Adam

by Katie Dowe

  “Hi.” She greeted him softly, looking beautiful in a russet-colored gown and her blonde hair in an elegant chignon at the nape of her neck.

  “Hi.” He smiled at her warmly and took the hand she held out to him. “You look beautiful as usual.”

  “Thank you.” Her smile was sincere as she gazed at him, trying to quell the pang as she noticed how superbly handsome he looked in his dark blue suit. Adam Whitmore was the epitome of every woman’s dream and she could not help the longing she felt as she stared at him. “You don’t look too bad yourself.” She started to say something else when she noticed that his attention had shifted to just above her head. She did not have to turn to know that Amber had entered the room. The expression on his face told her!

  Chapter 11

  But she turned anyway and felt the slice of jealousy as she stared at her. It was the end of October and the weather had turned cold, but that did not matter to the stunningly beautiful African American woman who was clad in a shimmering tan gown shot through with gold and fitted her curves like gloves. Her arms and shoulders were bare and the dress wrapped around her like a second skin, drifting down to her ankles in a shimmer of color! Her hair was loose around her face and her makeup was flawless. She had come with Jared and her hand was tucked inside his arm as she looked around the room. Bianca heard the swift intake of breath when she looked at the man standing next to her and knew without a doubt that he had forgotten that she was standing there! She angled her head to look up at him and the expression she saw there had her holding her breath.

  “You are in love with her.” The words were dragged out of her as she stared at him.

  Adam tore his gaze from Amber to look at the woman standing next to him, noticing the hurt and regret there and feeling awful for hurting her. “Yes.”

  He also saw the effort it took for her to smile and felt his heart wrenching. He had led her to believe that he was interested in her and he regretted that!

  “You should go to her.”

  He looked over to where Amber was with some of the ‘wives’ of the members of his club and stared as she laughed at something one of them said. “She wants to keep us a secret for now.”

  “And you don’t want that.”

  Adam looked back at her. “No. I want to tell the world.”

  “But you are afraid of what your father and grandfather will do,” she surmised. “They wanted a match between us, Adam.”

  His lips tilted into a smile. “I suspected that.” He frowned a little as he looked at her. “Was that why you showed interest?’

  Bianca laughed ruefully. “You cannot think that! In case you don’t remember, Adam, you are one of the most eligible bachelors in the world and certainly one of the most handsome. Even before your father said anything, I was definitely interested. But I guess no woman can compete with Amber.”

  He touched her arm briefly in apology. “I am sorry, Bianca, that it was not meant to be where we are concerned, but it has always been her, even when I did not realize it. If you will excuse me?”

  Bianca watched him weave his way through the guests, stopping every few minutes as someone demanded his attention. She stood there watching until he made his way to her and laughingly pulled her away from the group of women she was talking to. She forced herself to watch as he pulled her into his arms and took her onto the dance floor, his arms going around her intimately, his dark head bent to hers, a smile hovering around his lips. She watched until she could not watch anymore and turning away, she went to find something to drink and someone to take her mind off the couple on the dance floor!

  *****

  He danced with her twice even though she told him that people were beginning to stare at them. There were photographers with cameras all around the room ready to capture the various moments and Adam Whitmore had always been news. The fact that he had not been seen with anyone in particular was cause for avid curiosity and meant that everyone he was seen with was also cause for speculation. But he refused to have just one dance with her. “We have to be discreet,” she reminded him as he circled the room with her.

  “Or we could just announce to the people in this room that we are seeing each other and that it is long term,” he murmured, his hands bringing her closer to him.

  “Adam.” There was a warning note in her voice that had him sighing.

  “Amber.” His eyebrows lifted as he looked down at her. “I am tired of hiding what I feel for you. I am chafing with impatience at not having you with me whenever I go somewhere. I hate that you are with Jared.”

  “Jared and I are friends.”

  “Have you seen the way he looks at you?” he asked her grimly, his eyes lifting and going over to where the man was talking to a group of people.

  “I noticed the way Bianca looks at you,” she told him pointedly.

  He looked back at her with a wryly smile. “Are you trying to change the subject?”

  “Is it working?”

  “Maybe.” He paused to notice the flawlessness of her face. “I was thinking you could come by my apartment tonight-”

  “No.” Her tone was resolute and had him stiffening.

  “Why the hell not?”

  “Your apartment is a haven for reporters who are camped out front waiting to see who your next ‘diversion’ is.”

  “Amber-”

  “Please let us continue the way we are for now.”

  “How much longer?” he asked her in frustration.

  “I have no idea.” The dance ended just then and he let her go reluctantly.

  “I will follow you home later.”

  She nodded and walked away from him.

  *****

  “Bianca! I am so happy you could come by at such short notice.” Abraham Whitmore the Second greeted her cordially and gestured for her to take a seat in front his baronial desk. The man was sixty years old but stood as tall as a willow tree and equally unbending. Adam had inherited his looks and stature which meant that even in spite of his age and his greying hair, he was still a very handsome man, one who had never remarried even though his wife had passed away several years ago. Rumors had it that it had been a match of convenience rather than a love match and that his wife had fallen in love with him but he had never returned that love. He was cold and implacable whereas Adam was warm and giving with a passion for living that was shown in his handsome face. Adam’s father and grandfather were sticklers for the unbending rules that had been placed on them throughout the years and had never strayed from them. They were a very influential family with an impeccable bloodline and they never forget that!

  “How about something to drink?” He reached for the intercom to summon his secretary, but she shook her head. She had a court case in an hour and wanted to go and prepare for it. She had agreed to the meeting reluctantly because she knew what it was about and did not want to discuss it with him, but she had been summoned and she could not say no!

  “Adam is away for the day at meetings so we have some privacy.” He shifted in his chair and his silvery eyes so much like his son’s met hers. “How have you been?”

  “Good, thanks.” Bianca felt as if she was being pinned by laser beams as he stared at her. “The party was lovely and the hotel a smash hit.”

  He nodded. “I did not see you spending a lot of time with Adam. How is it going?”

  “It’s a little slow,” she said aimlessly, just managing not to twist her fingers together in her lap. She hated to be caught up in this and wished Adam would say something to them.

  “I was thinking of inviting you to dinner Saturday. I think it is time for both of you to make your intentions clear.”

  Bianca felt a lurch at that and had no idea what to say to him! “I have an engagement this weekend-”

  “Sunday then.” His tone was implacable and his expression told her that he knew she was making excuses.

  Taking a deep breath, she took the plunge. “I don’t think that would be a good idea.”

  �
��And why is that?’

  “You should ask Adam.”

  He stared at her for a moment and picking up a solid gold pen between his fingers, he fiddled with it. His silence unnerved her and she forced herself to return his gaze. “Why don’t you tell me what’s going on?’

  “I think you should hear it from Adam.” Bianca got to her feet and watched as he did the same.

  “I will.”

  She nodded and let out a breath. “I am afraid I have to go and get ready for court.”

  He walked around his desk and went in front of her to open the door. “This is not over, Bianca.”

  She stared into his hard implacable face and nodded, not knowing what to say to that!

  *****

  Muted music sounded in the living room from the speakers that had been installed there some time ago. Amber worked assiduously as she tried to make up for the time she had missed and the deadlines she had failed to meet. Whenever Adam came over, she could not work because he would not let her. She had been accustomed to working through the night to get her designs finished, but ever since she had started seeing him, there had been no time for that. She had told him so in frustration and he had only laughed and pulled her into his arms. Not that she minded spending every night with him because she didn’t and would look forward to him coming over even when he went to some function or the other and would come by around midnight or later because she had grown accustomed to him being where she was and sleeping in his arms. She smiled dreamily as she put the fabrics together. She loved him! She had come to realize that over the last few weeks and intended to tell him, but she was not ready yet. She was still nervous and afraid that for Adam this was only temporary and she could not bear the thought of losing him. They had an incredible connection that even when they were not together could still be felt! She knew he was trying to prove to her that it would never end, but she was still thinking about his reputation with women from the past and of course there was the thing with his family. The only member of her family left was her mother and it would not matter to her one way or another if she was seeing him, but he had his father and grandfather to contend with. She did not want to be the one to drive a wedge between him and his family!

  “I don’t care about that!” he had told her impatiently the last time they had had the argument. “I want to be with you, dammit, and I would like us to be together. They will just have to accept that.”

  “Is that why you have not told them about us?”

  “I have not told them about us because you insisted that you are not ready,” he had reminded her.

  “The minute you tell them we are seeing each other, they will try and come between us.”

  “How?”

  “Adam, you know your family. They will never accept me because I am not the right type. I do not have the social status or right color.”

  “You know I don’t give a damn what they think!” he had exploded. “I want you in my life, Amber, and I am prepared to do anything to make it happen.”

  “I need time,” she had insisted. But her time was running out and she knew it! He had told her that he had to go to Europe for a week and had begged her to accompany him, but she had flatly refused. Wherever he went, Adam Whitmore had the press interested in him and if she went with him, she would be targeted as well.

  “I am giving you until the end of November,” he had told her firmly. “Take your time, Amber, but at the end of next month, I am going to announce to anyone who will listen that I am seeing you and I mean it!”

  She knew he did and she could not stop the fear she felt. Every single day she woke up wondering if today was the day when it would be over! She was not his social equal as she had told him and that much was true. He belonged in a world with the fabulously wealthy moved and rubbed shoulders with oil sheiks, royalty, and movie stars. She was a small town girl who worked for a living and did not speak their language. His father and grandfather knew that and there was no way they would welcome her with open arms. Even if the bitter feud between their families had not existed, she would never be welcome and that was something that she always knew. She did not care what Adam said because she had a feeling that they would go to any length to make sure she would never become a part of Adam’s life and that was her greatest fear! She could snuggle inside his arms and allow him to take her to the pinnacle of ecstasy and could also fantasize a life with him, but deep down she knew that that was unattainable as the stars in the sky! No matter how she turned it over in her mind and waited for him to come to her eagerly at nights, no matter how much they talked and forged the bond between them that was undeniable, she could not ignore the fact that they would never be suited. She was not delusional like her great-grandfather into thinking that a match between a Whitmore and a Gardner could be anything less than impossible, but she could not bear the thought of being without him! She wanted him and the want had become intense need, so much so that she could not sleep without his arms around her. She could not exist without the touch of his hands on her body, the feel of his lips on hers, the feel of him deep inside her. She had started even imagining them having children together, a boy with his jet-black hair and her eyes and a girl who looked like both of them. It was a pipe dream, she knew, but a dream and a longing just the same for a man who had become the most important part of her life, a man who had become her life! Amber closed her eyes briefly and relinquishing the pretense of getting any work done, she leaned back in her chair and closed her eyes. The ringing of her phone sounded and opening her eyes, she looked at the screen, her heart tripping in excitement as she saw his name there.

  “I thought you had deadlines.” His deep masculine voice sounded in her ear.

  “I do.”

  “So why are you not working?”

  “Why do you think I am not working?”

  “Because when you are working, you do not answer the phone. A most frustrating habit,” he told her in irritation. “What are you doing?”

  “Thinking about you,” she told him honestly.

  She smiled as he paused. “What a coincidence! I was thinking about you too.”

  “Liar.”

  “I am not lying,” he murmured. “Do you realize that you invade every aspect of my mind?”

  “Do I?”

  “Hmm,” he whispered. “I think about what you look like naked and what you feel like beneath me. I also think about the touch of your skin on mine and the tremors that you feel when I am inside you.”

  Amber felt those same tremors as she listened to him. “So it is just sex?”

  “Among other things.” His tone was amused. “What do you think about when you think of me?”

  “Fishing, Mr. Whitmore?”

  “Absolutely. Now tell me.”

  “I think about what you make me feel and how much it frightens me.”

  “Why?”

  “Because I cannot believe that something like this is real. And it frightens me into thinking that it is going to end someday.”

  “It won’t,” he told her confidently.

  “How do you know that?”

  “Because we were meant to be together and nothing and no one can ever stop that.” He finished up by telling her that he was going to be late as he was having dinner at the manor.

  *****

  Adam chafed at the long drawn-out meal being served in the dining room of the palatial home that had been his when growing up. Things had not changed and it was the same stiflingly formal atmosphere that had always made him wanted to get out and get himself a very strong drink or two. He had moved out as soon as he could so that he could get away and always had to force himself to come back for the usual family dinner. His sister and her husband were present as well and they too looked uncomfortable, but they would never say no to the peremptory order that came to have dinner at the manor. He much preferred to be with Amber in her small cottage-looking home, talking to her and having dinner either around the small dining table or at the kitchen counte
r.

  “So, Adam.” His father waited until the plates had been cleared before he spoke. “I was expecting to see Bianca here tonight.”

  “Why is that?” Adam asked him mildly as he leaned back and took up his glass of wine.

  “I had the distinct impression that you two were seeing each other.”

  “What gave you that impression? Oh, I know why! You told her to show some interest in me in the hopes that it would turn into something else. Is that right?”

  His father and grandfather looked at him impassively. “You could do worse,” his father told him.

  “I think she is beautiful,” his sister said, desperately trying to keep the tension out of the room.

  “That she is.” Adam gave his sister a gentle smile. “But we are not together.”

  “Are you seeing someone?” his grandfather asked him sharply.

  “As a matter of fact I am.”

  “Who is she?” his father demanded.

  Adam thought about telling them that he was in love with Amber and had every intention of marrying her, but somehow he had a feeling that it would like be walking through a minefield and he could see his sister staring at him anxiously as if she was begging him to keep the peace for her sake!

  He shrugged. “I will share in another few weeks,” he said obliquely.

  “Is she someone we are going to approve of?” There was a dire note of warning in his grandfather’s voice, and Adam suddenly felt the weariness and pressure of being the heir to such a vast fortune settling on his shoulders. He had always enjoyed the luxury of being a Whitmore and had enjoyed the doors that opened to him wherever he went. He enjoyed the fast cars, the beautiful women, the luxury apartments, and the fact that he never had to worry about money, but right at this moment, he wished it was different! Right at this moment, he wished he was just an ordinary guy with an ordinary job, free to be with the woman he loved. With her, he had found extraordinary love and incredible warmth and passion, and he had would give anything to keep that and if he had to do that, he certainly will!