She almost laughed, though it would be a sharp, bitter sound rather than one of amusement. She had dated a few times the past three years, but remembering Ethan’s cold rejection, she had locked away any real interest in the opposite sex. She never allowed things to progress to the point where she felt anything for the man she was dating, or had the urge to give in to carnal desires.
She was just as much an inexperienced virgin now as she’d been three years ago, and perhaps admitting that to him was the key to convincing him to allow her to go home. The admission hovered on the tip of her tongue, so it was a surprise when she said something completely different.
“It doesn’t matter what I want or what you want, Ethan. All that matters is the stability of the company and the jobs at stake. The merger has to go through, and Perry’s father is old-fashioned enough to refuse to allow a merger without a marriage to cement it. You have to take me home right now, or you’ll be directly responsible for the loss of eight-thousand jobs.”
“Actually, Ambra, dear old Dad’s mismanagement will be responsible for the loss of all those jobs, and you aren’t going anywhere except to my house.”
She glared at him. “You can’t just kidnap me.”
He smirked at her. “Watch me, babe.”
Chapter Two
She didn’t know what Ethan had been doing the last three years, but if Philip had really cut him off, clearly he had done well for himself without the Cartwright fortune. The home they stopped before was a sprawling thing, spreading out over at least a half-acre. The white residence, with its palatial columns and four stories, was even bigger than the monstrosity Philip Cartwright owned.
It was a lovely home, but over-the-top and way bigger than what one single man should need. Assuming he was actually single. It should have been the farthest thought from her mind, but as she stepped out of the limousine with ill grace, she paused to catch his eye. “Is there a Mrs. Cartwright in attendance? Twins waiting in the private jet? A harem in the east wing?”
He shook his head. “I won’t pretend I’ve been celibate for the last three years, Ambra, but I always knew I was waiting for you to grow up. You’ve belonged to me for three years, and it’s finally time to claim you.”
She rolled her eyes. “Will you stop saying claim me? I’m not a contest prize.”
Ethan took her hand in his as he laughed. “If you were a contest prize, babe, you’d be like the megabucks lottery with the highest amount in history. You’ve been worth the wait, but it’s been incredibly difficult to do so. Come with me to my room.”
She stopped, truculently refusing to go any farther up the stairs or into the house. “You’re out of your mind. I haven’t seen you in three years, and you expect me to jump into bed with you?”
“It’s because it’s been three years since we’ve seen each other that I anticipate you’ll be willing to jump into my bed, as you put it.”
He groaned. “I know I’m not being very suave, but I’ve been aching for you all this time, and I know you have to feel the same way about me. You loved me once, Ambra, and you will again—if you ever stopped. In the meantime, there’s no reason we can’t indulge our desire for each other now that we’re both mature adults.”
Her stomach rumbled with nerves, and she hated how her body wanted to melt into him, and even her mind was trying to sway her to accept his words. If he was telling the truth, what was there to lose? It wasn’t as if she had really allowed herself to move on over the past three years. Oh, she had told herself she’d never really loved him, that it was simply a teenage crush, but if that had been true, she would’ve found it easier to take the next step and have a real relationship with another man.
She’d spent the last three years in limbo, and when her stepfather had asked her to marry Perry Statler for the good of the company’s employees, she hadn’t greeted the idea with enthusiasm, but she hadn’t really cared much either way. Perry seemed like a nice enough guy, and she was apathetic about the whole thing. At what point did she decide love wasn’t for her, and there was no point waiting for Mr. Right, because he didn’t exist?
Still, it had been too long. Ethan had hurt her too deeply for her to just overlook everything that had gone before and hop in to bed with him. Not to mention there was still the contract on the table with the Statler Company, and her pending marriage to consider. She wasn’t just disappointing her stepfather if she gave in to Ethan.
She was also letting down eight-thousand employees and their families, people who had worked for Cartwright Consolidated sometimes their entire working lives and had few options if the company closed. Ambra had traveled with Philip to a few of the company’s locations and had seen the towns built around the factories.
Cartwright Consolidated was often the major employer or even sole economic support for entire communities. She couldn’t just throw that away, no matter what her body wanted.
Ambra tugged her arm free from his and turned back to the car. “I have to go, Ethan. I just can’t do this, and it’s unfair of you to expect to do so. If you wanted me, you should have taken me the night I offered myself to you.”
She licked her lips, humiliation burning through her as she remembered his gentle, but definite, rejection of her affections. God, she had been so naïve, believing he’d felt the same way and was just waiting for her eighteenth birthday. Two days after, she had crept into his room, wearing hardly anything except her love and puppy dog adoration.
She almost snorted aloud at the thought. Back then, she had certainly felt that way for her stepbrother, but affections had withered and died. Or mostly. She knew she wasn’t over him, and she might never be completely over Ethan Cartwright, but she couldn’t indulge in a fling with him now.
“I’m not taking you anywhere, Ambra. I’ve said this before, and I won’t say it again. You’re mine, and I’m keeping you.”
She rolled her eyes. “You just can’t do things like that. As soon as I enter the house, I’ll call the police if I have to. Do you really want that kind of scandal?”
He stalked toward her with the air of a predator seeking its prey. Ambra shivered, though she wasn’t entirely certain if it was from dread or anticipation as he reached her, pressing her body against the car and framing his hands on both sides of her shoulders to lock her in.
She was trapped between the limousine and a fiercely determined man who clearly wanted her to be his lover, judging by the hard length of his erection pressing against her stomach. She licked her lips with anxiety, and he groaned low in his throat.
“Let’s strike a deal, Ambra.”
She tipped her head slightly, intrigued despite her better intentions. “What kind of deal?”
“Give me the rest of this weekend to seduce you. If you decide you don’t feel the same way anymore, and you don’t love me or want me, I’ll take you home Sunday night.”
She hesitated and then shook her head. “What good would that do? Even if I discovered I somehow still loved you—not that I actually loved you back then, because it was just a teenage crush—it would make it even harder for me to marry Perry. I can’t go back on that agreement. It’s not just my future at stake, or what I want. Like I said before, eight-thousand people are relying on the merger to keep their jobs and their communities running.”
With a harsh groan, Ethan pressed his body tighter to hers, though she wouldn’t have thought he could get any closer without their flesh melding together. “I’ve done extremely well for myself the past three years with just a small inheritance from my grandmother. I can buy and sell Cartwright Consolidated three times over without a blink of an eye.
“I swear to you if you give me these two days, I’ll bail out the company and make sure everything continues to run smoothly. Even if you decide you don’t want to be with me, I’ll still do that. I’ll pay for the company to carry on, and you won’t even have to marry Statler. With that off the table, will you give me two days to prove I’m sincere?”
Ambra’s blu
e eyes widened, and she stared up at him, his face a millimeter away from hers. It was a tempting offer, and she couldn’t find a down side. After all, though Perry was a nice guy, she certainly didn’t want to marry him. Ethan was offering her a way out of the marriage and a way to guarantee the company survived. Her eyes narrowed. “Why don’t you just save the company anyway? It’s your birthright.”
He shook his head, his mouth tight. “It’s not my birthright, Ambra. Dad made it clear there’s no place for my new-fangled ideas there.”
She nibbled on her lower lip. “If he’s being so stubborn, will he really accept your help to bail out the company?”
Ethan’s lips compressed. “To be frank, babe, it doesn’t matter if he wants my help or not. I can leverage enough stock to force a buyout. All the shareholders have to do is agree to let me step in and run the company. I’m also close to having enough shares to own a voting majority of the company. I started buying them quietly when I learned Cartwright Consolidated was in serious trouble. He won’t be able to stop us.”
Despite his protests, he clearly still cared about the company if he had started buying up shares. That softened her toward him.
She also liked the sound of us when he said it, and a frisson of awareness swept down her spine. Two days was all he really wanted. No, she couldn’t fool herself. If he was being sincere, Ethan wanted a lot more than two days from her. He might want months, or maybe even years? Did she dare hope for something like that? It seemed too good to be true, like Prince Charming sweeping in to rescue Cinderella.
She was naturally skeptical of his motives, but she was human enough to weaken in the face of temptation. The deal he offered ensured her freedom not to marry Perry, guaranteed the workers remained employed, and communities remained stable.
Though it would clearly anger her stepfather, she knew he would eventually get over their intercession. Wouldn’t he? She didn’t know for sure, considering he’d willingly cut off contact with his own son. Still, was she willing to sacrifice her entire future to please the man who was like a father to her?
“Two days. That’s all I promise.” If she could hold out for two days, proving to both of them that she wasn’t interested in anything more than what they’d had very briefly, and he had rejected, she would have everything she needed.
“Great. Let’s seal it with a kiss.”
As his mouth covered hers, his kiss confident and demanding just like before, Ambra melted against him even as she cursed her own weakness. It was going to be an impossible task to withstand his every attempt at seduction for the next two days.
***
Eventually, Ethan showed her to her room, and she was unsurprised to find it was part of the master suite, with her room connecting to his. Luxuriously appointed, clearly with a feminine guest or resident in mind, the pastel colors were soothing, though she could have done without some of the frilly lace on the bed skirts and the swag on the walls. She stood in the center of the room eyeing Ethan, who stood near the connecting doors. “Now what?”
He sighed, looking regretful. “Since it’s clear you’re going to make me work for you—and I don’t blame you, really—I’m going to let you turn in for the night. It’s getting late, and we have a long day ahead of us tomorrow.”
She arched her brow. “Really? What’s going on tomorrow?”
The corner of Ethan’s mouth curled upward, and his eyes took on a decidedly wicked gleam. “Tomorrow, I’m going to charm the panties right off you, dear stepsister.” He winked at her before disappearing into his own suite, closing the door firmly behind himself.
Restlessly, Ambra prowled the suite, finding herself in the walk-in closet. Her eyes widened with surprise when she saw a wardrobe nearly identical to one she owned at home. How in the world had he managed to make that happen? It was one thing to consider he might have noted her preferences if he really had some kind of interest in her three years ago, but it was uncanny to have almost the exact same selections available to her here.
Did he have a spy in Philip’s home? It sounded like outrageous conjecture, and was a ridiculous notion, but she couldn’t help speculating on the identity of the spy as she slipped off the bright pink dress she had chosen for the engagement party and selected a comfortable pair of pajamas instead.
Could it be Mr. Gibbons? After all, he was the one who had escorted her out to meet Mr. Cartwright. At the time, she had logically assumed he meant her stepfather, but now it was clear he had referred to Ethan Cartwright instead of Philip Cartwright. She didn’t know whether to be annoyed or amused at the idea of stiff, upright Mr. Gibbons playing the role of domestic spy for the banished heir to the Manor.
He was usually such a straight, conservative man that it was difficult to imagine him being the dashing spy type. How had Ethan convinced him? It seemed unlikely the older man had fallen sway to money, but maybe she was misjudging him. Perhaps his morals weren’t as upright as she had always assumed.
More likely, Mr. Gibbons simply had a soft spot for Ethan and was willing to help him. If Philip truly had sent him away, and she couldn’t really doubt that after what she had seen and heard, perhaps the butler had felt sorry for the younger man and had agreed to provide information that might get him back into his father’s good graces.
She could certainly envision Mr. Gibbons doing that, because though he was somewhat dour, he’d also always been kind to her. So, Ethan had likely won him over with affection, and now she had to wonder if he was targeting her for some nefarious reason, also planning to use her affections against her.
She shook her head at the thought, knowing she had nothing that would be of any real value to him that would prompt a seduction attempt just to get her on his side. Try as she might, she couldn’t find an angle that cast much doubt on Ethan’s confessions.
Why would he go to all this trouble unless he really did want her? If he had been giving her time to grow up and ensure she was ready for a real relationship, the kind that lasted forever, wouldn’t the news she was getting engaged have prompted him to act?
And kidnapping her was certainly within the range of options he would consider. She knew he’d had a reputation for being a ruthless businessperson even three years ago, when he was running his mother’s small company and learning the ropes of Cartwright Consolidated from his father.
He had come to stay with them after his mother’s death from breast cancer a few months before. Before that, Ethan had been an infrequent visitor during the sixteen years she had lived in the Cartwright home, though he had been there often enough for Ambra to develop a fierce crush on her older stepbrother.
However, that summer he had actually paid attention to her. They had formed a friendship and discovered similar interests and views. He’d seemed to genuinely like her and enjoy spending time with her, and her crush had deepened into something much stronger.
She tightened her lips, wanting to reject that notion. It had simply been a teenage crush that had gotten out-of-hand. She hadn’t been in love with him, though she had thought she was at the time. Still, no matter how many times she told herself that, it rang false to her inner ear. Sighing, she forced herself to remember the agony of the night she’d gone to him and offered herself, hoping a self-prescribed dose of humiliation would bring her back to her senses.
She’d tapped on his door, and Ethan had opened it a moment later. His frown of confusion should have been enough to warn her off, but she had ignored it and asked to come in. After a brief hesitation, he had stepped aside to let her in. Ambra had stood there, resisting the urge to cross her arms over her chest and hide the breasts she had taken such care to show in the tiny négligée.
Ethan had closed the door and walked toward her, leaving several feet between them. “What’s going on, Ambra?”
She’d licked her lips as she searched for the way to say what she wanted. Of course she had practiced the words until she had memorized them, but the script left her mind at the crucial moment. As the silence
stretched, she had blurted out, “I love you.”
Ethan had clearly been shocked, and he had spoken firmly, though tenderly. “You should go back to your room now.”
Giving in to the desperation she’d felt, she had lifted her hand as though reaching for him. “You feel it too, I know you do. I’m not imagining this spark between us.” When he had remained silent, her lips had wobbled, and she had asked with her heart bleeding from her chest, “Don’t you love me too, Ethan?” Her voice had betrayed her vulnerability, but she hadn’t been able to regret being so open. Not then anyway.
He had sighed deeply, running a hand through his hair. “Ambra, you’re too young to know what you want. I’m nine years older than you—”
Shaking her head, she had interrupted him. “I know you’ve been looking at me, and you’re attracted to me.”
His expression had remained impassive. “Of course you’re an attractive young woman, and it’s normal to have a reaction to beauty, but I’m not interested in long-term, and I don’t want to settle down. Even if I did, I wouldn’t have a relationship with an eighteen-year-old. You’re too young for me, Ambra.”
His bluntness had certainly cut through her desperation and all the emotions she’d pent up inside. Tears of humiliation streaming from her eyes, she had pushed past him and raced for the door. Ethan hadn’t reached out to offer any comfort or try to call out to her, and she had run without looking back.
After that night, she had made a studious effort to avoid him, ducking any interaction for at least a week. It was after she’d emerged from isolation, spent huddling in her room indulging in a spate of self-pity, that she discovered he had packed up and left a few days before.
She hadn’t known how to reach him other than his cell phone, and she hadn’t even bothered to try. Ambra had forced herself to accept he didn’t want her and was so opposed to the idea he had left his father’s home to avoid her. She had spent the last three years believing she was the reason he had stayed away. With her newly acquired information, she gained a sense of perspective.
Alphas: A Stepbrother Romance Collection Page 7