An heiress for his empire

And Vik kept his promises.

* * *

Viktor walked down the elementary school’s hallway behind an office aide who had agreed to escort him to Miss Jewett’s first-grade classroom.

Unlike Madison, Viktor and Maxwell had attended public school, but in an area more affluent than this one. The mix of children and teachers here reflected San Francisco’s varied population like the rarified social strata of the Archers did not.

Viktor wasn’t sure why Madison had asked him to meet her here. She’d said something about wanting to talk to him with the help of a visual aid.

He didn’t know what that meant. He couldn’t see how an overcrowded public school would work as inspiration for her charter school. Unless it was the success they had with their volunteer program.

He’d done a little research before leaving the office on this grade school and discovered that they had a significantly higher than usual rate of parent participation in the classroom as well as other volunteerism.

When he’d arrived at the office, it was to discover that he was expected. So, he was definitely in the right place.

Whatever Madison’s reasons for having him there.

He noticed two things immediately after the aide opened the classroom’s door—Madison looking very unlike herself and the absolute silence he did not associate with a roomful of children.

Wearing a mousy brown wig, contacts that obscured the Mediterranean blue of her eyes with brown and clothes clearly bought off the rack at a box store, his fiancée sat at a small desk in a circle with six students.

Tattered books with brightly colored pictures, large print and few words were open on the desks in front of the children. Madison held her own copy, a smile frozen on her face as she met his gaze.

Vik allowed one brow to rise in query. “Hello, Madison. It appears you have some friends I haven’t met.”

Her fixed smile morphed into a genuine grin as she jumped to her feet. “You’re early.”

He couldn’t help noticing the cheap cotton top and denim jeans she wore showed off her curves in ways that affected his libido as surely as her designer dresses.

He didn’t like the wig or colored contacts, though.

He shrugged away her comment about his timing. “Introduce me.”

“Of course.”

Not wanting to intimidate the children with his size, Viktor dropped to one knee and reached to shake hands with each child as Maddie introduced them.

A few returned his greeting with charming politeness. One small girl, clearly Madison’s favorite from the way the small girl tucked herself behind his fiancée’s legs, ducked her head, but wiggled her fingers in a shy hello.

Viktor met the teacher and the parent volunteer as well.

“Very nice to meet you,” he said to Miss Jewett.

“The pleasure is all ours.” She smiled, her eyes warm as they lit on Madison. “Your fiancée is a fantastic volunteer. She’s so good with the children and could be a teacher with her credentials.”

“I am aware.” He just hadn’t been aware that she volunteered in the public school system.

Did her father know?

Madison clearly didn’t want to leave right away, so Viktor stayed, enjoying the time helping six-year-olds with their reading.

They were in his Jaguar and headed toward the other side of the city when she finally pulled off the offensive wig, exposing her red curls crushed in a messy pile. It reminded him of the way she looked after sex, the only time she was completely disheveled—Madison woke looking more tempting than ever.

She rubbed at her scalp and ran her fingers through her hair, causing some curls to bounce up again. “It’s always such a relief to get that thing off.”

“Why do you wear it?”

“Because Maddie Grace is a normal woman with a degree and desire to volunteer with children. She doesn’t get written up in the tabloids or followed by the paparazzi.”

“And that’s important to you?”

“To be normal? It was when I started. Now, it’s just easier. Can you imagine what the media would make of the billionaire heiress as a volunteer teacher’s aide?”

“I have a feeling we’re going to find out.”

“That’s what I thought. With our marriage and the vestiges of Perrygate, I kind of figured it was only a matter of time before my secret got exposed.”

“Some secret.” She was even more wonderful than he’d always known. “How long have you been volunteering like this?”

“It started as a dare with Romi. Trying to attend a political rally incognito. It worked and I got the idea to volunteer at a soup kitchen the next weekend dressed up.”

“Don’t you mean dressed down?”