Alpha Billionaire’s Bride, Part Three (BWWM Romance Serial) by Mia Caldwell Page A

federal interest rate might be next quarter. It wasn’t
what they said, but what they didn’t say that had them riveted to one another.
    All day long she’d been looking for Ian around every corner,
in every room and down every hall she walked. Now here he was at last, and
every fiber of her person strained to get closer to him.
    Jada felt certain that tonight was it. She was going to
sleep with Ian Buckley. No doubt about it. The tension between them was
palpable and the simple brush of his hand against hers when he handed her the
butter was enough to send a wave of shivers down her spine. Tonight.
    After a desert she hardly tasted, everyone decided to gather
in the bowling alley for a competition. Jada lagged behind and was relieved
when Ian took her aside.
    “I had something else in mind for us after dinner. Would you
like see it?” Ian whispered, his breath warm and tingly on her earlobe.
    She nodded and he smiled, then he took her arm and swiftly
led her away from the others. She heard Agatha asking where they were going,
and she heard Marina telling her to never mind, that they’d get Deb to come
down and even up the teams.
    Jada appreciated her sister’s protection. At the same time,
her guilt over what she was hiding for her sister’s sake stole some of that
gratitude.
    Ian ushered her quickly down the main hallway and toward the
opposite wing of the house. Jada saw Lydia standing in the hall in front of a
pair of double doors and realized with a pang that Ian wasn’t leading her to
his bedroom as she’d anticipated. He was leading her to whatever the security
chief guarded.
    “All’s ready, Sir,” Lydia said with a curt nod. “This time,
I guarantee no one, human or beast, will get past me.”
    Ian returned her nod, a small twitch turning up one corner
of his mouth. “Excellent.”
    Lydia stepped aside and Ian stepped forward, flinging both
doors open at once and gesturing for Jada to enter.
    She walked into a scene from a fairy tale. The room, which
she’d toured her first day there and which had been described to her as
multi-purpose, had been bland and nondescript, filled with tables and chairs
and a podium, like in a conference room. Tonight, it was hardly recognizable as
the same place.
    It was illuminated by dozens upon dozens of candles in
different sizes, some on pedestals, some in groupings on small tables, some
tea-light-sized hanging from the high ceiling in golden mobiles that rotated
slowly.
    Had the wallpaper been this golden and lush when she saw it
before? She didn’t think so. In fact, the whole room sparkled.
    The floor was a dark parquet that glistened under the
flickering candlelight. Had it been such a gorgeous parquet when Jada had been
in the room before? She didn’t recall, but then, much of the floor had been
covered with tables and chairs, and now it was completely open, the only
furniture in the room being some comfortable-looking, plushly-covered sofas and
chairs which lined the walls.
    The air was redolent with vanilla, black cherry and orange
blossoms, the combination of scents blending to create something new.
    She heard the doors shut behind her and that’s when the
music began. At the far end of the room, on a dais partially hidden behind a
silk screen, sat the four musicians responsible for the delightful melody: a
string quartet. She nearly clapped her hands in pleasure. Wonderful.
    The utilitarian space had been transformed into nothing less
than a fantasy ballroom. There could be no other way to describe it. The music,
the dance floor, the lighting. It was a ballroom fit for a princess. Beautiful.
And Ian had done it all for her.
    “It’s splendid, Ian. How did you—”
    Ian moved in front of her and bowed slightly. “May I have
this dance?”
    Jada lifted her hand, meaning to accept, then guilt crashed
in from out of nowhere, ruining the romantic moment and sending her arm
plummeting to her side.
    She blurted a strained response. “We need to talk.”
    His