Читать книгу In Bed With...Collection - Emma Darcy, Emma Darcy - Страница 29

SUNNY woke slowly, savouring the sense of a warm delicious languor…before she remembered why her body felt so replete and relaxed. A little electric jolt went through her brain. She sucked in a deep breath and carefully, quietly turned her head.

Her breath whooshed out on a relieved sigh. She didn’t have to face him yet. The rest of the bed was empty. He’d obviously wakened before her and left her to sleep on. She resettled herself and started thinking.

Bryce Templar…

Her hand drifted over her naked body…remembering. He was certainly a fantastic lover. She closed her eyes, recapturing the incredible sensations in her mind, the power of them, the intensity of the pleasure that had rolled on and on through so much of the night.

What time was it?

Her head jerked up, eyes flying open again. The clock-radio on the bedside table read 9:14. The flight she should have been on from Las Vegas to Los Angeles had already left. Panic galloped through her heart, stirring up the enormity of what she had done…cutting herself off from all she had known…Derek…

She struggled to get a grip on herself. It wasn’t all irreversible. She could still go home if she wanted to. Bryce had promised that decision was hers anytime she chose. As for Derek…

She dropped her head back onto the pillow. Unaccountably tears pricked her eyes. Derek hadn’t even tried to change her mind when she’d handed him back her ring. All those months of planning to marry…and they’d had many good times together. Her family had liked him. She had really believed they would make a good marriage together.

But he hadn’t even tried to get her back.

He could have tracked her to the MGM hotel if he’d wanted to. Gambling had obviously meant more to him than she did. And always would, now that he’d caught the bug for it, Sunny savagely reasoned. Her chin set with determination. She would not mourn his passing out of her life.

Which left her with…Bryce Templar.

And his proposal of marriage.

She heaved a huge sigh. He was definitely a marvellous lover but she couldn’t marry him on that basis alone, however tempting it might be. As it was, plunging into this intimacy with him was probably going to complicate any career decisions she made. Nothing was clear-cut anymore.

But…he certainly made her feel good about herself. For him to desire her so much…to want her as his wife… It was quite mind-boggling.

How could he make up his mind so fast? Wasn’t he taking a big risk in committing himself to a marriage with a woman he’d only known for a day? Not even a full day! Surely a man in his position should take more care in choosing a life partner.

Not that there was anything wrong with her, Sunny quickly reasoned, but how could he know that? On such short acquaintance? Was he so confident of reading her character correctly? Maybe that was a skill CEOs had to have—choosing the right people for the right positions.

Deciding that lying here by herself wouldn’t give her any answers, Sunny rolled out of bed and headed for the bathroom. She took a quick shower, all the time wondering what Bryce was doing downstairs—reading the newspaper, making business calls, having breakfast, waiting for her?

Grateful to have her own toiletries, she brushed her teeth, applied a light make-up, and did what she could to get her hair in reasonable order without taking too much time with it. She hesitated over dressing, not knowing what plans Bryce might have. Easier just to wrap herself in the bathrobe until some decisions were made.

She heard Bryce speaking to someone as she started down the stairs and paused, not wanting to interrupt anything important.

‘Just do your best to keep the cost to a minimum.’

It was a terse command, showing impatience with the caller.

‘No, I won’t change my mind.’

Even more terse. Whoever was on the phone to him was stirring Bryce’s ire and whatever was put to him now evoked an icy reply.

‘Understand me very clearly, Sherman. It’s finished. We simply write this off. No more negotiation. Nothing—absolutely nothing—will get me to reconsider this decision. Now you take it from there, knowing my position on this is irreversible.’

The cut-off click created a pool of silence that seemed to echo with the ruthlessness with which Bryce had ended the deal that had been in negotiation. Someone had pushed too far, Sunny thought. All the same, it was an insight into the character of the man. He wielded command with an iron fist when the occasion demanded it.

She couldn’t imagine him ever being seduced by gambling. He would make a limit and stick to it. Yet he was gambling on her with his proposal of marriage, wasn’t he? Perhaps that, too, had a limit. He’d give so much time to her, then…

Shaking off the thought which only time could prove right or wrong, Sunny proceeded down the stairs. Bryce was pacing back and forth across the living room, a frown of deep concentration on his face. Then, either hearing her soft footsteps or sensing her presence, he stopped, his face clearing as his gaze zeroed in on her.

‘Ah! Some morning sunshine!’ he said warmly. ‘You slept well?’

‘Very well.’ He was wearing his bathrobe, too, so Sunny didn’t feel uncomfortable about not being dressed. ‘Have you been up long?’

He shrugged. ‘There were a few things I wanted to get out of the way so I could concentrate entirely on you.’

His eyes were eating her up and Sunny’s heart was doing cartwheels. It was so incredibly flattering to be desired by him, and she couldn’t help remembering how magnificent he was, under that bathrobe.

‘All done?’ she asked, trying to sound matter-of-fact.

‘All done.’ He grinned as he swept her into his embrace, his eyes teasing her caution. ‘So here it is—the next morning—and I still want to marry you, Sunny York.’

‘Mmm…have you had breakfast?’

He laughed. ‘I was waiting for you.’ His mouth grazed over hers with tantalising sensuality. ‘And you taste so good,’ he murmured.

‘Food is good, too,’ she choked out, struggling to keep her mind clear of the seductive web he was weaving again.

‘Then we shall order breakfast right now.’

Everything she wanted, when she wanted it… It was terribly difficult to keep her head on straight around Bryce. He swamped her with such tempting attractions, most of all himself.

Over a sumptuous breakfast, she finally managed to focus on addressing the question of business. ‘We haven’t settled on the kind of position you’re offering me, Bryce.’

‘First and foremost, the position of my wife,’ he answered, his eyes unmistakably reflecting very determined purpose.

Sunny’s heart skipped a beat. ‘What if I say no to that?’

‘You haven’t said no yet. Until you do, Sunny, I’ll be doing everything within my power to persuade you to say yes.’

She could feel his power winding around her and wondered if it would prove irresistible in the end. ‘I really don’t know much about you, Bryce,’ she stated defensively.

‘What do you need to know?’

His heart, she thought, then doubted her own ability to judge that, given her terrible misreading of Derek’s heart. Needing to start somewhere, she said, ‘Well, I know you have a father. What about the rest of your family?’

‘My mother died when I was three. I was her only child.’

No wonder he’d counted so much on his father being there for him! ‘I’m sorry. That must have been hard…to be left without a mother,’ she said with sincere sympathy.

His mouth twisted with irony. ‘Oh, my father kept trying to provide me with mothers. He married four more times, resulting in four divorces. I have a half-brother and two half-sisters, but their respective mothers took their children with them. I was…am…the only constant in my father’s life as far as family is concerned. We are…very attached to each other.’

‘I see,’ she murmured, thinking his father hadn’t exactly set an example on how to make a marriage work.

‘Do you see that I don’t want an easy-come, easy-go marriage?’ he countered as though he could read her thoughts. ‘That I want a wife who is as committed to me and our children, as I would be to her?’ he pressed on. ‘Parents together, Sunny. A stable home.’

All that he felt he hadn’t had himself? It was strong motivation, but was motivation enough when faced with a clash of needs? Sunny suspected Bryce was very used to getting his own way on most things.

His eyes glittered knowingly as he added, ‘You’ve come from a stable home, haven’t you? It means something to you.’

‘Yes. It’s why I don’t want to rush into such a serious step as marriage.’

‘What reservations do you have about me?’

Sunny frowned, not having any criticisms to make except… ‘I don’t understand why you’re so keen, so quickly.’

Her eyes flicked to his in sharp challenge, determined on getting a reply that satisfied her sense of reality—a reality that was not wrapped in hothouse passion or persuasive patter.

He leaned back in his chair but it was not a move that held relaxation, more putting a weighing distance between them as he considered what answer to give her. She could almost feel the wheels clicking around in his mind, and there was no mistaking the tension emanating from him as he came to a decision.

‘I’ll tell you why, Sunny,’ he said quietly, and she tensed, every intuitive instinct telling her that something important was about to be revealed, and he was counting on her understanding, counting on a positive response from her, as well.

‘My father has a heart condition. Every day he lives is a medical miracle. For some time he has been agitating for me to marry, have a child. I know this is a symptom of his own rather immediate sense of his mortality, but it is his dearest wish and I would like to give him that sense of our bloodline going on before he dies.’

A bloodline! It sounded almost Medieval. Like feudal lords securing a succession. ‘You want to marry me for your father’s sake?’ she asked incredulously.

‘No. I could have married any number of women for my father’s sake. I am considered…’ His mouth took on a cynical curl. ‘…very eligible in the marriage stakes.’

Sunny did not doubt that truth.

‘But I didn’t want just any woman as my wife, Sunny. I wanted a woman who felt right to me. A true partner on many levels.’ His eyes blazed with conviction. ‘Every instinct I have is shouting that I’ve found her in you.’

Her heart jiggled with an intemperate burst of joy. It took a tremendous effort to override the wild response and keep boring in on her misgivings. ‘You trust your instincts so much?’

‘In every aspect, you shine with rightness. No other woman ever has. Not to me.’

‘Then I’ll still be right to you in a month’s time,’ she argued.

‘And my father might be dead in a month’s time.’

It was softly said, yet it hit Sunny hard, making her remember her own father’s death. He’d been a volunteer fire-fighter, supervising a burn-off. The wind changed unexpectedly, trapping him and two others. No goodbyes. No chance to tell him how much he’d given her and what it had meant. Not even a few moments to show him she loved him.

Bryce leaned across the table and took her hand in his, pressing his sense of urgency, his caring. ‘I want to marry you now, Sunny. Today. And present you to my father as my wife for him to see what I see…so he won’t fret about the future anymore.’

What she saw was how much it meant to him to answer his father’s need, and she remembered him saying his father had always been there for him.

She understood the urgency he felt, and was moved by his reasoning, honoured that he had chosen her to be the wife he took home to his father, yet she could not get over the uneasy sense of being an instrument to resolve a situation, rather than a woman who was loved for herself.

It was difficult, knowing where Bryce was coming from, to set his proposal aside. The impulse to give him what he wanted was strong. She’d always wanted a marriage based on the kind of values she believed in, and in a way, Bryce was offering that—solid family values—yet…

‘I’m sorry. I…I need to think about this.’ Her eyes eloquently pleaded his patience. ‘I can’t do it today, Bryce. I can’t just…walk straight into it.’

He brushed his thumb over the back of her hand, as though wishing—willing—to get under her skin. ‘What’s troubling you most, Sunny?’ he asked quietly, his eyes meeting her plea with a caring concern that stirred more emotional confusion.

She shook her head, thinking she was probably being a fool, putting what had proved to be an illusion with Derek over the substance Bryce probably represented.

‘Tell me,’ he softly pressed.

‘I always thought I’d get married for love,’ she blurted out. ‘Not…not for convenience.’

‘Convenience,’ he repeated with a harsh edge, frowning over the accusation implied in it. ‘If I’d wanted convenience…’ He bit off the thought, shaking his head. His gaze flashed to hers, searing in its intensity. ‘I swear to you this marriage is not a convenience to me, Sunny. I want you. I want you in my life. How can I make that more clear to you?’

‘It’s too fast!’ she cried. ‘It’s just too fast!’ She pulled away from him, pushing up from the table in her agitation, gesturing a helpless apology. ‘You’ve made it clear and I…I know this must be frustrating to you, but…I need time to feel sure I’m doing the right thing for me, too. I’m sorry…’

‘It’s okay,’ he quickly assured her, rising from the table and holding out his hands in an open gesture of giving. ‘I didn’t mean to make you feel pressured. I guess my own decision is so clear-cut to me…’ He grimaced an apology. ‘I’m not about to force you into marriage, Sunny. It has to be your choice, too, and if you’re not ready to make it…’

‘I’m not. Not yet,’ she quickly added, acutely aware she didn’t want to shut the door on his proposal, however many doubts were clouding it for her.

‘Then we’ll make other plans for today,’ he offered, smiling to soothe her agitation. ‘Simply spend time together. Are you happy to go along with that?’

She nodded, her chest feeling too constricted to find breath for more words. He was the most stunningly attractive man she’d ever met and one side of her was clamouring it was madness not to accept him on face value alone. Only the painful thud in her heart argued that want wasn’t love, and she craved real love from the man she married—the kind of love that lasted a lifetime.

‘Have you seen the Grand Canyon?’

‘No,’ she whispered shakily.

‘Would you enjoy a ground/air combination tour—a helicopter flight, as well as travelling around the rim by road, hiking where you want to?’

Sunny scooped in a quick breath. ‘Yes. I’d like that very much.’ Outside distraction…more time…

‘Shall I book it for an hour’s time? Can you be ready to go that soon?’

She nodded, grateful to seize on quick action. ‘It won’t take me long to get dressed. I’ll start now.’

Eager to be on the move, she was already heading for the staircase when he paused her with the words…

‘One last thing, Sunny…’

‘Yes?’

He had stepped over to the telephone table and had picked up the receiver to make the booking. His head was cocked quizzically and she was anticipating a further question about the trip they had agreed upon.

‘You said…married for love. What, in your mind, is love?’

Her mind went completely blank, then tripped into a welter of needs that Derek’s defection had wounded, very badly. Out of the miserable emptiness of bitter disillusionment came the one thing love had most represented to her, and precisely what Derek had torn away.

‘Emotional security,’ she said, with all the passion of having been stripped of it.

‘I see,’ he murmured, as though weighing her answer against what he could balance it with.

‘What is love to you, Bryce?’ she shot at him, wanting him to feel some of the vulnerability he had stirred with his question, though she couldn’t really imagine him feeling insecure about anything.

He seemed to consider his answer carefully before giving it, perhaps gearing it to her own. She didn’t want that. She intinctively shied from thinking he would pursue his purpose relentlessly, calculating every word, every move.

‘I think it’s something that grows,’ he said slowly, his eyes holding hers with hypnotic intensity. ‘It begins with strong mutual attraction, and is fed by the caring each person demonstrates towards the other. It’s a commitment to caring, and without that commitment it dies a quick death.’

Derek, she thought, not caring enough for her.

While Bryce…how much did he care? His answer sounded genuine, a deeply held personal belief, not a reply designed to win her over.

His mouth quirked into an appealing little smile. ‘A fair assessment?’

‘Fair enough,’ she agreed. ‘I’ll think about it.’

He nodded and turned away to make telephone contact for the tour booking.

He cared a lot about his father, Sunny thought, and as she continued on upstairs, she decided he would care a lot about any child he fathered, too.

But how much for her?

Would love grow between them?

Could she take that gamble?