Page 1 of Blackmail of a Billionaire

CHAPTER 1

GRANT

The waning light of the day streamed through the windows of his study as Grant Harrington tightened his grip on his tumbler. The ripples in the amber liquid mirrored his mounting frustration.

The reports scattered across his desk offered scarce information on DG Industries, the elusive company entwined in his secretary, Evelyn Clarke’s bizarre ordeal.

His thoughts flitted between anger and concern. His new wife, Julia, had been the one who made the discovery and saved him from a murder charge, but the peril she’d faced while rescuing his secretary provided a grim reminder of the stakes.

He still worried about her recovery from the injuries she’d sustained during the incident. The emotion frightened him as deeply as the high stakes themselves. It went beyond corporate espionage; the boundaries of his contractual marriage seemed to increasingly blur in his mind.

Grant sipped his bourbon, allowing the vanilla hints to dance across his tongue as he flicked his gaze outside.

“Mr. Harrington,” the voice of his butler, Worthington, said from behind him. “Still working?”

“Not really,” he said, eyes never leaving the pristine front yard of Harrington House.

“Avoiding something, then?”

Grant offered a soft laugh as he spun in the leather executive chair to face the gray-haired man. “No.”

“Really?” Worthington said with a flick of his eyebrow that questioned the answer.

“I’m not,” Grant assured him. “I’m just…trying to read something into this lack of information. I can’t believe this is all they’ve found in weeks. Actually, what I’m considering is a clean sweep of the security team.”

Worthington chuckled as he lifted the tumbler from Grant’s hand and crossed to the sleek drink cart to freshen his drink. “If their identity had been easy to find, none of this would have happened.”

“You’re right,” Grant said. “But Julia managed to track down more information in less time.”

“And thank heavens for us and Evelyn Clarke that Mrs. Harrington was quick-witted enough to piece it together.”

Grant pressed his lips into a thin line, staring into the amber liquid again. “Yes. Not for her though.”

Worthington offered a fleeting smile, understanding his concern over the physical injuries Julia had sustained. “Mrs. Harrington seems to have recovered quite well.”

Grant’s mind strayed to the frightening moments he’d waited in the hospital for information about her. With the hit to the head she’d sustained, things could have gone much worse than a severe concussion.

He’d spent the next two days by her side, insisting she remain in bed and resting to ensure there were no lasting effects. The memory of their shared time had been a primary factor in the blurring of the lines of their contract.

With a strong pull to her already, those moments had made it even stronger. The memory of her genuine laughter as they joked over a ridiculous plotline still echoed in his mind.

“Yes, I know that, but I hate that she went through that at all.”

“Do I detect a note of non-contractually obligated concern for the newest Mrs. Harrington?”

Grant flicked his eyes up to the perceptive man in front of him. “Does it matter if you do?”

Worthington clasped his hands in front of him and frowned. “You tell me. This one is quite different from the others, isn’t she?”

Grant swiveled his chair around to face the lawn again, unwilling to allow his butler to glean any raw emotion that may slip into his eyes. “It doesn’t matter. Julia…has her own life. I can’t imagine she wants anything to do with me after all this trouble.”

“That’s not the Grant Harrington I know.”

Grant swung back around, this time with a grin on his face. “Maybe that’s a good thing. We’re trying to change my image, remember?”

“And Mrs. Harrington seems to be doing a lovely job of it.”

“Let it go, Worthington. There’s nothing there.”

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