by Sarah Barrie
“And let me guess where that came from!” Ryan replied. “Reece Bailey?”
“The woman’s a twit. I don’t at all appreciate that sort of information coming to me through the likes of that little witch.”
“Oh well said.” Hannah actually laughed.
“I’m glad you’re amused. And Edwards, you’ve a damn nerve thinking you can treat my granddaughter like some sort of floozy!”
“I’m going to have to ask you to leave, Mr Jameson,” Ben stated.
Vincent Jameson scowled at both men. “I expected more from you, Montague. Ella. Now!”
As Ella walked to her grandfather, she heard Ryan’s quietly spoken “Ella, no.” But when his hand came out to touch hers, she stepped around him, shaking it off to face her grandfather. “I would appreciate it if you would apologise.”
Vincent Jameson couldn’t have looked more shocked if she’d suddenly grown another head. “What is wrong with you? Why would you defy me to defend him?”
Her reply, when it came, was simple. “Because you’re wrong and because I love him.”
She wasn’t sure who was more surprised by the admission; her grandfather or Ryan.
“You love him?” Vincent scowled. “Honestly, you’re as weak-minded as your mother.”
Before she could open her mouth to respond to that, Ryan flew past her and pinned Vincent Jameson a foot off the ground against the wall. Ella’s mouth fell open and whatever she’d been about to say vanished from her mind. The very room seemed to hold its breath.
“You listen to me you poisonous, self-serving son-of-a-bitch. Whatever Ella’s parents became – you were a very big reason for it, so don’t you dare stand there and tell Ella there’s something wrong with her.”
“How dare you?”
“Oh, I dare.”
“Ryan,” Ella said breathlessly.
He looked at her, saw the request and aimed another look of disgust at Vincent Jameson. “For some unknown, incomprehensible reason she cares about you, so out of consideration for Ella’s feelings I’m not going to knock you into next week, but say something like that again, I might have to reconsider.” He dropped him, sent him one last look of disgust and stepped back.
Vincent Jameson straightened his tie and glared at the room, again his gaze focused on Ella. “This is the sort of man you decide you want?”
“Yes.”
“Well,” Vincent cleared his throat, sent Ryan a haughty, yet considering look, “Your self-control leaves a lot to be desired, but at least you have some backbone about you. You’ll need every ounce of it to deal with Ella.” He turned his attention to Ella. “I’ll expect to see you on Friday evening, eight sharp. We’ll discuss this under more reasonable circumstances then.”
“Alright.”
“Oh and Edwards, if your intentions are honourable, you’ll attend.”
Ella stared at the door as her grandfather strode out of it, mouth slightly agape.
“Well.” Hannah cleared her throat. “Well.”
Ella looked at Ryan in disbelief. “You just pinned grandfather up against a wall and threatened to hit him and…I’m fairly certain he likes you.”
“I don’t know about ‘likes’,” Ben laughed, “but I reckon he just learnt a bit of respect.”
Ryan shrugged. “I really don’t care. Are you ok?” he asked Ella.
“Of course, I’m just…shocked.”
“Ok. I think we’re done for the day,” Ben announced.
“What, why?”
“Because as your boss I’m calling it.”
“Ben, I’m sorry I…”
Already in shock, Ella just about fell over when Ben came around the desk and gave her a friendly hug. “No apology necessary. I enjoyed the hell out of it. Go home.”
“Woo-hoo!” Jill exclaimed, packing up.
Ella just watched on as everyone filed out of the room.
“Are you coming?” Ryan asked.
“Ryan, I’ve never seen anyone stand up to grandfather like that before.”
“You should have let me hit him.”
“I asked you to stop and you did.”
He brushed his fingers over her cheek. “You could ask me to do anything and I would.”
“I do love you.”
He smiled. “So you said.” He pulled her into him, wrapped his arms around her and held tight. “Come on, we’re going on a little trip.”
“You’re kidding, we just got back!”
“No camping. Promise.”
Chapter Eighteen
Ella had no idea what to pack because Ryan had refused to tell her where they were going. When he knocked on her door she was still debating whether or not she needed a third pair of heels.
“Hi,” she greeted, reaching up on her toes to kiss him. “Come in.”
“Hi.” His arms snaked around her, drawing her back for a more satisfying kiss. Hearing a ‘meow’ he looked down and saw a large tabby cat rush to greet him. “Hello Nemo. I can never be sure who’s happier to see me, you or your mother.”
“He’s bonded with you.”
“He’s anybody’s. Seriously.” He looked around. “Still scary Ella.”
“Enough with the display home jokes, Edwards. I like it tidy. This is just overnight, right? Otherwise I have to arrange something again for Nemo and at this late stage, I don’t like my chances.”
“Just overnight. You ready?”
“I would be if I knew what I needed to bring.”
“Sexy underwear if you like, but I’m only going to be taking it off you. Swimmers…again optional. Otherwise, just something casual, maybe some decent walking shoes.”
“Swimmers and walking shoes,” she repeated. “Right. I wish you’d just tell me where we were going.”
He kissed her on the nose, ruffled her hair – because he couldn’t resist the glare she levelled at him when he did. “Then it wouldn’t be a surprise, would it?”
It was a surprise. Ella couldn’t think of anything much more surprising than being driven to the airport and loaded into a helicopter. Informed it was his helicopter.
“You ready?” Ryan asked, checking over his equipment.
“I guess. You can fly this thing properly, can’t you?”
“Wait and see.”
“Reassuring.”
She held on when they took off, but before long she lost herself in the experience and enjoyed watching the city give way to mountains, water and open fields. Then, all too quickly they were descending and it seemed they were headed for a property containing a large iron-roofed building, surrounded by trees and gardens and mile and miles of lush, green paddocks.
When they landed, Ryan helped her out of the helicopter and she slowly turned around, taking it all in. She saw glimpses of a sprawling sandstone homestead through gardens framed by enormous peppercorn trees, further around were large grassy paddocks dotted with black cattle and white sheep and in the distance the mountains were densely forested and stunningly beautiful. “Where are we, what is this place?”
“We’re just about smack-bang in the middle of the Hunter Valley.”
“It’s gorgeous.”
“Come on, I’ll bring your bag.” He led her through the gardens at the back of the house, past an impressive landscaped pool, across a wide, shady veranda and into a modern open plan kitchen and lounge area.
“My God, Ryan, who owns this place?”
He stopped on his way up the staircase, glanced over his shoulder. “I do.”
“You?” She planted her feet, stunned.
“Yeah, are you coming?”
Ryan owns in this mansion? “Who are you?”
He dropped the bags, came over and took her in his arms. “You know who I am.”
“I thought I did.”
“You’re freaking out.”
“A little bit.”
“What is it?”
“I thought you lived in your apartment. I just didn’t see you this way. This…settled.”
“Settled? You have me sounding a hundred years old and sleeping in a rocker. Ella, I don’t travel all the time. When I’m home, this is home. If I can’t get here, I use my apartment in the city. I like to rough it, but I also like coming home to a bit of comfort.”
“I didn’t realize.”
“You can’t have thought I was too badly off…I pay my share of your exorbitant wage.”
She raised an eyebrow. “Excuse me, but I’m worth every cent and could have got more.”
“You could have.” He kissed her. “And I would have paid it myself.”
“Now he tells me.” She sighed and looked around again. “I guess I didn’t really put much thought into it.”
“Considering you seriously jeopardized your chance at a hefty inheritance, saw my apartment and we’re still together, I can safely say I believe that about you.”
“I like to make my own money.” Eyes sparkling she kissed him. “Besides, what’s a hundred-million when I can have you?”
He searched her face, “And you really mean that. Let’s take a walk.”
“Now? But we haven’t…”
“Yeah, doesn’t matter. It’ll be dark soon; I want to show you something.”
“Ok.”
He took her hand as they wandered through the grounds, through a paddock thick with grass and clover to a spot at the edge of the mountains. Ryan turned and leant on a solid wooden fence, and following his lead Ella gazed back down over the property. “It’s so peaceful,” she commented, the only sounds being the light breeze through the large white gums around them and the chattering of birds.
“This is one of my favourite spots.”
“Easy to see why.” She tilted her head at his thoughtful expression, smiled warmly. “What is it?”
“I love you.”
Ella took a deep, happy breath, melting under the intensity of his gaze. “I love you too, Ryan.”
“I know we haven’t known each other for a long time,” he touched her face, gently brushed some stray hair behind her ear. “But I knew the first time I saw you.”
Ella raised her eyebrows. “You picked me up. You literally picked me up.”
“Yeah, and I can’t believe I still have all my parts.”
“Neither can I. I was furious. I thought you were some sort of nutcase.”
He touched her face, smiled. “I couldn’t let you go. I couldn’t risk you walking away.”
“And I knew you were going to be trouble, I couldn’t stop thinking about you.”
“Really?”
“You started talking about breaking down walls and figuring me out and that got to me. On top of how I felt physically every time you were within fifty feet of me, I was slightly terrified of you.”
“Is that why you kept running away?”
“I wasn’t running, I was…attempting to keep a safe distance.”
“You ran away after I made love to you.”
“I thought I could just get you out of my system, but it wasn’t like that. No one had ever made me feel that way. Then after…you were so gentle and so sweet. I didn’t know what to do with that.”
“When you stood in front of your grandfather and the others and said you loved me, you nearly knocked me over. I knew what that meant because I know how hard it is for you to share your emotions.”
“Honestly, it wasn’t as hard as I thought. I’ve just never done it before.”
He framed her face in his hands and smiled. “You’re everything I’ve ever wanted.”
She thought about that. “I guess I could say you’re everything I never dared to want and a lot of things I didn’t know I was missing.”
“There’s something else you could say.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a velvet jewellery box. Ella stared, eye’s wide. She stepped back a couple of paces, watched as he opened it to reveal a gleaming diamond ring. She looked up at his face; saw the question before she heard it. “I want you to be my wife, Ella. I want to spend my life making you happy, us happy, together. Will you marry me?”
Her eyes flew between his face and the ring a few times as she tried to process it. “Marriage? You want to marry me? Are you sure?”
He smiled, took out the ring and reached for her hand. “Yes, more than my life and absolutely. Say yes, Ella.”
She searched his eyes one last time and found nothing there but love and desire. “Yes,” she whispered and watched the ring slide onto her finger as though in a dream. “Ryan…” Then she was in his arms and for the next few moments, no words were necessary.
Eventually, arm in arm they began the easy trek back towards the house. “I think you should ask me where travel writers slash reporters go for a honeymoon,” Ryan suggested.
Ella smiled, leaning into him as they walked. “Ok…so, Ryan, where do travel writers slash reporters go for a honeymoon?”
He swung her up into his arms and kissed her long and slow. When he lifted his head he had that wicked grin on his face she loved so much, but knew meant trouble. In response, she raised her brow and sent him the haughtiest look she could manage. “This ought to be good.”
His eyes twinkled and he kissed her brow. “You’ve no idea what that attitude of yours does to me. So, anyway, I was thinking…Amazon or Kalahari?”
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ISBN: 9780857990624
Title: Getting Wild
Copyright © 2013 by Sarah Barrie
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