Chapter Twelve
THE CAR PURRED along the darkened road as Gisèle stared at Adam’s harsh profile. There wasn’t enough light to read his expression but he hadn’t sounded like he was joking. In the dimness he looked tense rather than smug.
Her fingers dug into her seat, anchoring herself as the world wheeled.
She licked her lips and swallowed, turning to watch the headlights cut the night as the country road curved. The lights illuminated a pair of eyes in the grass, some small animal transfixed by the vehicle.
Gisèle felt that way, transfixed. Stunned.
‘You expect me to believe I prompted you to take over the company?’
He’d said he’d wanted her from the day they met but this was something else!
‘You think I’m lying?’ Adam’s hands rotated on the steering wheel as if he tightened his grip. ‘You know that’s not my style.’ He shot her a sideways glance. ‘It’s fact. I was interested in the company. The figures looked good despite the mistakes that had been made and it met my other criteria. But what tipped the balance was you. Your poise, your smile. There was something indefinable about you, something I wanted.’
There was that word again—want. As if he hadn’t acquired her for the continuity of having a Fontaine still attached to the company.
Gisèle’s chest ached from holding her breath. Or maybe from the effort of not letting herself be persuaded. Because it was too outrageous.
Yet she wanted it to be true.
Because she’d felt it too, that shocking spark of connection. Attraction. Wanting.
She’d believed it was her own personal weakness. What if she weren’t alone in feeling that way?
The idea was too big, too tempting.
Her heart crashed against her ribcage as if fighting to escape, and she had to work to keep her voice even. ‘Don’t tell me—it was my amazing beauty that hooked you.’
Another sideways glance came her way. ‘You are beautiful, Gisèle, even if you don’t believe it. But it wasn’t that simple. There was something else. Your warmth, your animation.’ He shook his head. ‘I can’t put it in words but it was a spark of something I couldn’t ignore. Something I didn’t want to ignore.’
Adam lifted one hand off the wheel and unerringly found hers in the darkness. His touch was warm, familiar and charged. A flurry of sparks burst in her blood, adrenaline coursing, making her sit straighter.
‘You wanted me as a family representative. A Fontaine to continue the cachet of the family name.’
‘That was only part of it.’ When he spoke again his voice was deeper. ‘It wasn’t all about the business.’
Something potent shivered in the night air between them. Something that made the fine hairs on her arms stand up and the feelings she’d desperately tried to repress stir anew.
‘Why tell me this, Adam?’
‘I want to be honest with you. We’re married. We’re lovers, Gisèle. We have a relationship that means something.’
‘Does it? That’s not how it seems.’ Or was she throwing up objections because the idea of their relationship meaning something real raised the stakes too much? It came too close to what she secretly desired. ‘You pushed me away. That night we had sex, I turned to you later for more but you rolled away, pretending to be asleep. Once was clearly enough for you so I knew you’d been disappointed. Then in the morning you disappeared so fast your feet barely touched the ground.’
‘Oh, sweetheart, you’ve got it all wrong.’
‘Wrong? I was there. Don’t say you were asleep. You knew what you were doing.’
Adam took his hand from hers to grip the wheel as he turned between a pair of stone pillars, large iron gates opening as they approached. Ahead lay a long drive under an avenue of trees.
Instead of being curious about their destination Gisèle found herself fixated on the loss of his hand on hers. How much she missed that simple touch.
Anxiety spiked. She’d fallen so deeply in thrall to him! She didn’t want to feel this way. She’d rather hang onto the simmering anger that had seen her through his absence, her battered pride giving her the strength she’d needed to face him today.
‘I did know what I was doing.’ The admission sucked the air from her lungs. ‘Not because I didn’t want you, Gisèle, but because I wanted you too much.’
He stopped the car inside the gates, turning to her. ‘I’d just discovered you were a sexual innocent. What we’d done whetted my appetite instead of diminishing it. I wanted to spend the rest of the night inside you, driving you from one peak to the next. Giving free rein to all the sexual fantasies I’d harboured about you for weeks.’
Adam’s voice grew hoarse, his breathing choppy, as if reliving those explicit thoughts. ‘I was afraid if I took you again I wouldn’t stop, but I didn’t want to hurt you. You’d been a virgin. I was trying to look after you.’
Gisèle’s breathing roughened too, dampness beading her hairline and blooming between her thighs at the thought of Adam wanting to spend the night inside her. Arousal made her shift in her seat, though she knew there was only one way to ease the hollow ache inside.
‘You really mean it.’
The discovery twisted what she thought she knew, making her memory of that night shift and resettle into a different pattern.
‘I do.’ It was there in his gravel-edged voice. ‘You were inexperienced so I tried to be considerate. I wasn’t sure if I’d already hurt you—’
‘You didn’t hurt me! It was just...surprising.’ More intense than she’d expected, but wonderful. ‘I liked it.’
His hand covered hers, squeezing. ‘Good. But you were untried. Even if I didn’t hurt you then I might have later. My need was...great.’
She shifted again, blood singing at those simple, devastating words. ‘So was mine. I’d waited a long time to have sex.’
‘I’m sorry, Gisèle. I should have explained. But it seemed easier to pretend to be asleep. Easier to withstand temptation.’
Typical man, avoiding difficult conversations.
But there was no rancour left in the thought. She was too caught in the graphic description of what he’d wanted to do with her. It was a torch flame in the darkness, lighting her up from the inside.
‘And in the morning?’
‘Much the same. You marched into my room in that tailored skirt and heels and all I wanted was to tumble you onto the bed and to hell with our meeting. But it was more than that.’
He lifted his hand from hers and accelerated slowly down the drive. In profile his features looked sharper than usual. ‘That night you revealed how you’d been abused by your lover and it shone an unwelcome light on my behaviour. It made me review how I’d pushed into your world, cornering you into marriage. It didn’t make me feel good.’
She’d wanted honesty but hadn’t expected this. Adam’s words made her head spin. ‘You felt guilty?’
Though could she really be surprised? She’d seen another side to him at work. While he had no time for incompetence, Adam had surprised with his patience and kindness when dealing with employees worried about the future. And the sweet way he’d looked after her that night, putting no pressure on her, yet caring for her when she had an emotional meltdown...
‘I gave you a choice with the contract and you accepted. I don’t feel guilty about the takeover.’ His words slowed. ‘But to hear you’d been abused by a lover...’ He shook his head. ‘The fact is I wanted you from the first. You got the idea it would be a paper marriage but I never intended to settle for that. Then, the night we began to make love you told me what had happened to you and I felt guilty at having taken advantage of you, pushing you into marriage.’
Her eyes widened. She’d never thought to hear such an admission.
She heard the truth in his words and knew it would be easy to feed his guilt. But she couldn’t do it.
For all his ruthless powerplay, Adam was honest, startlingly so. He didn’t lie and cheat or demean her like the man who’d aimed to seduce her then share the footage of him taking her virginity.
Adam provoked and badgered her. He’d pushed her into a corner. Yet these past weeks he’d made her feel stronger, better about herself, about them. He’d brought her unexpected joy and shown tender consideration when she needed it.
‘You behaved appallingly, appearing out of nowhere and making outrageous ultimatums. But it’s nothing like what he did. You didn’t trick me. I wanted you, Adam. I initiated sex, knowing who and what you were. You’re not a sexual predator.’
‘That’s what I told myself. But I still felt uncomfortable. I needed space to think.’
Her emotions see-sawed. Amazement, excitement, puzzlement. Was he implying he couldn’t think around her?
‘So you took off to New York.’ Her mind was a jumble. ‘Yet you came back for the wedding. Your conscience didn’t bite hard enough to forget that.’
He shrugged as he turned a curve and pulled up before a small but perfect chateau of pale stone. Floodlights glinted off long windows, massed flowers spilled from planters on the stairs that swept up from the gravel drive, and round pepper-pot towers at each end turned it into a place of whimsical fancy.
She wouldn’t have been surprised to see a pumpkin coach drawn up before the grand entrance. Anything seemed possible tonight.
Adam killed the engine and turned to her. ‘I want this marriage, Gisèle. Of course I wasn’t going to give it up. I want you.’ The silence stretched, broken only by the tick of the cooling engine. ‘And I believe you want me.’
He was right. There was no point denying it. Yet she hesitated.
Coward. You weren’t so reticent the night you demanded sex.
That truth was an itch under skin that grew too tight around her. It was infuriating that what he said was true. Despite everything she did want him. She’d been furious and hurt, arriving for their wedding. But never once had it occurred to her not to turn up. To use his absence as an excuse to break their agreement.
Because you want him. You want how he makes you feel. The way he sees you as no one else does.
‘Of course you want this marriage,’ she blustered. ‘You needed a Fontaine—’
‘You and I know it’s not that simple any more. I want you. I’ve watched you at work, Gisèle, and away from it, and it’s been a revelation. It’s exciting discovering the woman you are, with more depth and integrity than I’d imagined in the beginning. It’s you I want, not a cipher whose name happens to be Fontaine. And before you say it again, this isn’t about the business. This is personal.’
She watched his broad chest rise and fall as if he battled powerful emotions.
Whereas she merely felt as if the earth had fallen away beneath her feet, leaving her tumbling in nothingness.
‘It’s all about what you want, isn’t it Adam? What about me?’
His voice was sharp, his words quick and disbelieving. ‘You’re saying you don’t want me?’
Her breath was a sigh. ‘Marriage is about more than simple want,’ she said finally. ‘You didn’t give me a choice.’
Adam’s words when they came were a low burr that caressed her shivery skin. ‘Really? You went through today’s ceremony because I held a gun to your head? That’s not the woman I know. The strong woman who isn’t scared to stand up to me. You could have stood there today before my family and accused me of forcing your hand. Nothing easier. You could have told them what was in that contract you signed. You’ve met my mother and sister. Do you really think they’d let me get away with forcing you into anything?’ He paused. ‘Do you truthfully think I want that?’
It hurt to breathe, her emotions a tumult in her breast. Because it was true. Escape would have been so easy.
If she’d been desperate enough.
Within seconds of meeting Adam’s mother and sister she’d liked them, known them to be genuine, decent people who loved and thought the world of him.
But she’d discovered he wasn’t an unregenerate bully. How often already had she seen his caring side? Seen him change his stance, swayed by others’ arguments or needs? He’d been there for her when she needed support.
Yet she couldn’t ignore what he’d done. ‘What about the penalty clause in the contract you made me sign?’
Even in the gloom she saw his face tighten, his head jerk back. ‘You really believe I’d hold you to that now, after what we shared?’
‘It’s a legal contract.’
‘One that served its purpose and stopped you running from me in the beginning. But if you really think...’
He shoved open his door, shooting out of the car before she had time to guess his intention. One second he was there, an electrifying presence beside her, the next he was a shadow stalking off into the gloom.
Gisèle ripped her seatbelt undone and stumbled out so fast her heel turned in the gravel. It didn’t stop her stomping after him.
‘Don’t you dare walk away from me, Adam Wilde!’
That wide-shouldered figure stopped then slowly turned, his face a pale blur in the shadows behind the floodlights.
Limping a little, she reached him. ‘You can’t say something like that then walk away. You should have told me where I stood, spoken to me. Not assumed I’m a mind reader.’
Though she exulted in the fact he wanted her for himself. Not because of the company, but for her, Gisèle.
The man she’d come to know, who’d been so considerate and passionate, made her want to take the sort of personal risks she’d avoided all her life.
‘Why? So you could argue? Run away because you’re scared of what we share?’
She frowned, hearing an unfamiliar note in that rich voice.
He shoved his hands in his pockets and straightened to his full, impressive height. ‘If that’s what you really want, tell me and this ends now.’
‘Ends?’
‘We’ll find a way to end the marriage if you really can’t abide me.’ There it was again, that curiously flat, almost deflated note. ‘Because I’m not the sort of man a woman like you wants.’
‘A woman like me? What do you mean?’
‘Isn’t it obvious? A man who dragged himself up by his bootstraps.’
Gisèle couldn’t believe what she heard, yet there was no mistaking the honesty in that gravelly tone.
The shock of it, that he’d truly end the marriage, and that he believed she found him less than desirable because of his history, made her stumble backwards, her heel sinking into the gravel again.
Off-balance, literally as well as emotionally, she gritted her teeth as she hauled off her heels and tossed them aside, the gravel rough beneath her soles.
It seemed it hadn’t just been privileged male competitors who’d looked down on Adam, but some woman or women who’d made him think poorly of her sex. That saddened her. But not enough to quench her ire.
‘We’ve established I’m not a snob. My problem,’ she poked his solid chest, ‘is you assuming I wanted to marry you after I’d come to know you. There was no discussion. No apology. Nothing. What if I was hanging out for love?’
‘Are you, Gisèle?’
‘No!’ Much as she’d adored her parents, she didn’t want what they’d shared. ‘I saw what grief did to my mother when my father died. She didn’t just lose a husband, she lost herself. She didn’t even have enough left to share with her children. I never want to be that weak.’
‘You could never be that weak.’ His hand captured hers, holding it to his chest and something throbbed through his touch. Strength. Reassurance. ‘You’re a strong woman. That’s one of the things I admire about you.’
‘Not enough to trust me with the truth. You herded me into marriage.’
He inclined his head. ‘I should apologise for that. But the truth? You know the truth. I admire you, desire you. I’ve never wanted a woman more. I like what we share, the spark in you, and I’m not just talking about sex. I believe I can make you happy if you let me try. I respect you, Gisèle. I’ll never deliberately hurt you.’
She should pull her hand away but she couldn’t. As if something, his energy, his determination, her own inclination, kept her where she was.
Yet marriage was a crazy idea. She should take him up on his offer to end this now.
Except she didn’t want to.
For the first time she’d found someone she genuinely wanted to be with, someone who accepted her, cared for her and made her feel special. Someone who at last was being honest about their feelings.
‘You don’t get off that easily.’ She drew in a sustaining breath. ‘You say you respect me, but I won’t stand for you making decisions for me. I refuse to be with a man who assumes he knows what I want.’
In the darkness his smile was a flash of white. ‘And if I promise always to talk things over? To ask? Negotiate?’
Something rippled through her like a great tide, flattening the last vestiges of resistance. ‘Then I might be persuaded.’
Who was she kidding? The fear that had gripped her when he talked about ending things still reverberated through her.
Adam scooped her up, holding her against his chest, sending excited shivers through her.
‘What are you doing?’
‘Saving your feet from that gravel and taking you where I can persuade you in more comfort.’ His words were a silky caress. ‘If you agree?’
Final chance to end this. That would be the sensible thing to do.
But Gisèle didn’t want to end it. For the first time she wanted to take the daring, risky, phenomenally exciting option.
‘That’s an excellent idea.’
Minutes later they were in the chateau. There were lofty ceilings hung with glittering chandeliers, honey-coloured wooden floors and glimpses of rooms furnished with a mix of beautiful antiques and comfortable modern furniture.
Adam stopped before a graceful staircase. ‘We’re alone, Gisèle. No staff living in. There’s a light supper in the kitchen.’ He nodded towards the back of the building. ‘Or we could continue this upstairs.’
His glittering eyes made her skin prickle with anticipation. ‘I’m not hungry.’
Not for food. Not when he looked at her like that. Even her indignation faltered under the force of longing.
Minutes later they were in an exquisitely decorated bedroom, walls hung with silk and flowers in crystal bowls scenting the air. A vast bed was made up with snowy linens and a profusion of pillows and embroidered cushions, its surface scattered with petals in every shade from cream to apricot and crimson.
It was a romantic bower. Right down to the sheer curtains pulled back on either side of the bed and the ice bucket with its foil-topped bottle and delicate crystal goblets.
‘You like it?’
Gisèle slowly shook her head. ‘It’s not what I expected.’ She was in awe. No one had ever gone to so much trouble to please her.
His embrace stiffened. ‘You don’t approve.’
Surprised, she met his frowning gaze.
This wasn’t a love match, yet Adam had gone to great lengths to make tonight special.
‘I love it.’ She swallowed. ‘But one considerate gesture doesn’t make up for your behaviour.’
He nodded gravely and lowered her to the floor, their bodies in contact all the way. Her nerve endings hummed with excitement by the time she stood on her own feet.
‘I know what I want to do next. But what do you want, Gisèle?’
Excitement sparked. ‘To undress you.’
There was no place for false pride here. Negotiations on their marriage could wait. She couldn’t. She reached for his tie, the fabric soft against her palms.
He growled. ‘I want to reciprocate.’
Gisèle nodded. Seconds later they stood naked in a pool of discarded clothes.
Adam stroked his palms over her turgid nipples, taking the weight of her breasts, and she felt bliss beckon. His eyes glazed as his voice roughened. ‘I want you so badly. But I don’t want this to be done too soon. I want to kiss you all over, explore every inch, learn every erogenous zone.’ Moss dark eyes met hers and she saw in them the same desperation she felt. ‘Would you like that?’
Of course she would. The very sound of it made liquid heat pool between her thighs.
There were unexpected benefits in having Adam spell out his intentions and ask her opinion.
‘Only if I can do the same.’
His assent was gruff but his hands infinitely gentle as he nudged her onto the bed.
By the time he’d finished his explorations, she’d found bliss several times under his questing mouth and hands. She should be exhausted. But as he kept telling her, she was stronger than she thought. For as Adam whispered in her ear every new suggestion for delicious pleasure, she found herself agreeing with alacrity.
It seemed she had an unending capacity for the pleasure he gave her. Even her intention of exploring his body in full wavered as he took her from one peak to another.
Until finally the lure of possession was too much. She needed to have him, yearning for something deeper, the union of their bodies.
This time when they came together it felt like there was nothing but raw honesty between them. No filters, no prevarication, no half-truths. Gisèle met his mesmerising eyes and felt like she’d found home.
With infinite care, Adam brought them together. A warm tide engulfed her. A great wave of feeling that was more than satisfaction. More than delight.
For an age they moved slowly, celebrating each wondrous sensation, until it became too much. Their slow dance grew staccato, urgent, reckless, yet beautiful still. And when the explosion hit them simultaneously, Gisèle had never known such joy, wrapping her lover close in her arms as they shuddered in ecstasy.
It felt like the promise of a new beginning she’d never dared believe in.