Their Million-Dollar Night (12 page)

“You okay?” Tawny asked.

She thought about the fact that things in her life never stayed good for the long term. The bubble always burst and she was left standing on the outside looking in. And she really didn't want that to happen
with Max. “Yes. No. I don't know. I've only known him a few weeks.”

Tawny put her arm around Roxy, and she leaned on her friend, needing the support of someone who really knew what it was like to have come from nothing.

“I've never seen you like this with any other guy,” Tawny said.

“Like what?” Roxy asked in a whisper, afraid to confess her own fears out loud.

“Like you're in love. Before, no man could compete with dancing in your life.”

“Would I be in love with Max if I was still dancing?” Did Max love
her?
That was the biggest fear she had.

“I don't know, sweetie, but I really don't think that matters. You're not dancing anymore, and Max is your life.”

“That totally scares me.”

“It would me, too.”

Someone knocked on the door.

“Come in.”

Hayden walked in, dressed in his tailored tuxedo. He'd agreed to walk her down the aisle and Roxy was glad to see her friend. “Hi, Hay.”

“Hey, Rox. You ready to do this thing?”

“Gosh, boss, did you woo your wife with romantic lines like that?” Tawny said.

“She likes it, says it's part of my charm.”

“I think she might be prejudiced in your favor.”

Hayden laughed and Roxy started to relax. She was getting married to Max.

“Thanks, Hay.”

“For what, Rox?”

“Introducing me to him.”

“No problem. A little of the good life is what you both needed.”

“I don't know how Shelby lives with your ego.”

“She has this way of deflating it,” he said with a sardonic grin.

She checked her veil one last time, adjusting it before she took Hayden's arm. Tawny led the way out of the dressing room and they entered the chapel at the Chimera. She stumbled on her first step but Hayden just slowed his pace.

Glenda went up the aisle first, followed by Tawny, and Roxy kept her gaze trained on her friend's back until Hayden tightened his arm around hers and they started walking. She glanced up then. All the way to the front of the chapel. Past the rows of her friends and the rows of Max's family and friends.

There he was. Watching her with a look that was a combination of pride, lust and possessiveness. Her footsteps seemed a little lighter as she moved toward him. She knew that there was more to their relationship than
sex and commonality. She saw a deep emotion in his eyes that he couldn't hide from her today.

Suddenly she was at his side and Hayden was placing her hand in Max's. His big hand was warm against hers and he brought her chilled fingers up to his chest, rubbing them against his shirt.

He leaned down to kiss her and whispered in her ear. “You take my breath away.”

She didn't know how he knew the right thing to say. Or why it mattered that he had. She could only smile at him as the minister started the ceremony. She wasn't aware of the words she said or the other people who witnessed her vows. All she was focused on was Max and the way he watched her.

He put the wedding ring on her finger and leaned down while the minister was blessing his ring.

“Now, you're mine.”

Once she slipped his ring on his finger, she said, “And you are mine.”

“Forever,” Max said.

M
ax stepped out of the bathroom and found their suite empty. Candles still flickered on every surface in the room. Rose petals still littered the floor. The sheets on the bed were still rumpled from their love-making but his bride was gone.

All night he'd fought against the feeling that she wasn't really his. That the whirlwind romance he'd swept her up in wasn't overwhelming her. But there had been that almost panicked look in her eyes, and he'd sensed that she wasn't comfortable.

He cursed under his breath and grabbed his pants from the floor, pulling them on. He'd given Carl the night off, so his driver wasn't available.
That meant no one had been out front to see when or how she left.

He'd have to call Hayden and ask to see the security tapes. To track her down…oh, man, how the hell had he come to this? He was back in the exact same place he'd been when he was twenty-one. Chasing after a woman who didn't want to be caught.

He left the bedroom and walked into the living room. He was halfway across the room when he realized the balcony doors were open. He turned and saw the silhouette of Roxy. His racing heart slowed, and he moved toward her with a measured stride that should have calmed his temper.

But didn't. Why was she out here hiding from him? He stopped on the threshold. “I thought you'd left.”

She had both hands braced on the wrought-iron railing. The lights of the strip were bright and colorful, an illusory background behind this woman who'd become the center of his life in such a short time. And he felt his hold on her was no more secure than a “sure thing” hand at the poker tables.

She glanced over her shoulder at him, an aura of sadness wrapping around her that made him feel as though all of his carefully ordered plans were falling apart. Getting his ring on her finger had been his focus, but now he knew the other details were going to haunt him.

“Did that bother you?”

“No, it pissed me off.”

“I didn't think you got pissed, Max.”

“I do. I just don't show it.”

“Like all of your emotions.”

Please don't do this, he thought. Just once in his life he wanted his failings to be overlooked. Rationally he knew they couldn't be. That she was entitled to have everything she wanted.

“This isn't about emotion, Blondie. This is about trying to find my wife of less than—” he glanced down at his watch “—five hours.”

She wrapped her arms around herself. “Why would my being out here bother you? We had a quickie courtship, why not a quickie wedding?”

“I thought I made it clear to you how I felt.”

“No, you didn't. And lying in bed, I started thinking about how much I needed you—emotionally—and I realized that you didn't have that same need.”

He needed to distract her. To find a way to make her realize what he felt without having to say it. Because even though Roxy would never understand or believe it, she was the stronger of the two of them. She allowed him to see her flaws and vulnerabilities.

“You don't need anyone. You're this great tower of strength and you take care of everyone around you. I'm sure you realize that.”

“Yes, I do realize it.”

“Why? Why do you do that?”

He didn't want to tell her, but maybe an explanation would be enough to appease her. To get her back into his arms. “I'm trying to make sure that they never leave.”

“Who left you, Max? I never realized you were vulnerable until tonight.”

“Uh…” He didn't want to tell her. Didn't want to share that intimately embarrassing part of his life. The impetuous young man he'd been was a faint memory. Max had buried that part of his soul a long time ago.

“I stood naked in front of you. You forced me to look in the mirror and see this scarred body of mine through your eyes. Tell me, Max. Tell me so I can believe that I didn't just buy into the Vegas illusion.”

He took a deep breath and stepped out onto the shadowy balcony with her. He hoped that somehow in the dark the words would be easier to say.

“I was twenty-one when I thought I'd fallen in love. My parents of course said I was too young. My father wanted me to get established in Williams & Co., the family business. But I wanted…it's hard to remember what I wanted and why, but I definitely wanted Jessica.”

“Did she want you?”

“She seemed to. We had a quick engagement, and then the night before our wedding she disappeared. I thought…she'd been kidnapped because of my family's money.”

Roxy left the railing and came to sit down next to him on the other balcony chair. “Oh, Max. You must have been terrified for her safety.”

“I was. We started searching for her and found her back at college in the apartment she shared with two of her friends. Her parents were angry, I was angry.”

She tilted her head to the side, studying him and he was afraid that she might see all the way to the truth. He hadn't been angry. He'd been scared that Jessica had finally seen the same thing in him that his parents and everyone else in his life had. That thing that made them want to leave before he got too close.

“We talked, she gave me back my ring and I left. My dad sent me to Japan to oversee a new operation for Williams & Co.”

“Is that when you started channeling all your energy into work?”

“I guess. I didn't do much work then. I partied every night and got myself into a dangerous situation. That's how I met Duke—he saved my ass.”

She sat down on his lap, pulling him into her arms, so that his head rested against her breasts. “And since then you've found a way to make sure no one can leave you…everyone in your life owes you something.”

“Not you,” he said between clenched teeth, knowing the truth of his words and the very real fear in his heart.

“Especially me. I love you, Max. I haven't said
those words to anyone since my grandmother died. You gave me a home here,” she took her hand and placed it over her heart. “Where I've been longing to find one.”

“Thank you for loving me, Blondie.”

“You don't thank me, Max. You tell me that you love me, too.”

He stared down into her face. “I'll never leave you.”

She pushed herself to her feet. “That's not enough, Max. I need to know how you feel.”

“That's the one thing I can't give you.”

She backed away from him. He knew he couldn't make her stay. She dressed and quietly left their honeymoon suite.

 

Max woke the next morning feeling more alone than he ever had before. He'd followed Roxy to her home outside the city limits and made sure she was safely inside before he came back.

Maybe he was just one of those guys who couldn't be married. But in his gut he knew that wasn't true. He wanted Roxy—he was just afraid to tell her how much.

 

Roxy took her time getting dressed and slowly drove back to the Chimera. She shouldn't have left last night without hashing everything out. Max was the one person she wanted to spend the rest of her life with. The only person who'd ever wanted her for
herself, not because she was a good dancer but because of who she was inside.

She had to find a way to his emotions. Had to figure out the details he needed to feel secure enough to tell her how he felt.

She called Max and left him a voice mail asking him to meet her in the atrium café for breakfast. She drove to the hotel and went directly to the restaurant to wait for him.

The hostess told Roxy her table would be available in a few minutes. Roxy sat down on the bench to wait. Trying to gather her thoughts. She heard someone approach the table and glanced up expecting to see Hayden.

Instead, she was surprised to see Harron MacNeil standing there, a concerned look on his weathered face.

“Good morning, Harron. What can I do for you?”

He stood still, towering over her. Roxy pushed to her feet.

“Where is Williams?” he asked. He held a newspaper clutched in his hand and wouldn't look her in the eye.

“In his room. He'll be down in a few minutes,” she said, hoping that was true. “Why don't you have a seat?”

He nodded stiffly. But instead of sitting he paced around her. She caught the hostess's eye. The woman
gestured for them to join her and took them to a table at the back of the restaurant.

“Is Sheila okay?”

“What? Yes, she's fine. This is about our merger.”

“What's the matter?”

“Nothing I want to discuss with you.”

Roxy pulled back from Harron. She was surprised by the way he was behaving, had thought they'd become friends after sharing several meals together.

“Harron, whatever it is, maybe I can help you.”

He pulled today's newspaper from his briefcase and tossed it on the table. The picture of herself stopped her.

The paper had been folded to the society pages and the headline would have been visible even half a room away. The Billionaire and the Showgirl.

She picked up the paper, reading quickly.

Billionaire Max Williams got lucky at more than the poker tables in Las Vegas, where rumor has it he walked away a big winner. He also found himself a bride—the former headliner at the Chimera's famed revue,
Chimère.

“I don't care how much it costs. I'm going to stop the merger now,” Harron said. “Our image isn't about gamblers and showgirls. Topless dancers turned trophy wives are not what my family has spent the last three generations building our reputation on.”

She gasped out loud, realizing that she was going
to be responsible for Max losing this new piece of business. A piece he'd worked really hard to acquire.

“I'm sorry you had to hear that,” Harron said, shaking his head.

“I'm sorry you
said
something like that. Obviously this paper was looking to stir up some trouble and you are playing right into their hands.”

“Don't make this about anything other than what it is. You took your clothes off for a living. I thought you were a dancer.”

Did he feel duped? Was that what this was about? “I am a dancer. I was the headliner in
Chimère.
I worked long hours to get to that point. As many hours as you and your father and grandfather worked to make the travel agency one of the top three in this part of the world. How does hard work not fit into your ethics?”

He said nothing to her, and she thought maybe she was getting through to him. She wanted Harron to understand that dancing, topless or not, was just as hard as running a business. Maybe even harder. The struggle, the competition was fierce.

“I started training to be a dancer when I was a little girl, Harron. My entire life was dedicated to dance until I was injured. There is nothing sleazy about what I did. Not in my mind. Not in the minds of the people who came to the shows I performed in.

“We've gotten to know each other over the last few
weeks and the man I've come to know isn't going to let the society pages dictate his business decisions.

“Pryce Enterprises is the kind of company you want to trust your business to, because Max cares about his workers. He remembers their birthdays and little things like what they like to eat at catered meals.”

“That's about employee retention.”

“It's about a lot more than that. Max actually cares for his workers and treats his employees the way he does his friends.”

 

Max was ready to meet with Roxy and give her whatever she needed to stay with him. He exited his suite and got on the elevator, noticing he had missed a call from Duke. He dialed the callback number.

“It's about damned time.” Duke greeted him. Max heard the sound of a computer keyboard in the background and knew that Duke was on his laptop.

“Skip to the good part. I left you in charge for less than twenty-four hours and already you're calling me.”

“Actually, there's no good part to this. I wouldn't have called unless I thought you needed to handle this. Have you seen today's paper?”

“No. Why?”

“Because instead of running a bridal portrait of Roxy, they have her publicity photo from
Chimère.
”

Max cursed succinctly under his breath. “Where is MacNeil?”

Max didn't have time to deal with this. Roxy was his first priority and he couldn't afford the time away from her. He was fighting for his life with her and he needed to make sure she understood how important she was to him. More important than Pryce Enterprises. Without her, nothing else mattered.

He almost dropped the phone as he realized he loved her. It wasn't supposed to happen like this.

“He wants to call off the merger regardless of what it costs him. He said, and I quote…topless dancers turned trophy wives aren't the image we want at MacNeil Travel.”

Max couldn't believe Harron had had the gall to say something like that. Max was sick of this merger anyway. They'd wanted a nice profit-maker for their company and to expand into a line of business they hadn't dabbled in before but honestly, at this point, he didn't want to do business with MacNeil. “I can't deal with MacNeil this morning. I have another fire that needs to be put out.”

“What fire? I haven't heard any rumblings from anyone. Is it that damned hockey team you bought?”

“No, Duke. This one's personal. I don't need your help with it.”

“You always need my help.”

“Not with my wife.”

“Oh, you have a point there. What do you want me to do with MacNeil?”

“Let him back out of the deal. We'll do it the aggressive way. We're still going to acquire his assets.”

“Are you sure about that? We have our reputation to think of, and we don't do hostile takeovers.”

Max closed his eyes. He wanted MacNeil's heart for his angry words about Roxy. He didn't care that he'd built Pryce into the kind of company that everyone respected and admired. Right now he wanted revenge. He wanted to take MacNeil's company and break it into pieces while the man watched.