A Very Exclusive Engagement

It felt like they were making love for the first time.

The thought made Francesca’s heart stop for a hundredth of a second, but she couldn’t dwell on it. Liam’s lips found the sensitive flesh of her neck just as the movement of his hips against hers started building a delicious heat through her whole body. She clung to him, cradling his hips between her thighs as they rocked closer and closer to the edge.

When she reached her breaking point, she didn’t cry out. There was only a gasp and a desperate, panting whisper of his name as her cheek pressed against his. His release was a growl against her throat, the intense thrashing of his body held to almost stillness by their tight grip on one another.

Instead of rolling away, he stayed just as he was. His body relaxed and his head came to rest at her breast. She brushed a damp strand of hair away from his forehead and pressed a kiss to his flushed skin.

As they drifted to sleep together, one of Francesca’s last thoughts was that she was totally and completely lost in this man.

Nine

“Aunt Beatrice,” Liam said, trying to sound upbeat.

After the maître d’ had led Francesca and him to the table where the older woman was seated, she looked up at him and frowned. “Liam, do you ever wear a tie?”

He smiled, pleased he’d finally pushed her far enough to mention it. And now he got the joy of ignoring her question. He turned to his left and smiled. “This is my fiancée, Francesca Orr. Francesca, this is my great aunt, Beatrice Crowe.”

Francesca let go of his hand long enough to reach out and gently shake hands with the Queen Bee. “It’s lovely to meet you,” she said.

Aunt Beatrice just nodded, looking over his fiancée with her critical eye. Liam was about to interrupt the inspection when she turned to him with as close to a smile on her face as she could manage. “She’s more lovely in person than she is in her pictures, Liam.”

He breathed a sigh of relief and pulled out Francesca’s chair for her to sit. He hadn’t been looking forward to this dinner. In fact, he’d deliberately not told Francesca about it until after the gala was wrapped up. She would just worry, and there wasn’t any sense in it. His aunt would think and do as she pleased.

“I can’t agree more,” he said.

The first few courses of the meal were filled with polite, stiff pleasantries. His aunt delicately grilled Francesca about her family and where she came from. She was subtle, but Liam knew she was on a fishing expedition.

Francesca must’ve realized it also. “So what brings you to D.C.?” she asked, deflecting the conversation away from herself.

Liam swallowed his answer—that she was here to check up on him and their agreement.

“I’m speaking before a congressional committee tomorrow,” Aunt Beatrice said, allowing the waiter to take away her plate.

She had mentioned that before, but Liam thought it had just been an excuse she’d made up. “What for?” he asked.

His aunt’s lips twisted for a minute as she seemed to consider her words. “I’m speaking to a panel on federal funding for cancer treatment research.”

Liam couldn’t hide his frown. He also wasn’t quite sure how to respond.

“Have you lost someone to cancer?” Francesca asked. Better that she ask the question because she had no real knowledge of her family history, as Liam should.

“Not yet,” Beatrice said. “But the doctors give me about three to six months. Just enough time to get my affairs in order before I take to my bed permanently.”

Liam’s glass of wine was suspended midair for a few moments before he set it back down. “What?” He couldn’t have heard her correctly.

“I’m dying, Liam. I have stage four brain cancer and there’s nothing they can do. Some of the treatments have shrunk the tumor and bought me a little more time, but a little more is all I’m going to get.”

Unable to meet her eyes, his gaze strayed to her perfectly curled gray hair and he realized, for the first time, that it was a wig. How long had this been going on? “When did this happen? Why haven’t you told anyone?”

At that, his aunt laughed. “Please, Liam. The sharks have been circling me for years. Do you really think I’m going to let them know it’s close to feeding time?”

That was a true enough statement. The vultures had been lurking outside her mansion his whole life. This must be why she was so insistent on Liam marrying and taking over as head of the family. She knew the shoes needed to be filled quickly. She’d given him a year knowing she’d never live to see it come to fruition.

She’d been silently dealing with this for who knew how long. Worrying about her estate planning and altering her will even as she went for treatments and reeled from the aftereffects. “How can you go through this on your own? You need someone with you.”