Читать книгу Takeover In The Boardroom - Фиона Бранд, Люси Монро, Люси Монро - Страница 14
Оглавление“AND THIS?” SHE POINTED to the Palekh that had to be at least fifty years old. “Is it a reminder for me now?”
No matter how unmoved she tried to appear about that possibility, it touched her deeply.
“Yes.”
Her breath hitched. “Of the successful legacy you promised your unborn children?”
“Among other things.”
“That kind of success is more important to you than it is to me.” Maddie wanted promises of other things.
She wasn’t naive. She wasn’t looking for undying love, despite the odd feelings deep in her heart she was doing her best not to acknowledge. Even Helene Archer had been too pragmatic to promise her princess a knight in shining armor that would love Maddie. But there was more to life than building a company that dominated the world market.
“You think so?” he asked, sounding amused.
Though she didn’t understand why. Maddie could only nod.
“It will take the significant results of that type of success to make your school a reality.”
She couldn’t deny it.
“You think money means little to you, but then you have never lived in fear of want.” If he had sounded even a little condescending, she would have been angry.
He didn’t.
“And you have?” she asked, wondering if there was something about his past she didn’t know.
“Not like my grandparents, but let’s just say the year between my mother’s death and Deda deciding I would come to live with him and Babulya was not one I would ever allow my own child to endure.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Frank’s inability to make anyone’s needs as important as his own, including the basic need to eat of his six-year-old son, taught me as much about who I did not wish to be as Deda taught me about the man I would become.”
“Your grandfather is a good man.”
“He and Babulya raised me with an appreciation for the difference between working to provide and working an angle.”
“Like your dad.”
Vik grimaced. “Frank is very good at angles.”
“You want your life to matter.”
“It already does.”
She couldn’t argue that. Didn’t want to. “I want my life to matter, too—we just have a different way of going about it.”
“Yes, we do.” He didn’t sound bothered by that fact.
Why was she?
She wanted to tell him about Maddie Grace, but wasn’t sure how she would handle it if Vik had the same attitude about her efforts as Jeremy had had.
“I have already promised to help you see your dream of a charter school realized,” Vik pointed out.
Yes, he had, which put Vik miles ahead of her father in that regard already. Maybe their differences would make both of their lives better, rather than tearing them apart.
“What kind of promises are you making with that box, Vik?” she asked, almost ready to believe in the possibility of the complete family she’d never had.
His handsome lips tilted a little at the nickname she hadn’t uttered in six years, keeping it strictly private to her thoughts. Something she had not been able to let go of, but would not share with others, either.
“If you accept my proposal, I promise fidelity.”
She nodded.
“I will expect the same,” he said, as if there was any chance she didn’t already realize it.
Interesting that he’d led with that one, though. Was that because he thought she needed it after Perry’s betrayal, or was it more personal for Vik?
Either way, she said, “That’s a given.”
“I am glad to hear that.”
When he said nothing else, but looked down at her with an expression that seemed to see into her soul, Maddie prompted, “And?”
“I promise to continue to grow AIH, leaving our children a legacy worthy of both my family and yours.”
It was a promise meant more for and to himself and their future children, but she didn’t dismiss it is as unimportant. Not after he pointed out her own dreams required money just like his did, if not on the same scale. “All of our children?”
“Yes.” His brow furrowed. “Why would I distinguish?”
He could be one of those men who considered their eldest their only important child, or only their sons. But she knew he wasn’t.
Her concerns were a lot more unpredictable.
“I am willing to have two children with you, but I want more and they will be adopted.” This wasn’t a deal breaker for her.
Not if she could have her school, but it was something she desperately wanted to do. Be open to the possibility of bringing children into her life that they could offer a family, not just support, encouragement and help.
Vik’s brows drew together in thought, not a frown. “You want to adopt?”
“Yes.”
“Babies or children?” he asked.
“Does it matter?”
“No.”
Happy with that answer and the speed of it, she offered, “Most likely children.”
“All right.”
“That’s it? You agree?” Shock coursed through her.
“I assume we will make any decisions in regard to bringing more children into our lives—both those born to us and adopted by us—together.”
“Of course, but you’re open to it?”
“Nothing would delight Misha and Ana more than a house full of grandchildren to spoil.”
“There are a lot of bedrooms in Parean Hall.” Which was her acquiescence to living there as a married couple.
His satisfied smile said he recognized that as well. “I do not anticipate filling them all with children, but have no objections to our family inhabiting half of them.”
It was a ten-bedroom mansion.
Could it really be this easy? “You’ll put that in the prenup?”
“If you insist, but I assure you it is not necessary.” He placed the antique Russian keepsake against her palm. “Any promises I make you here will not be broken.”
“So long as it is within your power.”
“Yes.” His tone and expression implied Viktor Beck considered very little outside his power and influence.
“And you will be a father to our children, not just the man with that title.” He wasn’t the only one with memories of neglect after the death of a mother.
Hers might not have been to her physical needs, but Jeremy Archer had let Maddie starve emotionally.
“I cannot promise to make every Little League game or sit-in your daughters organize, but I will make our children a priority.”
“My daughters?”
“Mine will be too busy trying to take over the corporate world for social activism.”
Tickled, she laughed like she hadn’t with him in too long, but grew serious again quickly enough. “I won’t have my child forced into dedicating his or her life to AIH. That has to be a personal decision.”
“Agreed.” But clearly Vik had no problem believing his children would be as dedicated to AIH as he was.
Who knew? Maddie herself might have wanted a career in AIH, at least in some capacity, if she’d had a different relationship with her father.
“I think we will have to accept that our children will be influenced by both of us,” she told him.
“I can think of much worse things.”
“I’m glad you said so,” she replied cheekily, secretly touched by his sincerity.
“Open the box,” Vik instructed.
“Are you done making promises?”
“Any other commitment I make to you would fall under the three I’ve already made.”
“Three?”
“Fidelity. Dedication. Family.”
Inexplicable emotion clogged her throat, but he was right. He’d promised the things that mattered most to her. With a few words he’d committed to building a family with her and all that entailed.
She took the lid off the box, incapable of hiding the way her fingers trembled.
Inside, nestled in a bed of black silk, were two rings. One she recognized as a traditionally inspired Russian three-strand wedding band. Each diamond-encrusted ring interwoven with the others was a different shade of gold: yellow, white and rose.
It was beautiful, but not ostentatious. Perfect for her. Beside it rested a diamond engagement ring set in the pink-tinted gold that would sit flush against the curved wedding band when he put it on her hand.
She didn’t ask how he knew the rose tint that used to be known as Russian gold was her favorite. Vik was scary like that.
She didn’t ask if she would be able to wear the ring beside the wedding ring after they were married. She could see the curve in the band that would make that possible.
He’d melded the traditions of his homeland with that of his grandparents and taken her own preferences into consideration. It was so Vik. She might not still be in love with him, but it was no wonder she’d never been able to accept a substitute.
“It’s beautiful,” she breathed, the moment feeling unexpectedly profound.
“As is the woman it was designed for.”
“You didn’t have this designed for me.” He couldn’t possibly have.
This kind of custom work wasn’t done in a few hours.
He cupped her hands with his own. “You will have to accept that my plans for the future have included you for much longer than you considered me in the same regard.”
“I sincerely doubt that.” He’d been it for her since she’d had her first real thought about boys and girls and how their lives came together.
Even when she hadn’t realized she was still comparing every man to Viktor Beck. Darn Romi being right all these years anyway.
He shook his head. “You had a schoolgirl crush, but have not thought of me in that way for six years.”
So, he wasn’t all-knowing. “That shows how much you know. Romi always says I hold other men up to your example and they pale in comparison.”
“And what do you say?”
“I always denied it.”
“See, I told you.”
“I’ve begun to realize she might have been right.” No other man had a chance with Maddie.
Not Perry, not anyone.
Vik’s expression dismissed her words as an exaggeration.
“I never forgot you.” He’d been too deeply embedded in her psyche, if not her heart.
Maddie had honestly believed her issues with trust had prevented intimacy with another man, but now realized memories of that guy had been enough to keep others at bay.
“You avoided me like the plague.”
“You did your own avoidance.”
“For about a year,” he acknowledged. “I missed our friendship. I thought enough time had passed that we’d gotten past the awkward incident.”
And he’d approached her. She’d rebuffed him, doing her best to never be put in a position where they could speak privately again. She’d stopped coming home unless her father demanded her attendance and that happened rarely enough.
For at least two years, Maddie had turned down every invite that might put her and Vik in the same sphere.
“I wasn’t on the same page.” What had been awkward for him had been humiliating for her.
“You made that unmistakable.”
“I was angry with you.” She’d felt betrayed.
Perry’s treachery hurt; Vik’s rejection had devastated her.
“And now?” Vik asked.
What did he want her to say? She’d stopped avoiding him at social functions before she graduated from university, but she’d still made sure there was no opportunity for them to renew the old friendship.
“The world looks like a different place from twenty-four than eighteen.” It was the best she could do.
“You will forgive me for hurting you?” he asked, like it really mattered.
So, she told him the truth. “I forgave you a long time ago, Vik.”
“It did not feel like it.”
She looked up into his espresso-brown eyes. “Do you forgive me?”
“For kissing me?” he asked, sounding genuinely confused.
Not a usual circumstance for him. She would take a moment to savor it and even tease him if the discussion wasn’t so important.
She explained, “For mistaking your kindness for something more and making our friendship impossible.”
“I never held it against you.” His tone implied something else altogether.
“You thought you should have known I was falling in love with you,” she realized.
“That wasn’t the way I termed it, but yes.”
Right. He’d thought her love was a crush. But if it had been only a crush, it would have taken months, not years, to get over.
“You’re not omniscient, Vik.”
“If I’d been paying better attention, I could have headed you off gently.”
She wasn’t sure that was true. Vik was right that she and her father shared a stubbornness that resulted in a tenacity of purpose almost impossible to derail.
“If we’d remained friends, Perry would never have gotten the hold on you he did.”
“You think you would have stopped us becoming friends.”
“I would have prevented him from using you as his personal bank and he would have known that you had people looking out for you.”
“People scary enough to abandon his plans for the phony exposé before he ever put feelers out for the first reporter?” she asked with a smile.
“You think I’m scary.”
“To men like Perry? Oh, yes, definitely.”
“But not to you.”
“No, Vik, you don’t scare me.”
“Good.”
He frowned. “Perhaps you would not have taken the chances you have in the past years if you’d had the stability of my presence in your life.”
“You’re pretty arrogant.”
“Do you deny it?”
“Actually yes,” she said firmly. “My actions are not your fault, or your responsibility.”
He shrugged, clearly disagreeing.
“You really have a God complex.”
“No, but I know my responsibilities.”
“And I’m one of them?” she demanded, frustrated more with herself for seeing that as romantic than Vik for his arrogance.
His smile sent heat through her, reminding her of that lack-of-celibacy thing he’d taken pains to make clear. “I hope more than that.”
“Friends again?”
“Yes, definitely.”
“But you want more.” Maybe not passionately and personally, though she was beginning to see that Vik did desire her, but to make his dreams come true, Vik was going to marry her.
“Yes.”
“Okay.”
“To?”
“Everything.”
His expression turned even more heated and predatory. “Be careful what you promise.”
“This is a special place. Promises made here stick, right?”
“Yes.” No doubts.
“Then I promise to do my best to make both our dreams come true.”
“I make this promise as well.”
That was way better than him promising to build AIH into some world superpower, in her opinion. “Thank you.”
His kiss took her by surprise. It shouldn’t have. Wasn’t it natural to kiss to seal an engagement?
But the kiss did surprise her. And then it overwhelmed her, his lips coaxing a response that radiated throughout her body. They took possession of hers, no longer coaxing, but insisting on the two things she’d said only that morning she wasn’t capable of.
Submission and trust.
But then, like with so many other things in her life, the rules did not apply to Viktor Beck.
She found herself melting into him, no thoughts for self-preservation or holding anything back.
And he accepted her surrender with a forceful masculine desire that belied any claim for a lack of passion between them.
He devoured her mouth, his arms coming around her, his hands pressing her body against his, one thigh pressing between her legs as far as her skirt would allow.
Maddie’s knees would have given out, but Vik’s hold on her was too tight.
She’d thought the kiss this morning had been hot, but it was nothing like Viktor Beck staking claim to the woman who promised to marry him and give him his dreams.
* * *
Viktor knocked impatiently on Madison’s door thirty minutes before they needed to be at Jeremy’s ostentatious home in Presidio Heights.
Viktor had not given himself time for a drink or idle chitchat on purpose. After the kiss at the overlook, he did not want to risk his self-control before the dinner.
If his grandparents weren’t going to be there, as well as the photographer from the magazine, he would never have left Madison that afternoon. But she deserved to show up to her engagement dinner on time and not looking like she’d spent the hours before in bed.
He’d told her the truth earlier. Six years ago he’d seen her as barely a woman when she’d kissed him.
He’d been shocked by his own body’s response to her overtures, realizing for the first time that she was an adult and not a child. Not that he’d given that revelation much credence.
Not at first, but after a year of avoiding her and indulging in more liaisons than his workaholic regime usually allowed for, two things had become obvious.
He missed Madison and she was the only woman he wanted sharing his bed. She was still too young and Viktor’s plans didn’t include marriage for at least a few more years.
Anything else with the daughter of AIH’s president and owner was out of the question. And not just because Viktor considered the older, driven businessman a friend.
Viktor wasn’t sure when he realized his own business ambitions included marrying Madison, but it was well before he broached the subject in any oblique way with Jeremy. The older man’s concern regarding what would happen when Madison inherited full control of the trust gave Viktor the traction he needed for Jeremy’s approval of his own future plans.
He’d had the rings commissioned and intended to launch his courtship of Madison in the coming weeks when Timwater sent a spanner into the works with his “breakup interview.”
If Viktor had started his pursuit of Madison earlier, the opportunistic man would not have had a chance to hurt her with his lies. It was unacceptable bad timing that had left Madison vulnerable.
It angered him. Viktor did not do bad timing. And he did not get caught by surprise. But he had not anticipated Timwater’s betrayal of his long-standing friendship with the heiress.
While it had not precipitated long-term action on Viktor’s part that he wasn’t already planning, the intolerable situation had brought things to a head before he intended. And it had forced him to work around Jeremy’s knee-jerk response to his daughter’s misadventure.
While that might have ended up working in Viktor’s favor, it had come with additional emotional cost to Madison.
He might be ruthless, but that was not okay with him. Her well-being was his responsibility now.
The door opened and Viktor’s thoughts scattered.
Madison’s copper curls flirted around her face, her blue eyes vibrant and flashing with a response to his presence that found a corresponding reaction in his body.
Lips entirely too kissable despite the dark color staining them in a perfect scarlet bow curved in a smile of welcome. “Hi, Vik. Are you coming in?”
She’d encased her tempting body in a 1950s-inspired couture cocktail dress in a shiny dark blue that rustled as she moved.
The skirt was full, nipping in at the waist, and the bodice fitted, the artistically cut neckline dipping to reveal the hint of cleavage he found more sexually alluring than any woman he’d seen in a dress that revealed most of her breasts.
“You...” He cleared his throat, finding it unaccountably dry. “You look beautiful.”
Only after he spoke did it occur to him that he had not answered her question.
“Thank you.” She blushed, something she rarely did anymore. “It works?” The nerves that slipped in to tinge her smile were something else she didn’t show others. “Only I wanted your grandparents to see me, not the...”
She didn’t have to finish. “It will be all right. Deda and Babulya are eager to see you and welcome you into our family.”
“They know we are engaged? Have they seen the articles?”
Ignoring his own best intentions, he pushed into the apartment and right into Madison’s personal space.
She gasped and looked up at him, eyes wide, breath hitching. “Vik? What?”
He curved his hands around her waist, enjoying the soft slide of the fabric and the heat of her skin under it even more. “They know we are engaged and they are delighted.”
“Oh.”
“They know about the stories and they are furious with Timwater.”
“They don’t believe them? You told them he lied, didn’t you?”
“I did and they don’t.” Viktor reveled in the implicit trust in his ability to make things right that could be read into her questions.
“Thank you.”
Mindful of the crimson color on her lips, he bent down and pressed a soft kiss to the side of her neck, staying to inhale the subtle fragrance of honeysuckle mixed with orange and a hint of vanilla and her own unique scent. “You smell good.”
“It’s my perfume.”
“It’s you. Rosewater would smell just as delicious against your skin.”
She trembled against him, her hands pressing into his chest. “Vik.”
That was all she said. Just his name. But it was a plea, whether to step back or to do something about the electricity arcing between them, he did not let himself contemplate.
He stepped back. “We need to go. Everyone is waiting.”
“Including the photographer.”
“He has his instructions to be as unobtrusive as possible.”
Madison grimaced, her opinion of how unobtrusive that could actually be very clear.
He looked around and spied her coat over the back of an armchair. Viktor had always enjoyed Madison’s efficiency and was glad to see that she had not developed the habit of keeping a man waiting that he always found more irritating than intriguing.
Grabbing the coat, he offered it to her. “We need to head out.”
“You cut it a little close.” But she didn’t hesitate to let him help her into the fitted wool trench coat the same crimson red as her lips.
He saw no reason to hide the truth. “Protecting us both from how much I want you.”
“What are you talking about?” she asked, sounding genuinely confused as she did up the oversized black buttons and tied the belt on her coat.
“You must realize the prospect of having you in my bed has my libido in overdrive.” The truth of that was never more blatant to him than in how hard he found it to lead her out of the apartment without once mussing the color of her lipstick.
However, nothing said he had to curb his desire to touch her completely. They made their way to the elevators with his arm around her waist.
“But why would it?” Could she sound more innocent?
He didn’t think so.
“You are an incredibly beautiful woman.” But more importantly, she was the one woman who sparked desire hot enough to do his ancestors proud.
“You didn’t want me before.”
“We discussed this. You were barely more than a child.” And he had wanted her.
“You’re right,” she said distractedly. “But—”
“Nothing. Trust me. I want you. Six years ago, the timing was wrong, but I will gladly offer you all the proof you desire later tonight, after dinner with our respective families.”
“You want to come back to my apartment tonight?” she squeaked, charming him.
The elevator doors closed, giving a false sense of privacy he had to once again fight taking advantage of.
“You have no reason to be nervous,” he assured her. “I am not an animal in the bedroom.”
Even if he wanted her with heretofore untapped primal mating instincts.
“Vik...” She blinked up at him, her lips parted slightly. “I told you, I’m a virgin.”
“What?” The elevator doors opened but he didn’t step out, his brain short-circuiting.
“I told you—”
“That you hadn’t been in a serious relationship.” But that didn’t mean she hadn’t had sex. Things happened. She was twenty-four. This was not possible.
“No random hookups.”
“Ever?” he asked in disbelief.
“I told you I had no experience.”
“In BDSM.”
“In anything.”
“That will change.” Viktor was not above using whatever means necessary to ensure the future he planned. Including being Madison’s first lover.
The fact he wanted her more than any woman he had ever known was beside the point.
She stepped off the elevator into the parking garage. “I don’t think being engaged to you is going to be anything like I was imagining.”
“If you thought it was going to be without sexual intimacy, I’d have to say you are right,” he said as he helped her buckle into the passenger seat of his car.
He gave in to the urge that had been riding him since the moment she’d opened her door and kissed her. He reined in his desire. Barely. And stepped back.
He closed her door and took several deep breaths before moving around the car to slide into the driver’s seat.
Her eyes glowing with blue fire, she asked, “No pretense of waiting for our wedding night?”
“We made our vows at the overlook this afternoon. Nothing said later between us will be any more profound.” He started the engine, but didn’t back out of the parking spot, waiting with an odd feeling in his chest for her reply.
“I thought it felt that way...like it was profound.”
“It was.” He put the car in gear.
“So what? You consider us married now?” She sounded like she didn’t believe her own words and yet he knew she had felt the weight of the promises they’d made earlier.
“As good as, yes.”
“You make your own rules, don’t you?”
“You are just now figuring this out?”
