Give Me All Of You (13 page)

Fear
rushed into Hunter’s gut. He moved towards Desiree but she skipped out of reach, dancing like a ballerina unto the lush grass beside the pathway.

She glared back defiantly at him. “You agree to fuck me later, your wife can join
or watch,” she shrugged her dainty shoulders carelessly, “I don’t care. It’s her choice or I let the cat out of the bag.”

“
Stop prancing around like a demented idiot and spit it out!” Mina cried.

Hunter reached for Mina, he wasn’t surprised that his hands shook
, “Please Mina, don’t do this.”

S
he looked through him, towards Desiree who had begun to twirl on the lawn, her ballet flats sliding effortlessly on the dense grass. He wasn’t the least surprised when her short mini-dress hiked up, no doubt as she’d intended, and her pert naked bottom flashed them.

Hermile
gasped, then muttered, “she really is a slut.”

Desiree
threw him a saucy wink, “your legs don’t work grandpa but I’m sure I could liven up other parts,” she laughed loudly.

Then she fixed
her gaze on Mina and all the laughter died away and was replaced by a look of pity. “Sweetheart, Hunter owns your company, every sheet, towel, hell he probably owns the clothes on your back.”

Hunter stilled.

A shrill laugh came from beside him and he looked into Mina’s desperate hazel eyes, they had become like Desiree’s, unhinged.

She shook her head slowly
as if attempting to break free of the coil of Desiree’s words.

“
What is she talking about Hunter? You don’t own our company, you work for us,” but there was no conviction in her words. She already knew them to be true. She just couldn’t accept the enormity of what she’d just learned.

He was left with no option
. He glanced at Hermile whose head was hung in shame, unable to face his daughter.

Mina screamed, a primal sound that ripped through all of them, she
raced forward and without a shred of fear gripped the collar of his cream wedding suit. Her eyes were glazed with agonizing distress, she shook him with all her strength and it was enough to rock him back onto the balls of his feet.

“
No more lies Hunter. Tell me the truth. All of it!” Her eyes were wide with mounting hysteria.

He
stiffened and sought some spark of empathy in the chaotic swirl of her maddened gaze, he found none, only the hardness of betrayal.

“I bought
your company from your father several months ago, just before you took over.”

He saw rather than felt her start to break apart inside, it was there in her
eyes, the brown slowly melded into the green until he couldn’t tell where either color began or ended. Her hands on his lapels began trembling.

There was no use hiding anymore. “I own your home,
” she gasped but he went on, “your dad mortgaged it to pay the mounting debts that your failing business was racking up. I bought it.”

She
squeaked, spun around and dashed towards the steps leading back down to the parking lot. He didn’t think, just reacted.

He
caught her half way down the steps, her efforts hampered by the heels she wore. She fought like a maniac, legs and arms flying and connecting with his face, neck and shoulders.

He could do nothing but hold onto
her. He was surprised at the depth of hurt he felt for her pain, it didn’t matter that she was trying her best to gouge his eyes out.

Finally he had to catch her
wrists. She was sobbing and cursing him with every breath she took, he listened and hated himself even more.

“Let go of me, I don’t want to ever see you again,”
she screamed, her face contorted with rage.

He closed his
eyes against the pain, but nothing would stop him. In a twisted way today had been good for them.

“I can’t do that, Mina. You’re marrying me today.”

Her eyes glowed with impotent fury, she lunged at him, nails bared, he easily restrained her.

“
I will never marry you,” she spat her bosom heaving.

He smiled without
warmth.

The pain on her face was terrible to behold and yet … yet he welcomed it.
She’d brought so much back to his life. Pursuing her and loving her had coalesced into a new form of hope. He wanted a family again.

Nothing, not even her rage could trump that.

He searched her eyes carefully, waited several moments for her to calm down. “You will marry me now or you’ll never set foot onto another Bronswort property again. You’ll be barred from your home and you and your father will be on the streets before the sun goes down.”

She stopped and searched
his eyes. She recoiled from what she saw there, and he knew what that was. The implacable will he’d utilized to become obscenely rich.

His parents’ death, her divisive relationship with her parents made them a good match.

They had both been honed from suffering.

She closed her eyes for a long while, then pulled in several shaky breaths.
She tugged her hands from his grip, but not before he felt the fight go out of her.

He released her and watched her walk unsteadily
back up the stone steps to the church. Head high, body straight, the only sign of her suffering were her hands, they clutched the lacy hem of her wedding dress in a death grip.

A car roared into the parking lot
, the minister popped out and waved cheerily up at him.

He lifted
a stiff hand in greeting, then followed his bride-to-be to the church.

The moment they were throug
h her front door that evening Mina bolted for the stairs, taking them two at a time.

She had to
get away from them. Hunter, her father.

They had both betrayed her and she couldn’t stomach the sight of either of them for another second.

Upstairs she slammed her bedroom door with a resounding thud, then stood staring at it, her breath coming in heavy spurts.

She
looked around in despair. She couldn’t stay here. That much was clear. She sprinted to her closet and hauled out two carry-ons. Without thought she ransacked her drawers, stuffing whatever came to hand into them.

Minutes later, she slipped her feet
into comfortable sandals and sucking in a steadying breath she opened the door and went back downstairs.

Hunter was waiting at the bottom of the stairs
, hands crossed against his chest, his broad back to her.

Hermile was nowhere in sight, probably off reveling in
finally snagging a loaded son-in-law who would save his precious business. He’d been silent the entire ceremony. She wished he’d had the decency to leave like Desiree before the ceremony began. But he’d stayed to see his master plan go through.

She h
eaded for the door.

“Where do you think you’re going?” Hunter
asked blandly as she passed him.

“Away from you,
” Mina hissed.

Hunter
sighed and in a blink eliminated the distance between them. He was right in her space.

She stayed put. He’
d have to work harder if he intended to intimidate her.

He
stared implacably down at her but there was no anger in his eyes, “In that case I guess I’m along for the ride.” He went to stand by the door.

Mina gaped, “you can’t be serious.”

A slow smile split Hunter’s thin lips, “try me, sweetheart.”

“You assho
le,” she exploded and threw her bags to the ground, “why are you doing this? Leave me the hell alone!”

A quick flash of pity surfaced in Hunter’s eyes before it was drowned out by amusement, “Can’t do that. You’re my wife.”

Hot acid burned her throat, “You think because you own my company, that you own me?”

He had the nerve to yawn! “No Mi
na, I don’t own you but I expect you to behave like my wife, not some unhinged escapee.”

Mina sputtered, if she had a weapon she’d take off his head. “
You’ve taken everything from me-”

Hunter drew closer, “not everything Mina and please tone down the drama,” he studied her furious face, “I want this to work, you’re obviously trying to make sure it implodes.”

“Damn straight.”

He smiled roguishly. “Yeah. I guess I’d do the same if I were you. But I think I’ve got a trade that could give you back those things that are obviously most important to you.”

She blinked and eyed him suspiciously. “You’re a manipulative bastard, why should I accept anything you have to offer?”

He flashed a sly grin
, “Methinks you have no choice.”

It galled her
, but it was the truth. Another deal with the devil but short of that she couldn’t see any other way out of this. A divorce would destroy her life, her father’s life. All that her family had accomplished over centuries. “What are you proposing this time?”

“Gi
ve me a child, two would be great. I’ll leave you alone,” his eyes grew chilling, “but no divorce.”

She sputtered, stared and general
ly looked the fool as she gaped open mouth at him.

“You’re serious?
You think I’d leave behind a child of mine-” The idea made her breathless with pain. Her child would endure what she had. “You can’t be so cold-blooded.”

“I think you
already know the answer to that.”

He began undoing the buttons of his fine linen shirt, beneath the cream jacket, “preferably starting now,” he drawled, he raised a sarcastic brow at her, “the sooner the better right?”

She suddenly felt overheated, despite the cool night, “I … I don’t want to make love to you,” she finished lamely.
Amusement curled Hunter’s lips, but his eyes had gone black with desire, curly chest hair peeked out from the loose buttons at the top of his shirt. “Let’s call it having sex, that way its sounds a little more platonic.”

Mina gasped, Hunter cl
osed in and took the bags from her numbed fingers. He bent and brushed his strong lips across the rim of her ear, she shivered.

“Come upstairs with me Mina,” he whispered in her ear.

She followed as if on auto-pilot. She watched from a distance as she placed one foot in front of the other. Hunter confidently strode beside her, taking one long step for every two she managed.

He stopped at her bedroo
m door and she didn’t wonder how he knew which room was hers. Apparently her father had not only sold her to Hunter, he’d sold the floor plan too.

Nothing made sense anymore.

They entered. She turned to watch as he stashed her bags in the closet and resumed undressing.

He was so callous. He would keep using her until he got exactly what he wanted.
Where would it end, would he ever be satisfied?

Scalding t
ears stung her eyes, a sob built in her throat. She couldn’t stop it. It rolled out sounding like the tortured groan of a dying animal.

Hunter
stopped, looked at her, there was sorrow in his eyes. “You don’t have to believe me but I promise I won’t hurt you again.”

She sobbed harder, wiped a long trail of tears from her cheek, “You don’t get it do you?
You’ve taken everything from me. You’re a greedy, despicable bastard!” She fought to stem the tide of her sobs but she couldn’t.

Turning her back on him, she walked to the door,
“Go ahead Hunter, beggar me and my family, take it all,” She yanked the door wide and stormed through.

Hunter stood waiting at the silent, forbidding door, thick rain pounded down on him, soaking through his already ruined wedding suit.

He grimaced as he fingered the sodden linen. He wouldn’t be able to keep
it as a memento, but perhaps it would serve as a reminder of the worst day of his life and it wasn’t over.

He slammed his knuckles down on the door once more.

Shuffles came from within. Moments later, a mature, stunning face emerged as the door cracked open.

There could only be one woman whose dark beauty rivaled Mina’s delicately brown hue.

Josephine Bronswort.

“
What do you want?” she spat, her dark gaze murderous.

Hunter decided not to play around with this wom
an. “My wife,” he replied simply.

She
eyed him with disdain. “Leave or I’m calling the police.”

He’d truly had enough drama and threats for one day. He leaned negligently against the side of the door and stared her down. “Go ahead. I’m sure Mina would love the publicity.”