Their Seductress [The Hot Millionaires #1] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) (2 page)

“It’s okay, baby. We’ll get through this.”

“It’s not okay, Nick.” Paige wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. “Nothing will ever be all right ever again. Without Ellie I don’t think I can face—”

“Come on inside, and we’ll talk about it,” he said. “Put her case in the hall, Paul, and then you can be off.”

She stood feeling frail and alone whilst Nick detached himself and tipped Paul.

“Thanks, Ms. Fairfax,” he said, touching his cap and leaving quietly.

“Do they know anything yet?” Paige asked Nick when they were alone again.

“Nope. No one saw anything, no one heard anything—”

“How can that be possible?” Anger nudged Paige’s distress aside. “Dozens of people work there. I know it was lunchtime but surely—”

Paige became aware of a presence looming over her and stopped talking. She was strangely reluctant to turn her head and see who else was at the house. When she could no longer avoid doing so she thought she was hallucinating. Doug, her beloved Doug, stood there. Euphoria swept through her. She’d lost Ellie but regained Doug. Six foot two, thick black hair spilling across his collar, silver-gray eyes glinting with…Hell no, her mind was playing tricks on her. Doug was dead. Dead! Ellie was dead. Everyone who meant anything to her was dead. This had to be someone else.

“What the fuck’s she doing here?” demanded Isaac Drake, Doug’s twin brother.

“That went well,” Nick said, glowering at Isaac and simultaneously holding on to Paige, like he really believed she was too weak to stand on her own two feet.

Isaac curled his upper lip, leaving his contemptuous expression to do the talking for him. All the while his eyes continued to bore into Paige Fairfax’s lovely profile, his anger in danger of spilling over. This was all he needed. Not only did he have to deal with the loss of Ellie when he was still grieving for his brother, but it appeared he was now supposed to be civil to the woman who was indirectly responsible for that brother’s death.

“Did you know she was coming?” he asked through tightly compressed lips. “You might have said, and I’d have made alternative arrangements.”

“You didn’t exactly give me a chance,” Nick shot back at him. “You only got here ten minutes ago and haven’t been off your phone since.”

“Yeah well, this place ain’t big enough for us all. I’ll be on my way.”

“Don’t leave on my account,” Paige said acerbically.

“Why else would I go?”

“Children, children!” Nick finally released Paige and waved his hands in the air in an exasperated gesture that silenced them both. “Just remember why we’re here.”

“Like I could forget,” Isaac muttered.

“Why
are
we here?” Paige asked. “All I know is that I got a call from Lawson breaking the devastating news, then an e-ticket arrived for a flight to Tampa, and Paul delivered me here. I have absolutely no idea why.”

“You and me both.” Isaac shot her an evil glare.

“Lawson’s coming to see us here tomorrow morning,” Nick said.

“Paul said the day after.”

“Why, got something more important to do first?” Isaac asked, tossing a caustic glance at Paige. “Fancy hitting the shops or something?”

“Go and bother someone else. I’m not in the mood.”

“Ellie’s instructions were quite specific, apparently,” Nick said. “She required the three of us to be here to meet him.”

“Typical Ellie,” Paige said, cracking the merest hint of a smile. “Dramatic and secretive even in death.”

“We owe it to her to stay under the same roof tonight without killing each other.” Nick threw a warning glare Isaac’s way. “Once we find out what Lawson wants with us, then we can move on.”

“Are you sleeping in the house?” Paige asked Nick.

“Yeah, babe, I’ll play referee.”

“Thanks, but I’m a big girl. I can—”

“No sweat. I’ve put you in the blue room. You know where it is?”

“Sure. I’ve used it before.”

He grinned, lightening the heavy atmosphere with an easy smile. “Like I could forget.”

She smiled back at Nick, reliving some shared experience that excluded Isaac. A bolt of pure jealousy that infuriated Isaac shot through him. He hated Paige for what she’d done to Doug.
Hated
her.
If she had a history with Fuller, what was that to him?

“Hold that thought, Drake,” he muttered to himself, “and don’t let her looks get to you. She’s poison.”

“I’ll bring your bag up for you,” Nick said to Paige. “I’m right next door if you need me. Isaac’s down the corridor.”

“I know which door to avoid then,” she said in a sweetly sarcastic tone that made Isaac grind his teeth. She was the one in the wrong. She had no place goading him.

“Get freshened up, hun,” Nick said as he toted Paige’s bag up the sweeping staircase that led to a spectacular galleried landing overlooking the main living accommodation. “When you’re ready we’ll have a drink or six and something to eat.”

“The drinks sound good,” Isaac heard her say as she followed Nick up the stairs, “but I’m not so sure about food.”

Isaac watched her cute rear end as she ascended the stairs. Not because he wanted to but because he was a red-blooded male, and that was what red-blooded males did, regardless of how they felt about the owner of said butt. When she disappeared from view he stood in the magnificent lounge with its full-length windows directly overlooking the water, staring at the million-dollar view without seeing it, trying to make some sense out of this crazy situation. Ellie never did anything without a reason, but hell if he knew what she was up to this time.

“What is it with you two?” Nick asked when he returned, reaching for a bottle of bourbon. Why did Isaac get the impression that Nick already knew the answer to that? At a nod from him, Nick poured two healthy measures. If Isaac stood any chance of getting though this evening without putting his hands round Paige’s pretty little neck and throttling her, he’d need the temporary solace that only came from a bottle.

“Long story.”

“Yeah well, save it for later. All I care about is surviving tonight. Whatever we think of each other, we all loved Ellie, and she obviously returned that sentiment. Otherwise, what are we doing here?”

Isaac bowed his head. “Right,” he agreed.

Nick moved into the kitchen and started crashing pans about. “She’s not as strong as she looks, in case you didn’t know. Cut her some slack.”

Isaac’s phone rang, saving him from saying what he thought about that assertion. He took a long call from the LA office. Everyone was understandably jittery now that their leading light had been so brutally taken from them. It took him a while to reassure the manager, mainly because he didn’t have a clue what would happen to the company now. What he did know was that the sharks were already circling, before Ellie had even been laid to rest, ready to snap up any of their clients who broke ranks. It was bad enough that there was so much infighting. They needed to put their differences behind them and pull together to keep Ellie’s legacy intact.

He knew Paige had entered the room before he even turned round. It was like someone had turned a switch and lightened the gloomy atmosphere. The difference was subtle. Nothing as obvious as her perfume, the rustle of her clothing, or the tap of her heels on the tiled floor. It was more fundamental than that. He hated himself for even thinking it, but it was as though a missing element—something he and Nick and had been subconsciously waiting for—had slotted into place.

Isaac finished his call, pocketed his phone, and slowly turned to look at her. Shit, he was in trouble! Big trouble. She’d made absolutely no effort to impress, but then she didn’t need to. At five eight, she couldn’t weigh more than a hundred and thirty pounds—all of them in exactly the right places. She wore a denim skirt that finished well above her knees, showcasing her endless legs in a manner that made his prick twitch. Her tank top was sculpted to her body, clinging tightly to her pert breasts. It gave him a pretty good idea about the conditions of the nipples that stood to attention beneath it, thanks to the air-conditioned room.

Her dark hair was still damp from the shower and fell below her shoulder blades, drying in a riot of natural curls. She wore no makeup, and it was obvious that she’d done more than her fair share of crying recently. Perhaps she really did care about Ellie. The catlike green eyes that dominated a heart-shaped face were dulled with pain—or perhaps jet leg, he thought cynically. He complexion was flawless, her retroussé nose and sculpted cheekbones giving her the appearance of an exotic model. Paige Fairfax was the complete package, all right. A traffic-stopping bitch who had eaten up his naïve twin, spitting him out again when she had gotten what she wanted from him, which was his job.

“Drink?” he asked when he realized he was staring at her.

“White wine,” she said with equal verbal economy.

Nick came to the rescue when the silence was in danger of becoming embarrassing.

“Food’s almost done,” he said. “Wanna grab a seat?”

Paige moved toward the large marble table that directly overlooked the swimming pool. She took the middle place setting, and Isaac sat on her left.

“Can I help?” she asked belatedly.

Yeah right, like you’d know one end of a kitchen from another.

“Nope, I’ve got it,” Nick said, plonking a large serving dish containing what looked like shrimp curry in the middle of the table.

Nick kept the conversation going while all three of them pushed the food round their plates. It was pretty good, but not surprisingly, none of them had much appetite. They all had questions that needed answers, but Isaac reckoned they wouldn’t get aired until after the meal.

That proved to be the case. With the dishwasher loaded and humming away, Nick joined Isaac and Paige on the terrace beside the pool, brandishing a bottle of fifty-year-old Armagnac.

“Ellie’s private stash,” he said somberly. “I think the situation is appropriate.”

“Yeah,” Isaac said. “I guess.”

Nick poured three snifters and handed them round. “A toast,” he said. “To Ellie.” He raised his glass. “We miss you, babe.”

“To Ellie.”

All three of them drank, and Isaac savoured the fiery liquid that slipped down his throat like a salving balm.

“What have the police told you?” Paige asked them both.

“Not much,” Nick said, sighing. “There had been a board meeting that morning at the downtown Tampa office.”

Isaac nodded. “Yeah, I was there. It was crunch time for Carter Promotions, and we all knew it was going to be contentious. Ellie wanted to branch out into C-list celebrity representation. Some of the others didn’t want to lower our standards by stooping so low.”

“It’s funny,” Paige said. “Ellie was in her fifties and yet was more in touch with public appetites than her younger board members.”

“I was with Ellie,” Isaac said. “The rest of the board sided with Mike.”

“Her stepson-in-law.”

“Yeah, it was common knowledge that he wanted to dislodge Ellie from her position as CEO of the company.”

“I thought she got on with Greg’s children,” Paige said.

“Mike was only a connection through marriage.”

“Even so, I can’t imagine him…” She paused, gulped, and carried on. “I can’t imagine him clouting her over the head just because he didn’t agree with the direction she was taking the company in.”

“What I don’t get,” Nick said, stretching his legs out in front of him and crossing his bare feet at the ankles, “is how it was done without anyone else catching on.”

“It was lunchtime,” Isaac said. “Ellie’s PA and her two assistants were all out at the same time because someone was leaving, and Ellie had told them they could all go to the farewell lunch.”

“Typical of her,” Paige said sadly. “Always wanting people to have fun.”

“How did a stranger—and I presume this was a stranger—get into the building undetected? How did they get past security, and how did they know that Ellie would be on her own?”

“We don’t know that,” Isaac said, suddenly bone weary.

“Presumably the police know about her other interests,” Paige said.

“What, that she was a dominatrix?” Nick asked. “Yeah, I told them.”

“It could have been someone from that life who had it in for her,” Paige speculated.

“Unlikely. She was selective, as you well know.” Nick fixed Paige with a significant look that caused Isaac to wonder precisely what she and Ellie had gotten up to whenever Paige came to stay in this house. “She was respected and loved by everyone who fell beneath her whip.”

“Besides, if it was an outsider, they would have still had to get past security.” That was the part that had Isaac stumped.

“Damn!” Paige, feet curled up beneath her cute little ass, glowered at the swimming pool as though she bore it a grudge. “I hate that this is happening.”

“Not as much as Ellie does,” Isaac snapped.

“Perhaps Lawson will shed some light in the morning,” Nick said.

“I’d dearly love to know why he wishes to see the three of us,” Paige said.