by Ginna Gray
"Of course I still want you, you little fool," he growled lovingly, looking deep into her startled eyes. "But I've found that I want much more than an affair." Smiling, he rubbed his nose against hers. "You, my love, will be a virgin on your wedding night. And—" he paused, his sandpaper voice dropping still another notch "—you will spend it with me."
Dani's heart gave a tremendous leap then began to boom painfully. She was shocked, and thrilled, and so excited she could barely breathe. For a moment all she could do was stare at him, her blue eyes so huge they overpowered her face. Marriage. Jason wants to marry me. The thought was so stunning Dani could barely take it in.
"Jason," she began shakily, but he straightened and pressed his fingers over her mouth, stopping her before she could utter another sound.
"No, don't say anything yet." Jason framed her face between his big hands and stroked his rough thumbs back and forth along either side of her jaw. "I want you to think it over very carefully before you give me your answer, Dani. Because I want a total commitment—kids, a home, the whole thing. And I want it for keeps. With you."
He bent and gave her a soft kiss that made her senses whirl, sliding his tongue along her parted lips then slowly dipping into the sweet warmth of her mouth just once before pulling back. "I have to go to New York in the morning," he whispered, looking intently into her eyes. "We'll go out to dinner when I get back Saturday. Will you give me your answer then?"
Too dazed to speak, Dani stared back at him and nodded slowly.
❧
"I just don't understand what it is he wants!"
"It seems pretty clear to me." Phil lazed calmly on the sofa, biting back a grin as he observed Dani's harried movements. She was pacing the floor with quick, agitated steps, every now and then raking her fingers nervously through her hair. "In a word... marriage."
"But why?"
Phil looked at her as though she'd taken leave of her senses. "For Pete's sake, Dani! Hasn't it occurred to you that maybe the man loves you?"
Dani shot him a disgruntled look, her mouth twisting. "Of course it has. But if so, then why?"
"Why do you love him?"
She whirled around, startled by his perception. She opened her mouth to deny the statement but Phil's expression told her it would be pointless. Dani frowned. "I don't know. I'm still trying to figure that out," she answered sullenly. "But one thing I've learned is that love, affection or friendship is usually offered for purely selfish reasons. People always seem to want something from you."
"Come on, Dani. Surely you don't really believe that. Look at us. We're friends, aren't we? No strings attached?"
Remorse and guilt stabbed at Dani when she saw the touch of sadness in Phil's eyes. "Yes. Yes, of course we are," she assured him with an apologetic smile. "But I'm afraid I do think that our friendship is the exception rather than the rule."
Dani turned and wandered over to the balcony doors. Standing with her arms crossed over her midriff, absently rubbing her elbows through the thin silk of her blouse, she stared out pensively at the May sunshine. For the past five days she had been asking herself the same questions over and over. Why had Jason asked her to marry him? What did he want of her? What did she have to offer him that none of the other women he had known possessed? She earned an excellent salary but she wasn't rich. But then Jason didn't need money. Dani knew that she was attractive and smart, but Jason had known many beautiful women, and he certainly didn't need any help from her in the intelligence department. Did he love her?
Just the thought started a quivering deep inside Dani. Lord, she hoped so. Desperately. But he'd never mentioned love and she was trying to be sensible and not get her hopes up.
He would be here in a few hours, expecting an answer. What would she tell him? Her heart urged her to say yes, but she was terrified of making a mistake. If she married him only to find out later that he wanted her for some reason other than love, she wouldn't be able to bear it.
Dani sighed. She was no closer to an answer now than she had been Sunday night.
Glancing back over her shoulder, she found that Phil was watching her, his brow furrowed with worry, and guilt niggled at her again. Dani smiled wryly and waved her hand in a dismissive gesture. "Oh, don't pay any attention to me. I'm just on edge, I guess."
Accepting the explanation with a look of compassion, Phil relaxed against the sofa and picked up his cup of coffee. He took a sip, then eyed Dani consideringly. "You really ought to be very flattered, you know. Maybe because of his poor beginnings or maybe it's just a part of his makeup, but from what I hear, Jason St. Clair never settles for anything but the best. Obviously that's how he regards you. And in this case, I must say...I agree with him completely." Dani sent him a weak smile and he winked in return, then added firmly, "Now then, since you wanted my advice, I suggest that you relax and play it by ear."
"Oh, thanks. You're a big help."
"Think nothing of it," Phil said magnanimously. "What are friends for?"
Dani's look was pure exasperation. But gradually, meeting Phil's teasing gaze, her lips twitched in a reluctant smile. "I guess I really don't have any choice, do I?"
"Nope. You'll just have to—"
The advice was halted by the peal of the doorbell. After instructing Phil to help himself to more coffee, Dani excused herself and went to answer it.
Surprise, then delight, lit Dani's face when she opened the door. "Jason! What are you doing here so early?"
"Hi, sweetheart." Jason stepped inside, shut the door and pulled Dani into his arms. He took her mouth in a slow, hot kiss that set her senses to swimming. When at last he raised his head she was limp with desire and her hands were clutching his shoulders for support. A satisfied smile curved Jason's mouth at the dazed look on her face. "I caught an early flight and came directly from the airport. I didn't want to wait another four hours to see you."
Looping an arm around her waist, he started for the living room. "Where would you like to go tonight? If you want, we could—"
The sight of Phil, sitting at ease on Dani's sofa, casually sipping coffee, stopped Jason in his tracks and brought his words to an abrupt halt. In a flash his expression darkened into something hard and frightening.
"Just what the hell do you think you're doing here, Lathrope?" he demanded in a low, dangerous voice that was very near a snarl.
"Jason!" Dani jerked away from him as she gasped his name, her face white, as much from shock as anger.
Jason ignored her. He faced the other man with his hands on his hips. His stance was threatening, his face hard with barely controlled violence.
Phil didn't turn a hair. Very calmly he placed his cup on the coffee table and rose. "Not what you obviously think," he replied, a trace of humor in his voice.
"What I think is that if you value your hide you'll stay away from Dani," Jason said with soft, purring menace. "Because from now on, she's off-limits. To you and every other man."
"Oh? And does Dani have any say in this decision?" Phil challenged lightly, and Dani looked at him in amazement. She couldn't believe that gentle, sweet Phil would dare to twist the tiger's tail like that.
Jason took a step forward, his hands falling to his sides and curling into fists. "You want to take me on, Lathrope? Come on. Try it." His dark gaze slid over Phil's slender frame with relish. "It'll give me great pleasure to break your scrawny neck."
Appalled by the way Jason's demeanor had changed in the space of a heartbeat from tenderness to this bristling masculine aggression, Dani stepped between the two men. "Stop it! Stop it right now!" Her voice shook so she could barely speak, and the words came out in a breathy cry. "Don't you dare speak to Phil that way!"
"Don't let it upset you, love," Phil soothed, instantly concerned by her pallor and the distress in her wide blue eyes. "Look, why don't I clear out so you can explain the situation to him? Okay?"
"Smart move, Lathrope."
The hard satisfaction in Jason's voice was almost too much fo
r Dani. Sending him a freezing look, she looped her arm through Phil's and moved with him toward the front door.
Dani's icy anger finally penetrated, and Jason bit out a lurid curse under his breath as he noted the haughty tilt of her head and her ramrod straight back. He knew he'd blundered badly—but dammit! Raw jealousy had seared his gut like hot lava when he'd walked in and found the man sitting on Dani's sofa as though he had every right to be there.
Jason cursed again and slammed his fist into his palm. He wanted to hit something. Hard.
With a sigh he raked his fingers through his hair and massaged the tense muscles in the back of his neck. Jealousy. Good Lord. He hadn't felt the emotion since he'd been a teenager and his high-school sweetheart had thrown him over for the captain of the football team.
Dani returned and he looked at her warily. Her face was coolly composed, remote.
"You're angry." He stated the obvious then muttered another curse when she leveled her wintry gaze on him. "Dammit, Dani! How do you think I felt, finding him here?"
"Phil is a very dear, very old friend," she said in a precise, even tone. "That's all."
"Maybe it's just friendship on your part, but believe me, the man would have to be a blind eunuch or gay not to be interested in you. I don't like him hanging around."
It was the wrong thing to say. Jason knew it the minute the words were out of his mouth, and he winced inwardly when he saw Dani draw even more within herself.
"Regardless of what you believe or what you like or don't like, Phil is my friend, and you have no right to talk to him that way."
"You're right," Jason agreed in a weary voice, adding silently, At least, not yet.
Compressing his lips into a grim line, Jason looked away then sighed and turned his gaze on Dani again. "I'm sorry, honey. I overreacted. Like a jealous fool I took one look at Lathrope and saw red."
He waited for a response but Dani merely looked at him. Jason went to her and took her hands in his. As the rough pads of his thumbs smoothed back and forth over the delicate bones in the backs of her hands, he gazed at her contritely, his pale brows arched. "Forgive me?" he asked softly, a tiny coaxing smile on his lips.
Dani stared back at him, the frost in her eyes melting only fractionally.
"Please."
Jason tried to imbue the word with humility, but his gravelly voice made it sound more like a rough command. Even so, Dani's aloof mask slipped just a bit. Reluctant but weakening, she eyed him a moment longer then grimaced and said, "All right. Let's just forget it, okay?"
"That's my girl." Jason framed her face between his palms and tipped her head up. Through half closed eyes he studied her impassive face. Then slowly he bent, and his parted lips closed over hers.
The kiss was soft and warm and lingering, a gentle enticement. His mobile mouth rocked over hers with restrained hunger, coaxing a response, building her passion with insistent tenderness.
But beneath his hands Dani remained motionless. Jason could feel the fine tension in her body, could sense her resistance. Delicately, with an excruciatingly sensuous touch, he probed the corner of her mouth with his tongue, then delved between her lips to barely touch the tip of hers, and fierce satisfaction gripped him as he felt the shudder that rippled through her.
Jason lifted his head and smiled. "Hi."
"Hi."
He draped his arms around her waist and Dani leaned back within his embrace, her palms resting against his shirt. "You never did answer me about where you want to go tonight," he said lightly.
"Oh, anywhere. It doesn't matter." She stared at his tie and traced the striped pattern with one fingernail. "Jason," she began hesitantly. "Why do you want to marry me?"
"What?" He was astounded. "My Lord, what kind of question is that to ask me? Because I love you, of course. What else?"
Joy exploded inside Dani like a rocket on the fourth of July, putting stars in her eyes and lighting her face with a luminous glow. A quivering began deep inside her and spread outward, making her knees wobble.
"You never said so," she told him quietly and found that her voice was wobbly, too.
"Didn't I?" When Dani shook her head he groaned and struck his forehead with the heel of one hand. "Oh, honey, I'm sorry. But then I didn't mean to blurt out my proposal the way I did," he said ruefully. "I had it all planned; we were going to have an intimate dinner at my place, just the two of us. Candlelight and wine and romantic music—the works. And afterward I was going to ask you to marry me." His mouth twisted into a disgusted grimace. "But I don't know why I'm surprised. Practically nothing has gone according to plan since the day I met you."
He looked down into her shining eyes and his weathered face softened. "But I do love you, Dani," he murmured tenderly. "Very much."
Dani wanted to believe him more than anything. And because she wanted to so badly...she did. Looking at him with all the love she felt shimmering in her blue eyes, she gave him a teary smile. "Oh, Jason. I love you, too."
As the shaken little cry left her throat she locked her arms around his neck, hugging him with all her might. Jason's arms tightened around her possessively and for a moment they merely held each other, savoring their closeness, the trembling emotion that bound them.
"Does this mean that your answer is yes?" Jason whispered against her temple, and when Dani raised her head he could see the answer in her radiant face.
"Yes. Oh, yes," she whispered. Even as the words left her, their heads tilted and drew closer.
Eyelids fluttered shut and lips met lovingly in a kiss that was long and warm with promise.
❧
I didn't know it was possible to be this happy.
The thought drifted through Dani's mind two weeks later as she stood beside Jason, contentedly observing the throng of gaily dressed people that filled the sprawling living room of his penthouse apartment.
Since she accepted Jason's proposal, the days had passed in a blur of sheer joy and excitement. Even at work—while conducting interviews, sitting in on staff meetings or analyzing the reams of facts and figures and procedural data—she had been aware of the sweet, tight feeling of pleasure in her chest. It was with her always, an irrepressible bubble of happiness that buoyed her steps and lightened her spirit, and brought a small, secretive smile to her lips at odd times.
The smile was there now as Dani watched Jason's mother circulating among the guests. Alice St. Clair, she had learned, was a little fireball. Like her son, once set on a course of action, she was practically unstoppable.
As soon as Alice had learned of their marriage plans she had insisted on giving them an engagement party. Since Jason had been all for a quick wedding, she had come bustling into town the very next day with her patient, long-suffering husband in tow.
At the time, had anyone asked her, Dani would have said that it was impossible to plan such an elaborate party on such short notice, but that was before she had seen her future mother-in-law in action.
Alice had thrown herself into the job with all the verve and command of a general mustering his troops for action. Alternately coercing, cajoling and browbeating, she managed to get an impossible rush job on the invitations, arrange for the best caterer in town— despite the fact that everyone knew they were always booked for six months in advance—order flowers and cases of champagne, and take care of a hundred and one details.
Looking at Alice now, calm and regal in her mauve gown, her salt-and-pepper hair in an elegant chignon, no one would ever recognize her as the small dervish that had been whirling through this apartment for the past two weeks, Dani mused.
As he talked to Clyde Chapin, the president of one of Houston's largest banks, Jason held Dani tucked close against his side, his arm draped casually but possessively around her shoulders. Not really listening, she leaned against him and let her gaze move slowly around the room.
The guests were a mixture of family, friends and business associates. All the top people from Stratter-Lite were there, along with J
ason's staff of personal assistants and key personnel from many of his other holdings. Frank and Eloise Manders were also in attendance, though Dani noted with satisfaction that Lewis was nowhere to be seen.
Her smile blossomed once again when she spied her parents, deep in conversation with Edward St. Clair. Dani knew that Sophie and Joe were uncomfortable at a party like this, and she silently blessed Jason's father for looking after them.
Jason finally managed to end the conversation with the talkative Mr. Chapin, but as they moved toward the next group of guests he bent and murmured in Dani's ear, "Will you be all right on your own for a few minutes, darling? Mother is frantically giving me the high sign, so I'd better go see what the problem is."
"Of course," Dani said, laughing. "After all the effort Alice put into this party, we can't let anything go wrong and spoil it for her."
Jason gave her shoulder a squeeze. "Be right back."
Dani watched him go with shining eyes, her face filled with love as her gaze followed his broad-shouldered back through the crowd. When he and Alice disappeared into the kitchen, Dani sighed and turned to join the group of people standing a few feet away. But at the last moment she changed her mind and veered toward the terrace doors.
The noise level dropped drastically when Dani stepped outside and closed the doors behind her. Moving into the shadows, she went to stand by the retaining wall and gazed dreamily out at the star-sprinkled sky and light-strewn city.
The June night was warm and humid, surrounding her like softest silk. Scattered about the terrace were redwood tubs filled with blooming gardenias, and the gentle breeze that toyed with her hair carried their sweet scent. Dani inhaled deeply and smiled. Strangely, she felt totally at peace and wildly excited all at the same time.
The sound of footsteps drew her out of her reverie, and Dani looked around and saw two men strolling toward her from the opposite end of the terrace. As they entered the rectangle of light spilling through the French doors they stopped. One man drew deeply on a cigarette, making its red tip glow hotly.