Her Tender Tyrant (3 page)

He took a deep breath, trying to calm his raging body down. He had to share this house with her for the next few weeks. He had to be kind and considerate – for his mother.

And damn, why had he promised to protect the little bombshell? His father wasn’t playing fair!

He followed her into the kitchen, leaning against the counter while he smothered an amused laugh. She was trying to figure out his mother’s coffee machine. The elaborate contraption was a mystery to most. He knew how to do it, but she looked so cute as she tried to figure it out, he didn’t think he was quite ready to stop her investigation.

He watched for several minutes but when she leaned her forehead against the metal with a frustrated sigh, he decided to take pity on her.

“Need some help?” he asked.

Juliette jumped about a foot while spinning around to confront the deep voice. Her eyes traveled over his tall body, noting that he was still in that amazing shirt that pulled across his impossibly broad shoulders. He’d rolled up the sleeves so she could see his muscular forearms and that definitely was not a healthy observation. If she had gotten a bit more sleep, she might not have sighed when she noticed the tanned skin and fascinating dark hairs. Nor would she start wondering what his chest might look like. Or hope that it was just as tanned with that same dark hair covering…

“Help.” She repeated the word in her mind while her eyes traveled over his body once again. “Help.” The word simply didn’t make sense. She licked her lips and tried again.

“Do you want help making coffee?” he clarified, amused when she actually licked her lips while looking over his body. He wondered what she would do if he lifted her up onto the counter and parted that robe, slid his hands under the thin material of her….

Juliette surged out of the hypnotic trance that the sight of his chest had put her under, shaking her head and trying hard to focus on anything other than the delectable and off-limits behemoth in front of her. “Yes. Help would be greatly appreciated.” She turned back to the counter. “I just…”

Marcus moved behind her, his chest pressing lightly against her back, his hips pressing against that bottom that had caused him so much distraction last night. “Here,” he said, taking the black handle of the espresso machine from her hand. “Put the coffee in this,” he explained, his arms almost wrapping around her as he showed her how to run the elaborate machine. “And then you press this button here. The water is already connected so you don’t have to fill it up.”

She shivered as he leaned into her once more, her back on fire from his heat. “Thank you,” she whispered. “I can handle it from here.”

“Are you sure?” he asked, placing his hands low on either side of her hips, causing her to shiver with an intense awareness that she definitely didn’t like. “I haven’t shown you how to steam the milk if you want a cappuccino.”

She took a deep breath which was a huge mistake because that air was filled with his delicious, masculine scent.

“No!” she gasped, slipping out from between the granite counter and his harder body. “No. Thank you very much but this is just fine.”

She took the tiny cup he offered to her, looking at it as if it were a bug.

“It’s espresso. You only need a little,” he explained with a deep chuckle at her chagrined expression.

Juliette sighed and took a tentative sip. When the strong brew hit her tongue, she practically gagged. “Goodness, I’ve seen people in the coffee shops drinking this stuff but it is vile!” She set it down on the counter, not sure if she could stomach the bitter drink.

Marcus smiled at her expression as he walked over to the commercial sized fridge and pulled out the jug of whole milk. “My father is from Italy, so he taught my mother to enjoy good coffee.” He poured a healthy dose of the milk into the metal container then turned on the steamer. “It is an acquired taste but once you get it, you’ll never go back to regular coffee.” He then took down a larger cup and poured the freshly steamed milk into the cup, then poured the espresso in. A dash of chocolate and he handed the frothy cup of coffee back to her. “Try this. There’s sugar, honey and sweetener in the cabinet above you if you need something to take the edge of bitterness off.”

Juliette took the cup, her mind eagerly anticipating the creamy, frothy mixture. When she tasted the coffee this time, there was still a sharp bite, but it was actually quite delicious. “Oh my!”

She sighed and closed her eyes, enjoying the surge of caffeine as it raced through her body. “Oh, that’s wonderful.”

Marcus looked down at her, noticing that her robe had loosened. It was now gaping at her throat and chest, giving him a delicious view of those soft, full breasts again. He almost groaned as he thought about what they would be like in his hands. What they’d felt like last night.

Her eyes popped open again and she stared at him. “You’re still in the clothes you were in last night.”

Marcus looked down at himself. “You’re absolutely correct,” he teased.

Juliette wanted to roll her eyes at his sarcasm, but she noticed the dark circles under his eyes. “You haven’t been to sleep yet, have you?”

He shrugged his shoulders. “I’ll grab a few hours after breakfast.”

Juliette worried her bottom lip. “I’m sorry. Did I keep you awake?”

He watched her maul that lower lip and wanted to taste it himself. “Will you tuck me in if I tell you that you’ve been on my mind since last night?”

She held her breath, not sure how to answer him. So she avoided the issue completely. “I think I’d better start my day. I’m…uh…supposed to be watching the horses with the stable guys starting in the morning with their feeding.”

Marcus strolled over to where she was standing.

“What are you doing?” she asked, leaning back. She quickly tried to get out of his way but he was just too big and she was cornered by the counter and his lean hips. “I’m…Um…” She wasn’t sure what she was going to say because his hard, muscular body was once again trapping her.

Marcus reached behind her and grabbed a cup out of the cabinet over her head. “Just trying to make myself some coffee,” he explained.

Juliette looked up into his dark blue eyes and knew that he was tormenting her. “Sure,” she snapped. Slipping away from his body one more time, she moved to the other side of the counter. “Thank you for your help,” she finally said, refusing to be rude even when he was doing so.

With that, she raced out of the kitchen and back up to the relative safety of her bedroom. Leaning her head back against the door, she wondered how she was going to get through this day, not to mention the next few days. How long was he going to be here? Surely someone of his stature would be off to some glamorous city or buying up the next…whatever it was that he bought up. She knew Marcus Alfieri was disgustingly wealthy. Jemma had talked about how Marcus was some sort of chemical genius. Apparently, he knew how to connect pharmaceutical drug companies so that they ran more effectively. He owned some of the biggest pharmaceuticals in the world now and wasn’t slowing down.

So why was he here?

Oh yeah, Jemma and Damien were oohing and aahing about their new grandchild. Marcus was holding down the fort, so to speak.

Well, she could stay out of his way easily enough. It wasn’t like she would be in the house very often. Nope, she’d just grab her stuff and stay out in the pastures for as long as possible each day. There was no reason she should have to run into him again.

With that plan in place, she finished off her cappuccino and moved into the bathroom, ready to shower and get ready for her day.

Downstairs, Marcus was still trying to get his body back under control. How could that little woman affect him so easily?

His phone rang, distracting him for the moment. Unfortunately, the person calling him probably wouldn’t help in his present mood.

“What do you want?” Marcus asked as soon as he answered his phone. He was still glaring at the woman who was almost skipping out of the house. Damn he wanted to paddle her adorable bottom!

Dylan, the oldest of all of them, wasn’t offended in the least. “Mom asked me to call and check in with you.”

That didn’t make a lot of sense. “Why would she ask you to do that?”

Marcus could hear his older brother shrug his shoulders. “Beats me. She said something about making sure you were being nice. What the hell is that all about?”

Marcus ran a frustrated hand through his hair. “I’m being as nice as possible, under the circumstances.” His eyes once again strayed to where the cute little brunette had disappeared. “But that isn’t saying much.”

Dylan was silent for a moment. Then he said, “That makes a whole lot more sense then.”

“Why?”

Dylan laughed and Marcus heard his wife Georgette’s southern drawl ask him something in the background. “Mom said to make sure you were being nice and welcoming. Who are you not being nice to, baby brother?”

Marcus felt like growling. “None of your business. Just tell mom that everything is okay.”

“But it obviously isn’t okay.”

“Leave it alone. Go play with Julia. Or better yet, go on vacation somewhere and let me babysit Julia for a while. I could use some of her four year old logic right about now.”

Dylan roared with laughter. “On the same level as your own logic, eh?” he asked, driving the screws in a bit deeper. “Well, let me give you some advice from a man who has been there.”

“What’s that?” Marcus asked. He wasn’t sure what his brother understood, but he wanted to get off of the phone and go chase his little house guest down and give her a piece of his mind.

“Give in. Just bow down to the need and give in to whatever she tells you to do. It will make you a much happier man.” Again, Marcus heard Georgette say something and Dylan laughed. It was nauseating how much those two were in love.

“I have no idea what you mean by that, but I have to go. I have a big negotiation taking place in Paris and I can’t be there because Mom and Dad asked me to watch out for the horses.”

Dylan was suddenly serious. “Hey, if you need to get out of there, I can be there by tonight. Just say the word.”

Marcus sighed and leaned his head back, trying to relieve some of the stress. “No, I appreciate the offer but I can handle it.”

“Antonio is just over in Washington, D.C. He could be there in an hour to help out. You could fly over to Paris and be there in the morning.”

Marcus thought of his younger brother and grew angry at the thought of him being in the house alone with Juliette. “No. Absolutely not.”

There was another long pause before Dylan let loose with a whistle. “Okay. Got it.”

Again, Marcus had no idea what Dylan meant, but he didn’t have the time or the energy to figure out his older brother. “Look, obviously marriage and fatherhood has muddled your brain. Again, what you need is a vacation. Without Julia. Bring her here and I’ll help her learn to ride like a real woman should ride.”

Dylan laughed. “She has her own pony here and she’s just started jumping.”

Marcus didn’t like that one little bit. “Are you sure she’s strong enough to jump?”

“You should see her. Her pony leaps over the crossbars like a pro and Julia is just a nimble little sprite. She’s a true horsewoman.”

“Just like her grandmother,” Marcus said, thinking of how his mother had taught all of them to ride when they were kids.

“Exactly. I think she has the fever.”

“Poor Dad. I’ll pray for you.”

Dylan said something rude that made Marcus laugh even harder. They rung off a moment later and Marcus stood outside on the stone patio, trying to decide what to do. In the end, he walked right back into his father’s office and pressed a speed dial on his phone, connecting to the Paris office. “Okay, go. Tell me the latest.” And with that, he pushed his exasperating woman out of his mind. Or at least pretended to for the next two hours.

“Well, hello there big boy!”

Marcus heard the soft voice and the laughter that followed. The voice was none other than Juliette’s and the rage that shot through him with her words just about blew his mind. “What the…”

The stubborn woman had been avoiding him for the past two days and he was furious that she’d been so successful. After their morning encounter that first day, he’d been working like a devil to finalize the details from his parents’ house. Not an easy task when his executive team was in Paris right now. Hell, he should be in Paris as well. He would have hired a housekeeper to take care of the house but every time he started to give that instruction to his assistant, the image of Juliette’s soft, curvy figure popped into his mind and he rejected the idea.

There was just something about the woman that challenged him. He couldn’t define it, but he couldn’t seem to stay away either.

So when he hadn’t been able to corner her again, to see her brown eyes fire up in anger, his frustration level rose exponentially. The damn woman was hiding from him and he didn’t like it.

He liked even less the idea that popped into his head after those words. Hearing her voice, those soft, sexy tones soothing some other man, he instantly thought that the reason she’d been avoiding him, the reason he hadn’t caught a glimpse of her recently, was because she had some other man giving her what he was determined to do. And damn it, he wasn’t going to allow that!

He stopped halfway down the center aisle of the stable when she spoke again. He wasn’t exactly sure which stall she was in, but it had to be one of the empty ones. It was hard to have a tryst with a guy when a huge horse was in the way. Besides, horses wouldn’t take too kindly to having their space invaded.

“Stop it! You’re tickling me!” she said and laughed again. “Oh no you don’t! That’s all you get. You’re too greedy.”

Who the hell was greedy? And how dare she bring a guy here to his mother’s stables! Juliette was supposed to be studying the horses, not giving them an education on sexual conduct.

Her laughter trilled once more and his rage almost exploded. “Nope. That’s all there is. I’m done with you. You’ll just have to wait until tomorrow before you can have more. You know I’m not supposed to…”

Juliette felt the breath get knocked out of her when a steel band wrapped around her waist. Her back was pressed up against a hard wall or…nope, that wasn’t a wall, that was a warm, hard chest!

“What are you doing?” she demanded when she could breathe again. Her fingers were gripping his arm while her feet dangled about a foot off the floor. “Marcus! Let me go!”

“Who the hell is in here with you?” he demanded.

She twisted as much as she could but it wasn’t very much so the glare she was shooting in his direction wasn’t extremely effective. “There’s no one in here with me, you stupid jerk! Now let me go! I can’t breathe!”

He loosened his hold only slightly but he wasn’t finished with her. The idea of paddling her cute butt popped into his head but he wasn’t sure that was a bad enough punishment for what she’d been doing. And what she’d been putting him through. “Where’s the ‘big boy’ that you were enticing?”

A horse neighed over in the corner and Marcus peered in that direction but he only saw Brutus, his dad’s enormous stallion staring back at him like he was a lunatic.

Juliette heard his words and knew that she should be cautious. Marcus was a huge man and she had no idea what he might do in this kind of a raging fury, but she couldn’t completely stifle the laughter. She slapped a hand over her mouth but another giggle came through.

“What the hell is so funny?” he demanded. Spinning her around, he pinned her to the wall of the stall, glaring down at her. “My mother gave you permission to study the horses and you abuse her good nature by having a disgusting affair with someone right here, in the place where you’re supposed to be working. Doesn’t seem very scholarly to me,” he challenged.

Juliette tried very hard, but the more she attempted to stifle her laughter, the harder it got not to laugh. “You’re absolutely right. I should be much more circumspect about my trysts. I’ll try harder to hide my naughty activities next time.”

Marcus had never been a violent man but the thought of punching the wall sounded very nice right about now. He needed to punch something and he didn’t even care that the wood would hurt his knuckles.

Brutus chose the wrong time to nuzzle him.

“Go away, Brutus,” he snapped. “This is none of your business.” Why he was talking to the horse like it could understand, he didn’t know. It was completely illogical. All he could think was that this woman – with her cute butt in her tight jeans and those soft full breasts that he wanted so badly to explore – she was driving him insane.

Unfortunately, the horse wasn’t listening. He nuzzled Marcus again.

Juliette smiled fondly up at the enormous animal. “I told you, buddy. I don’t have anymore. You’re finished for the night,” Juliette said, slipping her hand out from Marcus’ grip to rub the horse’s soft nose. “Tomorrow night,” she promised. “And we won’t tell the mean bully, okay?”

Brutus neighed softly, shaking his head as if he didn’t believe her. “I promise, big guy. I don’t have any more. Here, you can check,” she said and opened up the pocket to her jacket to show him that it was now empty. “You ate all of them.”

Marcus suddenly realized what was going on. Juliette, with all of her gorgeous auburn hair and her pale skin wasn’t sneaking into the barn to have a tryst with a man.

“You brought them treats,” he said, as if that were the most impossible thing in the world.

She smiled up at him, those brown eyes dancing merrily. “Of course I brought them treats. I was watching them today and they deserve something special.” She pushed him away and this time, he allowed it. “They love treats just like the rest of us.”

He watched her move over to Brutus and the ornery beast, the one that bit the last woman he’d brought down here, nuzzled her cheek, then dipped his head one more time to try and find more treats.

“You shouldn’t be feeding them sugar,” he told her, still surly and smarting because her soft body had been pressed against his for too long. He liked the way she’d felt, her full breasts pressing against his chest, her hips cradling his erection perfectly. Damn, she fit him just right, he thought.

“Of course I wouldn’t feed them sugar, you big oaf,” she said, not turning to look at him as she stroked Brutus’ neck. “They only get carrots and apple slices.” She turned around and glared right back at him. “You’re not a morning person,” she said, “and you’re obviously not a night person either. Are you surly and mean all the time?”

“Yes,” he told her, his hands on his hips as he looked down at her. She was wearing those jeans that he loved so much. Not even the giant barn coat could hide her delectable body.

She continued to look at him as if he should do something. Instead, they just stood there staring at each other. “Well?” she finally snapped. “What’s wrong now?”

You’re not in my arms, he thought silently. “Shouldn’t you be heading back to the house for the night?”

She bit her lower lip. “I’ll be there soon. You don’t have to wait up for me.”

He saw the nervousness in her eyes and knew he should be a gentleman and just leave her alone. But he didn’t feel very gentlemanly. “I’ll wait. What kind of a man would I be if I didn’t walk you back to the house?”

She snorted out her disgust, a convenient cover for her nervousness. “Please. You don’t have a kind bone in your body. So what’s your real reason?”

His eyes moved to her lips. “Maybe I’m waiting for something else,” he suggested.

Juliette felt her lips start to burn with his look. That stupid trembling started right back up and no matter how much she tried to talk herself out of it, the man just did stupid things to her insides.

She tried to come up with an excuse. “I have a lot of work to do down here. I might be a while.”

“What kind of work? I’ll help you.”

She rolled her eyes. “Right. Like you know how to muck stalls and all that?”

One of those huge, muscular shoulders moved up and down in what she suspected was a shrug. “I’ve done it many times before, but you don’t need to muck the stalls. Butch and Dennis will do that when they come in tomorrow morning.”

Juliette tried to think of something else that would need to be done down here in the stables. “I’ll just tidy up the hay.”

Marcus looked around. There was very little hay around. Butch kept things neat and tidy, never wanting hay to float around because of the fire hazard. “Looks pretty clean to me.”

Juliette was struggling. She simply did not want to walk up to the main house with this man. The darkness along the walkway was just too intimate and he was a bit too disturbing for her peace of mind. “Look, why don’t you just mosey on up to the main house and I’ll be there soon?”

He moved closer. “Why don’t you just gather up all of your papers and walk with me?” His dark eyes moved over her delicate features, sensing her nervousness. “Or are you afraid of being alone with me?” he asked softly, his voice lowering to a husky level. “I promise I won’t bite.” He let that statement float in the heavy air for a moment before he said, “Hard.”

She gasped and backed up, but there wasn’t any more space. She was trapped here with this man that could touch her in such a fundamental way with just his words. It shouldn’t be like that, but there it was. “I’m not afraid of you,” she whispered, but her eyes dropped to his mouth.

“Good,” he replied, just as softly. “You shouldn’t be afraid of me. I’m not the enemy.”

She looked up into his eyes again, her hands plastered against the rough wood of the stall door. “You act like the enemy most of the time.”

She almost ducked when his hand moved up to her head. But he was only pushing a lock of her hair back behind her ear, his fingers lingering on her earlobe, causing a shiver to race along her nerve endings. “Then I guess I’ll have to change the way I act, won’t I?”

She shook her head quickly, both to dislodge his hand as well as to deny what he was offering. “No. You just keep going along the way you have been. I like knowing when I’m going to be…”

She couldn’t finish that statement because his mouth covered hers. She was so surprised by the kiss, she didn’t have time to react. She just stood there, his big, strong hand coming up to cradle her head, tilting it ever so slightly to give him better access to her mouth. She heard someone moan, had no idea it was her and no idea that her hands were now holding onto his thick jacket. If she’d realized that she was actually kissing him back, she probably would have jerked out of his arms. But his kiss was making her stupid. Her brain definitely wasn’t acting properly or she would have backed up and ran as fast as she could to her room. As it was, she moved closer to him, pushing that thick, cotton jacket out of the way so her body could feel his hard muscles, to learn what it was like to touch him and feel him against her body.

A horse neighing loudly in the next stall jerked her backwards. She looked up at Marcus, shocked at what she’d just done. She’d kissed the man! How could she have kissed him? What was she thinking?

“Um…,” she muttered, still confused and dazed. A part of her wanted to grab his jacket and pull him closer again, to do that all over but this time, with more thought to it. She’d been too caught up in the kiss to really enjoy it.

When she realized what she was thinking, she backed up again. “I’m going back to the house,” she announced, her voice breaking up. She couldn’t look at him, too ashamed of how she had kissed him so passionately. So wantonly! Goodness, he must think she was a hussy!

“Juliette, wait,” he called out to her. “Let me lock up the stalls and I’ll walk you back up.” Marcus stepped out of the stall, giving Brutus another pat. But Juliette was running out of the stable, her hair flying out behind her. The rain was pelting down around her and he cursed as he finished locking the stalls and the stable doors.

He wasn’t positive, but he was relatively sure that it actually started raining harder when he stepped out. Juliette was nowhere to be seen and he turned on his flashlight, trying to find her path. She damn well better not have tripped on the way up to the house. Not that there was a lot to trip over, but the tree roots, grass and fallen leaves could be slippery in this kind of weather.

“Damn!” he snapped when he finally reached the house. There was a light on in the kitchen but Juliette wasn’t there. “Juliette!” he called out.

“I’m fine. Thank you for your help tonight,” she called right back.

Marcus heard the bedroom door slam closed and he sighed, rubbing his forehead again. The woman was driving him nuts!

So why was he kissing her? Why hadn’t he just kept his hands off of her? And why the hell had he gotten so furious when he’d thought she was in the stall with another man? He had no right to control her. Nor did he want that control.

Or did he?

Marcus shook his head and walked into the office. The horses were tucked in for the night, Juliette was upstairs doing…well, whatever the hell she did…

And why didn’t he know what she did all day long?

He looked around at his father’s desk. It was covered with papers, he realized with frustration. Normally, Linda, his assistant, kept him better organized. But because he’d agreed when his father had asked him to help out while they were gone, he was losing his mind.