Читать книгу In Bed With...Collection - Emma Darcy - Страница 31

BRYCE clamped down on his impatience. Rushing Sunny was not going to work. Marsden had obviously caused too much emotional damage for her to trust easily. Yet he was quite certain her instincts sided with him. She would never have responded as she had without feeling the same deep attraction he felt.

Or was it rebound stuff—an overwhelming need to be desired?

That was one need he could certainly answer. Desire was simmering through him right now as they waited for the arrival of the elevator to take them down to the limousine which would transport them to the helicopter base. The stretch jeans and T-shirt Sunny had pulled on showed every delectable line and curve of her. She’d crammed one of the conference caps over her rioting curls, and it, too, seemed provocative on her, like a perky invitation to whip it off and free her hair.

Free everything!

The elevator doors slid open. Sunny glanced nervously at him as she stepped into the empty compartment. Bryce’s chest tightened as he followed and hit the control panel for the ground floor. What good was restraint? Pouncing on her the last time they had been in this elevator together had propelled them into an intimacy that was working for him. Why should he hold back now?

The doors closed.

Driven once more by the urge to claim her as his, Bryce reached out and wrapped her in his embrace. Her lovely amber eyes lit with alarm. ‘No pressure,’ he gruffly promised, lifting a hand to gently stroke the tension from her face. ‘I just have a need to feel you with me.’

The amber softened into a golden glow as he bent his head to kiss her and there was no hint of resistance when his mouth touched hers. The hands that had rested warily on his shoulders, slid quickly to link around his neck, an eager signal of her desire to feel him with her, too.

It was more than enough to push Bryce into seeking all she would give him and her active response as he deepened the kiss instantly ignited a passionate drive to break the emotional barriers in her mind, to draw all her feelings towards him with such dominant force, nothing else existed for her but the two of them together.

He pressed her closer, exulting in the long, feminine legs clinging to his, the soft fullness of her breasts spreading across the hard muscle of his chest, the whole delicious pliancy of her body as it seemed to crave every contact with his. He was so strongly aroused, so exhilarated by the fervour of her response, he wasn’t aware of the elevator having come to a halt at ground level.

The whirr of the doors opening did belatedly register in his consciousness, but by the time he’d lifted his mouth from Sunny’s, the doors were closing again, which was fine by him. He didn’t want to stop what he was doing. They could ride straight back up to his suite and…

‘Bryce…’ An urgent gasp.

‘Mmm?’

‘We’re down!’

He sighed, swiftly deciding he had regained some ground with her and playing for more might be a bad idea. He swung aside, reached out and pressed the Open Doors button just as the elevator was being sealed shut again.

Her hands dropped from his neck as she turned to face the exit, but she made no move to distance herself from the arm he’d left around her waist. They stepped out to the lobby together, which was a far more satisfying situation to Bryce than the apartness she’d been subtly maintaining since their breakfast conversation. It was clear he had to keep stoking this very mutual desire and sweeping her along with him until she accepted he was the man for her.

‘You slut!’

The ugly words sliced through Bryce’s pleasurable mission-plan, and the sight of Derek Marsden advancing on them switched his mind to red alert! Beside him he felt Sunny’s whole body jerk with shock and her feet came to an abrupt halt, which halted him, as well, since no way was he about to let go of her.

‘Derek?’

The name spilled from Sunny’s lips, even as her mind recoiled from the horrible name he had called her. The shock of seeing him was stunning enough, having expected him to fly out on the plane to Los Angeles, but to be so insultingly labelled in public…

‘Yeah,’ he jeered. ‘Thought you’d neatly got rid of me, didn’t you? Sneaky bitch!’

‘That’s more than enough!’ Bryce rapped out in a steely voice.

Sunny felt the surge of aggressive tension whipping through him, his hand on her waist gripping harder, pulling her protectively closer.

‘She’s taking you for a ride, Templar,’ Derek threw at him, his eyes shooting daggers. ‘Want to see the ring she gave back to me yesterday so she could go after you?’

‘That’s not true, Derek!’ Sunny cried, appalled by this attack on her integrity.

He ignored her, plucking the engagement ring out of his shirt pocket, holding it in his clenched fist with the diamond pointing at Bryce, shaking it at him as he poured out more venom. ‘No doubt you can buy one bigger than this.’

‘That has nothing to do with why I broke with you, Derek, and you know it!’ Sunny fiercely protested.

He turned on her in vicious accusation. ‘You left me and went straight off with him.’

Sunny shook her head, bewildered by the totally unfair interpretation of the situation.

‘At my instigation,’ Bryce sliced in. ‘You are mistaken. It was I who approached Miss York, not the other way around.’

‘Miss York…huh!’ Derek snorted derisively. ‘Think I didn’t see you in a clinch in the elevator just now?’

‘I have asked her to marry me,’ Bryce stated with icy dignity.

‘Marry you?’ Sheer fury twisted Derek’s face. ‘Well, let me tell you she was marrying me this time yesterday.’ His eyes blazed at Sunny. ‘What did you do? Give him the eye all the time you were sitting in the front row of the conference room?’

‘No! I didn’t do anything!’ she cried, flushing with the guilt of having nursed lustful thoughts. But only in a fantasy way, not aimed to draw Bryce’s attention to her.

‘Like hell you didn’t!’ came the bitter rebuttal. ‘You got your eye on the main chance and goodbye Derek.’

The sheer injustice of his slurs on her character whipped up Sunny’s fury. ‘It was goodbye Derek because all you could think about was gambling!’

‘Well, it’s you who’s gambling now, you scheming little gold-digger! And I hope Templar sees you for what you are before he’s fool enough to marry you.’

‘I am not a gold-digger! It’s you who wanted easy money.’

‘At least I earn what I spend. I don’t trade in sex for it.’

‘Oh! Oh!’ Sunny gasped, reduced to speechlessness.

‘That is too offensive!’ Bryce growled, his whole body clenching, ready to spring.

But it wasn’t his fight, Sunny thought frantically. It was hers. And she had to fight back.

‘Offensive!’ Derek hurled at Bryce, too aroused to be intimidated. ‘I track her here and discover there’s no room in the name of Sunny York. She spent the night with you, sleeping her way to the top. That’s offensive.’

‘You’re right!’ Sunny snapped, leaping in to defend herself. ‘I did sleep with him. He found me more attractive than a roulette wheel.’

‘Well, you just keep spinning for him. I don’t want a whore as my wife.’

‘You insult Sunny once more and I’ll ram the words down your throat,’ Bryce bit out, violence shimmering in the air.

‘No!’ Sunny instantly swung towards him, slamming a hand on his chest, desperate to prevent any movement towards Derek who was shaping up to slug it out.

Fists wouldn’t resolve anything. It would only make the whole scene uglier and more public than it already was.

She glared at her ex-fiancé over her shoulder. ‘We have nothing more to say to each other. Please go, Derek.’

He glowered at Bryce to prove he wasn’t intimidated, then sliced a look of contempt at Sunny. ‘Screw you! I’ll have plenty to say to everyone else about why you ditched me.’

‘You keep your filthy mouth shut or I’ll shut it for you,’ Bryce threatened, his chest swelling against Sunny’s hand.

‘You don’t have that much power, sucker!’ Derek challenged, and on that jeering note, turned his back on both of them and strutted off as though he was cock-of-the-walk.

‘Don’t do anything, Bryce,’ Sunny pleaded, frightened by the aggressive jut of his chin and the fighting strength that was teetering on the edge of exploding.

His gaze lowered reluctantly to hers, eyes glittering. ‘You want me to let him get away with that slimy slander?’ he demanded, rage clipping every word.

‘It’s true I broke my engagement to him yesterday,’ she said, trying to excuse some of the offence.

‘And none too soon,’ Bryce ground out. ‘There was no love for you in that outburst, Sunny.’

No…no love…just wounded ego and vile nastiness. Her stomach felt sick with it. ‘Did you believe…’ She anxiously scanned the glittering green eyes. ‘Did you believe anything of what he said about me?’

The question brought a beetling frown. ‘You know I don’t. How could I? I’ve been with you every step we’ve taken together.’

But her staying with him as she had was open to misinterpretation. ‘You don’t think I’m a…a gold-digger? Out for what I can get?’

‘Not you, Sunny,’ he declared with ringing certainty.

She felt intensely grateful for his belief in her. Into her distressed mind flashed the image of Bryce always standing by her, ready to defend, to protect, caring with the kind of strength Derek had never had.

‘Do you still want to marry me?’ she asked.

‘You think he could change what I feel?’ came the incredulous challenge.

‘No. Not you,’ she answered, somehow knowing that very deeply. Bryce Templar trod his own path, and suddenly she wanted very much to share that path with him. It looked safe. It looked secure.

He cupped her face in his hands, commanding her full attention as his eyes blazed into hers. ‘I want you, Sunny York. I’d marry you right this minute if I could.’

The warmth of his skin took away the dead coldness left by Derek’s emotional kicks in the face. Bryce’s desire for her sizzled into her bloodstream, bringing a vibrancy that re-energised her whole body.

‘Then I will…I will marry you, Bryce,’ she heard herself say, as though the words were drawn from a place she was barely conscious of, yet she knew even as she said them, she wouldn’t take them back.

Bryce knew instantly it was a rebound decision. Her eyes were focused on him but they had a calm, almost distant expression in them, not one sparkle of happiness or even warm pleasure in the thought of being his wife. He should have felt an exhilarating zing of triumph, having achieved his goal so quickly, but the achievement wasn’t his. It was Marsden’s. Nevertheless, the prize was there to take, and Bryce was not about to let it slip away.

‘Today?’ he pressed.

‘Yes.’ Her mouth quivered into a challenging little smile. ‘Right this minute if you like.’

He grinned, determined on being cheerful. ‘We do have to get a wedding licence first.’

‘Is that a problem?’

‘A quick trip to the courthouse. No problem at all.’

‘Then let’s do it.’

As simple as that! Except Bryce was acutely aware of the complex undercurrents to this apparent simplicity. As he linked Sunny’s arm around his and steered her out of the hotel to the waiting limousine, he asked himself if it was wise to take advantage of a decision she may well think better of, given a few hours’ distance from Marsden’s backlash.

Which reminded him that Marsden had to be dealt with before he caused more damage. He’d call Sherman as soon as he had a free minute. His crafty lawyer could speak to Marsden in L.A., pound home enough unpleasant legalities to demonstrate that silence held the greater good.

‘Mr. Templar and Miss York,’ the chauffeur greeted them affably, holding the passenger door open. ‘Lovely day for a trip to the Grand Canyon.’

Bryce paused, hit by an unaccustomed sense of wrongness. It was a rare moment of indecision for him, yet this choice did involve Sunny very intimately and he did not want her to be unhappy as his wife. He lightly squeezed the hand resting passively on his arm, drawing her gaze to his and watching intently for any hesitation on her part.

‘Are you sure about marrying me, Sunny?’

‘Yes, I’m sure,’ she stated decisively.

‘You don’t want to go to the Grand Canyon and take some time to think it over?’

‘No.’ Her chin was set in determination. ‘I want to marry you today.’ Her eyes sparked into vehement life. ‘If it’s right for you, it’s right for me!’

It snapped Bryce straight into positive action. He turned to the chauffeur. ‘Use your car phone to cancel the tour and take us straight to the courthouse.’

‘Yes, sir.’

Bryce handed Sunny into the limousine and followed to settle beside her.

‘The courthouse,’ the chauffeur repeated, grinning happily at the change of plan as he closed the door.

It has to be right, Bryce fiercely told himself, taking Sunny’s hand and lacing their fingers in a grip of togetherness.

I’ll make it right.