by Lucy Monroe
The boneless lethargy left her limbs in a flash and she sat up. "That's not a decision for you to make, Alex." Okay, so maybe they couldn't go all the way, and maybe, just maybe, she didn't mind that fact, but that did not mean everything else was off limits.
He sat up, too, reaching out to hold her shoulders. "It's time you admitted that you belong to me. You won't meet another man who fits your requirements the way I do."
His sheer arrogance should have astounded her, but she was starting to take it in stride. "And if I say 'no'? What then? Do you plan to blackmail me into marriage by withholding your body from me?"
His mouth tipped in a lazy grin and that darn dimple teased her again. "Would it work?"
She wouldn't answer that question for stock in an Italian shoe company. "Answer me. Is that what you're trying to do?"
Alex shook his head. "No, sweetheart. No blackmail. You are going to marry me and we are going to wait to finish making love until that happens."
He really believed that. He also apparently believed that she had nothing to say in the matter. "What if I don't want to marry you?"
His thumbs caressed her neck. "You do."
She let that go for now because she wasn't entirely sure he was wrong. The idea had been growing on her since the night they'd come close to making love on her couch. "What if I don't want to wait?"
"You said that you planned to walk yourself down the aisle because you couldn't count on having your dad show up to do it."
What did that have to do with making love? "So?"
"So, if we flew to Vegas and got married down there, you wouldn't have to worry about him showing up at all."
She took a deep breath, ready to let loose on him for thinking she'd get married in some tacky wedding chapel in Nevada. His gaze shifted from her face to her breasts and the words died on her lips. "Don't look at me like that."
"I can't help it."
Pleasure thrilled through her at his words. "I'm not getting married in Vegas. My dad may not show up, but Bettina will." Just in case he hadn't gotten it, she said, "I want her there, and I want to get married in a church, like normal people."
He nodded. "We'll get married here, then. Next week."
"I never said I'd marry you." She couldn't believe she was having the conversation one scrap of lace away from being naked.
Alex pinned her with his gaze. "Say it."
She would be a fool to agree to marry him now. Something in his gaze stopped her from telling him so. He'd already admitted to needing her. She didn't think such an admission had been an easy one for a man like Alex to make. He definitely wanted her, regardless of his dumb dictates about what was or was not going to happen before their marriage.
But he didn't love her.
And that shouldn't matter. He'd been right when he said it wasn't on her list of requirements. Love scared her, so she'd left it out of the equation. At least her mind had. Her heart was another matter. And her heart was telling her something she really did not want to hear right now.
She felt like groaning in agony at her sheer stupidity. She'd gone and done it.
She loved Alex. Was in love with him. Head over heels. Top over tail and drowning in it.
She hadn't planned to fall in love with Alex. She hadn't planned to fall in love with anyone, but her response to his touch had torn away the last of her defenses. She wanted to spend the rest of her life going up in flames in his arms. And she wanted him to be the father of her babies.
The risk of loving him was great. She could lose him like she'd lost almost everyone else she'd let herself love. Yet, if she rejected his proposal and let him walk away, her loss would be assured. Either way, she had to take a risk. At least if she married him, she had a chance at a life with him—a chance at happiness.
"Okay, I'll marry you." Maybe Alex was right. Maybe she was a risk taker by nature.
His smile took her breath away. "Next week."
She let out an exasperated sigh. "That's too soon."
His fingers started a gentle but insistent caress on her collarbone. Bending his head, he brushed her lips with his own. "You want to wait for more of this?"
His tongue caressed her bottom lip before he gently pulled it between his teeth and sucked.
"Or this?"
He let one hand slide down to caress her breast, and renewed passion zinged along her senses.
"This is blackmail," she said, panting.
"Think of it as persuasion," he said, as he pushed her back onto the bed.
* * *
"You're getting married?" Bettina's voice rose in incredulity. "In two weeks?" Several customers at the small coffee shop in the mall turned to look. Bettina shook her head decisively. "No way, girlfriend. This can't be happening."
That's exactly what Isabel had told herself when she woke up this morning in her bed. Alone. Alex had brought her home after some very satisfying persuasion. Both physical and mental. They both knew what they wanted, so why wait? Or so he'd argued. Such skewed logic would undoubtedly have had no effect on her if she had not been reeling from the aftereffects of not one but two more mind-blowing orgasms. Neither of which had been accompanied by the final act of making love.
Alex was adamant about waiting to make babies until they were married. The way he kept using the plural for that word also had its effect on her. His dreams for the future so closely matched her own. It made sense to pursue them together. Her decision to marry him was a logical one, based on how well he fit the requirements of her list. At least that's what she told herself. It beat the alternative, hands down … that she'd lost her mind.
"We're going for the wedding license today."
Bettina's black brows rose almost to her hairline. "You're serious, aren't you?"
"Yes." And scared. The fact that she had convinced Alex to wait two weeks instead of one didn't seem the comforting concession it had last night.
"Then I guess we better start shopping for a dress. The good Lord knows that it will take you long enough to find a pair of shoes to go with it once we do."
Laughter tinged with a bit of hysteria at what she was doing and relief that Bettina had given such ready support exploded out of Isabel. She leaned forward to hug her friend. "I want you to be there. You, Tyrone, and the children."
Bettina returned Isabel's hug with a big squeeze. "Of course I'll be there. I might even splurge on a new dress myself. I saw a little hot pink number in a shop window downtown. It'll set my budget back and my husband's heart rate forward. That makes it just about perfect in my opinion."
Isabel couldn't help laughing again as she stepped back from Bettina. "I can't wait to see it."
Bettina smiled, but then her expression turned serious. "Have you told your dad yet?"
"No."
Bettina reached out and squeezed her hand. "You'd better call him soon."
Isabel curled her fingers into a fist and then forced herself to relax them again. "It's complicated."
Then she told Bettina about Alex's dad and Hypertron. When she was done, Bettina just stared at her. Taking a sip of her now-cold coffee, Isabel waited for Bettina to accuse her of being every kind of fool. Maybe her best friend would succeed in doing what common sense had been incapable of: convincing her that she was making a mistake.
"Do you love him?"
The words took Isabel completely by surprise. She thought about refusing to answer, but the risk she'd taken in agreeing to marry Alex had affected her in other ways as well. She wanted to open herself up to Bettina, to share her thoughts and her feelings with her best friend. "Yes. I know it's crazy and I can't believe it's happened this quickly, but I do love him."
Bettina nodded. "I thought so."
"He doesn't love me," Isabel admitted.
"Men take longer to figure out their emotions. I knew I loved Tyrone after our second date. The fool took another three months to come to the same conclusion and ask me to marry him."
Isabel smiled. "Three months isn't all tha
t long."
"It is when you spend it trying to keep a man you love out of your bed. I wasn't going to sleep with him until he admitted he was motivated by more than male hormones."
Isabel felt her face heat. She hadn't even tried to say no to Alex. In fact, she'd demanded more than once last night that he make love to her. He'd refused. Her only comfort came from the fact that she wasn't the only one who'd lost it last night. Alex had actually pleaded with her to touch him after the second round of persuasion. She'd watched in awe as her hand had brought his body to the breaking point.
It had been the most exciting experience of her life.
Bettina's laughter drew more curious gazes from other patrons at nearby tables. "Girlfriend, if you could see your face. It's the color of that dress I was telling you about, and your eyes are reflecting thoughts that we can't talk about in mixed company."
Isabel took a hasty sip of coffee. "It's a good thing we're getting married, because I don't have your fortitude," she admitted.
This time she joined in Bettina's laughter.
* * *
Isabel nervously paced her office. It had been three days since she had accepted Alex's proposal, and she was living on coffee and nerves as she and Bettina rushed around getting things ready for the small wedding. She did not need the additional stress she was facing today, she told herself.
Priscilla Trahern had called that morning and invited Isabel to lunch. It had taken Isabel a full five minutes after hanging up the phone to ask herself a very important question: Did Priscilla Trahern know about her son's future bride's connection to Hypertron?
Isabel felt sick at the idea that Alex's mother might hate her. She had tried to call him to find out what he had told his mother, but he'd been away from the office and hadn't called her back. Shouldn't she, his fiancée, have his cell phone number?
According to his irritatingly efficient secretary, apparently not. Not unless he'd given it to her personally.
She'd been desperate enough to ask to speak to Marcus, only to be told that he, too, was out of the office. Darn it. Where was Alex? It was completely unfair of him to expect her to meet his mother alone. The fact that he didn't yet know about the lunch did not in any way diminish her sense of being wronged. He should have made sure Priscilla knew about Isabel's connection to Hypertron. She could just see Alex assuming in his arrogance that since it did not matter to him, it would not matter to his mother, either.
Isabel feared that would not be the case.
The phone rang and she leaped across the space to answer it. "Hello?"
"Hello, my dear. Lawrence Redding here."
She stifled her disappointment that it wasn't Alex and tried to infuse her voice with welcome. "Lawrence. Still interested in moving on?"
"Yes. As a matter of fact, I had hoped you were free today for lunch so we could discuss it."
If only she was. "I'm sorry. I've got plans."
"More personal plans with the interesting gentleman I met the other morning?" Blatant interest laced his voice.
"No." Taking a deep breath, she blurted out the truth. "I'm meeting his mother for lunch to discuss wedding plans."
"Your wedding plans?" He sounded as dazed as she felt.
"Yes." In for a penny, in for a pound, Nanny Number Five always used to say. "I'm getting married a week from Tuesday."
They'd had to settle for an evening midweek for the wedding, or her pastor couldn't marry them.
"Congratulations." It seemed that no one was as shocked by the imminent wedding as she was.
"Thank you, Lawrence."
Isabel glanced at her calendar and the clock. "If you can take an early lunch, I can meet you for a short planning session before Mrs. Trahern comes to pick me up."
* * *
Isabel's meeting with Lawrence turned into a nice long chat, and he was still in her office when Priscilla Trahern arrived to take her to lunch. Bettina showed Priscilla in. "Isabel, Mrs. Trahern is here to take you to lunch. Oh, hi, Lawrence. Looking for a change?"
Lawrence did not answer. His entire attention was fixed on Priscilla. He stepped forward. "You must be Isabel's future mother-in-law. I must say that it seems impossible for you to have a son old enough to marry the dear girl."
The line was as old as the hills, but Lawrence made it sound charming.
From the look on Priscilla's face, it appeared that she thought so, too. Her lovely pale cheeks bloomed with faint color. "Thank you. I'm Priscilla Trahern."
Lawrence extended his hand and she took it. Rather than shake her hand, Lawrence lifted Priscilla's to his lips and placed a chaste kiss on the back of her fingers. "Lawrence Redding. It's a pleasure to meet you, Priscilla. May I call you Priscilla? Mrs. Trahern seems so formed for a woman of your fairylike presence."
Isabel was sure that Priscilla would be offended. Fairylike presence? She expected better of her favorite client.
But Priscilla's eyes sparkled, and it was clear that Lawrence had charmed her once again. "Priscilla is fine."
Isabel transferred her bemused gaze from Lawrence and Priscilla to Bettina. Bettina winked and grinned, making it obvious she had not missed the little byplay.
Lawrence offered to walk them to the car and Priscilla accepted. The world continued its unreal dance as Isabel watched Priscilla give Lawrence her personal card and permission to call her later. Lawrence and Priscilla? Unthinkable.
Priscilla pulled her car into traffic and said, "Don't look so shocked, Isabel. Romance is not exclusive to the young."
"Yes, but…"
Priscilla reached across the console and patted Isabel's hand. "Don't worry. I'm not."
That gave Isabel pause. "You aren't worried?"
"I'm confident that if Lawrence were not an appropriate sort of person, you would have stepped in. Since you obviously approve of him, I'm willing to get to know him better. Besides, he makes me feel breathless, and that, my soon-to-be daughter, hasn't happened in more years than I care to count."
Isabel couldn't resist smiling. She liked the fact that Priscilla referred to her as a future daughter, rather than in-law. It filled her insides with warmth. Besides, she liked Lawrence as well. "He is a wonderful man, but he likes change," she felt compelled to warn Priscilla.
Priscilla's eyes grew troubled. "Change? Do you mean he dates a lot of women?"
Isabel shook her head vehemently. "No. In fact, I don't know of him dating anyone since his wife died a few years ago. He likes to change jobs."
Priscilla's expression cleared. "Oh. Is that all? That's really quite good news. I'm assuming that since he works with you, the job changes are voluntary."
"Yes, they're voluntary, but why is that good news?" Isabel couldn't help asking.
"It means he's not married to his work." Priscilla's eyes strayed from the road for just a moment, and Isabel saw a wealth of emotion in them. "I would rather live the rest of my life alone than marry another man who values his job above me."
Isabel understood Priscilla's feelings too well to argue.
"Alex has good work habits. He told me so." She said the words, hoping to get confirmation from Priscilla.
Alex had never once answered a page or cell phone call when they were together, but that could be lucky coincidence. She hadn't got around to asking him if he carried them in off-hours. She would have to do that when she saw him tonight.
They'd seen each other every night since she'd agreed to marry him, but he had kept their time out of the dangerous passion zone, insistent on waiting until their wedding night to make love. He kept up the refrain of no marriage … no babies.
She should be angry, but her old-fashioned streak had her feeling less and less blackmailed and more and more cherished by his insistence on waiting. However, she was also growing more nervous. Would she bomb out when it came to the final act as she had before? The prospect left her chilled, so she tried to ignore it as much as possible.
"Alex loves his job, but he stays balanced. He doesn't spe
nd his nights working. He spends them renovating that old farmhouse he lives in," Priscilla said.
Isabel nodded. She loved what Alex had done with the farmhouse. It was the perfect home for a family. "I'm glad you met Lawrence. He's a very nice man."
"That was my impression as well."
Isabel fidgeted with her purse strap. How could she go about casually finding out if Priscilla knew of her future daughter-in-law's connection to the company that had caused her husband's heart attack?
"Is something the matter, Isabel? Are you having difficulty pulling the wedding together on short notice?"
Isabel shrugged. "Not really. I don't have many people to invite and Alex doesn't, either. Bettina and I found a dress on Monday. On Tuesday, I found the perfect pair of shoes to go with it, and today I'm going to order the flowers. It's going to be a very simple service."
Her evenings were busy, as was every spare moment she could steal from work, but that was to be expected, considering she was putting together a wedding in two weeks.
"Alex said you're getting married at your church."
"Yes. After Alex talked to him, my pastor agreed to forego his normal requirement of six weeks of premarital counseling in lieu of two three-hour sessions. I didn't think anyone could change Pastor Dave's mind, but Alex can be very persuasive."
"Yes. Stubborn is a word that comes to mind." There was a mixture of pride and exasperation in Priscilla's voice.
Isabel laughed. "You should have heard him with Pastor Dave."
Priscilla smiled. "I can imagine."
Isabel realized that just as she had fallen in love with Alex, she was fast coming to love his mother, which made her revelation all that more difficult to make. "There's something I need to tell you."
Priscilla patted Isabel's arm in what was becoming a familiar gesture. "What is it?"
"I'm John Harrison's daughter."
Waiting for shock, disgust, or angry denial, Isabel was unprepared for Priscilla's calm nod of agreement. "I know. It's caused me a great deal of concern."
Isabel felt her insides twist. "It has?"
"Yes. My son is very pragmatic. He thinks in terms of justice and retribution."