Deal With The Devil

by Marton, Sandra

  He grinned at her from the doorway. "It sure as hell had better be," he said. "If old Jeremy's got a key, he'll just have to hand it over."

  Her eyes swept over him, from his bare feet—bare feet?—to his tousled hair.

  "Where... where were you?"

  He closed the door behind him and dropped his jacket on the chair. "On the beach," he said, padding towards her. "How do you manage to look so beautiful in the middle of the night?" he asked and kissed her.

  "But... but your shoes..."

  "Under the couch," he said with a wicked smile. "Or the chair. Or—who the hell knows? I didn't want to put on the light and wake you." He sat down beside her and slipped his arm around her. "But I'm glad you're up. Maybe you can tell me where a guy can buy a bottle of champagne around here."

  Elena shook her head. "At this hour?" She shook her head again. "Blake, maybe I'm still half asleep. I don't underst..."

  He kissed her again, a longer, deeper kiss than the first. "You're awake," he said solemnly. "Trust me."

  "Yes, I... I..." She drew in her breath and then let it out. "When I woke up and you weren't here, I... I..."

  Blake smiled. "You what?" he asked softly, cupping her face in his hands.

  Elena swallowed hard. "I... I..."

  "Were you upset?"

  She nodded. "Yes," she said finally.

  He smiled again. "Tell me why."

  "Tell you...? Well, because I... because I..."

  "Because you love me," he said.

  Her eyes widened. "No, I don't, I..."

  Blake lifted her face to his. "Don't lie to me," he said firmly. "Wives should never lie to their husbands."

  Her eyes closed. "Please don't tease me," she whispered. "We're not married any more. You know that. You came all this way to make sure of that. Those annulment papers..."

  "Yeah," he said thoughtfully, "I know. Signing them seemed like the right thing—I figured you wanted out and I owed it to you."

  "I wanted out?"

  He shrugged. "But after I put them in the mail, I got to thinking." His eyes flickered over her. "I began to wonder if I'd been right about you all along. So I decided to come to Miami and find out." His lips curved in a quick smile. "And I did."

  Elena looked at him blankly. "You did what? I don't know what you're talking about. You have those papers right in your pocket. You..."

  He laughed softly. "Hold out your hand," he said.

  Her lashes lifted and she frowned. "What?"

  "Hold out your hand," he repeated patiently.

  She did as he’d asked. He smiled, reached into his jacket pocket and filled her palm with tiny bits of charred paper.

  She stared at the paper, then at him.

  "What is this?"

  "Our annulment papers," he said smugly. Her bewildered eyes met his and he shrugged his shoulders. "I know I should have invited you to the ceremony, but..."

  Elena shook her head. "Have you gone crazy, Rogan? What are you talking about? How could you have burned those papers? Now we'll have to start from scratch. We..."

  "No annulment."

  Her heart began to race. "What?"

  Blake shrugged. "No annulment," he said as he stood up. "Would you like me to spell it out? Capital "n", small "o". Space. Small "a"..."

  "What do you mean, no annulment? That's why you came here, remember? To make sure it had gone through."

  He pulled off his jacket and tossed it aside. "We're going to have to do something about this problem of yours, Princess. No matter how many times I tell you to pay attention, you just don't do it. I didn't come here for the annulment," he said while he unbuttoned his shirt. "I came for the annulment papers." He nodded to the bits of paper she still held in her hand and smiled. "And I sure as hell got 'em."

  Elena looked from her hand to Blake's face. "I don't understand this at all," she said slowly.

  He sighed, sat down next to her and drew her against him, safe and warm in the curve of his arm.

  "I won't agree to an annulment," he said solemnly. "You're going to remain Mrs. Blake Rogan."

  There was a wild pounding behind her ribs. Surely, her heart was going to leap from her chest. But when she spoke, Elena's voice was calm.

  "I am?"

  His arm tightened around her. "We've gone past the annulment stage, Princess. We've consummated our marriage any number of times."

  "Blake," she said, "I don't know what you're up to, but..."

  "I love you, Elena."

  Her heart turned over. "What?" she whispered.

  Blake smiled into her eyes. "I love you," he said. "Even though you're the most contrary woman I've ever met."

  "I'm not," she said quickly, and he laughed.

  "See what I mean? But you'll learn, Princess. In fact," he said teasingly, "we'll keep the words "to obey" in the marriage ceremony. I know it's fashionable to leave them out today, but..."

  Elena put her hand across his mouth. "What marriage ceremony? You just said we were still married, and now..."

  "Yes, well, better safe than sorry. That's what my mother always says, anyway. So, just in case there's any question about our marriage, we'll do it again." He brushed a kiss across her lips. "Do you think your father would come to Philadelphia for the wedding? We'll have to be there for a couple of months so my father can brief me before I take over the European operations of the firm."

  Elena blinked. "What firm?"

  "Rogan International. I promised my father I'd become a director of the European branch. I can't wait to show you Paris in the spring and London at Christmas and..."

  Elena let out her breath. "Blake," she said slowly, her eyes searching his face. "Are you really saying...are you telling me you... you love me?"

  He smiled tenderly. "I love you with all my heart." He kissed her and put his hand to her cheek. "I'll always love you, Elena."

  Tears. She clasped his hand and pressed her lips to his palm.

  "You'd better explain all this, Rogan," she said, trying to sound stern and failing. How could a woman sound stern when she was so incredibly happy? "I mean it. Start at the beginning."

  His smile faded. "You won't like the beginning."

  "You mean, my father's role in all this," she said slowly, and he nodded.

  "I'm afraid so, Princess. Your father and I met for the first time a few days after you and I had our little encounter in the Santa Rosa market. I was interested in some mining property—well, never mind the business details." Blake took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "I was surprised when he invited me to your birthday party. Once I reached the ranch, he took me into his study. He said he'd heard I had a reputation as a man who could handle himself in a tight spot, and he wanted to ask a favor of me. He told me he was arranging for you to leave San Felipe. But he was afraid things were coming to a head more quickly than anyone had expected. He asked if I'd agree to get you out of the country if there was trouble."

  "He didn't ask you to marry me?"

  "No, Princess, not then." Blake's arm tightened around her. "I said I would help him. Oh, I refused at first—but eventually, I let him talk me into it." He tilted her face to his and kissed her. "I told myself it was the decent thing to do, but hell, I have to admit I was intrigued with the idea. I'd had trouble getting you out of my mind since the day we'd met. I thought you were spoiled and headstrong—but there was something about you I just couldn't forget."

  "I don't understand. When did he ask you to marry me? And why? If you'd already agreed to help..."

  "Your father phoned me that same night. It was right after the fighting started. He was afraid they wouldn't let you leave the country under your own name and with your own papers. And that's when he said..."

  "I know what he said," she whispered. "He said he'd pay you to make me your wife."

 
Blake sighed. "No, not quite, Princess. This is the part you're not going to like. He said I'd either marry you or he'd see to it that I'd rot inside a San Felipian jail."

  "No," she said emphatically, "no, not my father! His honor is his life. He..."

  "Yeah. That's what he said," Blake murmured, settling back into the sofa and drawing her head to his shoulder. "But he also said that when the safety of his daughter was at stake, he had no choice."

  "Poor Papa," Elena said softly. "He told me his arrangement with you had cost him a great deal, but I didn't understand."

  "He loves you very much, Princess."

  She nodded. "I always knew that… but I don't think I ever realized just how much." She looked up and her eyes searched Blake's. "And you never told me the truth. You let me say all those terrible things to you about the money he'd paid you..."

  Blake pressed his lips to her hair. "I promised myself I'd tell you the truth when you least expected it and repay you for all the things you'd said about me. But after a while, when I began to know the real you—hell, I just couldn't do it."

  "You must have hated my father for what he did to you."

  He smiled.

  "Not for long. I figured out, pretty quick, that, like him, I'd do whatever it took to protect you, too. Besides," he said gruffly, "if he hadn't forced us into marriage, we might never have found each other again after that day in the market." He put his finger to the tip of her nose. "You thought I was one step up from a bum."

  A smile tilted at her lips. "Not a bum. A bandit. Handsome, exciting..."

  "...and dirty. I'd just spent a week in the interior, checking out some mining claims. I was hot, sweaty—and then I saw you, Elena, so cool and beautiful and..." Suddenly, his hands closed on her shoulders and he held her from him. "You still haven't said you love me." His eyes, as blue as the sea, blazed into hers. "Dammit, I know you do. I thought so that last night in the cave, but..."

  "Then why did you act as you did the next morning?" she whispered. "If you loved me—if you thought I loved you... why did you let me think you were afraid I might try and trap you into staying married to me?"

  Blake's face twisted in pain. "Jesus, is that what you...?" He pulled her to him and kissed her until she was breathless. "I thought I made it all so clear, love. Hell, you were young and innocent. First, you'd been forced into marriage and then I—I seduced you..."

  Elena put her fingers lightly over his lips.

  "I wanted you to make love to me," she murmured. "I was afraid to admit it, even to myself, but..."

  "Yes, I kept telling myself that the next morning, when I woke up feeling guilty as hell. When I started to apologize for what had happened, I had some crazy hope you'd throw your arms around my neck and tell me you loved me." His face darkened. "But you didn't. You said it had been a mistake, that it hadn't been as special to you as it was to me—"

  "Hush," she said fiercely. She put her hands on either side of his face and looked into his eyes. "I love you, Blake Rogan," she said. "Do you hear me? I love you, I..."

  He caught her to him in a passionate kiss. When they finally broke apart, he smiled..

  "I suppose I should feel sorry for poor Jeremy," he said. "But I don't. Hell, any man who'd let you go off alone to San Felipe..." His voice dropped to a husky whisper. "Any man who'd never taken you in his arms and made love to you..."

  It was time for Elena's moment of truth, too.

  "Jeremy's my boss and a good friend, but that's all. I just told you he was my fiancé because I thought... I suppose I thought it would protect me."

  His smile was sexy and wicked.

  "But it didn't work."

  "Nothing would have worked," she said simply, "not once I'd fallen in love with you." She smiled. "I just wish I knew exactly who you are. I mean, one second you're Blake Rogan, adventurer, and the next you're the new director of the European branch..."

  "Does it matter?"

  "No, not a bit. I'd go with you to Belize or Somalia or," she laughed, "or even Philadelphia."

  "OK, the life story of Blake Rogan, in one quick paragraph. My old man founded Rogan International before I was born. We invest in damned near anything that has value, worldwide—which is what saved my wandering soul. You see, when I finished college, my father wanted me to become his right-hand man. But I wasn't ready. I was twenty-two and there was a whole world to see."

  "That was what you meant when you said he'd found you a job and you turned it down?"

  Blake nodded. "So he decided that I could learn the business just as well if I went into the field and searched out investment opportunities. He knew I'd never be happy unless I got the adventure bug out of my system."

  She looked at him thoughtfully. "So your parents didn't throw you out, hmm? They're not the cold, cruel people I imagined they were?"

  He grinned. "You're gonna love 'em both, Princess. They... Hey!" he said indignantly, as she poked him in the ribs. "What was that for?"

  "For letting me think you'd been tossed out into the world. That was rotten!"

  "So was letting me think you were in love with old Jeremy," Blake growled, drawing her down beside him on the couch.

  "I was simply safeguarding my virtue, senor," Elena said solemnly as she snuggled herself more closely against him. "I'm an Esteban, after all. I was a very properly raised senorita. I knew nothing about such things."

  Blake chuckled. "What things?"

  "The things you wanted to show me, Senor Rogan."

  "Uh huh," he murmured, and he bit her gently on the neck. "But you're a quick learner, Princess."

  "That's the Kelly part," she said. "My mother always thought girls should learn as much as they were able."

  "Which is very good news, Mrs. Rogan," Blake whispered. "You see, I still have an awful lot to teach you."

  His arms closed around her and he rolled her beneath him. "And I thought, what the heck, this damned couch is too narrow to sleep on anyway, so..." He looked down at her and frowned. "What are you smiling at, senora?" he demanded with mock ferocity. "This isn't a joking matter."

  Elena laughed softly. "Remind me to tell you all about Margarita some time," she whispered. Blake moved above her and her arms rose and wound around his neck. "Some time," she said with a sigh, "but definitely not now."

  The End