Take My Hand: BWWM Romance Read online

  “I can’t believe you would do this when you’re living under my roof,” he finally said. “I think you should pack you’re things and get out of here tonight. I’ve put up with a lot from you, but I can’t ignore this.” Then he leaned against the door jamb and crossed his arms over his chest.

  “I didn’t file the suit. You win, I should have read my contract better,” Scott said, turning the shredder back on and feeding more pages into it.

  His father walked over the outlet and pulled the plug on the shredder, then crossed the room and sat down across from Scott. “I’m glad to hear that, surprised but glad. What changed your mind?” his father asked, hope in his voice.

  “I realized that I couldn’t win. It cost me a bundle to figure that out, but there you go,” Scott said, shrugging his shoulders.

  His father watched him for a few minutes, thinking about all that had happened since Scott’s mother died. “I want you to know that there are some things I would have done differently if I could. I probably should have stopped you sooner, gotten you some counseling, gotten married again. I don’t know, it’s easy to sit here now and think about how I could have been a better dad to you, but that’s not going to help us now,” he said, hoping that Scott would actually talk to him for once.

  Scott didn’t know what to say. He’d expected anger or something, not remorse. He didn’t know what to say so he stayed silent, waiting for his dad to take the lead. Disappointed that Scott couldn’t share his feelings with him, Nicolas continued. “I’ve made some decisions over the last few days. I’m sure you’re not going to like them, but I think it’s what’s best for all of us.”

  Scott couldn’t resist saying, “I seriously doubt that.” Then shut his mouth when his father glared at him.

  “I’m going to sell off all divisions of the business except the construction division. It’s the core of the business and that’s all I want left. It’s time that we got back in the business of building things instead of destroying them.”

  Scott sat stunned. His father was going to close every aspect of the business that belonged to him. It was like having a limb amputated. But as quickly as the pain came, it disappeared. Deep down, he’d known that it would come to this. No one else could do what he’d done, ruthlessly acquiring failing businesses and cutting them into pieces and raking in the profits in the process. He’d never been bothered by the number of people he’d put out of work, it was just the path of progress, nothing personal.

  His father had made it abundantly clear that he didn’t approve of Scott’s method of making money, but he’d never stopped him either. Of course, he’d never tried to take on a corporation like Terrell Industries before and with such devastating results. Even he could see that he’d over-stepped himself on that one. It still mystified him that he’d let Michael’s success drive him over the edge.

  Seeing his son’s obvious acceptance of the situation made Nicholas’s heart break, but he could see no other way out of the mess he’d created. “I’m also going to sell the house immediately. I’ve found a buyer who’s willing to give me a good price. Once everything has been sold, I’ll decide what I’m going to do with the money, but for now you’re on your own,” his father added, speaking quickly to get it all out before he lost his nerve.

  Scott was silent for a long time, then finally nodded his head and shrugged his shoulders in acceptance. “There’s one more thing we need to talk about,” his father said, handing him a clipped stack of papers.

  Chapter 2

  Scott took the papers from him, looking at the cover page, the memory of drafting the ridiculous contract floating to the surface of his mind. He’d been mad at Michael for something, he couldn’t even remember what, and trying to get control of a business owned by one of his fiercest competitors. Howard Latimer had made his fortune in real estate years ago and now spent his time saving the same businesses that Scott demolished. It was often a race between the two of them to see who got possession of a property first.

  Thinking that a marriage between the two families was the perfect solution, he’d approached Howard with the contract and to his surprise the man had signed it. “Oh, this was just something stupid I did when I was mad at Michael one day,” he said, throwing the contract into the box of papers to be shredded.

  “Did you read that before you signed it?” his father asked, a frown on his face.

  “Of course. I wrote it,” Scott said, knowing that there was a clause in the contract demanding a small monetary penalty if either party backed out of the contract. “If you’re worried about the money, it’s not that much.”

  “Son, there are some handwritten changes to that document and that’s the original you just threw in that box,” his father said, gesturing to the box of papers.

  Scott pulled the papers back out of the box and paged through them, seeing that there had been some handwritten changes made, but those could have been done at any point. “This could have been done any time. I never would have signed this with these changes,” he said, confident that Howard was trying to cheat them.

  “Howard made those changes while you were sitting in the room with him. He had proof, witnesses,” his father challenged.

  “That’s just not possible,” Scott said, sure he’d been sitting there the whole time.

  “I’m afraid he’s got it on video. He out smarted you, son. You were on your phone the entire time, never even looked up while Howard made those changes, then you signed the contract without even looking at it again,” his father said, none too gently.

  Scott felt all the blood drain from his face. The changes in the contract upped the penalty to a million dollars and stipulated that any of the three brothers could be the groom. “I’m not bailing you out of this one, you’re on your own.”

  “But there’s no way Howard is going to hold us to this contract. I can’t believe one of his daughters would agree,” Scott said, hope in his voice.

  “Well, that’s the thing, he’s fed up with Marissa’s behavior and thinks marrying her off to you might just be what she needs. Son, he’s going to enforce this contract, so unless you have a million dollars lying around, I think you’re stuck,” his father said, again trying to be as gentle as he could.

  “I mean a million dollars is a lot, but it’s not like we don’t have it,” Scott said, beginning to get worried.

  “I told you when you did this not to, now you’re going to have to solve this one on your own. For now, the business and all its assets are frozen to all of us. I’m sorry, son, but that’s my final decision,” his father said, getting to his feet. “I don’t know if it matters to you, but your brothers are both in Montana and they’ve asked me to join them, so as soon as the house is sold I’m off to Montana.”

  Scott couldn’t think of a single thing to say to his father, all he could think about was where he was going to get a million dollars. There was no way he was going to marry one of Howard’s daughters, he didn’t even know which one of them he was supposed to marry. Grabbing the contract back out of the box, he began to read it again, his heart sinking with each line he read. He’d backed himself into a corner that he might not be able to get out of.

  Marissa took her copy of the marriage contract and stomped up the stairs, wishing she’d worn boots which would have made a much more satisfying thump when she brought her foot down. As soon as she slammed the door to the room she used when she stayed in Los Angeles, she pulled her suitcase out of the closet and shoved everything she could into the bag. It was time to get the hell out of this town she hated so much, but first she’d have to make a few phone calls.

  But that could be done from home. Right now she needed to put as much distance between herself and her father as possible. The anger she was feeling was almost overwhelming; the only reason she had to behave the way she did occasionally was because of him anyway. If he hadn’t made her sneak around behind his back to begin with, she’d have never created this web of deceit tha
t she found herself in now.

  The problem was that the whole thing had become so complicated now that she didn’t know exactly how to bring the truth to the light without destroying what she’d created in the process. Now she’d have to deal with this marriage thing or be forced to shut down what she’d worked so hard to build. No doubt she could fund her work another way if she refused to marry Scott Terrell, but that would mean an end to her time out in the field because once her cover was blown everyone would treat her differently.

  It was that time that she valued so much. It had been her need to connect with the people she was helping that had brought her down this path. Well, and her father’s fourth wife. When she’d been growing up, her father had tried to instill in her the understanding that it was their duty to give to those less fortunate than themselves. She’d spent many long hours at fundraisers, dressed in uncomfortable clothes listening to boring conversations growing up, and had long ago decided that when she was an adult she’d never attend another one again.

  Instead, she’d promised herself that she’d get down in the trenches, volunteer her time at soup kitchens, homeless shelters, and any place else where she could meet the people she was helping. When she’d turned sixteen and gotten her own car, the first thing she’d done was volunteer at a soup kitchen in one of the worst neighborhoods. After only a week, her father had found out and blown his top.

  “No daughter of mine is going to be hanging out in that neighborhood. Do you have any idea what those people could do to you? It’s a good thing your stepmother told me about this,” he’d said, crossing the room to give the vile woman a kiss.

  She’d done her best to sneak around behind his back, finding new places to volunteer at until he’d threatened to take her car and allowance away if she didn’t stop. With no other alternative, she gave up volunteering and sent donations to as many places as she could afford on the allowance her father gave her. But all the while she was determined to get back out there as soon as she could.

  By the time she turned eighteen, she had a plan and the resources to put the plan into action. Over the last few years, she’d devised several disguises that she could use when she wanted to volunteer in places her father would have forbidden. It was easy enough to convince her father that she was old enough to live on her own, and once she had her own apartment, it was no problem to put on a disguise and slip out of the building.

  The first time she’d gone out in her disguise, she’d been nervous that someone would recognize her, but it had gone so well she’d gone back the next day. From there, she’d branched out, perfecting her disguises and planning more ways to help. Of course, she’d told Clarissa about her escapades, even tried to get her to join her, but Clarissa had called her crazy and refused.

  Eventually, she’d had to find a way to fund her growing charity because it had quickly become a full-blown charity. The idea for the fashion line had actually come from one of the women she’d grown close to at a women’s shelter she volunteered at once a week. The woman had been a fashion designer before her life had come unraveled; her designs were good enough to sell, so Marissa had taken some money and started an internet business to sell them.

  Thanks to the internet and social media, her clothing line became widely popular overnight, featuring designs by unknown men and women she found in her time spent in some of the worst neighborhoods in the country. Unlike many other designers, her target buyer was everyday women who didn’t have much money to spend on clothing. Of course, she had a high end line as well, which was where her wardrobe came from.

  Now the clothing line was so successful she’d had to hire an entire staff to run the business so that she’d still have time to run the charity. There were only a few people who knew where the funding for the charity came from or who really ran the charity. She’d concealed that information so deeply that someone would have to work hard to uncover the truth, so everything had been going fine until now.

  A husband, any husband, would want to know where she disappeared for days at a time. It hadn’t been that much of a problem to hide her activities from her father, but if she lived with this man he’d become suspicious eventually. Refusing to think about the implications of that now, she picked up her bag and stomped out to her car, heading home to pack a few more things before escaping to Chicago and the warmth of the women’s shelter there.

  When she got back three days later, exhausted but renewed by her time with the women of the shelter, all she was thinking about was a hot bath and her own bed. But what greeted her instead was a note from her father informing her that her fiancé would be arriving in two days and she was expected to meet him for dinner. With an impatient sigh, she threw the note into the fireplace, wishing there was a fire to burn it up.

  She’d thought long and hard about her choices and decided that her best option was to marry Scott Terrell. Just the thought of losing her ability to go into the places she did now was out of the question and her only other option was to tell her father the truth and once he found out what she was doing, he’d put a stop to it immediately. The money he put into her account every month was also a huge concern as well, as much money as Marissa’s Fashions made. It would be a substantial blow to lose that much funding. Resigned to her fate, she pushed the dinner date from her mind and spent an hour in the tub, then exhausted fell into a deep sleep.

  By the time the night had arrived for her to meet her future husband, the whole thing had become surreal. In fact, she’d almost convinced herself that it was all a bad dream and that she’d wake up soon. Pacing the living room at her father’s house, thankful that there was no stepmother to witness her embarrassment, she wondered what had forced him into this situation. They both looked pretty pathetic when you looked at it from the outside.

  But she’d planned what she was going to say to him very carefully, a list of her own demands to make it clear to him that she wasn’t some loser who wanted to marry him. Number one on that list was sex; there was no way she was going to sleep with him. This would be a marriage in name only. She’d have to make it abundantly clear to him that she liked to travel and would continue to do so alone. Going over these demands again in her mind as she paced, she actually jumped when the doorbell rang.

  “Your fiancé is here,” her father called gleefully from the library where he was reading the paper as he always did before dinner. “You better go answer the door.”

  She opened the door not expecting to find a tall, handsome man standing on the porch. She couldn’t help but let her eyes roam over his body in his black designer suit. He was clearly several years older than she was, but instead of being a turn off, she found the slight creases by his eyes sexy. His green eyes were steely as they swept over her, a look she couldn’t read briefly crossing his face when he’d finished what felt like an evaluation.

  Finally managing to find her voice, she said, “You must be Scott. I’m Marissa. Please come in.”

  He followed her through the house to the sunroom where she’d set out appetizers, deciding that it was much more intimate than the study or living room. She sat down nervously, wishing her sister had joined them, but her father had vetoed the idea when she’d suggested it, so it was just the two of them for the next few hours.

  She wanted to ask him why he was going through with this ridiculous charade but was afraid that he’d ask her the same and the less he knew the easier it would be to keep him in the dark about her actions away from home. So, instead they talked about the weather, sports which they both enjoyed, and music, but finally Marissa was tired of skimming around the topic that was like the elephant in the room.

  “So, I guess we’re really going to do this,” she said, hoping he’d understand what she was referring to.”

  “Looks like we are. I was hoping you didn’t want a big ceremony, it seems like a stretch to me,” Scott said, finally looking her in the eyes.

  “No, that’s the last thing I want,” she said, already tire
d of the discussion. “My dad says it has to happen soon, so let’s just go to city hall and be done with it.”

  “That’s fine with me,” he said, glad to have that discussion over.

  After they’d been served dinner, Marissa decided it was time to get the details of their marriage out in the open. “I think we should talk about what we both expect out of this marriage. I have some expectations that go beyond what’s in the contract. I’d love to know who wrote that stupid thing anyway. If it was you, there must be some pretty bad feelings between you and your brother,” she said, deciding that she wasn’t going to play games with this man.

  “Yeah, well, honestly, I never thought the stupid thing would be put to use, but...”

  “So, I guess I have you to thank for our little situation,” she said, smiling at him, trying to break the ice that had seemed to have formed between them.

  To her amazement, he actually smiled back at her, then shrugged his shoulders. “Yeah, not one of my better plans,” he said.

  Something strange happened when he smiled at her, a wave of desire rushed through her, taking her breath away and shocking her into silence. Scott must have felt it too because he suddenly looked confused at the change in the atmosphere of the room. Marissa recklessly decided that for just this one night, she’d pretend that she’d chosen this man and try to get to know him.

  “I have an idea, let’s just spend the rest of the evening trying to get to know one another. We can deal with all the details later,” she suggested, flashing him another smile.

  Breathing a huge sigh of relief, Scott readily agreed, too flustered by Marissa to think about anything else but how much he wanted to kiss her. It was a totally irrational need, but one he couldn’t seem to get rid of, which made no sense since he barely knew this woman. He’d always been extremely picky about the women he’d dated. They had to meet certain standards, and Marissa wouldn’t have even made it thought the first set of tests.