Chapter One
The skies openedand let loose a frigid downpour the second Elizabeth stepped out from under the awning. Within seconds, her cardboard box was soaked through. A gust of wind ripped open her coat, exposing her to the worst of November’s dismal weather. She hurried, the large box clutched in her arms, but before she reached the stairs of the T station, the bottom fell out, and her entire professional life spilled onto thesidewalk.
“No, no, no,” she moaned and dropped to her knees. Her stockings ripped as she crawled along the ground, gathering her papers and precious mementos. A throng of commuters exited the T station and swamped her. When a booted foot kicked her purse and sent her wallet tumbling towards the sewer drain, Elizabeth yelped and dove forward, landing with a bone-jarring impact across a pair of very expensive dressshoes.
A firm gloved hand grasped her arm and pulled her to her feet. Her wallet forgotten, she looked up into a pair of eyes so green she thought they might be emeralds. Trim black brows matched a shock of black hair peeking out from under a gray wool cap. An umbrella bobbed above the man’s head, held by a uniformed driver in an oilskin raincoat. Everything about the man who held her screamed money from those expensive shoes to his soft leather gloves. With his free hand, he took the wallet his driver offered. “I believe this is yours,chérie.” A posh British accent dominated his smoothwords.
“Th-thank you,” Elizabeth stammered. She couldn’t tear her gaze away from his face. Alexander Fairhaven. The richest man on the East Coast. The entire Fairhaven family—Alexander, Nicholas, and the matriarch, Margaret, had more money than God and at least as many connections. They were famous around the world, but particularly in Boston, as the American headquarters for their multibillion-dollar conglomerate, Fairhaven Business Group, made its homehere.
“Thomas? Her things.” Alexander raised a brow at the man in uniform and released Elizabeth’s arm to accept the umbrella. Thomas ducked his head into the trunk of a limo idling beside them and returned with a large plastic garbage bag. He gathered Elizabeth’s belongings and deposited the entire bag back into thetrunk.
“Wait, that’s my stuff!” Elizabeth protested. “Ineed—”
Alexander cut her off with a finger to her lips. “I know what you need,chérie. A ride. Get in.” He gestured towards the limo and fastened his hand around herelbow.
“I don’t get into cars with strange men.” Elizabeth tried to pull her arm from his firm grasp. “Not even rich and famous ones who save mywallet.”
“I am getting wet. As are you. I won’t ask you again. Nor will I harm you in any way,” Alexander said. “Get in, and Thomas will drive youhome.”
“I could live in Leominster for all youknow.”
“Yes. And if that is where you live, then that is where Thomas will take you.” He guided her towards the limo, and Elizabeth found herself sinking into a buttery leather bench seat that hugged and warmed her ass. My God. The man had heated seats in his limo. Alexander turned and withdrew a towel from behind his seat across from her. “Dry yourself off,Elizabeth.”
“How did you know my name?” She took the towel and dried her face and hands as the limo pulled away from thecurb.
He grinned, the flash of white teeth almost predatory as he glanced at the open wallet in his palm. “The same way I know your address. I cheated. Hollander Street, Thomas. Number forty.” A privacy screen rose to seal the two of them in the passengercompartment.
Elizabeth snatched the wallet and shoved it into her purse. “That’s notfair.”
“Oh, I think it’s very fair. After all, you knowmyname, don’t you? I was only trying to level the playingfield.”
Elizabeth glared at him. Alexander was the playboy of the Fairhaven family with a string of conquests as long as Elizabeth’s arm and a reputation for tiring of women after no more than two dates. “Why am Ihere?”
“Because you were wet and injured.” He gestured towards her scraped knees. “And I dislike seeing a beautiful woman in distress.” He removed his gloves. “Now, we have a few moments to get to know each other. Tell me who sacked you andwhy.”
Elizabeth flushed and shrank back against the leather. “H-how—”
“Really,chérie. Why else would you be carrying a cardboard box of your personal items through the rain at four in theafternoon?”
When she didn’t immediately reply, Alexander tapped his palm against a wood panel across from her, and a small door whispered open. He poured two glasses of an amber liquid and then pressed one into herhand.
“Drink.”
“I can’t,” sheprotested.
“You can, and you will. You are pale and shivering, and I will not have that when it is in my power to fix it.” Alexander set his glass down on the sideboard before sliding across the limo to sit next to her. He lifted the glass to her lips. “Sipslowly.”
His tone brooked no argument, so she parted her lips and a scotch so smooth it was practically caramel slid over her tongue. Since her parents had disowned her and she’d moved to Boston five years ago, Elizabeth could scarcely afford anything above bottom shelf. She barely stifled the moan at the rich taste of the expensiveliquor.
“Good girl.” Alexander tipped the glass up again. Three more sips and a pleasant warmth settled in Elizabeth’s belly. “Now tell me who sackedyou.”
“Carter, Pastack, andHayes.”
Flecks of rich cognac danced around the midnight pools of his pupils. “Why?”
“Ican’t.”
“Didn’t we already establish that you can and will?” When she tipped her head up to meet his eyes, he tucked a lock of wet hair behind her ear. “Tellme.”
