Сьюзен Мейер – Hired: A Bride for the Boss: The Playboy Boss's Chosen Bride / The Corporate Marriage Campaign / The Boss's Urgent Proposal (страница 12)
Jake inhaled even more deeply than before, then released his hand clamp on her head, dragging his fingers softly through her hair as he breathed out her name. ‘Merlina?’
Her real name.
Hearing it spoken by him in such a caring tone made her heart lurch.
She wanted him to say more, to tell her he was as shaken as she was by the force of the passion that had swept away any rational thought. But the gentle tug on her hair meant he wanted her to lift her head and look at him. Dragging in a deep breath of her own to feed much-needed oxygen into her brain, she obliged him, realising that to see would probably be more telling than to hear.
There was no amusement in his eyes. No spark of triumph. His face was deadly serious and his gaze locked onto hers with a magnetic intensity that made any evasion impossible. ‘I want you. You want me,’ he stated unequivocally, then punched home his point. ‘You can’t marry my grandfather.’
There was no denying the wanting. And she hadn’t intended marrying Byron, anyway. Where this was leading with Jake she didn’t know. Maybe nowhere. But what had just happened made hanging on to the pretend engagement impossible. The game was over, regardless of what the final outcome might be.
‘You’re right,’ she sighed. ‘I can’t marry your grandfather.’
‘Good!’ The word was loaded with relief and satisfaction. ‘I’m glad we’ve got that settled.’
The fact that he was focussing on breaking her relationship with Byron felt wrong to Merlina. Yet wasn’t it what he had come to accomplish? The real truth burst through the seductive possessiveness which had drawn her into surrendering to his will. Jake simply wanted her free of other commitments so he could play with her.
‘But I’m not coming back to work with you,’ she flung out emphatically, her eyes challenging any ownership he thought he’d secured.
‘We’ll talk about that later,’ he said brushing her off. ‘Right now we should go to the library and break the news. The sooner it’s done, the better.’
He had her hugged to his side and walking her to the door before Merlina’s mind caught up with processing his intention. She stopped dead, not sure how the scene would play out in the library. She and Byron had an understanding and she wanted to talk to him alone.
‘No! You’re not to do that,’ shot straight out of her mouth.
Jake frowned at her belligerent resistance. ‘Do what?’
‘I’ll tell Byron myself.’
‘You need me in support,’ he insisted, not liking the idea of her separating herself from him.
Was he worried she might change her mind?
Rattling his confidence seemed like a very good idea to Merlina. Jake Devila was altogether too fond of getting his own way. She was not about to let him direct her life again. As far as she was concerned the rules of their relationship had changed.
‘It’s cowardly to lean on someone else when the message to be delivered is so personal,’ she argued. ‘It’s up to me to tell him. You would only aggravate the situation, Jake.’
‘But I’m part of it.’
‘Only in so far as you showed me I hadn’t given enough weight to one of the factors in my planning,’ she said as archly as she could, hoping to downplay the treacherous depth of her feelings for him.
He was shocked. ‘You were using me as a measure?’
‘Wasn’t that your intention?’
‘No…yes…no…’ He shook his head in angry confusion. ‘I did what I’ve wanted to do for a long time.’ His eyes blazed with absolute certainty. ‘And don’t tell me you didn’t want it, too!’
‘A case of having my curiosity satisfied, Jake. Thank you for the experience. Now if you’ll excuse me, Byron is waiting.’
The verbal exchange had diverted his attention from keeping her strongly secured at his side. She had pushed out of his hold and was heading for the door before he recollected himself to produce another pitch.
‘You can’t go on staying here, Merlina. It would be rubbing salt into the wound. I’ll wait and drive you home after you’ve spoken to my grandfather.’
Byron would not be wounded. He was far more likely to be elated at having manipulated his grandson into open action and impatient for a report on how well his tactics had succeeded.
However, the resolute purpose in Jake’s voice made her pause. Did he really want to be with her or was this all about winning? It was true that the natural progression from breaking the engagement would be to leave Byron’s home, but that was really irrelevant. She needed to know how much Jake cared about her.
She glanced back, her heart pounding with the hope of seeing something other than a determination to get his own way on his face.
‘Harold will organise someone to pack your things and load them in the car,’ he went on, alpha male taking charge, expecting her to fall in with him.
‘I can call a taxi,’ she said, flouting his arrangements, trying to probe his feelings.
‘No.’ His eyes glittered with battle-readiness, warning her he’d take the fight to any ground she stood on. ‘You’re coming with me, Merlina.’
She instinctively defied his power to beat her into submission, her chin lifting in rebellion. ‘Why should I?’
He gave her an all encompassing look that forcefully conjured up the intimate knowledge she’d given him, his gaze travelling over her curves, making her flesh prickle and heat at the mutual memory of how completely she had abandoned herself to the desire he had stoked with his kisses.
‘Because we have unfinished business together,’ he said, silkily evoking the prospect of complete sexual satisfaction.
Merlina shivered, knowing if she let him take her home, he’d expect to go to bed with her. The choice was hers right now.
There was a terrible truth in those words. A terribly seductive truth. She wanted this man, more deeply than she’d ever wanted any other, and the primitive tug to take what he was offering before she moved on, eroded the reasoning that it would just be another brief affair in his playboy life.
She would be hurt when he finished it, as he undoubtedly would when his pleasure in her waned, but at least she wouldn’t die regretting not having had this experience with him. On the other hand, submission did not sit well with her. Let Jake sweat on her decision! It would be good to know how strong his desire for her was.
‘Do what you like,’ she tossed at him, as though she didn’t care. ‘I have to go and tell Byron I can’t marry him.’
Jake watched her stiff-backed exit, barely controlling the cave-man urge to catch her, throw her over his shoulder and carry her off to his car. Merlina Rossi hadn’t just burrowed under his skin. She was tearing at his guts. And not conceding him anything, despite the fact she had definitely—
But now she’d retreated to their old battle-ground, meeting his challenge and dumping it back in his lap. Though at least he’d won something from her. The intolerable engagement with his grandfather was over. He’d blown that perverted little enterprise apart. It was just as well Harold had come in and caught them at it. Harold was an unimpeachable witness. No way could Merlina make out she hadn’t been complicit in what had happened.
Not that she would.
Too much integrity in her bones.
It would be completely against her grain not to deliver the full measure of whatever she took on—work, marriage, coming out of a cake. That kind of absolute commitment made the thought of having sex with her even more exciting. He’d had a taste of what it would be like. He wanted more. Much more.
Spurred into pursuing this aim, Jake went looking for Harold, finding him in the kitchen, overseeing preparations for dinner. He requested a private word and explained the need to expedite Ms Rossi’s departure from her ex-fiancé’s home tonight.
‘Are you sure this is Ms Rossi’s wish?’ Harold queried, frowning over Jake’s plan.
‘I advised it and promised I’d execute it,’ Jake stated unequivocally, giving the butler a wise man to man look. ‘It is a matter of sensitivity, as you must understand, Harold. Ms Rossi is in the library, breaking off her engagement to my grandfather. Once it’s done…’
‘Yes, I do see where you’re coming from, Mr Jake, but—’ he shook his head ‘—I’m not sure this hasty decision would meet with Mr Byron’s approval.’
‘A clean cut is always best, Harold,’ Jake asserted.
‘I suppose the packing up can always be undone, should it not be desired after all,’ the older man mused. ‘And it would expedite matters if events turn that way…’
How else could they turn, Jake thought impatiently. Obviously the butler just didn’t like taking these orders from him, even though he must know they were appropriate in the circumstances.
‘Very well,’ Harold finally decided. ‘If you’ll unlock your car, Mr Jake, I’ll have Ms Rossi’s belongings carried out to it. I will be very sorry to see her go. Such a lovely, lively young woman…’
‘Who didn’t mean to make a mistake but did,’ Jake cut in, wanting action, not more words.
It raised the older man’s eyebrows. ‘I imagine it would be very easy for a young lady to make a mistake with you, Mr Jake.’