’t told her which bedroom was hers, but she’d find it easily enough.

She hit the stairs, and after going into three rooms on the upper level, she found her bags lying on the bed.

She unpacked her clothing first and put everything away before settling back onto the bed with her laptop. She checked her e-mail, but didn’t see anything from Kirk. Not that she expected to. Sometimes they went months with no communication depending on his assignment and whether she was in a place she could e-mail him. Still, she felt like she owed him an explanation, and so she spilled the entire sordid tale in an e-mail that took her half an hour to compose.

When she was done, she was worn out and feeling more than a little foolish. There was no advice Kirk could offer, but she felt better for unloading some of her worries. He’d know better than anyone her fears of marriage and commitment.

Leaving her laptop open, she leaned back on the soft pillows to stare up at the ceiling. Contemplating her future had never been quite so terrifying as it was now.

Piers walked up the stairs toward Jewel’s room. She’d been sequestered for two hours now. Surely that was enough time to have completed her personal business.

He stopped at her door and knocked softly, but he heard no answer from within. Concerned, he pushed open the door and stepped inside.

Jewel was curled on her side, her head buried in the down pillows. Sound asleep. She looked exhausted.

Her laptop was precariously close to the edge of the bed, and he hurried over to retrieve it before it fell. When he placed it on the dresser, the screen came back up and he saw that a new e-mail message was highlighted by the cursor. It was from someone named Kirk.

With a frown, he scrolled down the preview screen to read the short message.