The Cowboy's All-Business Bride (Billionaire Cowboys Book 5) Read online

  “To think…” His words were soft. “I thought keeping my love for you hidden was a big deal. If I’d known you had this kind of secret…” Rather than finish, he shook his head.

  “Kane.” She took a step toward him, but he was already gathering the rest of his clothes.

  He’d reached the door to the hall before she was halfway across the floor.

  “I didn’t go in your bag, by the way. I accidentally knocked it over when I grabbed my shoe. I wasn’t being distrustful. Maybe I should have been, though.”

  She didn’t get the chance to say his name again. In the blink of an eye, he was out the door and gone.

  Chapter 24

  Kane

  Dawn broke in Sharrain just like it did everywhere else. First came the slightest shift in the darkness. Then, the idea of morning, the sky turning a dull, muddy gray.

  And then, the colors. The best part. So, of course, that was over way too soon.

  Sitting on the beach, arms hooked over his drawn-up knees, Kane gazed at the water. He didn’t know how long he’d sat there for, and he didn’t feel close to getting up. Straight from Leyla’s bedroom, he’d taken one of the palace jeeps and driven off.

  There’d been no destination in mind, but he wasn’t surprised to have ended up at the beach he and Leyla had ridden horses at.

  For the hundredth time, he went over it all in his mind. The moment he first saw her. Making the decision to propose a business marriage. Knocking over her bag and finding the papers. The confusion. The doubt.

  He’d been an idiot. He saw it, now.

  Did Leyla even love him? Or was she seizing an opportunity?

  Not that he could blame her for it. He wasn’t the kind of man to let good chances slip by. He admired the same drive in her. Until, of course, it bit him in the rear end.

  Reaching into his pocket, he looked for his phone, but it wasn’t there. He’d probably left it in Leyla’s bedroom.

  Had she called him? Soon, she wouldn’t be the only one attempting to get in touch. He was due to get ready for his wedding.

  Maybe it would be best if they didn’t go through with it. Sharrain deal or not.

  Funny how something that had once seemed so important now felt almost inconsequential. An oil deal wouldn’t be worth it if it caused this much pain.

  He wouldn’t ask Leyla to return the million, of course. That was hers. As much as her secret hurt him, he wanted her to be happy. She deserved everything in the world.

  As the sun rose, people arrived at the shore. There was nothing too exciting or rambunctious, like the party groups Kane had always associated with the beach.

  An older couple walked by, talking quietly together. A runner followed them. Some birds soared overhead.

  A young woman came along, throwing a ball ahead for a little dog that chased after it.

  “London?” He sat up straighter.

  “Kane? What are you doing?”

  The little dog, who turned out to be Sharkie, ran over to Kane, tail wagging. He put his hand out to the pup and got some sloppy licks in return.

  “You okay?” London cocked her head. She looked ready to exercise in yoga pants and running shoes, but bags hung under her eyes.

  He hesitated. “Yeah.”

  “Don’t tell me you still have jet lag, too.” She groaned and tugged on her ponytail. “I slept for, like, maybe two hours, then couldn’t do it anymore.”

  “I guess I have something like that.” He tossed a piece of driftwood for Sharkie, who ran into the waves to retrieve it.

  London studied him. “Don’t you have to be getting dressed soon?”

  Answering hurt. “Yes.”

  She kept on studying him. Sharkie brought the driftwood back, and Kane threw it again, but this time, the dog didn’t chase. Instead, he opted to stretch out in the sand and chill.

  “Are you okay?” London took a seat on the other side of Sharkie.

  A hot exhale burned Kane’s nose. “Have you talked to Leyla this morning?”

  “No. I haven’t seen her since we came upstairs last night. Why?”

  He paused. Transparency wasn’t his go-to. Over the years, he’d developed the habit of keeping his cards close, both in business and his personal life. It heightened the odds of coming out on top.

  But nothing he’d ever been through quite paralleled what was happening, now. Truth was, he didn’t have much left to lose. Not when it came to the really important things.

  “I found something in her room,” he said, carefully, slowly, watching for her reaction.

  London blinked. “Like, what kind of something?”

  “A distribution agreement. A bundle deal. A narrative film and a documentary about our relationship.”

  London cringed. “Yikes.”

  “Did you know about it?”

  “Yeah.” She ran Sharkie’s leash through her hands. “Okay, you found it. Before she told you?”

  Kane clasped his hands behind his neck. “She said she planned on telling me.” He guffawed. “That she was going to tell me approximately five minutes before the moment the bag opened and the paper spilled out.”

  “That’s inconvenient.”

  “Tell me about it. It sounds fake. Like she never planned on telling me about the deal. On top of that, she says she was going to try to get out of it.”

  He waved his hands aggressively while he talked. He was probably shouting, too, but he felt too delirious for that level of self-awareness.

  “She really was planning on telling you,” London stressed.

  “How can I know that?” He shook his head, bitterness rising. “We barely know each other. This whole relationship is based on a lie.”

  “Is that true? Really?”

  “Yes. Come on. You know. I know she told you everything. You’re her best friend.”

  London’s lips twisted. “Okay. I mean, I know the basics. I know about you paying her and the deal. But she’s not as revealing as you would think. Sometimes, you have to read between the lines with her.”

  Pride almost stopped him from asking, but he couldn’t hold back for long. “How so?”

  “I think she was head over heels for you from the beginning, but she didn’t want to get her hopes up. She kept acting like it was no big deal.”

  Kane’s chest constricted. “I was head over heels for her, too.”

  “But instead of focusing on making a real relationship with her happen, you asked her to be your fake wife. That killed her.”

  “I was dumb.” He shook his head, disgusted with himself. “It was a mistake.”

  “I’m not here to point fingers, but just… step back and look at it more objectively. She does love you. I know she does.”

  “How do you know?” he asked.

  “She said she wouldn’t do the documentary.”

  “Ye-ah.”

  London sighed and leaned back, forearms propped in the sand.

  “She’s true to her word. Out of everything, that’s the one thing I know most about Leyla. She’s not a liar.” She looked at him sideways. “Which made her agreeing to this whole fake engagement thing really hard.”

  “You’re saying her not doing the documentary proves she loves me?”

  “One hundred freaking percent, yes. Her career is… after her mom died, it became everything. She regretted not giving her all to it before and made a promise that she’d spend the rest of her life taking chances and going for it. For her to pass on a deal like that… it’s big.”

  Fresh understanding sunk into Kane. He knew exactly what it was like to commit yourself fully to your dreams because of slacking in the past. He knew exactly what it was like to put goals before others.

  It wasn’t just the loss of his father and her mother that tied him and Leyla together. They understood each other in ways no one else could.

  He pushed his fingers through his mussed hair. “I don’t want to lose her.”

  “Then don’t.”

  “But if I let th
is go, and we don’t work out—”

  “You’re stressing a lot. Man, that’s another way you two are alike.” She clipped Sharkie’s leash to his collar. “Aren’t you, like, a ruthless shark? All about taking chances?”

  “That’s business. This is… different. New.”

  “Women are new?” She smirked.

  “No,” he whispered.

  Understanding swept across her face. “Ah.”

  “I’ve never loved someone like this.” He scoffed. “I’ve never been in love with a woman at all.”

  “Then don’t let it pass you by.” Standing, she swept sand off her legs. “But I think you’re going to need to make a decision, soon. It’s almost eight. Your wedding is in a few hours.”

  “Right.” Time to get up. Time to get moving.

  Yet, he stayed right where he was. The same shock that had propelled him from Leyla’s room kept him glued to the beach.

  “See you at the palace?” London asked.

  Sharkie jumped to standing and nosed Kane’s hand.

  “See you there.” He rubbed the dog’s head, then watched as the two of them walked back down the beach, in the direction of the parking lot.

  A few more minutes passed, London’s words swirling in his head. The way he saw it, there were two decent choices. He could barrel ahead and get married while keeping Leyla at a distance behind closed doors, or he could take a leap, forgive her, and ask her to be his then and forevermore.

  Either way, the clock was ticking.

  Chapter 25

  Leyla

  “Kane?” She knocked on his bedroom door for a second time. Still no answer.

  “I’m coming in.” Turning the doorknob, she stepped into the bedroom.

  Everything was perfect. The bed made and unslept in. His laptop sitting on the desk by the window. There was no sign that he’d come back here after leaving her room. Entering the silent space, she put his phone on the bedside table.

  Her spirits and head dropping, she turned back around. Seeing as he’d left his phone in her room, there was no getting in touch with him. All she could do was wait and see if he came back.

  Her breathing sped up. Stopping in the hall, she leaned against the wall and closed her eyes. He wouldn’t leave her at the altar, would he? Not with cameras on and the whole world watching.

  She’d made a terrible mistake. If only he would give her a chance to explain, to apologize.

  Really, though, hadn’t she already done that, only to be turned down?

  Kane had made it pretty clear that he wanted nothing to do with her, but what did that mean? The wedding was still on, right? He needed that oil deal.

  There were too many questions and not enough answers. A sick feeling rose in her chest. As much as she hated it, the only option was to go through the day as planned. Hair. Makeup. Dress.

  Whether the groom showed up or not was out of her control.

  Dragging her feet, she walked back toward her room. A shower was desperately called for. After that, she’d report downstairs for wedding preparations.

  At the main staircase, the top of a black Stetson appeared over the edge of the railing. Kane was coming upstairs!

  Leyla’s breath hitched in her chest. Words flew through her head, apologies and excuses, confessions and denials. Nothing seemed right.

  The simple truth was that she loved him and would do anything to keep him. Best to stick with that.

  “Kane, I…”

  Her next words died as Trick stepped into the upper hall.

  “Mornin’.” He tipped his hat.

  “Hey.” She did her best to not sound defeated, but it likely didn’t work.

  “Ready for the big day?”

  “Um…” She caught her bottom lip between her teeth. The moment of truth.

  “Nervous?” he asked.

  “Trick, have you seen Kane?”

  He folded his arms and leaned back on his heels. “Well… since when?”

  “At all this morning. We, um, we kind of had a fight.”

  If you wanted to call it that. What had happened felt much bigger and more consequential than a simple fight.

  His eyebrows knit together. “I’m real sorry to hear that.” His eyes saddened, showing he really meant it.

  “He’s not in his room.”

  “He’ll show up. He wouldn’t skip out on the wedding.”

  “Right. Okay.” She nodded, eyes on the carpet. “See you later.”

  She continued the dismal trek down the hall. Once in her bedroom, an idea occurred to her. Each of the rooms had a landline that connected to different parts of the palace. The guardhouse. The kitchens. In that way, it was a lot like a hotel.

  Picking up the receiver, she hit the button for the butler’s office. The second Gilani answered, she blurted out her question.

  “Have you seen Kane this morning?”

  “Yes, Miss Leyla,” Gilani answered. “He borrowed one of the palace vehicles and left.”

  Leyla went cold. “When?”

  “Very early. The middle of the night. The staff was not awake to see him off. Security reported his leaving to me.”

  “Oh.” She waited for warmth to return to her body. It didn’t.

  “Anything else, Miss Leyla?”

  “No… thank you.” Hanging up, she stared at the wall.

  Kane hadn’t really left for good, right? Why would he leave his phone, laptop, and everything else behind?

  She already knew the answer. Because all those things could be easily replaced. He had an assistant as well as numerous other people working for him. He was likely already en-route to Texas, his old phone disconnected and a new one waiting at home for him. The computer and whatever else he wanted, Trick could grab.

  A scream welled up from the very depths of her, but when Leyla opened her mouth, nothing came out. She was that broken.

  Any faith she’d had about being able to repair things was shattered. Kane was done with her. He didn’t even care about marrying her in order to get the oil deal.

  And it was all her fault.

  Closing her eyes, she sat still for a long, long time, waiting for the pain to pass. Instead, it came in waves, sometimes stronger, sometimes weaker than the last hit.

  What now?

  You get up and keep going. There is always tomorrow.

  It was her mother’s voice, ringing through Leyla’s head crystal clear. Maira had been a fighter, possessing the strength that only a woman on her own and with a child to care for could have.

  Whenever Leyla came home from school crying about bullies or, later, the stress of work or the heartbreak from boyfriends, her mother’s advice had always been the same. There was always tomorrow.

  And so, Leyla got up.

  She pulled her suitcase down from the shelf in the closet and began packing up her clothes. She didn’t know what she would say to Maryum and Mabrouk. It seemed awful to disappoint them after they’d put all the work into preparing a wedding.

  She’d have to tell them the truth. That the engagement had started as a ruse in order to secure a deal for ClayFuel and that after the romance became real, it promptly blew up.

  They’d be so hurt. Angry.

  It could be that they’d even regret letting Leyla into their lives.

  If they cut her out, she’d have to deal with it. It would be her own damn fault. Instead of contacting her family and traveling to Sharrain herself, she’d taken the easy way out.

  Now, she had to pay for it.

  A knock on the door made her drop a pile of clothes.

  Was it…

  “Yes?” she called.

  “It’s Maryum, dear.”

  Leyla immediately started choking up and could barely respond. “Oh, come in.”

  Maryum entered with a smile on her face and a white, satin-covered box in her hands. “Good morning. I did not see you at breakfast.”

  Closing the closet door in order to hide the suitcase, Leyla met her in the middle of t
he floor. “I wasn’t hungry.”

  “I will have something brought to the powder room for you. It’s almost time to have your hair and makeup done.”

  Leyla couldn’t lift her gaze to Maryum’s. “What’s that?” She nodded at the box.

  “This is a present for you.” She set the small box on the bed and removed its lid.

  At the sight of its contents, Leyla gasped. There, nestled in silk, a tiara sparkled with blue jewels.

  “No,” she breathed. “You got this for me? Maryum, I can’t.”

  “Yes, you can. It was your mother’s.”

  “Really?” Leyla croaked, putting a hand to her throat.

  “Yes. A gift from my father on her sixteenth birthday.”

  Leyla stared at the tiara, still in the box. It seemed too perfect to touch, like an exhibit at a museum. If she grazed her fingers against it, surely an alarm would go off and guards would appear.

  “She left it here when she fled the palace.” Maryum’s smile dimmed. “I urged her to take it with her, since she could sell it and have money to get started in America, but she didn’t. Sometimes, I wonder if she left it because she loved it so much and couldn’t stand the thought of parting with it permanently by selling it. I suppose… I told myself that because she left it, she would come back one day.”

  She shook her head.

  “The things we tell ourselves in order to continue through hard times. Anyway, I brought it up here thinking you could wear it today.”

  “Really?” Tears came to Leyla’s eyes. She almost said yes, but caught herself and remembered that there would be no wedding.

  “They are sapphires.” Carefully, Maryum lifted the tiara. “Is it all right if you have one object for something borrowed, something old, and something blue?”

  Gratitude nearly floored Leyla. “I think so. That’s… that’s really sweet, Maryum.”

  Just her knowing about the American wedding custom felt special.

  Heartbreaking, too.

  “Maryum, I need to tell you something.”

  The severity in Leyla’s voice changed the mood. Putting the tiara back in its box, Maryum took Leyla’s hand.