by Dani Wade
He sat down beside her on the wide step of the ambulance, hooking an arm around her shoulders and pulling her against his body. And he watched and waited.
As dawn broke across the water-washed street, Draco stirred. Satisfied with her breath sounds, the ambulance officers had left some time earlier and Draco had managed to coerce Blair into waiting in the limousine for the fire department to finish.
Under the cold, spreading light of sunrise, the true devastation of the building became clear. Charred beams hung at drunken angles from the ceiling, roofing iron in scorched twisted ribbons falling to what remained of the restaurant floor. The air was still thick with the stench of destruction, rancid with the fight of the flames against the firefighters’ defense.
There would be an investigation, Draco had been told, and even though the building was insured and Blair had insurance to cover loss of business, the stark impact of the smoldering, sodden, charcoaled ruin that had been her livelihood rammed home with a finality that no one could deny.
Blair got out of the car as the fire department cordoned off the remnant of what had been her home and her life. Deep shudders rocked through her body. There was nothing left. Absolutely nothing. Her legs began to buckle beneath her, but strong arms closed around her, lifting her off her feet and carrying her back to the limousine.
She didn’t even have the energy left to protest. What was the point? Every last thing that had mattered to her was irrevocably burned to the ground.
Draco took her back to his apartment and she dragged in a breath of the sea air as they got out of the car. But still the scent of burning dreams remained lodged in her nostrils. She made no protest as he guided her to the elevator that sped them upstairs to his penthouse suite, and was docile as a baby as he stepped into the shower with her, both of them fully dressed, and began to peel away her clothes under the warm flow of water.
He tossed their wet clothes out of the shower door and they fell in a sooty, sodden mess she was too tired and broken to care about. With tender hands Draco shampooed her hair and rinsed it out before repeating the action, then with a soft cloth and liquid gel soap he gently washed her whole body until the water pooling around her feet ran clear.
Once she was clean, he switched off the water, dried her and dressed her in one of his oversize T-shirts, then slid her between the cool cotton sheets of his bed. Then and only then did Blair allow her mind to let go of the horrors of the night, and let sleep claim her.
Blair woke hours later to the drone of male voices from the other room. Her throat still felt raspy, and she gratefully reached for the bottle of water that Draco had no doubt placed at her bedside while she slept. As she let the deliciously clear liquid slide down her throat she heard Draco’s voice.
“And the baby? The baby will be all right?”
He must have called a doctor. She listened as the voices grew more distant, and then heard the faint sound of the front door being opened and closed.
She sank back against the sheets, feeling more lost and alone than she ever had in her entire life. The baby was still his primary concern. Yes, she knew it should be hers too, but just for once, the little girl buried deep inside her cried, why couldn’t it be her?
She cast a blurry gaze over at the bedside alarm clock and sat upright when she saw how late it was. Her father’s surgery would be over by now. She was supposed to have been with him before he went in, and then later when he was moved from recovery.
Blair swung her legs over the bed and put her feet on the floor, but before she could stand Draco was there at her side.
“Can I help you? Do you need the bathroom?”
She shook her head; she didn’t need his solicitous behavior. It wasn’t as if he truly cared about her, anyway.
“No,” she said, her voice rougher than usual, “I need to get to the hospital to see my father. He’ll be worried.”
Draco gently pushed her back down onto the bed.
“Your father has come through his surgery with flying colors, you don’t need to worry. And the surgeon explained to him why you couldn’t be there. He’s sleeping now, and I have one of my people there to let us know the minute he wakes. If you’re up to it, I’ll take you to see him myself.”
Blair allowed him to lift her legs and tuck them back under the covers. Then, to her surprise, he sat down on the bed next to her.
“We can rebuild, you know,” he said softly.
“Rebuild? The restaurant?”
An image flashed in her mind of the carnage the fire had wrought. It would take a hell of a lot to rebuild. A lot of money and time, neither of which she had at her disposal. But then again, she didn’t own the building, did she? Draco did.
She remembered what she’d said to him as he’d arrived at the scene and had the grace to blush. She’d been overwrought. Why on earth would he do something as destructive as set fire to his own building? She wanted to apologize, but the words stuck in her throat.
“Yes, the restaurant. There are many photos of the exterior. We could rebuild, using recycled timbers wherever possible, and remain true to the original building. It will be better than before. We can ensure that it has all the charm of the old restaurant, but with all the convenience and functionality of a new one. What do you say?”
“Is that what you want to do?” she asked tentatively.
“How can it not be what I want, Blair, when it is so important to you?”
He took both her hands in his and lifted them to his mouth, the softness of his kisses to her knuckles making her feel cherished. The sensation was foreign to her. All her life she’d had to be responsible. To look out for herself. But this, this felt surprisingly like being looked after. Warmth bloomed deep inside her.
“Blair, I cannot explain to you how I felt when I arrived back in Auckland and heard of the fire. They said there were casualties, but I had no way of knowing if it was you they were talking about. That journey from the airport was the longest of my life. And then, when I got to the restaurant, I couldn’t see you anywhere. To be honest, it was a relief to see you come at me with all your accusations.”
“I’m sorry. I was upset, crazy. I should never have said those things to you.”
Of course he’d been relieved to see her. After losing Marcella and their unborn babe, he would have been frantic about this child. Her heart ached with wanting even a fraction of that care to have been about her—just for herself.
“Don’t apologize,” Draco said, letting go of her hands and getting up to pace the room. “It is I who should apologize. I treated you as if I were some feudal overlord and you nothing more than one of my serfs. I saw you. I wanted you. It was that simple. And when I discovered you were pregnant with my baby, Blair, I was prepared to do anything and everything to keep you.”
A glimmer of hope kindled to life in Blair’s shadowed soul. Could he have feelings for her that went beyond the physical attraction that drew them together, that even now simmered beneath the surface?
“I was unfair to you when you asked about Marcella. To be honest, it pained me to talk about her. Not for the reasons I imagine you’re thinking. Yes, I loved her. Who could not? But was I in love with her? Did my sun rise and set with her? Did I spend every waking moment of every day after I met her looking forward to when we could be together again?” He shook his head disparagingly, his face drawn into sharp lines of self-contempt.
“No, I did not. And she deserved that. She deserved someone who would love her every second of every day. But instead, she loved me. And because she loved me she destroyed her life to give me what she believed would tie me to her in a way she never could. She allowed herself to become pregnant, knowing how dangerous that was, to make me love her more.
“I have lived with the guilt of knowing that for too long, Blair. I didn’t believe I deserved to love or to be loved. Not after being so cavalier with Marcella’s feelings, with her love for me.
“But then I met you, and instantly you brought light int
o my life. Suddenly I found reasons to work from home. You remember, si? When you first arrived at the palazzo with your tour, I was on my way out the building, but I saw you get off the tour bus and it was as if I was hit by lightning. I wanted you in that instant, and I still want you—even more than I did back then.”
“How could I forget?” Blair answered in a whisper.
Listening to Draco talk about their first meeting was like reliving the exquisite sensation of being instantly desired all over again.
“I thought that I was being given another chance,” Draco said, his voice so low she could barely hear him. “But you were only supposed to be with us that day. When you agreed to stay, I couldn’t believe my luck. My world began to spin on a new axis, up until you left again. You were so focused on your work, on Carson’s, that I couldn’t begin to see how I could tempt you into staying with me forever. Instead, all I could see again was what my life could be like. It was as if fate was playing a cruel joke on me by giving me what I so justly deserved. I’d taken Marcella’s love for me for granted and poured myself into my work, and suddenly, even though I didn’t realize yet that what I felt for you was love, you did exactly the same to me.”
Blair pressed her hand to her heart. If for one moment she’d known the depth of his feelings, could she believe she might have acted any differently? She had probably been so damaged by her father’s slant on love and his own obsession with his work, not to mention her own painfully failed relationship with Rhys, that she would not have been open to a permanent overture from Draco. Not then.
“Draco, I think you’re being too hard on yourself. How could Marcella not have loved you? You’re strong, successful and so handsome it makes me ache deep inside whenever I see you. And your heart, your passion for all that you love, is like a drug that makes those around you want to be part of that love—part of you.
“You terrified me and drew me like a magnet at the same time. But because of you, I’ve learned an awful lot about myself that I wasn’t prepared to see before. And I’ve learned to identify exactly what my greatest hopes and dreams are—”
“Carson’s,” Draco interrupted her sitting back down on the bed beside her. “I will rebuild it for you. I promise you Blair. If that’s what it takes, I will do it for you.”
Blair reached out and pressed her fingers to his lips. “No. That’s not what I want. Sure, I thought Carson’s was my be-all and end-all. What else did I have to dream and strive for in my life? No, I’ve learned that Carson’s was my father’s dream and his alone. I absorbed his hopes and dreams as my own when I had nothing else, exactly as he did when my mother left him. It was easier to pour all those feelings into work than into setting himself up for failure again with other relationships, and believe me—he failed often.
“I think seeing that example in my life showed me that you can have control of something in your life. What you do, if not what you feel. By default, his dreams became my own. But you know, deep down inside, I always wanted what he never had—a partner to stand by me, through anything and everything. Someone to love me and be loved by me in return. But it was so much easier not to take the risk. Loving hurts. It leaves you open and vulnerable and requires the utmost trust to commit to.”
She leaned forward and pressed her lips against his.
“I don’t want to be like my father and drive myself so hard for something that it eventually destroys my life, and I don’t care if you don’t rebuild Carson’s. It doesn’t matter to me, not anymore.”
“What does matter to you?” Draco asked, as he tilted her chin so she looked him straight in the eye.
“You. You and our baby and the life we can have together, if you’ll have me. Draco, I love you. I’ve fought it tooth and nail, but I can’t deny it any longer.”
“Cara mia, never doubt it. I love you more than I ever believed a man could love a woman. I don’t ever want to lose you. You and only you are the love of my life—my reason for being—and, if you’ll let me, I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Growing old with you. Loving you.”
Blair wrapped her arms around Draco’s neck and drew him closer to her. “Then start now,” she said softly against his lips. “Show me.”
Draco pushed aside the covers of the bed and gently coaxed her against the pillows. His fingers skimmed her arms, her legs, before gently lifting the hem of the T-shirt up and over, until she was exposed before him—naked, but for the cloak of love that swathed around them both.
Her body thrummed with desire, but this time it felt different, as if they were finally in perfect tune with one another. And when he removed his clothing and settled his body over hers she knew what made that difference. It was the absolute security of knowing she was safe with him, that she had offered him her heart and that she knew at a level that went soul-deep, that he would cherish and protect that gift for all of his days.
And as their bodies slowly began to move in unison, Blair knew that she would do the same for him.
Forever.
ISBN: 978-1-474-07996-9
SCANDAL IN THE BOARDROOM
His by Design © 2013 Dani Wade
The CEO’s Accidental Bride © 2011 Barbara Dunlop
Secret Baby, Public Affair © 2009 Dolce Vita Trust
Published in Great Britain 2018
by Mills & Boon, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF
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