Blackmailed by the Billionaire Brewer (6 page)

“Okay.” Piper frowned as she watched him fill a syringe. “What’s that?”

“Antibiotics.” The cat snarled and hissed as he approached with the needle, suddenly
very much awake and feeling the need to vent her displeasure at all this indignity.
“And I’ll need to shave some more fur from the tail. The surgical site needs to be
clean near that wound and, well, you might not want to know the details of the operation,
but it is necessary, so we might as well do it now. Perhaps you’d like to wait outside
while I get the nurse to help me?”

Matt sensed from the look Dr. Uvi shot him that things were about to get more stressful
and Piper was already clearly upset.

“Come on, we can fill out all those forms outside and grab a coffee from the vending
machine,” Matt said. She just nodded and turned her back before she could see the
vet nod at him. “I could certainly do with a hot drink.”

Fifteen minutes of listening to chilling howls from the lobby later, and a harassed
looking veterinary nurse emerged carrying the beige pet carrier. “She’s a feisty madam,
that’s for sure!” She put the box on the floor and handed Piper a box of medication.
“Instructions are printed on the box. Keep her as quiet, warm, and inactive as you
can. She’s booked in for the op the day after tomorrow and we’ve put a cone on her.
She went for the tail a couple of times so the doctor’s not sure she can be trusted
with that bandage. Try to keep it on her if you can.”

“Oh poor baby,” Piper crooned through the slats of the carrier and a claw shot out.
“I’d be angry, too, sweetheart.”

Matt settled the bill, thanked the nurse, and picked up the box. “I’ll carry her to
the car. We’ll need to be quick if we want to make it back into town. It’s getting
bad out there.”

Piper grabbed the sleeve of his jacket.

“Are you a humane and understanding person behind all the CEO stuff?”

“What?”

“I need another favor.”

“Go on.”

“Could you keep the cat at your place for the night?”

“Why? You scared of her now? If you don’t want to keep her after all, nobody will
judge you.”

“Can you or not? I think my furnace is broken again and I won’t be able to get a guy
out until tomorrow or even later with this storm. It’s going to be really cold and
I don’t think she’s going to take kindly to crawling under a blanket with me tonight.”

“Piper, are you crazy? It’s supposed to be the coldest night in years. What makes
you think you’re going to have a great night with or without the cat?”

The strip light in the lobby flickered. “I’ll be fine, but I’m worried about her.
I’d never forgive myself if—”

“Neither would I, and we have no way of knowing how long this storm is going to last.”
He put the carrier down and stared through the glass double doors for a moment. Somebody
needed to keep an eye on Piper whether she liked it or not. Independent and sassy
she may well be, but he needed her in the next few weeks and he wasn’t about to let
his best-laid plans fall apart. His concern was purely practical, and had nothing
to do with the image his mind was torturing him with: a picture of her shivering under
a thin blanket in the dark. Alone, worrying about her feral cat, possibly sobbing…
“Are your folks in Passion Creek? Could I take you both there?”

She looked horrified. “No way. Sophie’s making the place crowded as it is, and my
mom doesn’t like pets because of the way they shed. She’s OCD on the cleaning front.
Besides, I’m a big girl and I have blankets. I’ll be fine.”

He shook his head. “A buddy, then? You can’t spend a night like this alone in sub-zero
temperatures with no heating.”

Her face lit up. “Genius idea, why didn’t I think of that? Yes, my friend Melanie
will let us stay the night, no problem. I’ll call her on the way.”

“Excellent, then let’s get out of here.”

Piper jabbed at the screen of her phone irritably. She’d tried five times to send
a text to Melanie and each time it had bounced back as undelivered. Her network coverage
was virtually non-existent, but what choice did she have but to keep trying to call?

“Can’t get a text to go through. She wasn’t answering earlier,” she muttered, half
to herself, half to Matt. “And damn, now that I’ve got a signal, I’m going straight
to voicemail again.”

Matt raised his voice over the lash of the windshield wipers thrashing back and forth
in the screaming wind. “What if she’s not there?”

Piper continued to listen to Melanie’s voice recording. “She will be.”

“Can you be absolutely sure about that? What if she’s not?”

She frowned at the question and then her hands flew to her mouth as the road ahead
disappeared beneath a wall of falling snow and rock. “Watch out!”

“Shit,” Matt growled and braked so quickly and so hard it was like being kicked by
a horse in the chest when the seat belts activated. He swerved the car to the left,
avoiding hitting the six-foot-high wall, but coming perilously close to the mountainside
of the road—harsh, black jagged, unforgiving rock. His breath came out in short bursts.
Even Superman had his limits, it seemed. The engine whined. “That was close.”

“Holy crap.” Piper heard the shake in her voice, but it was okay to be scared and
in a state of shock. They could have been buried alive or crushed to death if he hadn’t
reacted so quickly. Even the cat had fallen silent.

Matt took a deep breath, gripped the steering wheel, and closed his eyes briefly.
“Nobody this side of that avalanche is going back to Passion Creek tonight.” His eyes
opened and they were dark and serious when they connected with hers. “Before you say
anything, I’m not going to argue with you, Piper, okay?” He looked edgy, but maybe
he was in shock, too. “I’m taking you to my cabin.”

“Oh no, I don’t think—”

“No, don’t think about it at all because you have no choice.” He snatched his cell
phone out of his jacket pocket and jabbed at the screen for a few seconds. “
We
have no choice. If we don’t get shelter in the next fifteen minutes or so we could
be in serious trouble.”

He carefully turned the car around and she could see a muscle working in his jaw as
he concentrated on the maneuver. She wanted to protest, to try and find some other
way of not being taken into the middle of nowhere with Matt DeLeo, but was too frightened
by their brush with death to even speak as they roared off. They passed by the veterinary
center again and neither of them spoke to confirm what she had suspected and feared.
All the lights were out, even in the parking lot, which Matt’s headlights showed was
now empty.

“Power’s out,” he announced flatly and squinted through the windshield. Visibility
had gone beyond poor to verging on the impossible. “Hold tight. Five miles.”

Piper squeezed her eyes shut against the black and white whirlpool of the ferocious,
unforgiving night. She was clenching her fists the way she did in the dentist’s chair
and she had a tension headache brewing. Not surprising. Just five miles and they would
be safe and another nightmare would take its place; she’d be stranded with Matt DeLeo,
on his territory, with no polite means of escape, and no clean underwear. It truly
had been the shittiest of days and it wasn’t over yet. If it wasn’t for the poor little
cat…

“Some cabin,” Piper muttered as the car ground to a slithering halt and she finally
opened her eyes. The sight that greeted her was like something off a Christmas card
or one of those sentimental jigsaw puzzles that Aunt Mabel would spend the winter
putting together. Toffee-colored wood gables were topped with a thick layer of snow,
and neat wooden railings ran around the front porch and upstairs balcony. “It looks
like an enormous gingerbread house.”

“Thanks,” he murmured and killed the engine.

Light streaming out of the downstairs windows like golden inquisitive eyes made Piper
uneasy. “And it looks like somebody’s already home.” Hell, she’d never even considered
that he might have a live-in girlfriend.

“Remote instructions.” He lifted up his cell phone for her to see. “This is all I
need to activate the heating, lights, and intruder alarm. I can even preheat the oven
if I want so everything’s ready to go when I turn up cold and hungry.”

“I wondered who you were texting after we almost got crushed. I thought it might be
your girlfriend or something.” It was a loaded statement, and maybe she shouldn’t
have said it.

His dark gaze burned into her and she felt a little quiver skitter up her spine. “I
don’t have a girlfriend. It’s not something I do. Dates, flings, and sex, yes, but
nothing long term,” he said quietly. “Unless you’re volunteering to up the stakes
on our deal and persuade me to change my ways?”

She wasn’t going to answer that; she couldn’t because she didn’t know what on earth
to say in reply. “So,” she coughed lightly. “What happens if the power’s out like
it is down the road? I don’t suppose your remote control wizardry’s much good in that
case.”

“There are backup generators, three of them.”

“Not taking any chances, then?”

“I can’t afford to because it’s rented out most of the year. I don’t want any bad
reviews of the place on the internet because of something preventable like a power
outage, and I take great pride in offering a deluxe rental experience.”

“I guess it doesn’t come cheap, either.”

“No, it’s ridiculously expensive, but that doesn’t slow down business. There still
seem to be plenty of executives out there with money to burn, world recession or not.
I don’t mind taking some of it off them.”

“IT millionaires?”

“They come from different fields. IT, oil, banking, shipping, you name it, but I don’t
get too close to it all. An agency deals with it.”

“Weeds out any trailer trash, too, I’ll bet.”

He laughed. “The security deposit tends to do that. We’re lucky it’s vacant for the
next week. There was a last-minute cancellation.”

“They must be bummed about that.”

He shrugged. “It happens, life happens, and sometimes these hotshots have to give
up one of their five holidays a year. They had insurance, and there’s always next
season. Hopefully the housekeeper will have made it in to clean up after the last
people left.”

“So it’s your cabin, but you never actually live in it?”

“It’s easier to stay in Passion Creek when I’m working here. It saves time and that
means I get more work done. I can also walk back to wherever I’m staying if I put
in a late shift at the Railway Tavern and I’ve had more than one beer.”

“You’re nutty. A multimillionaire and you choose to work behind a bar and rough it
in a dive over a fried chicken takeout in Florida. I can’t begin to think of what
motivates you to do something like that.”

“Billionaire. Now, let’s get inside and you can question me as much as you like.”
A growl from the cat appeared to signal that she agreed with him completely.

Chapter Six

The ice-laden wind bit at her cheeks as they rushed from the safety of the car and
up three steps to the covered porch that ran the length of the cabin front. Holding
the cat box under his arm, Matt flipped open what at first seemed to be a wall-mounted
mailbox by the door, but turned out to be something electronic—she should have anticipated
that. He punched a series of digits into the keypad inside and the front door unlocked
with a smooth whirr and a click.

He pushed the heavy wooden door open and indicated that she should enter, which she
did very quickly. Stepping inside a great golden hall of warmth and polished wood,
her gaze fell on a gas fireplace at the far side of the open-plan living room beneath
a breathtaking cathedral ceiling. “It’s gorgeous.”

“Thanks,” Matt said, shaking snowflakes off his shoes and holding his hand out to
take her coat. “It’ll take a little while longer to warm up, but I’ll close the drapes
to stop any drafts.”

She glanced over her shoulder to see him pull a thick tapestry panel across the front
door. “You don’t have the drapes on your remote control?”

“Not yet.” He laughed softly. “Next rainy day project.”

The sound of a branch lashing against the roof in the wind made her shiver. “I’m so
glad we’re not out there anymore.”

“Hopefully things will be calmer by morning.” He glanced down at the unusually quiet
pet carrier. “I guess I’d better get her some food and water. When did she last have
anything?”

Piper kneeled down and peered through the slats in the pet carrier. “I fed her before
I went to work this morning, but I didn’t check if she’d eaten. Either way, she’s
well overdue for dinner, poor thing.”

“We’ll have to improvise. I don’t keep any pet food here.”

“Got any canned fish? I’ll pay you for it. Tuna, salmon, sardines, something like
that?”

“Yeah, there’s tons of that kind of stuff in the pantry, but you don’t need to pay
for anything.” He grinned and crouched down beside her. “And milk?”

She could feel the heat of his body, he was so close. “No, that’ll upset her stomach.
A lot of cats are lactose intolerant, so you shouldn’t give them milk.”

“Really?” His voice was soft and deep. “You learn something every day.”

Piper swallowed and stared pointedly at the box, not daring to meet his gaze. They
were just too close to each other. “Not a cat person, are you?”

“Nothing against cats, but I’m not a pet person at all.”

“Too much responsibility?”

“Too much of a tie and too much potential heartache.” He stood up abruptly and strode
toward a large window. He pulled the thick drapes across it to shut out the black
night. “The damn things have a tendency of dying before you do every time.”

“I guess,” she said and scratched her head. “Is there somewhere small and cozy we
can put her? I think she might freak out if I let her loose in here. It’s a huge room
and being in another strange place and her being so stressed…”

“We can put her upstairs in the smallest loft room if you like.”

“And maybe put some old blankets or something out? Your carpets are so nice and clean,
I have a horrible feeling she may be tempted to do something unspeakable to them.”

“You mean like—”

“She’s capable of anything and everything after the day she’s had.” Not unlike her
new owner.

“Follow me,” he said, picking the carrier up gently and making a soothing noise as
he did. “We’ll get her fixed up.”

Piper sat tensely in a large armchair in the loft room guarding the cat who had been
released from her prison and was currently cowering in a corner of the room, looking
deadly. They were doing their best in the circumstances, having fashioned a bed nest
out of towels and blankets, but it wasn’t as if the cat knew how hard they were trying.

Piper glanced around in the soft light from a lamp in the corner and thought how much
the place looked like a show house. There were strategically placed interior bits
and pieces, and there was a cozy feel to the place, but it was all far too tasteful
and uncluttered to be anyone’s home. It was a shame. It would be amazing to live so
close to nature in the mountains, and yet enjoy such domestic luxury.

“Hi,” Matt whispered as he inched around the door carrying a breakfast tray under
his arm. “I remembered that cats crap and pee just like we do, so I’ve rigged up a
litter box for our little princess.”

“Good thinking.” She smiled as he set the tray down on the floor and poured wood chips
into it. “And innovative of you.”

“Thanks. Do you think she’ll use it?”

She rustled her fingertips over the surface of the chips to make a sound like scratching.
“She’s giving it a good look, so let’s hope so, but if she doesn’t, I promise to clean
up any mess.”

“Pets, I don’t know why people put themselves through it. She hasn’t even had the
operation yet. Will you be able to handle it?”

Piper shrugged. “I don’t have much choice now. She’s officially registered as mine
and I wouldn’t abandon her anyway. I couldn’t do that. If she was in a rescue center
for more than a few weeks, they’d euthanize her.”

“Euthanize her?” He made a low whistling noise through his teeth.

“Terrible, isn’t it?”

He nodded and pulled the ring on a can of Albacore tuna, opening it. “Let’s get some
of this served up for the mom down there.”

“Heck, give her too much stuff like that and she won’t want to leave. Talk about luxury
accommodation.” She smiled as the cat stretched, almost as if she was pretending she
hadn’t caught a tantalizing whiff of the fish and was far, far above showing any interest.
Yet, within a few moments of him forking it onto a dish, she was there, wolfing down
the contents as if there was no tomorrow.

Matt poured some bottled water into a bowl. “Should we leave her to settle in now?”

“I think so,” she said and pushed herself up from the armchair. “I was getting close
to nodding off there myself.”

Matt closed the loft room door behind them and they made their way quietly down the
wooden stairs. “You’re still soaked,” he said and gestured for her to take off her
shoes.

“So are you. It’s no big deal.”

“There are some spare clothes tucked away around the place. I’ll dig them out and
then we can get yours washed and dried.”

Piper had to admit she was damp and uncomfortable. “No, it’s too much trouble, they’ll
dry on me soon.”

“I won’t take no for an answer. There’s a good utility room here, specifically geared
for lots of washing and drying due to the amount of snow sport fanatics we have visit
us.”

“I’ve troubled you enough already, really I—”

“Look at you, I can see from here that you’re soaking wet from your coat to your boots.”

She frowned and shucked off her snow boots. “Okay, you win. Can I shower?”

“Can I join you?” She glared at him silently and he smiled. “I guess that would be
a no.”

“You’re a bright boy,” she shot back. “A definite no.”

He shrugged and kept right on grinning. “In that case, we need to turn around and
head back up the stairs.” He nodded in the direction of the landing. “Ladies first.”

She could almost feel the burn of his eyes on her damp butt and decided to make it
sway from side to side just to show him that his fancy house didn’t intimidate her.

“We might as well have a quick tour on the way,” he said, and once on the landing,
he pushed open the door opposite the stairwell. “You’ve seen the smallest loft room,
so this is the master bedroom.”

It was an enormous space with dark wooden polished floors, neutral walls, and a massive
bed draped with a bright and multicolored patchwork quilt. A slipper bath sat in the
corner opposite a large, antique-looking mirror.

“Very nice,” she murmured, trying not to imagine what he’d look like reclining in
the cast iron tub, glistening with bath oil…

“I could run you a bath if you’d prefer it to a shower?” She could hear the teasing
in the tone of his voice—she didn’t need to look at him for that. A bath in the master
bedroom? Now that would be going too far, however tempting the idea.

“A shower will be just fine.” She turned to escape, but to her surprise, he didn’t
move an inch to let her pass, his wide torso effectively filling the doorway as he
leaned one shoulder against the doorjamb. She could feel the heat radiating from him
and noticed that his white shirt was as damp as hers, the black shadow of a tattoo
showing through where the material clung to his skin. “So if you could show me where
I can find the shower?”

He eased back and away onto the landing to let her pass and then stepped back into
the master bedroom. “I’ll just get you some dry clothes.” Her stomach flipped. She’d
assumed he was going to make a pass at her, but was actually just trying to get to
the dresser drawer, and then she felt annoyed with herself for wishing that he had
leaned down and kissed her…

He quickly opened a few more doors to let her see all the rooms, which he told her
all had french doors leading out onto the upstairs balcony, but were currently covered
with draft-excluding drapes. “The storm should be over by morning and you can get
a good view of the mountains and river out back.”

“I knew places like this existed, but this is the first time I’ve ever been inside
one of these cabins,” she said, taking the sweatpants, pullover, and T-shirt he handed
her. “It’s gorgeous, and I’ll be sure to have a good look at everything in the morning.”
Her gaze locked with his. “Before we leave.”

He flicked on a tight smile and broke the eye contact. “Sure. Have a great shower.”

Piper growled quietly to herself, sounding not unlike the miserable cat, as she peeled
off her damp clothes. She should not feel like a heel for being eager to leave in
the morning and actually saying so. She slapped damp garments on the tiled floor.
So, okay, Matt DeLeo had possibly saved her life, but that didn’t mean she owed him…and
he’d given her a roof over her head for the night and fed her mangy cat premium tuna
and was being very gentlemanly, all things considered.

“You are a heel,” she muttered to herself and turned the shower on full blast.

Matt yawned and stretched as she reached the bottom step of the stairs after her shower.
“I’m beat. You must be, too.”

“I feel half dead, but so much better after that shower.” She forced a grin. The least
she could do was try and be nice, since none of this was his fault. But being brittle
was her instinctive way of denying the attraction she felt toward him, of not making
a fool of herself by letting him know he was hotter than Sanibel in July. “And is
there under floor heating in here? The wood feels great on my bare feet.”

He nodded and picked up a beer bottle from the low side table next to a squashy red
sofa. “I needed a drink to settle my nerves, want some?”

“Tempting, but I remember the last time we drank together.”

“In town?” He feigned an innocent look. “I don’t remember burning up the tapas bar.”

“You know what I mean.”

“I’m not going to take advantage of this situation, and would you let me anyway?”

“Of course not.”

“Well, there you go.”

“And why would you want to take advantage of me?” She let out a hollow laugh. “You’re
on
Forbes
’ most wanted bachelor list, why the hell would you want to choose me again?”

“You’re hard on yourself. I have high standards, especially with women. I need food
as well as a drink. Hungry?”

“I could eat my own feet.”

“It’s great that I have three freezers stocked with gourmet food and TV dinners then,
huh?”

“Seriously?”

“Three is my lucky number. Come on, challenge me. Tell me what you really want to
eat more than anything in the world right now and maybe it can be done. Just for you,
my very special guest.”

She grinned. “I don’t want lobster.”

“Too bad, there’s bound to be a ton of it. That’s one of the reasons the rent on this
place is so high.”

She tugged at an earlobe as she considered the challenge and was tempted to concoct
something completely ridiculous, but the gnawing in her stomach took the fun out of
the idea. She was too hungry to peel crustaceans from shells. “Cheeseburger, sweet
potato fries, Jack Daniels barbeque sauce, and jalapenos on the side.”

He chuckled. “You want a stack of onion rings with that?”

“Why not? Now rise to the challenge while I fuss over the cat. Go, DeLeo, go.”

Within half an hour, the meal had been cooked and devoured, the cat had curled up
under the blanket in her room and gone to sleep, and Piper was feeling much more relaxed.
She was also secretly impressed with Matt’s expertise in the kitchen. He was a great
cook, and she hadn’t expected that. He was also surprisingly easy company, as long
as she could keep her eyes off the way his black T-shirt strained over his shoulders
and broad chest, and the neon blue and black tentacles of the octopus tattoo that
curled out from beneath his short sleeves.

She’d love to see the whole piece of art again, the way it was worked so skillfully
over his hard bicep and shoulder blade. She wanted to run her fingertips over that
smooth flesh again, too, but she wiped her mouth with a napkin a little harder than
necessary in the hope that the discomfort would drive such thoughts right out of her
mind. “That was the best meal I’ve had since yesterday.”

“High praise. What did you have yesterday? Cold pizza?”

“No, Sophie and I had fish and chips takeout delivery from the Railway Tavern. Please
don’t tell me you cooked that yourself as well as poured beer.”

He chuckled. “No, I employ a fully qualified kitchen staff. The new head chef is a
Brit. The fish and chips experiment is his idea. Any good?”