Chapter 14
She felt her heart lurching at the fierce look on his face and knew exactly what he had in mind.
“You don’t have to-”
“Oh yes. I have to. Did he have time to say where he’s staying? I’m assuming he doesn’t live here?”
“No. Look-” She started to reach out to touch him, but he drew back. “It’s my concern-” She stopped when his face went to ice.
“I didn’t mean-”
“Yes you did, but we’ll table that for now. I’m in love with you. As a matter of fact, it has gotten past that point. You’re my life, the heart of me.”
“I see from the terrified expression on your face that’s not something you want to hear. That’s tough, and you’re going to have to suck it up. We’re going to go to a chapel, or better yet, fly to Vegas to make us legally married. I want you as my wife, the mother of my children, eventually.”
His hand snaked out to grip hers when she started to shift away.
“I also know that’s not something you don’t want to hear either, but that’s fact, and I’m not taking no for an answer. He hurt you, and I’m going to find him and convince him that’s not going to happen again.”
Her hand fluttered in his and she could feel panic settling in.
“I’m not good at this. I’m not good marriage material. You’ll only get hurt. I can’t-”
“You’re letting that bastard define who you are.” His hand squeezed hers, none too gently.
“I know you. I’ve seen you with others. You’re tough and vulnerable at the same time. You care. You made my grandfather into a different person.
“I’m onto you, darling. And you cannot deny that you love me. You show me every time you’re with me. Something else.”
His expression turned ominous.
“I’m your first call. Period.
“I know Dylan is your brother and you’re close to each other, but I’m the man who loves you and will be protecting you, whether you want it or not.
I want to be your best friend, not just your lover, but the one you call if there’s something wrong, if you have a flat, if you’re not feeling well, if the goddamned house is on fire. I want to be the one. Am I clear?”
She simply stared at him for a few pulsing minutes before switching her gaze to something over his left shoulder.
He waited her out. He was good at that, she realized.
He was also good at making her feel. Of course, she was in love with him.
She was past the point of denying it to herself. But a real marriage?
She balked at the idea.
But he was right. She was making that man define her, and that was unacceptable.
Yes, he had been married six times and would continue that trend because he was a shallow and manipulative idiot. She wasn’t that kind of person, and neither was her brother.
By some miracle, that particular gene, the defection, had skipped by them.
She would never know what the silence was doing to him, never dream that his breath had stopped and the tension was radiating through his body as he waited. He had thrown down the gauntlet, said some pretty powerful demands, but he knew her and how stubborn she could be.
So, he waited on tenterhooks.
“I might be like him.”
“Not a chance.” He released that pent-up breath slowly and felt his shoulders relax.
“I might discover that I don’t like being married to you and want a divorce so I can marry someone else.” Her voice and resolve were weakening and they both knew it.
“I won’t let you. In fact, you’re going to find it hard-pressed to get rid of me. And I’d make you a widow the very day you become a wife to someone else.”
Her eyes flashed as he continued to stare at her mildly.
“That’s not funny.”
“Not meant to be. I happen to be a lawyer; there will be papers drawn up to make this a binding commitment. If you leave for any reason other than death do us part, I’ll take away the building you’re so attached to and make your life a living hell.”
Her eyes flashed even more, and when she tried to drag her hand away, he simply held on.
“You don’t get to threaten me.”
“Did I make it sound like a threat? It’s a promise, one I’m hell-bent on keeping. We stick together through thick and thin. I’m crazy about you. You tie me up in knots. You have my heart, my soul, and body. Everything I am belongs to you.
“It’s a hell of a responsibility, but it is what it is. I’m here to stay, baby. I’m yours all the way. I was thinking we could make a day of it. Go to Vegas, get married in some gaudy chapel. We could spend the rest of the time in a casino, losing or winning money. I’m good at blackjack.
“What’s your favorite mode of gambling?”
Shock had turned to resignation as she continued to stare at him.
“I don’t gamble.”
“That’s going to change.” She jolted when he lifted her hand to kiss her knuckles, his eyes meeting hers.
“Tomorrow good enough?”
“I haven’t decided if-”
“I’m not taking no for an answer.”
“Craig-”
“No.”
Her expression was a study in irritation that had him biting back a smile.
“I have no say in the matter?” she asked in an annoyed tone of voice.
“None.” He kissed her knuckles again.
“I’m head over heels, irrevocably in love with you. You’ve brought life into my previously dull world.”
He glanced around the room and then swiveled back to her.
“And you’ve turned this place into a glow of light. Do you think I would ever let you go?”
She fought the tears, but they came. How could she resist when he spoke like that?
How could she ever be proof against such a force of love? Or such determination, such conviction?
Her throat felt thick, and her body began to tremble. Words failed her for a minute, and still he waited.
He was so very good at that.
“You’re right.” She finally conceded.
“I’m in love with you.” She eased out a breath.
“I’m going to mess up a lot and you’re going to have to deal with it. I-I might be a lousy wife-”
“Undoubtedly.” For his pithy remark, he got a painful poke in the ribs.
“I’m not like him.” She eased out another breath.
“Neither is Dylan. For too long, we thought, we believed, we were. That’s why I ran away that first time.”
Tears blurred her vision.
“But damn you, you persisted, and now here I am. The very thought of being without you makes my stomach hurt. I want permanency, so yes, I’ll marry you for real.”
His heart went soaring. Everything inside him went light as a feather.
He wanted to jump up and dance and shout for glee, but he managed to tamp it all down.
“Vegas, here we come.” His eyes gleamed.
“How does tomorrow sound?”
She laughed, tears vanishing.
“The weekend. We both have responsibilities and workmen.”
“This weekend then.” He drew her in then, framing her face with his hands.
His eyes told her everything. “I was prepared to bludgeon you over the head with a two-by-four and drag you onto the jet.”
“Were you?” she murmured.
“Hmm.” He kissed her forehead, then her eyes, sealing them shut with his lips.
Then he moved down to her cheek and the seam of her lips before parting them with his tongue.
“Make love to me.”
His heart took a slow dive and then started up again.
“You don’t have to ask twice.” He laid her back against the pillows and undressed her slowly, his eyes never leaving her face.
Her heart started pounding when he kissed every inch of skin he bared. Slow, slow, teasing, gentle, reverent.
All those words filtered through her mind as he continued to undress and kiss.
Her fingers drifted through his dense hair, still moist from the shower. His fingers trailed over her ribcage, skimmed her breasts, giving her sharp jolts of aching desire.
He drew her panties down, kissing the insides of her thighs. Her breath backed up inside her chest, making it difficult for her to breathe.
No one had ever taken such careful time with her. No one had ever loved her this way.
It overwhelmed and it terrified, but she embraced the wonder of it. The wonder of him.
He made her feel so much, too much. Emotions crowded inside her, bursting to get out.
He used his mouth, his very clever tongue, his fingers to destroy her. Annihilate her completely.
By the time he covered her body with his, she was weeping, her fingers clutching, groping, and clinging to him.
She opened up for him, like a flower after a burst of rain and sunshine. She enveloped him, took him in.
He went in deeper, overwhelmed by her scent, the texture of her lips, the taste of her still in his mouth, on his tongue. He shared it with her as he moved inside her.
The feeling, the sensation, was incredible. It made him shudder, made him want more of her.
He wanted everything. She had finally told him she loved him, finally agreed to legally be his, and for that, he was so grateful, so damned humbled, that he had no idea what the hell to do with himself.
She would belong to him for the rest of his life. He would belong to her.
He gave her everything. He took everything she was offering and gave her more.
He swamped her, muddled her brain, and made her weak and vulnerable. But for the first time in her life, it did not bother her.
She embraced the emotions, embraced him, and went willingly over the cliff.
She burrowed into him while she slept. He considered it tremendous progress from where they first started.
He didn’t have to force the issue anymore. She came to him willingly now, and that was something.
But he had something to do.
He was going to use his considerable resources to track down that lowlife who called himself her father. He was going to put the fear of God in him.
She belonged to him, and no one, absolutely no one, touched her and got away with it.
He was going to find the man and make sure he went away for good. If he wanted money…
He considered that for a minute or two. Would he give him money?
Hell yes! He would make him sign a goddamned piece of paper, making it illegal for him to have any contact with her again.
Yes, he would take that step, because seeing that look on her face again, the vulnerability, the stark, naked pain, was never going to happen again.
*****
Craig didn’t consider the fact that he was lying to her. He just hadn’t told her his plan, but lying by omission was still lying and he wasn’t comfortable with it.