Full Bloom (20 page)

T
hree days later Emily untangled herself from a still-sleeping Jacob, yawned, sat up and prepared to get ready for work. She glanced around her white-on-white room and wondered if she would miss the apartment when the time came to move to Arizona.

Seattle had been good to her and she loved the town, but Jacob was right. It wouldn't do any harm to move a bit beyond her family's immediate reach for a few years. Emily grimaced as she traipsed into the bathroom. Maybe for the rest of her life. Ravenscrofts were okay in small doses, but in larger quantities they were definitely overwhelming.

"What's for breakfast?" Jacob's voice was muffled by his pillow.

"The same thing we had yesterday morning. Cereal."

"Why does it have to be cereal every morning?"

"You're used to eating something better in the mornings?" Emily challenged from the bathroom doorway.

"You used to fix me pancakes and ham and eggs and waffles and stuff."

"We're married now," she reminded him lightly.

"I knew it. I knew that if I married you, you'd start taking me for granted. You haven't even been bringing me coffee in bed lately."

Emily lifted her eyes ceilingward. "Complaints already. Ham and eggs and pancakes and waffles are bad for you on a regular basis."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive."

"Damn."

"And as for coffee in bed, I'm afraid that's only for special occasions. You could, of course, bring me coffee in bed some morning."

Jacob smiled benignly and stretched. "Maybe I'll try that one of these days."

"You do that. In the meantime, you'll have to excuse me. I've got to get ready for work. Careful you don't get so accustomed to the leisure life that you decide to pursue it as a full-time job," Emily warned with a chuckle. She turned to go into the bathroom.

"Emily!"

Startled by the unexpected harshness in his voice, she whirled around. "What is it?"

He swung his feet over the edge of the bed and stalked toward her. His body was strong and hard and lean in the early light, and he was totally unself-conscious about his unsubtle masculine power. "Does it worry you?" he demanded a little roughly.

"Does what worry me?"

"The fact that I'm technically unemployed?"

She stared at him for an instant and then ran forward to throw her arms around him. "What a stupid thing to say. Of course it doesn't worry me. I was just teasing you, Jacob."

He twisted his hands in her hair. "Everything's in place, honey. I didn't feel like going into a lot of detail in front of your parents the other night but you've got a right to know that my plan to open a consulting firm isn't exactly a daydream."

"I never thought it was." She inhaled the unique male scent of him, remembering his ardent lovemaking during the night.

"I guess I've been so busy helping you get ready to sell the shop and making plans to move that I forgot to mention my own financial situation isn't as bad as your father thinks. I told him and the rest of your family that I'd learned a lot watching Ravenscrofts operate over the years. It's true. And a lot of what I learned had to do with investing both here and abroad. I've got the stake I need to get started, Emily."

She smiled against his chest. "And when I sell Emily's Garden I'll have the stake I need to open a new shop down in Arizona. We're going to do just fine, Jacob."

"I know," he agreed. "Just as well because we definitely won't be accepting any help from your family. Now or ever."

"Agreed," she said willingly enough. "You're right, of course. There's no such thing as string-free
Ravenscroft help. I just hope that I'll be able to fulfill Grandmother's wishes from a distance. It might be hard to keep an eye on RI operations from Arizona."

"No, it won't," Jacob said with great certainty. "In this day and age, it's possible to keep an eye on a company like RI from almost anywhere on the globe. We'll manage just fine from Arizona. Don't forget, you're still on the board of directors. Technically, they have to keep you informed. All you have to do is insist they do so. Even if they tried a few slick maneuvers without your knowledge, they'd have trouble getting them past you."

"Why?"

"Because you've got me to play guard dog. I've worked for RI so long that I know exactly how your brother and the rest of them operate. I'll warn you if things look odd."

Emily grinned. "Did I ever tell you that Grandmother Ravenscroft always liked you?"

"No, I don't believe you mentioned it. What did the old witch have to say about me?"

"She said she thought you would be good husband material for me."

Jacob looked properly astounded. "You're kidding. She said that?"

"I'm afraid so," Emily said cheerfully. "I, of course, told her she was crazy. You had left for one of the foreign offices two months before and I just knew I'd never see you again. But she said she had a hunch you'd be back one day."

"Well, how about that?" Jacob was smugly pleased. "I did get some Ravenscroft approval, after all."

"I guess you could say that."

He lifted her chin and kissed her soundly. "Umm, you taste good."

"That's true love for you. I haven't even brushed my teeth yet this morning."

"Let's go back to bed," Jacob suggested huskily.

Emily shook her head regretfully. "You know I can't do that. I've got too much to do to get the shop ready for sale."

"I know." He released her reluctantly. "I'll drop by around lunchtime, okay?"

"It's a deal."

Half an hour later Emily hastily finished the last of her cereal and grabbed her oversize shoulder bag. "Got to run." She bent down to kiss Jacob goodbye. He was drinking his coffee in a leisurely manner, enjoying the morning paper that had arrived a short while earlier. Emily felt a thrill of pleasure at the very settled, very married feeling the whole scene engendered in her. Life seemed very good that morning.

"See you at lunchtime," Jacob said, darting his tongue along her lower lip in an intimate, teasing gesture.

He watched her hurry toward the door where she paused briefly on the threshold to wave to him. Then he glanced at his watch and gave her two minutes to catch the elevator. When he was certain she was out of the hall and on her way down to the garage, he got to his feet and pocketed his set of keys.

When he opened the front door of the apartment he found the corridor empty, just as he had expected. Having followed Emily down to the garage every morning since their return, he had perfected the timing.

Jacob sauntered down to the elevator and stabbed the call button. Emily would be furious if she knew he had made it a policy to escort her, unseen, to the garage every day. She was getting extremely prickly lately about being taken care of.

But Jacob's memory of the two punks who had been waiting for him in the garage had permanently shaped his attitude toward Emily's safety in the building. He had no intention of letting her come and go alone in that dungeon downstairs.

So far she hadn't questioned the fact that he always met her after work at the shop and drove home with her. Jacob smiled to himself as the elevator door opened on the lower garage level, and he stepped out. If she realized his main reason for doing it was to prevent her from having to drive into the garage alone, she would probably tear a wide strip off him.

The best way to take care of Emily was with discretion, Jacob had discovered. He was quite proud of himself for figuring that out. Her family had gone about it the wrong way since the day she was born and he himself had more than once been guilty of too forthright an approach. Much simpler to keep an eye on her from a discreet distance.

Jacob stayed out of sight in the elevator lobby. He was always careful to make certain he didn't go into the main parking area where Emily would spot him on her way out. From here he would be able to hear her car and watch the iron gate open and close.

Discretion, he told himself. No need to be heavy-handed about it. A husband had to learn subtlety in dealing with a wife.

He was congratulating himself on his skill when he heard Damon Morrell's voice. Jacob recognized it instantly. Morrell was on the other side of the lobby wall, speaking in a harsh, angry tone. Simultaneously Jacob registered the fact that Emily had not yet started her car.

Jacob's vow of discretion crumpled into nothingness. Instinctively he started to launch himself around the corner, his hands already anticipating the feel of Morrell's throat. And then, before he came into sight of the other two, Jacob forced himself to a shuddering halt.

He was never really certain what made him stop. It had something to do with the fact that Emily's voice was calm and controlled, with no trace of alarm. That quiet control made him remember how angry she had been the last time he had stepped in to "rescue" her from Morrell. She had been so resentful of the implication that she couldn't take care of herself, Jacob recalled wryly.

He took a deep, calming breath, aware of the adrenaline pounding through him. It was all right, he told himself. He could tell by the sound of her voice that she was in no immediate danger. He should let her handle this. She would undoubtedly be furious if he stepped in again, uninvited.

Jacob leaned against the partition that separated him from Emily and Morrell and made himself stay where he was. He could monitor the situation from there. If Morrell turned nasty, there would be plenty of time to move in on him. Jacob gritted his teeth and swore he would give Emily her chance to handle the man.

Emily had been so astonished to see Damon waiting for her near her car that she nearly dropped her keys.

"What on earth are you doing here?" she demanded.

Morrell watched her through hooded eyes, his hands shoved deep into the pockets of his fashionable jacket. 'It was the only way I could think of to see you alone. I've been watching you for three days, waiting to find you alone. That damned husband of yours hardly lets you out of his sight. When you're not with him, you're at the shop with Diane and a bunch of customers."

"How would you know what I'm doing with my time these days, Damon?" Something in his eyes made Emily wary. She kept her distance, not going any closer to the car.

"I told you, I've been keeping an eye on you."

"Why, Damon?"

"You have a lot of nerve asking a stupid question like that." Damon's voice didn't rise, but there was a savage rawness in it that told its own story. "You've ruined everything. You know that, don't you?"

"If you're talking about what happened between you and RI over that Fowler deal—"

"That was only part of it. But it was a big part. I should have had that project, Emily. It should have been mine. I needed it badly to cover some recent losses. RI stole it from me. This isn't the first time they've stolen something from me."

"Come off it, Damon, we both know how business is done these days. You play just as rough as RI does. If you'd had the right contacts down in South America you would have used them, just as you used your friends in the Middle East last year to secure that airport project. I had nothing to do with your winning or losing, and I don't want to have anything to do with it. The truth is, I don't like the way international business is done and I prefer to be left out of it entirely."

Damon stared at her, his eyes hot with repressed fury. "If I had married you, everything would have been different. I would have had RI right where I wanted it. I could have controlled the company through you. Do you know what I was going to force your family to do, Emily? I was going to make them merge with my company. I was going to create the most powerful construction firm in the Northwest, maybe on the whole West Coast, and in the process, RI would have effectively ceased to exist."

Emily caught her breath, realizing at last the extent of his frustrated anger. "You were willing to use me to break RI and to build your own firm into this superpower?"

"You were the key, Emily. I realized that months ago when I found out you were living here in Seattle. I knew then what I had to do. It was so easy at first. I had you eating out of the palm of my hand."

"Damon, for heaven's sake, we never even went to bed together," Emily protested, thoroughly exasperated. "How can you imply a serious relationship? I've told you before that I considered us casual friends, that's all. I resent the fact that you think you could have married me."

"I could have had you if that bastard Stone hadn't arrived on the scene."

"Not a chance." Emily was infuriated. "We've already been through this. Why does everyone and his brother think I'm a chunk of clay he can mold to his own purpose? Believe it or not, I have a few personal goals myself. I am not as malleable as everyone seems to think."

Damon did not appear to hear her. He was too involved in rehashing what he thought he had lost. "You were no problem. I had you under control. It was Stone and your family who screwed it all up. I guess your family figured it was safer to have you married to him than me."

"You're crazy, Damon."

"You think so? You're the one who's out of her mind if you really think you're making your own decisions these days. I did a little research on Jacob Stone. He's RI's man right to the core. He'll do whatever your family tells him to do, up to and including marrying you. When your people started getting nervous about the fact that you were seeing me, they took steps to pick out a nice safe husband for you. How does it feel to be married off to someone your family can control, Emily?"

"You've got it all wrong, Damon," she whispered.

He shook his head once. "No, I've finally figured it all out. I tried to scare Stone off, but things went wrong."

"It
was
you who sent those two thugs after him here in my garage that night, wasn't it?" Emily was genuinely shocked at the realization. "Jacob and my family had their suspicions, but until now I didn't really believe them. I thought I knew you well enough to bet you wouldn't have stooped to such a thing. How dare you, Damon? How dare you pull a cowardly trick like that?"

"Cut the drama. It was worth a try. I'd had those two watching your garage since Stone first appeared on the scene. Hell, I had them in place right after you got back from Portland. I knew something was up. I just wasn't sure what or how to deal with it. I finally decided to make a move on Stone. I decided to see if he could be scared off. But things went wrong. Dammit, Emily, I was so close! I almost had you, and with you I would have had RI. You've ruined everything!"