by Rue Allyn
The realization that it was all a mistake floored her, and she responded automatically. “She may have. I had a relapse and don’t remember much. My recovery took a full year. When I was finally able to contact you, I believed you’d moved on. Especially because I’d had no word from you since the week after I left Chicago.”
Shock and surprise showed in his open mouth.
“Did you check your spam folder?”
“If I had any pride, I wouldn’t admit that I did. How pitiful I was searching for messages from a man who’d gotten engaged to another woman.”
“I told you I didn’t.”
“Then why didn’t you call, text, send me some kind of message?”
“I did.”
“I don’t believe you.” Tam watched his eyes go wide and his jaw drop.
“Shirley.”
“What?”
“Don’t you see? Shirley did it. I fired her for negligence just like you suggested but not soon enough. I missed several important meetings because she forgot to forward the messages to me. She screened all my incoming texts, messages, and correspondence. She had access to everything. I can’t prove it, but it wouldn’t surprise me if that vindictive bitch deleted anything I sent you or that you sent me for that matter. I was so certain I was right, that she was a loyal employee and you were just…”
“Just what? Jealous? If so, I was jealous of the trust you placed in her over my judgment. Whether you were truly engaged or not is less important than the fact that you lacked confidence in me and my level of experience.”
“I didn’t—”
She cut off any protest. “It’s ancient history. I always admired your determination. You are one of the most persistent, territorial, and obsessive men I’ve ever met. Once you decide on something, you never let go.”
His upper body shifted backward, as if taking a punch. “You think I’m obsessive.”
“Isn’t that what you call someone who spends twenty-five out of every twenty-four hours thinking about his business and planning for every possible contingency? A man who would marry just to cement a partnership.”
He shook his head. “I don’t. I didn’t plan on you abandoning me. I loved you.”
“You never told me,” she said quietly and moved on. “O’Neal Corp. is based in Chicago. You drew up an earthquake plan.”
A flush rose on Con’s neck. “That was a joke to add to the file on our Mexico and Japan offices.”
Tam rolled her eyes. “We worked out of our apartment. We didn’t have any offices.”
“We would have them, so I planned for it. Just like I planned to marry you for the sake of our dream.” He stepped forward, gripping her hands, forcing her to look at him.
“You haven’t changed at all.” Longing to lean against him, she broke his hold, threw up her hands, and turned to look out the balcony doors. His persistence was precisely why she had to get him to leave. If he knew about Susa he’d insist on marriage or sue for custody. Tam wouldn’t risk losing her daughter, and marriage wasn’t on the agenda. At some point Tam would have to tell him about Susannah. She’d always planned to, but not until the time was right for her daughter. “Besides, we’ve wandered a long way from the point.”
“And the point is?”
“That you staying here is a mistake.” She kept her back to him, refusing to concede she might want him to stay. Showing doubt and weakness wasn’t wise.
“What happened to fair play between competitors?”
A gentle hand on her shoulder turned her around. His smile broke her heart. The grin was a tactic she remembered well. He used it in bedroom and boardroom negotiations to disarm the other side. The effect was devastating, and she was far from immune.
“Why are you insisting on this?”
The smile vanished. His face grew taut. A near-predatory gleam lit his eyes. She quailed and studied her fingertips.
“I’m not giving you the chance to slip away. I’m sticking to you like sugar on a gumdrop until I get a reasonable explanation for why you disappeared, and I convince you that you were wrong.”
She’d avoided him since her recovery because she knew how vulnerable she was to him. She might not want to marry and repeat her parents’ disastrous example, but she did love Con. She’d never stopped loving him. She couldn’t let him know that. He’d use that knowledge and any other piece of leverage to undermine her defenses.
“I can’t stop you from acting on your delusions.” She shrugged. “Tell me, where do you plan to sleep?”
He looked from her to the king-sized bed and back. “In the second bedroom. That is, unless, you’d care to invite me to stay here? It isn’t as if we’ve never shared a mattress.”
“In your dreams.” She refused to back down.
“Every night, sweetness.”
“I’m sure you’d like to repeat the experience.”
“Wouldn’t you? Let’s find out.” He gripped her shoulders, leaned forward and brushed his lips over hers. “Tell me you don’t remember how this feels.”
“I don’t.” Desire betrayed her, and she echoed his caress.
“Liar.” He trailed kisses across her cheek to her ear. “I love kissing you. I always have.”
The words licked and nipped at her earlobe.
“You’re very good at it.”
“Only when it’s you.” He worshipped her throat and laved the pulse point just above her collarbone.
Goosebumps chased across her skin. Longing curled figure eights in her belly. This had to stop. “Con.”
“Mmmm?” His lips moved lower.
She could barely breathe. Her breasts ached. She arched into him, unable to resist. For just a moment she could kiss him, indulge herself in the sensual delight he offered.
“So sweet,” he murmured.
Her pulse quickened. Cool air teased her breast; then his mouth closed over her nipple. Heat rushed through her.
He sucked, and she was lost.
Tam groaned. “Please.” She clasped his head to her breast. “More.” Again and again, passion tugged at her, greedy with need.
Her hands roamed his shoulders in a restless search for the skin beneath his shirt.
His palms at her waist dipped, drawing circles over her hips. The cloth of her robe parted. His fingers teased along the edge of her panties. She surged against him.
The stone hard ridge of his manhood prodded her softness.
Eager, she pressed kisses into his hair, shifting to drag her hand across the length of his erection. He leapt beneath her fingers. She fumbled for his belt.
“That’s it, sweetness, touch me.” His voice vibrated against her skin and pierced her desire.
She pushed him away and stepped back, closing the robe around her.
He stumbled into the credenza. “Huh, what?”
Those kisses were nothing but manipulation. Believing that was her only protection, she tossed cold fury at the source of her weakness. “If you lay one finger on me again, I’ll cry rape so fast your head will spin.”
“Not if you’re the one who touches me first.” He smiled and raised an eyebrow.
“I am so not interested in you. I’d rather kiss an open flame.”
“Keep telling yourself that. When you’re ready for more fire, just put your lips right here.” He placed the tip of his forefinger on his mouth, then turned, walked into the sitting room and shut the door.
Chapter Two
Tam expected a restless night, but sunlight streaming through the balcony door surprised her into wakefulness. She tossed on her robe and padded to the door into the sitting room. On the far side of that space, Con’s bedroom door stood open. He’d made his own bed.
She checked the bathroom, finding it empty, although the spicy citrus scent of his aftershave hung in the air. He’d already left. Her heart hurt, remembering how they used to linger in bed, making love and plans, laughing and hoping together. The corners of her eyes grew damp. She started the shower, then went to gathe
r her toiletries, shoving the memories, welling tears, and conflict back into the darkest corner of her mind.
Where had Con gone? For a man who claimed he would stick to her like salt on chips, he was giving her a lot of space. If the clock on the bedside table was right, she’d best take advantage of that space and get her fanny moving.
****
Approaching the dining room from the conference registration desk, Con paused to watch Tam. His heart flip-flopped, and fierce desire burned in him. How could she claim he hadn’t loved—didn’t love her? How could she imagine their marriage would be like her parents’ or his? His throat suddenly tight, he swallowed. Her doubts hurt him more than she knew. Lack of business experience and a short courtship didn’t mean squat. It was worse that she thought he was territorial and obsessive. He loved her and would never hurt her. He’d shown her in a thousand ways. What was respecting her wishes, waiting for her to finish her degree and think about his proposal, if not loving her?
He’d always known she was shy of commitments, although he hadn’t known why until yesterday. Awful as her history was, he wasn’t certain he understood. Maybe that was the problem. They’d always talked, but mostly about business or mutual friends and activities. He hadn’t shared much of his past in the Chicago projects, so he’d never noticed that she hadn’t shared her past either. He’d regretted his reticence for every aching moment of the last seven years. Maybe they hadn’t known each other as well as he thought. Maybe he was grasping at straws. The truth was he loved Tam with all his heart, had always loved her. He wanted her in his life, by his side as his partner, his wife, and the mother of his children. The only problem was how to make her want the same. Body-clenching fear and anger assailed him every time he thought of how lost he’d felt when she abandoned him. He forced himself to relax. Once she understood being together was best for both of them, she’d forget all about repeating her parents’ mistakes.
The graceful line of her neck and shoulders drew his focus. She sipped her coffee and perused the room, studying her colleagues and competitors. Her crown of reddish curls shifted with every movement. Subtle shades of mink, gold, and copper gleamed under the soft light of the room. She put her cup down and stroked the elegant china, savoring its clean textures and rounded shape. The memory drifted through him of lingering over Tam. With lazy greed, he felt again her soft smooth warmth, inhaled the scent of peaches, lapped at her dusky flavor, and drank in her dreamy blue gaze. His groin tightened.
“How many in your party, sir?” inquired the hostess.
Con jerked away from his memories. He indicated Tam. “I’m joining the lady.”
He followed the hostess to Tam’s table, tried to force his body to relax, and tapped the folders he held against his thigh. Tam’s loving had been a tremendous gift that he’d vastly undervalued. He’d learned a hard, painful lesson when she left—succeed or fail, life without Tam was pointless.
Tam didn’t want marriage. Well, he didn’t want the kind of single life and fatherless children that he’d grown up with. He’d pulled himself and his sisters from the muck of poverty, earning every cent, reward, and privilege. Tam thought he was obsessive, territorial, stubborn, and possessive. He’d had to be to survive, and that made him who he was—the man who loved Tamsin Carter Donal.
After last night’s kiss he was certain she wanted him. The rush of unsated desire came back full force as he recalled the sweet surrender of her lips and body. They’d been good together before. They would be again. This time she had to stay with him.
His jaw tightened as he set his mind on his goal. She was both stronger and more cautious now than seven years ago. Because of those years, he needed to proceed carefully. Once he uncovered all her secrets and overcame her wariness, she wouldn’t stand a chance of resisting. If he was right, when she realized their mutual need, how they really loved each other, she wouldn’t want to resist. One thing was certain. Tam needed to know he wasn’t giving up.
Just as she closed her lips over a forkful of eggs, Con dropped one of the folders beside her plate and sat across from her. “Good morning, sweetness, sleep well?”
While he placed his order, she swallowed and took a sip of coffee. A single drop glistened against her rosy flesh. Oh to be a drop of coffee and flavor Tam’s mouth.
The urge was strong to lick the drop away and mark her as his in front of everyone. He resisted temptation. Taking that approach in public was a cheap shot and guaranteed to make Tam angry. Her anger wasn’t part of his plan.
She raised her napkin, blocking Con’s view of her mouth and bringing him back to earth. When she finished blotting her lips, she smiled.
“As a matter of fact, I slept just fine. Thank you very much for moving to the other bedroom. Now if you’d just concede that sharing a suite is a mistake and move out, everything would be great.”
“I agree things could be better.”
She brightened.
“But the only move I should make is into your bed.”
She pressed her lips together and glared at him.
He smiled and spread his napkin in his lap, thankful for the sheltering table and cloth. Tam’s effect on him had always been too easy to see. “The registration booth was closing, so I got your packet when I went to get mine.”
“Is it that late already?” She glanced at her watch.
“Relax. You’ve got at least fifteen minutes before your first seminar.”
She eyed him suspiciously. “I appreciate your thoughtfulness.”
Warning himself to stay casual, he reached for the coffee carafe. “The conference invitation was clear. No late registrants would be admitted.”
Her mouth twisted. “Then your courtesy was self-motivated.”
“You claim you’re not interested, so why should my motives matter?” Her continued mistrust wounded him, but he put the hurt aside. Focusing on that wasn’t productive. He covered his heart with his hand, feigned a bland expression, and tapped the folder next to her. “That’s yours.”
“I don’t like being crowded.” She sniffed.
“Nobody’s crowding you. You can pack your bags and leave any time.”
“Maybe you should consider that option yourself.”
He caught the gleam of fire in her eyes before she turned her attention to her toast. Proud of her because she’d kept her edge and disappointed that she ignored his bait, Con waited a minute before trying a different tactic. “I couldn’t help noticing that you’ve got a full docket.”
“Are you satisfied that we’ll attend enough of the same sessions for you to keep me in your sights?” She picked up her folder and perused its contents as if she weren’t suspicious of his every move.
She was trying to hide her feelings. Despite her bent head, he could see the tension in her shoulders. He wished he could rub away those aches, but after last night it was too soon to touch her. He gave an exaggerated sigh. “Sadly, I have private meetings all day. I won’t see you again until tonight’s cocktail party.”
Con smiled and bit down on a bagel. Giving her space today would lull some of those suspicions and make a later full-scale assault all the more effective. She wouldn’t see it coming. He chewed, swallowed, and contemplated a future with Tam firmly by his side in work and life.
“Con.”
He brought his gaze to hers. She said his name with an icy calm that worried him. “Yes.”
“How closely did you look at this folder?”
“Just glanced at your itinerary. Why?”
“Because the hotel staff seems to have carried the booking error over to my registration.”
His brow wrinkled. “I don’t understand.”
She widened her eyes, but that lapis-on-sky stare was pure ice. “You would never meddle with my registration, would you?”
The thought had crossed his mind to be immediately discarded. A surer way of making her angry, he couldn’t imagine. “No, I wouldn’t. Is something wrong?”
“My corporate ti
tle’s been dropped and my affiliation changed to O’Neal Corp. instead of TLC Distribution.”
“Let me see that.” He reached for the folder, but she held it away from him. “Please.”
“Oh, fine.” She shoved the folder at him.
“This is easy enough to fix.” He pulled a pen out of his pocket. Crossing out O’Neal Corp., he added CEO after her name and wrote in TLC Distribution with quick, bold strokes beneath. He wasn’t so underhanded that he’d try to belittle her. That she even implied he would hurt so much he lashed out. “I didn’t do this, but part of me wishes I had.”
“Why?” Shock paled her features.
Con placed her nametag atop the reassembled folder, added one of his business cards, and returned the packet to her. She sat frozen, pressed back in her chair, as if cornered by a dangerous animal.
He gave her a sharp-eyed gaze. “Look around you, Tam. How many women do you see wearing conference nametags?”
She shifted her shoulders and surveyed the space. “One or two. That’s not surprising. Distribution has been male dominated for a long time. Women are just beginning to become part of the corporate structures in this field.”
“Exactly.”
Tam sent him a puzzled look.
“There are over a hundred men attending this conference and only two or three women. Each female is a prime target for male attention. If it were up to my supposedly obsessive territorial nature every man here would know that you’re taken. You’re mine, Tamsin.”
“I am not yours.”
“That will change.” What insanely arrogant impulse possessed him to utter that ultimatum, he couldn’t say.
“Hmpf.” She dismissed his claim, then poked a finger at the closed folder. “Thanks for the pen and ink corrections. Nonetheless, I paid a lot of money for a top-notch conference, and I intend to get this set right. While I’m at it, I’ll make certain there are no other mistakes. As for your wild idea that I belong to you, you’re delusional.”
She rose, tossed her napkin on the table, and picked up the folder. As she passed by, he gripped her wrist, slowing her. “Think what you like. I intend to prove to you and the rest of the world that we belong together.”