Billionaire's Blackmail Bride: Billionaire Brothers Kent - Ridge's Story (The BAD BOY BILLIONAIRES Series) (18 page)

Ridge frowned, his arms tightening around her. “Something happened?”

She nodded, her hair rubbing against his skin as she moved her head.
“I was too embarrassed to tell you. I was scared you’d get mad at me.”

“What happened out there, Lani?” Ridge’s heart was picking up pace.
No matter that she was safe in his arms, just the thought that she might have
been in danger made the hair on his arms stand on end.

Lani gave a sigh that made her sound exhausted. “We got lost. That’s
why we got back to camp so late. We’d been walking in circles for hours. I was
so scared to tell you. That’s why I played cool, like you were making a big
deal out of nothing. But it really was a big deal. We could have been stuck out
there all night.” She shivered and snuggled closer, like the memory had taken
her back to that place and time when she’d been at the mercy of the wild
jungle.

His heart going out to her, imagining the degree of her fear, he
dipped his head to give her a reassuring kiss on the forehead. “Oh, honey, you
should have told me. I would have understood. You don’t know how I almost went
crazy, not knowing where you were. I was so relieved when you walked back into
camp. You have no idea.”

Lani nodded. “I know you were worried. I could see that. I just…I
guess the shock of it all just made me act crazy.” Then she pulled back from
him and peered up into his face. “When we got back you weren’t in the tent.
What were you doing in the bushes?”

“I was just setting off. I was going to look for you.”

Lani’s brows lifted. “You were going to head out into the jungle in
the dark and trek eight miles with only one leg?”

He smiled. “One leg and a half.”

She did not look amused. “Are you crazy?”

His smile deepened. “Crazy for you, my love. Only for you.”

It seemed he’d said the perfect words because the pout on her lips
disappeared and she smiled and sank back against him. “Do you know what I’m
happiest about?” she asked.

“No,” he whispered in her ear. “What?”

“That you blackmailed me into marrying you. It’s the best thing that
could have happened to me.” She gave a soft, contented sigh.

“Are you sure, my sweet? You don’t want to get me for playing that
dirty trick on you?” Ridge was smiling but this time he was one hundred percent
serious. He had to know – had his wife fallen in love with him? Had she fallen
under the spell that had bewitched him from the first day he laid eyes on her?

“Oh, I’m going to get you, all right. I can’t let an inveterate
trickster go unpunished.” Then, as if to soften the scare she’d just put in
him, she pulled his head down and kissed the tip of his nose. “But don’t
worry,” she said softly. “When I get you back it won’t hurt at all. You made me
love you too much.” And then she cupped his face in her hands and drew him down
until their lips touched and Lani gave him a kiss full of such promise that he
knew it was going to be a long night.

And he didn’t mind at all.

EPILOGUE

“Oh, my dear. I’m so proud of you.” Marie had tears in her eyes as
she leaned over to give Lani a kiss on the cheek.

“And so am I. Great work.” Her father patted her on the hand.

Lani smiled. “Thanks Mom, Dad.” But then she looked across the
banquet table at the man who had made it all possible. “And thank you, Ridge,”
she said, her voice loud and clear and trembling with pride, “for making this
dream come true.”

Never one to make a big deal about all the good he was doing, Ridge
just smiled back and gave her a wink. And she knew exactly what that meant.
Later, when they were home and alone, she would have to pay him back, not in
cash, but in kind – the kind of ‘kind’ she really, really liked.

But Lani had to kill that naughty thought because now she was being
called to the platform. As her family and her colleagues from the scientific
community warmed her spirit with their applause, she made her way to the front
of the room and went to receive her award.

“Leilani Kent, in recognition of your stellar work and your
contribution to research in the area of neurodegenerative diseases, we present
you with the Antioch Award of Excellence."

The applause rose and the crowd cheered and Lani felt the tears
prick the corners of her eyes. She could not have been more proud. Like she was
one of the winners at the Academy Awards she held her trophy high, her eyes
glued on Ridge and then, as he nodded with pride, she blew him a kiss.

Later that night, as everyone gathered in the lobby to say their
goodbyes, Lani drew her mother away from the crowd.

“I have something to tell you,” she whispered in Marie’s ear.

“What is it, dear? You’re not going away on another of your South
America trips, are you?”

Lani shook her head. “No. Even better. I won’t be doing overseas
trips for a while. And that’s what I want to tell you. You finally got your
wish.”

“My wish? Whatever do you mean?”

“You’re going to be a grandmother. I’m having a baby.”

“Oh, oh!” Marie’s eyes grew wide and she slapped her hand over her
heart. “You’re pregnant?”

Lani nodded. “Four months. Get yourself ready. You’ll soon have your
hands full with Baby Kent.”

“Oh, oh.” Marie was clutching her chest now.

Startled by her mother’s gasps, Lani’s eyes widened and she grabbed
Marie's arm. “Mom, are you all right?”

“Am I?” Marie said. “You’ve just made me the happiest woman in the
world.”

Relief washing through her, Lani could only smile. Her mother
couldn’t know it, but someone else had already seized that title. Because, Lani
knew, no woman in the world could be happier than she.

But she wouldn’t tell her mother that. Why burst her bubble?

As happy as she was, it was a title Lani was more than willing to
share.

Thank you for reading!

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BAD
BOY BILLIONAIRES

Judy
Angelo

Volume
1 -
Tamed
by the Billionaire

Volume
2 -
Maid
in the USA

Volume
3 -
Billionaire's
Island Bride

Volume
4 -
Dangerous
Deception

Volume
5 -
To
Tame a Tycoon

Volume
6 -
Sweet
Seduction

Volume
7 -
Daddy
by December

Volume
8 -
To
Catch a Man (in 30 Days or Less)

Volume 9 –
Bedding Her Billionaire Boss

Volume 10 -
Her Indecent Proposal

Volume 11 -
So Much Trouble When She Walked In

Volume 12 –
Married by Midnight

Volume 13 -
The Billionaire Next Door

Volume
14 -
Babies
for the Billionaire

Volume
15 - Billionaire's Blackmail Bride

BAD BOY BILLIONAIRES, Coll. I - Vols. 1 - 4

BAD BOY BILLIONAIRES, Coll. II - Vols. 5 - 8

 
BAD BOY BILLIONAIRES, Coll. III - Vols. 9 - 12

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HOLIDAY
EDITIONS

Novella
-
Rome
for the Holidays

Novel
-
Rome
for Always

The
NAUGHTY AND NICE Series

Volume
1
-
Naughty
by Nature

COMING SOON

Volume
16 - Bossing the Billionaire

MEET
THE BAD BOY BILLIONAIRES

FROM
COLLECTION III

VOLUMES
9 - 12

BEDDING HER BILLIONAIRE BOSS
- Vol. 9

Rockford St.
Stephens
- The owner of a newly acquired luxury
vacation business who finds himself boss to an executive assistant who can't
stand him...but who he finds impossible to resist.

HER INDECENT
PROPOSAL -Vol. 10

Sloane Quest
- The media mogul who's rocked back on his heels when his top
competitor, the lovely Melanie Parker, makes him an offer he can't refuse.

SO MUCH
TROUBLE WHEN SHE WALKED IN - Vol. 11

Maximillian
Davidoff
- The cosmetics giant turned NASCAR
entrepreneur who's bowled over by the most ornery woman he's ever met.

MARRIED BY MIDNIGHT – Vol. 12

Reed Davidoff –
The fashion mogul who gets caught up in a fairy tale romance that
makes him wish he could reverse his past.  After the mistakes he’s made, can he
win the hand of the princess?

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BAD
BOY BILLIONAIRES Collection III, Vols. 9 - 12

MEET
THE BAD BOY BILLIONAIRES

FROM
COLLECTION II

VOLUMES
5 - 8

TO TAME A TYCOON - Vol. 5

Enrico Megalos
- A shipping tycoon with a big problem but one which 'lion tamer',
Asia Miller, is determined to fix.

SWEET SEDUCTION - Vol. 6

Jake McKoy
-
Billionaire author, philanthropist and recluse - a man with a past that is
tearing him apart.  Will Samantha Fox be the woman to pull him out of his
shell?

DADDY BY DECEMBER - Vol. 7

Drake Duncan
- Billionaire investor and a man determined to win the love of his life:  a
woman who is just as determined...to stay the heck out of his way.

TO CATCH A MAN
(IN 30 DAYS OR LESS
)
- Vol. 8

Stone Hudson
- Owner of Hudson Broadcasting Corporation, Stone is thrown for a loop when he
meets a woman gutsy enough to laugh at him.  And then she turns into a
temptress.  How can he resist?

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to get:

BAD
BOY BILLIONAIRES COLLECTION II, VOLS. 5 - 8

MEET
THE BAD BOY BILLIONAIRES

FROM
COLLECTION I

VOLUMES
1 - 4

TAMED BY THE BILLIONAIRE - Vol. 1

Roman Steele
- The business tycoon who has the daunting task of taming the spoiled princess.

MAID IN THE U.S.A. -Vol. 2

Pierce D'Amato
- The software billionaire who thinks he's in control but instead
finds himself at the mercy of an angelic four year old and a dark-eyed French
beauty who steals his heart.

BILLIONAIRE'S ISLAND BRIDE - Vol. 3

Dare DeSouza
- The owner of a line of Caribbean resorts who tries to teach our beloved
heroine a lesson she'll never forget...but then ends up learning the greatest
lesson of his life.

DANGEROUS DECEPTION - Vol. 4

Storm Hunter
- He loves motorcycles, fast cars and now he's got to add one more item to his
list of loves: Danielle Swift.  Dani has a charm he tries to resist but this
committed bachelor is no match for this bold and independent woman who's like
none he's met before.