by Lynda Chance
“Not fucking happening. Be ready in an hour,” he snapped as he turned and slammed from the room.
Chapter Nine
Maria hadn’t wasted any more time arguing with him or herself. She’d flown up to her room, pulled off the contentious dress and then slipped into jeans and a shirt. She’d packed an overnight bag in less than ten minutes, and had then spent the remainder of the time allotted to her going over all the minutiae of running the hotel with Beth. Thank God she’d been prepping the other woman for a week already, just in case something like this came up.
It had been an intense forty-five or so minutes with Beth, and now, as Maria sat in first class beside Garrett, she finally let go of worrying about the hotel, and thought about what in the hell she was doing sitting next to him on a plane to begin with.
Christ.
She’d had the thought before, and she was sure she’d have it again. The guy was a maniac.
But as he slid his hand over her thigh and he gripped her knee in a subtle caress that sent shivers down her spine, she closed her eyes and let the anxiety she was feeling slip away, concentrating only on the exquisite harmony that seemed to bleed through her entire being every time he touched her.
Please, God, let him be a maniac she could trust.
****
Maria sat back in the soft leather seat of Garrett’s Mercedes S-Class as he tooled down a winding road shaded by tall trees and flanked by a running path. The neighborhood was in the suburbs of St. Louis, and it was quiet, upscale, and about as far removed from what she was used to as could be. “Do you live here?”
“Yeah. The corporation bought the lake house as an investment, and since no one ever sees fit to make use of it, I decided to move in.”
Maria looked around in both directions. “I don’t see a lake.”
He tipped his head forward. “You will. We’re coming up from behind, but we can go check out everything tomorrow if you want.”
“Okay.” She agreed readily, as Garrett made a turn and then another, and after a moment, they were pulling into a driveway in front of a two-story house set in a hillside.
“Whose car is that?” she asked, staring at the late-model American-made sedan parked in the driveway.
The almost-relaxed look that had encompassed Garrett’s features since they’d sat down on the plane dissolved as he studied the car. “I don’t know. Never seen it before.”
He pulled up next to the car and studied the house. “It doesn’t belong to one of my brothers, not that they come here anyway.” he muttered, and then glanced at her. “Stay here while I check it out.”
He left the motor running, and as he walked up the path and in through the front door, Maria pressed the button at her side, lowering the window by about an inch, to give her the possibility of at least hearing what might be going on.
About sixty seconds later, Garrett walked back out and leaned against the hood of the car, giving her a perfect view of his splendid backside, even if it was through the clothes he was wearing. His stance was casual, yet he gave her no indication that she should leave her spot in the vehicle, so she remained sitting where she was.
About three minutes after that, a man and a woman walked from the house, the man’s face held in lines of fiery displeasure that Maria immediately recognized, because she’d seen the same look plastered on Garrett’s features more times than she could count. This guy looked exactly like Garrett, although older, and even though he’d said that the car didn’t belong to one of his brothers, there was no question in Maria’s mind that this man was a Rule male.
Maria studied the woman the other man held gripped in a death hold at his side. She had hair color of such a jet-black that Maria immediately knew it was dyed, and she wore make-up that held a Gothic edge. It mattered not a bit; the girl was delicately beautiful despite the flamboyant tone of her appearance. Even from this distance, Maria could see that the other woman was pale beneath the make-up and was trembling subtly. It occurred to her that the other woman’s cultivated look was perhaps a camouflage of some kind, almost like a pretense or disguise the girl presented to the world.
As the couple stalled on the driveway, the man stared at Garrett who was still reclining against the car, and snapped to the woman, “Get in the car, Angie.”
Maria heard the muted double-click of the other car’s locking mechanism, and the girl held a perfectly straight face, her spine erect and her chin up as she walked to the passenger side of the car and slid inside and then shut the door.
The two men began arguing immediately and Maria was guiltily pleased she’d had the forethought to crack the window.
“What the fuck, Garrett?” the other man all but yelled.
To give him credit, Garrett didn’t come unglued, but Maria did notice his spine stiffen as if readying himself for something. “What?”
“You’re supposed to be in Florida,” the brother accused.
“I believe I can be any fucking place I choose to be,” Garrett shot back in a deadly cold voice.
“You should have called.”
The cold in Garrett’s voice went to fire in an instant. “Really? You’re not my goddamn boss and it’s my fucking house.”
“It’s Rule Corporation property.”
“That’s bullshit semantics. I found it. I made the deal. I live here. You never gave a shit about the house in the first place. You want to strike it from the corporation’s portfolio? Fine, I’ll write a fucking check.”
The brother’s mouth firmed, his eyes narrowing as Garrett kept on talking. “If anybody should have called, it’s you—you’re just pissed because you got caught with one of your women with your goddamn pants down—”
Maria reared back as the brother lunged for Garrett, who came to his feet and sidestepped, and then the two men became deathly still as they stared each other down, an overabundance of testosterone about to light a fuse that could shatter any remaining possibility of a peaceful resolution.
Maria’s nerves escalated as she glanced across at the other car. The woman, Angie, was staring at the scene unfolding before them, any remaining color on her face having long since disappeared. She glanced away from the men toward Maria, and their gazes connected and held. The girl seemed even more upset than Maria was feeling. They didn’t smile at each other; there was no room in the dangerous scene playing out in front of them for pleasantries. But Maria felt as if they were sharing a silent communication of some kind, and she wondered if the other girl had heard Garrett’s crude comment and had been hurt by it.
When Maria looked away again, the men had broken apart from each other. The brother was getting inside his car, and Garrett stood in the driveway with his arms crossed until the other vehicle had pulled away and was out of sight.
Then he got back into the car and pressed a button on the dash that raised the garage door. He drove in silently and cut the engine.
“So, that was one of your brothers?” she couldn’t stop herself from asking.
“Yeah.” After the terse answer, he got out of the car, came around to her side and held the door open.
“I guess he bought a new car?” she asked, sliding from the vehicle.
“He said it was a rental … his is in the shop.” Garrett popped the trunk and retrieved their bags.
“Did you really catch him with his pants down?”
Garrett choked off a laugh as they walked inside the house. “No, but it was damn close. He had the girl’s shirt unbuttoned.”
“That’s not quite so bad then,” she said, even though she was wincing for the other woman; it could have been much worse.
“Yeah? Tell him that. You would have thought I’d seen his virgin bride stark naked, spread-eagled on his bed instead of getting a miniscule glimpse of some random woman’s bra.”
“Maybe that’s why he got so mad. Not because you said he’d been caught with his pants down, but because she’s not a random woman,” Maria said, glancing around at her gorgeous surroundings.
“Trust me, they’re all random women when it comes to my brother. He’s not going to settle down with one, at least, not anytime soon. You can take that to the bank.”
“He seemed pretty upset.”
Garrett dropped their bags in the living room. “Yeah? Son-of-a-bitch shouldn’t have been here to begin with. He’s got a condo in the city as well as a house in the suburbs. Why he felt the need to bring her here is beyond me. I’m going to change the goddamn locks.”
Just as the words left his lips, they halted in front of a huge window and Maria’s heart almost stopped beating at the picturesque view she was seeing. “Maybe he was trying to impress her with this,” she said, tilting her head toward the lake. “It’s beautiful, Garrett.”
“Yeah? I think so.” He came to stand behind her and Maria felt his arms snake around her middle as he pulled her back into his front. “I love it here. It’s peaceful. Home, you know?”
Just as he said the word ‘home’, a vision of the hotel popped into her head. That’s how she felt about the hotel, crazy, but it was true. The building didn’t belong to her, it didn’t have a view like this one, but she felt a sense of peace and belonging when she was there. “Yeah, I know,” she whispered, looking out at the shimmering water with the lights of the evening dancing along the currents.
His head fell to the crook between her shoulder and neck and with a tiny thrill of sensation, she felt his teeth bite into her flesh. “You want to tell me why you put on that particular dress this morning?” His voice was a dark rumble as his teeth slid across her skin, his words producing a level of distress.
“No,” she whispered, closing her eyes, confusion mingling with sexual excitement, holding her senses hostage. Was he going to start on that again? Was he, even now, planning on punishing for her wearing the damn dress, as if forcing her halfway across the Continental US against her will wasn’t enough?
“Ahhh… I’m going to take that as an admittance of guilt,” he said the words so neutrally that, for the life of her, she couldn’t tell if he was angry. “You did do it on purpose,” he finished knowingly.
“I don’t—” she gasped on the denial, interrupted as his hand snaked down and slid over her mound.
He held her back to his front with an arm clamped across her midsection as he palmed her heat with the other. “Did it work?” he asked at her ear while he caressed her, making ripples of longing slide down her spine. “Did you get the reaction out of me that you were expecting?”
Those words definitely weren’t angry; Maria heard pure seduction in his tone and responded to it with a wave of heat, making it difficult to stay with the conversation. “I wasn’t expecting to be in St. Louis by this evening,” she panted.
“What were you expecting?” he asked again, as if trying to get her to yield something to him.
“I don’t know,” she compromised.
“Is that an admission?” His hand between her thighs stopped moving; it clamped around her and held her possessively. “You wore the dress on purpose?”
Maria licked her lips and took a deep breath, feeling like she was about to jump off a ledge. “Yes.” She felt a shudder run through him at her answer, almost as if she’d pleased him.
“Why?” he asked urgently, wanting her to admit the complete truth.
She swallowed, not ready to give him that much. “I don’t know.”
In the space of a heartbeat, he spun her around, tipping her chin up with his fingers. “Why’d you do it?” he bit out, determined.
“I don’t know,” she said again.
“You do know,” he challenged.
Her pulse raced as he stared down at her. “Yes … kind of … not really,” she confessed in utter confusion.
“You were trying to make me jealous,” he said, as if the idea pleased him.
She remained silent.
His eyes narrowed. “All I want is the truth … you were trying to make me jealous.”
She shook her head with a jerk. “No,” she lied, staring up at him, hoping he couldn’t read the truth in her eyes, yet knowing he probably could. She took a breath and went as far as she was willing to go. “I—I was trying to get your attention,” she finally said, holding his gaze.
A look of pleasure lit his eyes, although he held his expression in firm lines. “You haven’t figured out yet that you have my full attention?”
Her heartbeat slammed against her chest, her breath snagged as she studied him, but she remained silent.
After the pulse of a second while they stared at each other, he swung her up in his arms and began leading her down a hallway. “I’ll prove it to you,” he said in a lust-filled voice.
Maria closed her eyes and let every other thought except for Garrett Rule escape her mind.
****
“You want to see our place?” Garrett asked over coffee the next morning.
“Place?” Maria asked, her mind still fried from the night that had passed … and the morning in the shower together.
“Rule Corporation headquarters,” he qualified.
A thrill shot through her that he would take her there. “That sounds good. When?”
“How about now?”
“Okay,” she said with a smile.
Forty-five minutes later, Garrett pulled up in the underground parking level beneath the Rule Tower. Maria had felt a tiny bout of queasiness rise up in her throat when they’d driven up and she’d seen the huge building. At her questions, he’d explained that they owned the entire building, and Maria’s head almost began swimming. She hadn’t known that their conglomerate was quite that extensive, quite that lucrative. It made her wonder why he’d zeroed in on her hotel when there were so many other more impressive and better-located opportunities in Miami.
As he bypassed the stairs and kept walking, he asked, “You going to be able to handle the elevator?”
As his fingers enclosed hers, his thumb slid gently over her skin, offering comfort, and she nodded her head.
They boarded the elevator, and Maria distracted herself from the enclosed space by wondering what reason Garrett would give to his brothers for having her tag along. What if they questioned his motives for bringing her to St. Louis with him? And did he have a motive, other than the most obvious one?
As the elevator doors opened, unfortunately, the first person Maria saw was Courtney Powell, and a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach made her admit that she’d been dreading a meeting with the other woman. There was no question that Maria hadn’t been welcoming to Courtney after Garrett had bought the hotel and sent the other woman to oversee the renovations. She’d felt both envious and jealous of the competent blonde, and she felt bad about that, she truly did, but what the hell, she was only human—she wasn’t perfect.
Courtney was standing with a cup of coffee and a file folder, speaking to a receptionist in the large open area directly across from the bank of elevators. As the other woman glanced up and recognized Garrett, Maria saw a grin break across her face. But it was gone just as quickly when she spotted Maria standing next to him.
Having no choice but to follow in Garrett’s wake, Maria trailed beside him as he hugged Courtney. “How’s everything going?” he asked her.
“Good. Everything’s all set with the Houston acquisition.” Maria watched as Courtney gave that assurance to Garrett, and then the other woman looked to her. “Hello,” she said with obvious reservation in her voice.
“Hello,” Maria answered neutrally, trying not to sound awkward. Why had she been such a witch to the woman? Jealousy was a bitch, and hers was coming back to bite her in the butt with a vengeance.
Garrett must have felt the tension in the air because he winced and then held out his hand to hustle them out of the reception area. “Let’s go have a chat, shall we? Your office is fine,” he directed.
“All right,” The other woman agreed amicably enough as she spun on her heel and headed for a large office three doors down.
A middle-aged woman manned the entrance, and Maria noticed that Courtney stalled beside the secretary’s desk while she held her hand out to them, indicating they should move forward into her office. At that moment, Garrett’s cell began ringing and as he answered it, Maria heard Courtney lean down and ask her secretary in a low voice, “Have you heard from Nick yet?”
“Yes, ma’am. He was delayed last night at the last minute but left a message—”
Maria heard no more of the secretary’s low comment as Garrett cupped her elbow and indicated she should move forward into the office, he himself still distracted by the phone conversation he was having.
As Garrett indicated, Maria sat down in one of two chairs in front of the desk as he took a seat in the other. Courtney closed the door and came around and sat down behind the desk, but her eyes never met Maria’s. They stayed glued on Garrett, and Maria couldn’t help but be impressed by the remarkably serene expression on the other woman’s face.
Garrett held up a hand indicating he’d only be a minute, and as she waited, listening to the deep, cultured sound of his voice, Maria’s eyes traveled around the beautifully appointed office. Coming to a framed picture that clearly featured the Rule siblings, Maria recognized Garrett, a dark-haired younger girl who must be the sister, a second brother she’d never seen before and Courtney, standing beneath the arm of a man who was indisputably the one Maria had seen at the lake house.
The picture had to be several years old, and there was something in Courtney’s expression that was giving Maria a messed-up feeling in her gut. Did the other woman have feelings for this man? The same man who Maria had seen with another woman the night before? As her gaze left the picture and touched briefly on Courtney again, it occurred to Maria that she felt compassion for her, that if she’d known her better, she’d probably warn her about what she’d seen the previous night.
Enough puzzle pieces were there to make Maria uncomfortable … Not three minutes before, she’d heard Courtney asking her secretary about Nick, with a worry that wasn’t hard to recognize and now Maria felt something that could only be labeled as sisterhood coming up to rear its head. She wanted to save the other woman from hurt, if Courtney did indeed have feelings for the rat bastard Maria had seen.