Desert Surrender (22 page)

“Yes, it would. Do you surrender to me totally, Clarissa?”

“Yes. Let"s do it the minute we get back in Vegas.”

He nibbled on her ear. “We don"t have to wait. If you"re serious about it, I know a piercer here in town who could do it tomorrow. How does your body take piercing?”

“I"ve never had a problem. And I think I could do five on each side.”

“Are you sure? Completely sure?”

“Yes, I surrender my body to you, Maddox. I want to be yours, totally.”

“You already are, sweet Rissa. Hearing you say it makes me the happiest, and the luckiest, man in the world.”

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Chapter Fourteen

Clarissa shifted in her chair, her new piercings throbbing just a bit. They"d decided on six rings on each side. The design was for a full pussy corset. The piercings started at her lower labia and moved upward toward her belly. They"d done three rings on the first pass. In two weeks she would get the other three done. Once they were healed, Maddox would be able to corset her pussy closed.

He"d already taken her on a shopping trip to find padlocks he could use on each ring, small tiny locks that would keep the lacings in place until he unlocked them. She"d been thrilled with the piercings. The woman Maddox knew did a fantastic job, and the pain had been minimal. Maddox had held her hand, kissing her knuckles with each ring that had been added, reminding her that she belonged to him and he couldn"t be more thrilled about it.

Clarissa had replied that she was more than thrilled with the situation and couldn"t wait for the new rings to heal enough to be used. Of course the events had basically ended their play for the weekend, which was fine with her. She still stayed naked while they were at the cabin, and he still held her close.

They discussed things they would want in a house, how it would be decorated and how they would go about selecting a new one. On Monday morning, she"d been sitting in Maddox"s office when he"d called a realtor to put his house on the market. Not a great time for it, he knew, but he said they would work with what they had.

Then he"d called Andrew in and told him the casino in Laughlin was a go. When he offered Andrew his house, Clarissa thought the other man would come undone with excitement. He couldn"t wait to get started. All they needed now were a few more inspections on the building, and renovations could begin.

Now it was Monday afternoon, and they sat and waited on Blake Turner, Maddox"s attorney. When he"d called them to say he had news Clarissa had been astonished.

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“The hacker must be good if it took him such a short amount of time.” Maddox squeezed her hand and winked at her.

“It"s going to be fine, don"t worry.”

The door to the conference room opened, and the man who entered was not what Clarissa expected. This man looked like he could pass for a college-age student when you first saw him. As he drew closer to them, though, she could see the tiny lines and figured he was closer to forty than his looks implied.

He shook her hand and smiled. “My wife is thrilled about you being here. She thinks you"re, and I quote, very cool.”

“Well, tell her I said thanks.” Her legs were moving, seemingly on their own. She applied pressure to stop them. “You have news for me.”

“Yes.” He sat down opposite them and took out a few sheets of paper, passing one to her and then asking her if he could pass one to Maddox also.

“Yes.”

“I wanted to check, since you"re the client.”

She scanned the paper and frowned. “What is this?”

“That is a wedding present from your mother"s parents.” Before she could open her mouth, Blake held up his hand. “When you and your sisters were born, your grandparents deposited a healthy sum of money into a savings account for each of you.

According to records at the bank, the money was supposed to be a gift, on your wedding day. And since you were minors at the time, the accounts were set up in the name of your father and mother. Over the years, it"s changed to just your father.”

“I think I don"t want to hear any more.” She pushed the paper across the table, then groaned in frustration. “Okay, go on.”

“When your sisters got married, their accounts were closed and the money transferred to an offshore account in your father"s name. They probably never knew it was there, just like you.”

“That doesn"t explain why the conniving thief is so eager for me to marry Henry Isaacs.”

“It"s simple. The rules of the fund state that if you"re not married by the time you"re thirty, the money is donated to charity. That part he couldn"t mess with.”

There were rocks in her stomach, and she felt like she might throw them up at any moment. “So he ripped off Diane and Claire. Since I wasn"t finding a husband before I turned thirty, he had to make sure he found one for me or he lost all that money.

“What about the papers we signed?”

“We couldn"t find anything you signed. Again, I"m guessing they were papers that waived your rights to the money. I"m sure your father had you sign them when you were young but over eighteen so it was legal. He would assume, rightly so, that you wouldn"t read something he asked you to sign for legal purposes.”

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“That rat bastard! Why didn"t he just take it outright when he had us sign the papers?”

“Well, from what I can determine, his attorneys are not part of this deal,” Blake replied. “Your grandparents had a firm that did it all. The papers say it was all supposed to be a surprise for you until your marriage. What I would guess is that once you were married, your father would file papers that transferred the money to him, since it couldn"t be touched until then or your birthday. I"m only assuming, of course, that he hired Henry Isaacs to marry you and promised to split the money with him.”

“How much?”

“Over nine million. Twenty-nine years of interest can add up.”

“Nice wedding gift,” Maddox said.

“What about taxes and such? None of this was ever listed on my returns.”

“It wasn"t in your name,” Blake reminded her. “I"m sure your father kept it aboveboard. Until he stole it from you and your sisters.”

“I"m calling Diane and Claire tonight to let them know.” She put her head in her hands. “If those papers I signed lifted my rights, I couldn"t get the money now if I married, could I?”

Blake laughed. “Oh, we could work on that. Something tells me your father wouldn"t want you to make this thing public. I"m sure he would deny the papers ever existed and just slink off quietly. From what I know of you, you"d make it public.”

“Damn straight I would.” She tried to laugh, when inside she thought she would die. Her own father stealing from not just her but her sisters as well. “Your hacker sure earned his money, plus a bonus.”

“He"ll be happy to hear that.” Blake leaned toward them both. “He stays in the closet, so to speak, and will love the extra money.”

Clarissa stood and held out her hand. “Thank you.”

Blake shook her hand and Maddox"s. “Anything else you need, just let me know.”

“What about prenups?” The words were out of her mouth before she even knew she was going to say them. Beside her, Maddox didn"t even seem to bat an eyelash.

Blake"s eyes widened in surprise, and then he nodded. “Yeah, I do that too.”

“Good,” Maddox said. “We may need you soon.”

Blake laughed. “Just say the word.”

Clarissa wrote out a check to give to the “consultant” before leaving. When they were back in Maddox"s SUV, she buckled her seat belt, then sat looking out the window.

“I"m sorry,” Maddox said after climbing inside. “I know this has to be hard on you.”

“It shouldn"t surprise me. It"s not like he ever really gave a shit about us.”

“Rissa.” He clasped her hand. “Don"t think that.”

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“Why? It"s true. I don"t know if it would have been different if we were boys. It makes me think, though, about my life. If he hadn"t always pushed me to follow his rules, would I have been so eager to raise hell like I did?”

He leaned over until his face was right next to hers. “Yes, you would have. Some of us are products of our environment, yes. And that could have partially shaped you.

Face it, baby; you were born to raise hell.”

Maddox pressed his lips against her cheek, and she turned her head, kissing him back. “I don"t know what to do. For the first time in a long time, I"m stumped. I want to hurt him in some way, but he"s my father, no matter what he"s done.”

“You know what to do. Think about your options. Lay them out for me.”

“Well, I could let the deadline pass, and the money would go to charity. Or”—she turned to him—“I could marry before December and take the money. If Blake is right, my father will let it go without a fight. Then I could donate it to the charities that I want it to go to.”

She clicked her tongue a few times. “I wonder if Henry"s left town yet?”

“Watch it, you.”

Their gazes locked for a few long, meaningful moments, and then he cleared his throat. “Clarissa Marie Montgomery Alexander, will you marry me? Today?”

“No.” She watched disbelief spread across his face. Then she smiled innocently.

“I"ll marry you tomorrow, though. I want Anna to be here.”

“Fair enough. I"ll book a chapel.”

“I want the Elvis chapel or the alien one, you choose. And I want lots of media.

And I want a huge ring that will make my father cringe when he sees it on the cover of every gossip rag in the country.”

“Done. Let"s go shopping.” He turned to start the car, and she put her hand on his to still his actions.

“First we need to go inside. A prenup?” She looked at him questioningly, and he nodded, taking the keys from the ignition and pocketing them. He crossed to her side of the car to help her out.

“We"re going to have to tip Blake for the rush job. I"ll pay this one.”

He held her face between his hands, gently caressing her cheeks before kissing her, nibbling on her lower lip. “Just so you know, I"m voting for Elvis since you left it up to me.”

She kissed him back, then grinned. “Excellent choice.”

* * * * *

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“Don"t worry, they have photographers on staff for this type of thing. They"ll be here to give you money as soon as you mention marriage and my name. Just don"t tell them where or when until you see the green.”

And in the end, they"d decided to use a new chapel owned by a friend of Nicole"s.

It had only been open for a month, and Richard, the owner, was ecstatic about his new clients. Clarissa was sure he was over the moon right now, since the place was full of TV cameras and tourists who had come in off the streets to see what the fuss was about.

“Your mother"s here.” Humor tinged Anna"s words. “I saw her talking to Maddox"s mother, and they both seemed a little taken aback.”

“I imagine so. This isn"t exactly the wedding she had planned for me.” Clarissa hugged her longtime friend. “Thank you for being here.”

“Are you kidding? I wouldn"t have missed this for anything. This is just too, too cool. Do you love him? Or are you marrying him because of the story you told me about the money. Be truthful.”

Clarissa"s heart thumped louder, and she sighed. “I don"t know if I love him. I know I don"t ever want to be without him. Of course that could just be because he fucks me harder than anyone ever has, and he makes me come so fucking hard and…” She fingered the silver chain choker Maddox had placed around her neck that morning.

“
This is to wear in public; only you and I will know what it really means, that you’re
mine
.”

“
Always yours
,” she"d replied.

“Earth to Rissa.” She turned to Anna. “Give it six months. If that feeling hasn"t faded into „I can"t believe I did this," then you love him.”

Clarissa ran her hands down the tea-length dress she wore. It had a scoop neck with a beaded bodice. The skirt was full. Under it she wore no panties. The only thing that would make it better, she knew, was if she"d been healed enough for Maddox to tie the first rings of her pussy corset. That could wait, though. By the time she had the second set of piercings done, it would be six months before she was healed enough to tie. Six months to heal. Six months to figure out if it was love. How strange was that? “Is this okay?”

“It"s white.” Anna laughed again. “It just amazes me.”

“I know.” Clarissa grinned. “The gossip columns are going to have a field day.

Horny heiress heads to altar in white. Who does she think she"s kidding?”

The door opened, and Maddox strolled in, wearing a black tux that looked like it had been form fitted to his body. Clarissa"s pussy grew wet at the sight of him, and she smiled.

“Hey.”

“Hi.” He crossed the room and kissed her, ignoring Anna"s, “what are you doing, it"s bad luck! Go away, go away!”

“Your mother wanted to talk to you before the wedding. I told her I"d ask.”

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“Maybe I should have waited to call her until afterward. „By the way, I got married. Maybe you can come and visit someday." Not.”

Indecision took hold, and she thought about the pros and cons. She was so happy right now, and her mother could put a huge damper on it. Then again she was her mother. Maybe she would be nice.

“Yeah, when pigs fly,” she whispered to herself before lifting her gaze to Maddox.

“Stay with me?”