Sapphire (Rare Gems Series) (3 page)

Every word that she said seemed to have
a double meaning to him, and he couldn’t speak past thinking of her in a few
positions, one of which was across his lap naked. He wished now he had his
jacket to hide his aching erection. He stepped more behind the chair.

When Diamond handed him a bottle of
water, he nearly begged her to pour it over him. But he opened it and drained
it. When she smiled at him, he had a feeling this sister was well aware of what
was going through his head. He wasn’t sure what to make of her when Sapphire
spoke again.

“You never answered me. What do you want
here?” He had to sit down. Nearly tumbling into the chair had her looking at
him strangely, but right now he didn’t give a good…he was not going to think of
fucking right now, and nearly jumped out of his pants when he heard a car
pulling into the drive.

“That’ll be my dad and Rocky. They’re
bringing a refrigerator. I don’t know how to fix this one.” Before any of them
could say a word, he was out the door and in the drive, just as his dad was
getting out of the truck. His dad looked at him hard, and Blair was ready to
bolt when he finally spoke.

“You all right, son?” He nodded and then
shook his head. “Yeah, that’s about right. Which one is she? The oldest?”

“This can’t be happening right now.” His
dad only nodded at him. “Dad, I’m leaving here. Can you please tell them I had
an emergency and I had to…Christ, I’m falling apart.”

“That you are. Buck up, boy, you can’t
run from this. Go on in and introduce me to her.” He looked over his shoulder,
and Blair turned when he whistled. “Christ, son, you sure know how to pick
‘em.”

Sapphire stood alone on the porch with
her arms crossed over her chest and looked down at them both. Blair’s wolf
snarled at him to go to her and to mark her, but he moved away. He felt him
claw harder at his skin until he was ready to shift and claim her himself. Blair
got into his car and started it with shaky hands. He was down the drive and
onto the street before he let go of the breath he’d been holding.

“Mother fuck.” Pulling over to the side
of the road, he gulped in cool air-conditioned air as fast as it spilled from
the vents. His entire body was on fire for him to shift and to claim the woman.
He’d never had a reaction like this to a female in his entire life, and didn’t
care for it much right now. He sat there for ten minutes before he could move
into traffic again.

He was nearly back to the office when
his phone rang. He pressed the button to have the speaker turned on and was
blasted by so much cursing he couldn’t help but smile. When the woman—and for
some reason he knew it was Sapphire—took a breath to no doubt start again, he
interrupted her. He felt safe now that they had miles between them.

“I would think you’d have better luck
getting a job if you cleaned up your mouth.” Thoughts of her mouth had him
reaching down to adjust his cock for the fiftieth time since he’d left her. And
when she growled at him, he nearly had to pull over again and try to calm his
body. Christ, she was going to kill him no matter the distance between them.

“Why is there a new refrigerator in my
kitchen and your butler helping my mother put things in it? And what the fuck does
your dad mean when he said I have a contract with you? I never said I’d work
for you positively.” But she had, and they both knew it. “I wouldn’t work for a
lunatic like you if you were the last place on earth to work.”

He started to count to ten before he
spoke, but thought, “fuck this shit” and let her have it. “You will work for me
starting tomorrow or I’ll have your pretty little ass in court for breach of
contract so fast that your head will spin. And as for my dad, you’ll be nice to
him, or so help me I’ll make your last alpha look like a walk in the park. And
another thing you might want to think about is that as of three days ago, I’m
the new alpha in this territory.”

He pressed the end button just as she
started to say something. He was pulling into his parking spot when he realized
what he’d just done. He’d hired her to work for him when every part of his mind
was screaming at him to keep her as far from him as he could possibly get her. He
was still sitting there ten minutes later when his dad called him.

“You went and made this house a fan of
yours. Never seen a bunch of more pissed off women in my life. I think maybe
that Sapphire would gladly tear you to pieces and not have a second thought
about it.” His dad was probably right.

“I hired her.” His dad said he knew
that. “She’s not my mate, but a woman who my wolf nor I, neither one, like very
much.”

“You don’t believe that, do you?” His
dad had asked him so softly that Blair wasn’t sure it was his mind thinking it
or him speaking, but his next words confirmed who had said it. “The woman isn’t
going to come any easier to you than you are to her. I’m thinking sparks are
going to do more than fly when you two get together. Christ, son, she’s more
than I ever hoped for in a daughter-in-law.” His dad laughed, and Blair pulled
the phone free and got out of his car to go to his office.

“I’m not taking her as my mate. I don’t
need her, and I certainly don’t want her. And I would very much appreciate it
if you never brought it up again.” His dad laughed. “This isn’t funny, Dad. You
either drop it or I’ll bar you from the building.”

“I won’t bring it up again, but if you
think that’s going to stop you from thinking about her every waking moment until
you do something about her, then you’ve not been paying attention to me all
these years. She’s a done deal, and so are you.”

Blair put his phone in his pocket
without answering him but knew, just knew, that he was right. This thing
between him and Sapphire was going to be there. He decided that he’d avoid her
until his wolf finally figured out she wasn’t his mate, too. Starting the first
thing, he was going to be working well away from her. Forever if need be.

He was so fucked.

Chapter 3

She was in a vile mood, and Annabelle
had a feeling it was because of the young man from yesterday. She’d never seen
Sapphire take such a dislike for someone as she’d done him. And it was apparent
that the young man was having the same reaction to her granddaughter. Annabelle
looked up at the clock and cleared her throat.

“I’m going,” Sapphire said, looking up
from her breakfast. “I don’t want to do this. I did sign a contract, but I
didn’t know he was going to be such a pigheaded prick. I don’t want to work for
someone like him.”

“Hmmm, and he’s the new alpha, too. I called
one of the women that I met the other day, and she said that Blair was going to
challenge the old alpha, but the man had a heart attack that night and died. He
didn’t look all that healthy when I was there, so it’s no surprise to me.”
Sapphire continued to sit, and Annabelle decided enough was enough. “He’s your
mate, isn’t he?”

“No.” She shifted on her seat as she
continued. “I don’t want anything to do with him. Not now, not ever. I won’t be
saddled with a cold, heartless bastard. If I had wanted a man like that, I
would have stayed back in our old pack and mated with Jeffery.”

“But Jeffery was never going to be your
mate.” Sapphire stood up and moved to the door. “Honey, you can’t run from
this. Sooner or later the two of you are going to have to work this out.”

“No, we won’t. I’ll just avoid him until
he fires me. I’m pretty sure that might happen today, too.” Annabelle didn’t
like the look on her face. “I might not have the job I want, but I’ll do
anything rather than work for him.”

Annabelle watched her eldest granddaughter
get into her truck and leave. She almost felt sorry for her. The poor thing,
both of them actually, were in for a rude awakening if they actually thought
they could keep apart. Annabelle wasn’t sure why she believed that Blair would
try the same thing as Sapphire and work to stay away from her, but it wouldn’t
work. They’d have to come together, sooner rather than later. Smiling, she turned
to find Diamond staring at her.

“She’s his mate, isn’t she?” Annabelle
nodded and started to load the dishwasher as she sat down. “I don’t think
they’re going to be a match made in heaven, do you?”

“No. I think they’ll be a hell of a
match, but it’s going to be a long, hard road before either of them realizes
they can’t win.” Annabelle smiled and revised her statement. “I think they’ll
both win in the end, but the end is going to be a long way from easy.”

“I think you’re right. I don’t think
that Sapphire will ever forget what Jeffery did to her, and she’ll have a hard
time trusting anyone again.” Annabelle had never really heard what had happened
that night, only that Sapphire had been gravely injured, and Jeffery had banned
them from the pack forever. Even now she didn’t ask, because she wasn’t sure
she ever wanted to know.

After the others left, Annabelle went
out to the garden. The tractor had shown up late last night to turn over the
plot of ground, but it had been too dark to do much more than point to where
she wanted a garden put. The man was supposed to come back this morning and
finish the job for her. She had it all blocked off by the time he showed up.
Two hours later, she was hoeing out a nice row.

“Nice place for a garden, I think.” She turned
to stare at the man from yesterday. She almost couldn’t remember his name, but
he smiled and told her. “Allen Henson. I’m Blair’s father.”

“I’m sorry. I wasn’t aware that anyone
said you were coming out.” She usually wrote things like that down and felt bad
that she hadn’t remembered.

“I just showed up on my own. I was hoping
to get to talk to you without the others around. About the kids.” She nodded
and moved to the end of the row when he picked up a hoe, too. “Don’t stop on my
account. I’ll work with you so we can talk a bit. I’ve not done this sort of
work in a while. I think I’ll enjoy this.”

She nodded, not sure what Sapphire would
think about Blair’s dad being there, but decided what she didn’t know wouldn’t
hurt her. She watched the man move down the

furrows
with practiced ease and started on her own row as she spoke.

“She’s his mate, as I’m sure you’re
aware.” He said he was. “She doesn’t want him and figures to get fired today so
he’ll break the contract with her. I don’t think they realize that it won’t do
her a bit a good.”

He laughed. “I’m thinking he’ll try to
do the same. And you’re right, won’t do them a lick of good. They’re as good as
mated now. Too bad really, that they won’t listen to their elders. Sure would
save them a great deal of time and heartache.”

She didn’t say anything as she finished
her row and began another. Her granddaughter was ten kinds of stubborn. She’d
gotten that from her grandda. She looked up when a cell phone went off and
watched as Allen put it away without answering.

“My son. He’s called me three times
since I left the office. No doubt telling me that he’s going to murder me again.”
Annabelle was shocked until he laughed. “He’s just pissy because I set Sapphire
up in the room next to his and had her trained by a less than competent
employee. By the end of the day if those two aren’t tangled on his desk, I’ll
be surprised.”

“Sapphire isn’t going to be easy. She’s
been hurt. Both physically and her heart. She’s been hiding behind her shield
of anger for a long time, and she’s gotten really good at turning people away.”
Annabelle finished her row and waited for Allen so she could plant the tomatoes
she’d bought. She looked up at him when he handed her a small spade. “Thank
you.”

“No problem. I saw them pictures of the
alpha she beat to shit. What did he do to her?” Annabelle stopped in the middle
of planting her first plant. There had been pictures? “I’m sorry, I thought you
knew.”

“No, I hadn’t realized…were there any of
my granddaughter?” Allen shook his head. “I only saw her afterwards, about a
week afterwards. Diamond had nursed her back to health. I guess she was so
injured that she couldn’t even shift. I heard from Ruby, another granddaughter,
that they’d thought that she was going to die.”

“He didn’t fare any better, I guess. She
nearly castrated him from what the report said. And it’s iffy whether or not he’ll
be able to get…have a….” He flushed, and she laughed. “Sorry about that. I
usually just say what I’m thinking, and can’t do that around you for some
reason.”

“It’s because I’m old. You have to have respect
for me.” He shook his head. “If you say that I’m not old I won’t believe another
word that comes out of your mouth.”

“No, it’s not that. I think…I was
thinking that we’d be related and that I didn’t want to treat you like I do the
others.” He bent to plant the cabbage he had in his hand and spoke from there. “You
have any ideas how to bring the two of them together sooner rather than when
one or both of them hurts the other?”

“Leave them be.” She put in the next two
tomatoes before she said anything more. “If we push this, they’ll work harder
at not coming together. If we manipulate them, then it will come back to bite
us in the ass.”

“You sound as if you know this for a fact.”

She nodded and realized he couldn’t see
her. “I do. My parents did the same with my mate and me. I fought very hard not
to be with him, and in the end….” She shrugged. “I loved him after a fashion, I
suppose, but not the kind that we might have had. My son loved his mate. Gave
her six daughters and never cared at all they never had a son. He was as happy
with them as he’d ever been. His little gems, he called them from the day they
were born. Then their mother died and…. Well, I don’t think he ever got over
it.”

They finished the garden together just
talking about the girls and the garden she was hoping to expand next season. When
he left her an hour later, she went in to check on the roast she had in the
oven and thought about her granddaughters.

She loved them dearly. She always would,
but she didn’t care for this mating business and the way it made a couple want
so desperately, and for what? She had lied to Allen; she’d never loved her
husband, but he’d given her a son, and for that she’d forever be grateful to
him. She only hoped that Sapphire would have the same someday, if not a great
love as her father had had.

~~~

“I don’t know.” Sapphire looked at the
man and wanted to strangle him. He’d been in here with her since she’d arrived,
and she was no closer to knowing what her job was than when she’d come in the
door. He looked around the room as if the answer to her question, a very simple
question, she thought, would suddenly appear for him.

“Look. It’s on your website. Just go
there and see who your biggest clients are. What is it you do here again?” He
grinned at her, and she felt the hair on the back of her neck stand up. He was
creepy, too.

“Maybe if we were under a different
setting I wouldn’t be so nervous.” She mentally rolled her eyes at him as he
continued. “Why don’t we go and have a drink somewhere and I could tell you all
about this job.”

“Because it’s only ten-thirty in the
morning. Where is your boss?” He moved his finger down her arm, and she stood
up. “Touch me again and I’ll tear your throat out.”

His laughter had her wolf stir, but
either he was too stupid to notice or he simply didn’t care she moved back when
he reached for her again. He was both, she decided in that minute, and took his
hand when he moved to touch her breast.

When the door opened behind her, she
didn’t bother turning. The man she had on the floor with his hand bent back
just before the breaking point had her full attention. Laughter told her it was
a female that had come in, and when a male cleared his throat, she spoke. There
was no way they’d keep her after this.

“He touched me when I asked him several
times and in two different languages not to. And this time, when he reached for
my tit, I’d had enough. If this is this company’s idea of making their employees
happy, I’m not sure we’re going to mesh.”

“He touched you?” Sapphire jerked around
to see Blair standing there and the woman who had shown her in here holding him
back. “He fucking touched her.”

“I heard her. Calm him or there will be
hell to pay.” Miss Troy looked over at her and the guy she had on the floor. “Can
you please step away from that idiot before his animal comes out and tears him
apart?”

Sapphire let go of the man, and he stood
and hit her before she could move away. She knew that she hit him back, but she
was knocked out of the way almost as soon as he hit the floor. The pain in her
head exploded, and she felt her wound at her back tear open again. Blackness
didn’t just come over her but stormed through her like a tornado going across
the flatlands. She woke in a dark office lying on a couch, and sat up slowly.

“Do you still hurt?” She didn’t answer
Blair but moved to stand up. “I asked you a question, and I’d very much like an
answer.”

“I fucking hurt. Is that what you wanted
to hear? What the hell hit me?” She staggered slightly and moved back when he
was suddenly in front of her. “Don’t touch me, please. I hurt in too many places
to name right now.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t…you should have
backed away when you were told.” She didn’t bother telling him she had it under
control but went to the door and hopefully freedom from him. “Who cut you up
like that? Jeffery?”

“He and I had a little disagreement, and
we both walked away with a few cuts and bruises.” Blair laughed a short bark of
laughter that made her think he didn’t think it was the least bit funny.

She put her hand on the doorknob when
she felt his breath on her neck. “You smell like nothing I’ve ever smelled
before.”

Sapphire opened the door and had to
press her body against his to get it to open enough for her to walk out. He
moaned at her, and she nearly leaned back into him. But she was leaving this
loony bin and not returning. Blair put his hand over hers when she went to
press the elevator button.

“I’ve fired Dan. I should have killed
him, but Justine thought it would be too hard to explain. You should have found
me when he touched you.” She turned to him as she jerked her hand from under
his. “I won’t tolerate you doing this sort of playing here again.”

“Really?” He nodded. “Well, good for
you. I nearly get raped by one of your employees and it’s entirely my fault. And
would you have cared very much if I had touched him in the same manner? Would
he have been knocked on his ass and me fired?”

“He should know better, and so should
you. I won’t have men touching you.” She pressed the down button before he
could stop her. “You’re not going anywhere, Miss Erickson. We have to discuss
your behavior while you work in this office.”

She laughed at him and turned when the
doors opened. She stepped in the opening and pressed the button to go down
without speaking to him. She had a feeling that when she got to the lower
floors there was going to be someone waiting for her to escort her back up, but
she wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction. Pressing all the numbers, she
got off at the next floor down, went to the staircase, and went up and not
down. When she was on the roof, she looked around at all the buildings
surrounding his and saw that if she got a good enough run at it, she could leap
to the next building and leave from there.