“Brandon?”
He glanced across the table at Stephen. “What?”
“I asked what’s wrong with you?”
Brandon stood again. “Nothing’s wrong with me. In fact at this moment everything is right with me. I think I’ll go dance with Cassie.”
Stephen shook his head, hiding his grin. “She’s already dancing with someone.”
“Too bad.”
Like a man on a mission, Brandon crossed the room and tapped the man dancing with Cassie on the shoulder. The man turned and glared at Brandon, but instead of saying anything, he graciously moved away. As soon as he did so, Brandon took hold of Cassie’s hand and pulled her into his arms.
She glanced up at him and smiled. “The song is almost over so you didn’t have to cut in, Brandon.”
“Yes, I did.”
“Why?”
“Because I didn’t like the thought of another man touching you.”
This was the first time she’d ever witnessed Brandon in a possessive mood and she made a halfhearted attempt at a chuckle. “And why would that bother you?”
“Because it does.”
“Why?”
The song had ended and when others began returning to their tables, he took a firm hold of Cassie’s hand and said, “Come on, let’s take a walk.”
They went outside and moments later they walked down a group of steps that led to the beach. Cassie paused long enough to remove her sandals. Her heart was beating fast and furious within her chest. Why had Brandon gotten all possessive and jealous all of a sudden? Could it mean that he cared for her more than she’d thought? A degree of hope stirred within her chest.
She decided to break the silence surrounding them. The only sound was the waves hitting the shoreline. “Estate is a very nice club.”
Brandon stopped walking and she did likewise. She looked up at him and the bright lights from all the businesses on the beach lit his features. He was staring at her, his dark gaze intense. “I didn’t bring you out here to talk about Adam’s club,” he said.
She looked away for a moment, across the span of the Atlantic Ocean, trying to maintain her composure. When she turned back to him, glancing up at him through her lashes, she asked, “Then what did you bring me out here to talk about, Brandon?”
For a brief moment Brandon couldn’t speak. All he could do was stare at Cassie while his throat was constricted. Slowly expelling a deep breath, he said, “Our feelings for each other.”
She met his gaze. “Our feelings for each other?” she repeated.
“Yes. I want to know where do you see our relationship going after you leave here tomorrow?”
As far as Cassie was concerned, the question he asked wasn’t a difficult one to answer. “Nowhere.”
Brandon tried to ignore the sharp pain that touched his chest. “And why do you think that?”
“Why would I not think that?” she responded in an irritated tone. “You’ve never said anything about continuing a relationship with me.”
She was right. He hadn’t. “I was afraid to,” he said honestly.
She met his gaze. “Afraid? Why?”
“I knew what you told me weeks ago about how much you loved your homeland and not ever wanting to leave the island again to live anywhere else. I knew I could never take you away from that so I couldn’t see a future for us. I was giving in to our demise too easily. But now I know what my heart is saying.”
She studied his intense features before asking in a soft voice. “And what is your heart saying, Brandon?”
He took hold of her hand and brought her closer to him and then placed that same hand on his chest and over his heart. “Listen.”
She felt the gentle, timely thump beneath her hand and then heard him when he said, “It’s a continuous beat that’s saying over and over again, I, Brandon Jarrett Washington, love Cassie Sinclair-Garrison, with all my heart, soul and mind. Don’t you hear it, sweetheart?”
Cassie fought back the tears that threatened to fall. “Yes, I can hear it now.”
He smiled. “And do you also hear the beats that are saying that I want to marry you, make you my wife and give you my babies.”
She chuckled. “No, I don’t hear those ones.”
“Well the beats are there, drumming it out loud and clear. What do you think? And before you answer I want you to know that I have no intention of asking you to leave the island to move here to accomplish any of those things.”
She lifted a brow. “You’re anticipating a long-distance marriage?”
He heard the disappointment in her voice. She was probably remembering the sort of absences her parents had endured. “Not hardly. I plan for us to live together in the Bahamas as man and wife and I will use my private plane to commute to Miami each day. It’s less than a thirty-minute flight. Some people spend more time than that on the highways to get to work.”
Her heart was filled with even more love when she said, “You would do that for me?”
He smiled and took his thumb to touch the dimple in her chin. “I would do that for us. I love you and I am determined to make things work.” He then leaned down and captured her mouth with his and she shuddered under the mastery of his kiss. Moments later, when he pulled back, she was left quivering.
“Are you with me, sweetheart?”
She reached up and placed a palm to his cheek and smiled. “All the way.”
He tightened his hold on her hand and tugged her in another direction. “Where are you taking me?” she asked, almost out of breath.”
“Home. And I think we need to cancel your flight in the morning. My heart is beating out plenty of other words that you need to listen to, so I think you need to stick around.”
Cassie smiled, totally satisfied that her heart belonged only to this man, and that it would always be that way. “Yes, I think I will stick around for another week after all, especially since my heart has a few special beats of its own, as well, Mr. Washington. And they are beating just for you.”
Captured by the Billionaire by Maureen Child
One
“Oh, God, I’m in jail.” Debbie Harris curled both hands around the bars of her cage and gave them a frustrated shake. They clanked a little and the sound seemed to echo eerily around her. “I’m a criminal. I’ll have a record.”
Her forehead thunked against the bars and the fear at the base of her throat squeezed tight, nearly shutting off her air.
Okay, Deb, she told herself firmly, get a grip. This is all a mistake. It’ll be straightened out in no time. You’re not in the Big House, for heaven’s sake.
In fact, the jail cell was more Mayberry than Oz. The whitewashed walls were clean and sparkling, and the cot was covered by a red-and-white quilt. There was a table and chair on one wall and a toilet and sink hidden behind a partition. The cell next to hers was empty and there was a closed door between her and the office where her jailer sat.
She scowled at the closed door because she couldn’t do anything else. The man who’d locked her in here had been very polite but completely uninterested in listening to what she had to say. He’d simply closed the door to her
