Marrying the Millionaire (25 page)

Noticing Kayla had some ice cream
smeared on the upper part of her lip, Richmond put a finger to her
mouth where the ice cream was. “You got some ice cream right
here.”

She trailed the tip of her tongue
around her lips, trying to get it off. “Is it off?”

“
No.” He leaned into her.
“Let me help you.” Bowing his head, he slanted his mouth over hers
and tongue-kissed her. Not giving a damn that they were sucking
face in public, he curled his tongue with hers and sucked the sweet
treat from her delicate flesh.

Kayla’s sweet lips felt like soft
cotton gliding across his lips. His shaft throbbed inside his
underwear. He’d never been the type of man to do something so
daring like kiss a woman out in public.

Damn, how had he let Kayla walk into
his life and get under his skin like this? Falling for a woman was
not in his plans. He wished like hell he could stop his feelings
for her. Stop falling deeper and deeper in lo— As soon as the
four-letter word ‘love’ popped inside his head, Richmond tore his
mouth from Kayla’s.

Scared of his own thoughts, he
retreated to eating his ice cream. Willing his shaft to soften with
his mind, his body felt aflame. Hell no! He wasn’t in love.
Thinking of the word ‘love’, he mentally punched his own face for
letting his brain drift to the dumb word. Being in love once in his
lifetime was way more than he’d ever need, so it just wasn’t going
to ever happen again. Not ever!

“
Are you okay?” Obviously,
she’d read his tensed body language.

“
Yeah. I’m good. Why do you
ask?”

“
No reason.”

As much as he liked Kayla, he had a
hard time trusting women at this point in his life. Aware that
Salina was the cause of his inability to trust women, he grimaced.
Who knows? Maybe one day he’d let his guard down and be able to
give himself completely to a woman. It may even be to his Kay. For
now, though, his most important concern was raising Isabelle. His
second most important concern was proving that Jason had killed his
wife. And after he did, he was going to put the bastard behind bars
for the rest of his long, living, miserable days.

Jason had smiled in his
face yesterday like he hadn’t done a damn thing. Like he didn’t
convince or threaten Salina to sign that life insurance policy and
leave it to him.
Damn you, Jason!
He took the advantage of my wife behind my back.
For that, he’s going to have to pay. I hope he burns in hell for
all eternity! And if he even thinks about hurting my Kay, I’ll
stomp on his throat and break his neck!

Kayla sighed. “Okay. Something’s
definitely on your mind, Richmond.”

“
You’re right.” He pecked
her mouth. “Just business. That’s all. Just business.”

Richmond’s cell buzzed against his
hip. Glad it was the jewelry store calling to say Isabelle’s
bracelet was ready, he answered without looking at the Caller ID.
“Hello.”

“
It’s me, Don. You got a
second?”

“
For you,
always.”

“
Are you alone?”

“
No, why?”

“
Go somewhere where you can
talk,” Don advised.

Richmond excused himself from Kayla,
rounded the side corner of the bookstore, and stopped walking when
he reached the end of the crosswalk. “I’m by myself now. What’s
up?”

“
I ran a report on all
Jason’s banking transactions over the last few years and stumbled
across a check made out to him for a hundred thousand dollars. But
the amount doesn’t intrigue me as much as who it’s from
does.”

Not sure he wanted to hear this,
Richmond swallowed. Salina better not had given Jason his damn
money. Pinching the bridge of his nose, he shut his eyes and asked,
“Who was the check from?”

“
Your father.”

Blown the hell away, his eyes shot
open.

LOCKING THE DOOR TO HIS quaint
library, the killer turned and strode over to the window.
Grimacing, he slid his hands deep inside his pants pockets. With
evening approaching, purple hues highlighted the darkening sky.
Eyes roaming over the scattered leaves on the grass in his
backyard, regret pinched his heart.

Tears welled in his eyes. Remorseful,
he choked on his sob. “Oh, Salina. I miss you. We were so close.
People never truly understood the relationship we had.” It’d been
years since he’d killed Salina, and ‘til this day her death still
haunted him, especially at night. Because of the nightmares he’d
been having about Salina lately, he hated going to sleep. Hated
closing his gotdamn eyes.

Every time he closed his eyes and fell
asleep lately, he’d dream that Kayla was on to him. That she’d
found out his secret, the secret he intended on going to his grave
with. If he could turn back the clock, he would’ve never assisted
Salina in her death.

Lips twisting, he removed the photo
from his wall and placed it on his desk. Thinking about Kayla, the
killer’s fingers trembled as he pushed in the secret code to his
safe. Frustrated about the new information he’d stumbled on, he
hefted his diary and flopped down in his favorite
recliner.

“
Damn you, Kayla,” he
grumbled, opening up his diary. Placing the tip of the felt pen on
the page, he had to write down how he felt. It wasn’t good
either.

Dear Diary,

Kayla just so happened to
stumble on some information inside her grandfather’s closet that
may possibly connect Salina’s death to me. She’s been ordered to
keep her mouth shut, but an eerie feeling inside me tells me she’s
not going to do that. As long as she thinks her grandfather killed
Salina, and not me, I don’t have anything to worry about. But if
she ever puts two and two together and it adds up to me, well,
let’s just say I have no intentions of going to jail. Mark my
words, I’ll do whatever it takes to stay a free man.

Knuckles rasped at the killer’s front
door. Wondering who the visitor was, he bolted from the chair,
placed the diary inside the secret safe, then hung the picture back
on the wall. After he locked the door to his library, he strode to
the front door and yanked it open.

“
I have some information
about Kayla I think you might want to hear,” his most trusted
acquaintance stated.

The killer stepped to the side. “Come
in.”

“
I can only stay a few
minutes, so this won’t take long,” the killer’s friend exclaimed,
stepping into the foyer.

Disgruntled, the killer closed the
door, then folded his arms over his chest. Standing in the foyer,
he prayed he could trust the man standing in front of him. The last
thing he needed was for him to go running his gotdamn mouth to
Richmond. If he did, things on Hilton Head Island would blow the
fuck up. And they’d both be responsible.

Eyes narrowing, uneasiness
slithered through the killer’s veins.
You
better not betray me.
“So what is it you
want to tell me about Kayla?”

The gentleman reached inside his
blazer, pulled out a white envelope, and handed it over. “She’s
been married before, to a man by the name of Carson. Inside the
envelope is a record of her bank statements. She doesn’t have much
money. She lives paycheck to paycheck.”

Holding Kayla’s financial statement in
his hands, his eyes raked over the statement like a fine toothed
comb. “She’s broke as hell.” He lifted his head and met the other
man’s gaze. “You don’t think she’s using Richmond for his money, do
you?”

“
No. From what I can tell,
she likes him for him. A lot.”

With all the money Richmond
has, he could make this Kayla one of the richest women in town.
Well, nobody’s good enough to take Salina’s place. Nobody.
“By the looks of Kayla’s bank statements, her
ex-husband doesn’t help her much, if at all. If push comes to
shove, maybe I can pay her to keep her mouth shut.”

“
That’s my
thought.”

Suddenly, a genius thought
struck up inside the killer’s head.
Maybe
I can pay Carson to remarry Kayla and take her ass back to North
Carolina where she came from. Yeah, that’ll work.
Conjuring up the perfect plan to get Kayla as far
away as possible from Richmond, the killer’s lips split into a
wide, wicked grin.

THANKSGIVING DAY ROLLED AROUND,
BRINGING in cooler Fall weather, colorful leaves, and a huge family
gathering at Leslie Spaulding’s estate. To make the day look
festive, Leslie had placed a huge inflatable turkey in her front
yard, and the children kept poking it with their fingers. Well, not
all the children; just mainly Isabelle and that darn CJ.

As Kayla stood in Leslie’s front yard
watching Isabelle and CJ run in circles around the huge inflatable
turkey that was way taller than them, heavenly scents of pine
swirled in the air. Richmond exited the house through the front
door and came to stand next to her. Curling an arm around her
shoulder, he asked, “Dinner will be starting as soon as Suade
arrives. Come take a walk with me.”

“
Okay.”

Holding Kayla’s hand, Richmond rounded
the corner of his mother’s house and entered her beautiful back
yard, overlooking a wide river. If Kayla’s memory served her
correct, Sandella’s in-laws—Willa and Drake—lived in this same
neighborhood down the street. Walking along the edge of the grass
by the river, leaves crunched under their shoes as the salty water
streamed inside her nose.

Stopping in their tracks, she glanced
up at Richmond. A twinkle of sunlight caught his eyes. “Do you know
how thankful I am for you?” His voice had depth.

“
I think so.”

“
You think so? All the time
we’ve been spending together lately, you should know by now. I
don’t want you to think how I feel anymore, Kay. I want you to know
that I’m very thankful for you, and for CJ as well. To make sure
you’ll never forget it, I have something I want to give
you.”

When Richmond dug inside
his front jean pocket and pulled out a small grey box, Kayla’s
heart leapt into her throat.
Ohmygod, he’s
going to ask me to marry him.
Her
breathing heightening, light tremors shook her inwardly. Her eyes
was starting to moisten.

Richmond’s eyes probed to her very
soul as he popped back the lid of the box. Her insides immediately
calmed. Inside the box lay a beautiful diamond necklace. She
mentally slapped herself for thinking he was about to ask her to
marry him. “Oh, Richmond, it’s so beautiful.”

“
I think it’s going to look
beautiful around your neck, Kay. Every time you look at the
diamond, I want you to remember how special you are to me. And how
thankful I am for you.”

“
I’m thankful for you, too,
Richmond. I’m thankful for the way you spend time with me. I’m
thankful for the way you treat CJ. And I’m thankful that you’d
think enough of me to invite CJ and I over to celebrate
Thanksgiving Day with your family. It all means so much to
me.”

“
It’s means a lot to me,
too. Glad you could come. Turn around so I can put it on.” She
heard genuine care in his voice.