Sapphire (Rare Gems Series) (6 page)

Is he gone?
She laughed,
and Sapphire wanted to go back out to the falls and live there the rest of her
life, but Diamond finally answered.

Oh, he’s gone all right, but has left
strict orders for us to call him the moment we see you. I’d very much
appreciate it if you didn’t make me have to call him and stay out of sight.
I’ll go down and leave you clothes in the kitchen and the door unlocked for
you.

Sapphire waited for her to turn the
light on and move out of the kitchen before she made her way to the decking. She’d
never do anything to get her sisters into trouble. She was just pulling her
shirt over her head when Sapphire spoke to her again.

I don’t think he’ll be back, do you?
She didn’t wait
for an answer but continued.
I really made him mad, but he pissed me off
too. He….

She wasn’t going to say anything else,
but Diamond asked,
He what, Sapphire? What did he do to you to make you so
hurt?

He didn’t want me. I mean at all.
Instead of having sex with me, he…he did it himself, then told me to get
dressed like I was some prostitute he’d just had and was finished with.
She felt her
anger rising again
. He said me being naked around him was hard on him. Like
I was undressed because I’d taken my towel off. And I didn’t invite him to my
room. He came up there.

Diamond was quiet as Sapphire made it up
the stairs without being seen. It wasn’t until she locked the door behind her
and looked at the clock that she realized how late it was. Midnight. She’d been
outside for nearly three hours.

So the two of you aren’t mated?
The question
startled her. She knew that they’d not had sex, no intercourse at least. But
what he’d done to her, did that mean he was marked? Probably not. Men of her
kind did the marking, not the females.

No, we’re not.
She lay down on
the bed as she continued to talk to her sister.
I have to go back to the
other house tomorrow. I have to sign off on it for the new owners. I should be
there and back in no time. But…. But I might stay for a couple of days. I was
going to see if the job offer from Bruce is still open. He said I could work
from here and only come into town once or twice a month.

I guess you won’t be able to work for
Blair now either. That’s too bad. I thought you could do wonders for his firm.
She heard her
sister sigh
. I’m going in for an interview in the morning. I have one at the
hospital as an emergency room nurse. I think I’ll enjoy it more than an office.

They talked for a few more minutes, and
Sapphire rolled to her back, just realizing that someone had made her bed.
Picking up the pillow, she put it to her nose and could smell her grandmother. Smiling,
she put it back and got up to look at the gifts her sisters had given her on
the first day.

The one from Emerald was a framed
picture of the two of them. She remembered the day it was taken and smiled.
They’d been at the park running, just the two of them. The next gift was from
Opal. It was a journal. She touched the pretty cover and knew that her sister
had made it, stitching it from things she’d made something larger from. Opal
made a good living from crafting things out of scraps of this and that. Diamond
had given her a Kindle Fire. And with it was a gift card from Jade for her to
download books. She picked up the gift from Ruby.

She’d framed one of her art pieces. It
was of her; Sapphire knew this and could see her sister while Sapphire had sat
for the painting. Sapphire had been tired and wanted to be left alone to take a
nap, and Ruby had told her to simply go to sleep and she’d wake her when she was
done. But she’d not been able to keep from watching her sister work. She was
lovely when she was in her zone.

Crawling back into the bed, she avoided
the bathroom because she knew it would smell like him. Some of his scent was perfuming
the bedroom now. But after an hour in the bed, she realized she’d either have
to use it or go down the hall and maybe encounter one of her sisters. She
wasn’t up for dealing with them tonight.

His scent hit her like a strong storm. Even
the hand towel smelled like him, and she tossed it into the hamper after taking
it to her nose several times. She was so pissed at him again that she was afraid
she’d never sleep when she finally got back into her bed. Closing her eyes, she
felt her body tighten and need for him to touch her curl around her body.
Frustrated both sexually and mentally, she got up and showered. She might as
well get started.

The sun was coming up when she pulled
out of the drive. She was glad that the rest of them hadn’t been downstairs
when she left. It would have been hard on them, not to mention one of them
would have called Blair, and she’d just as soon not have to deal with his ass
today. Or the rest of her life. She was on the highway when her phone started
ringing. When it finished ringing, she pulled over for a cup of tea, and,
ignoring the voicemail, she turned it off and put it deep into her purse. She
was going to enjoy this if it killed her.

Chapter 6

“Don’t, Dad. I’m begging you not to say
a word.” Blair had been in his office for ten minutes when his dad walked in.
And after the past three days, he wasn’t sure he wouldn’t snap again.

“I was just wondering if you know where
she is yet. I’ve tried getting something out of Annabelle, but she’s very
closed mouthed. She does make a delicious apple pie, but will keep her mouth
shut when it comes to those girls of hers.” He sat down, and Blair groaned. He
wanted everyone to leave him alone, but no one seemed to be listening to him.

Not even Diamond would tell him
anything. And no matter how much he threatened the rest of them, no one would
tell him where she was. It was as if she’d vanished into thin air. His phone
ringing startled him.

“So you couldn’t make her an offer she
couldn’t refuse, could you?” It took Blair a few seconds to realize who was
talking. “She’s a mighty hard woman to get to agree to anything when she has
her mind set on it, isn’t she?”

“Who?” He knew as soon as Bruce laughed.
“Sapphire? You’ve talked to her? When? Where?”

“She came to see me a couple of days ago,
and we just now got things worked out. She’s coming in today to sign a contract
with me. I tell you, I’m thrilled because I didn’t realize how shitty my other
employees were until then.” Blair took a sheet of paper from his pad, scribbled
on it, and handed it to his dad as Bruce continued. “She’s taking a cut in pay,
too, because she won’t be here daily, but then I have to pay her mileage when I
have to have her here.”

“You do know she has a contract with me,
right? She did mention that, didn’t she?” Bruce laughed, and Blair knew that
she had. “I’m not going to break it with her for this.”

“She said you and her had a parting of
ways. Said you’d more than likely be glad to see the back of her.” He laughed
again. “Seemed kind of like a personal thing, but she said it wasn’t. Was it, Henson?
Have you feelings for the young woman?”

His dad came back in and nodded at him. “I’ll
be there in an hour. What time is your meeting with her?”

“Two hours, but I can delay it if you
really need me to, but it’ll cost you.” He sat up, almost afraid to hear what
he wanted. “I would like to have her land an account for me. The client wants
her, and only her. You let her work this one for me and I’ll hold her here
until you get here.”

“Done. And if she’s there when I get
there I’ll help see about shuffling a couple of accounts I have coming in your
way. If she’s willing to speak to me.”

Bruce laughed. “You must have really
pissed her off. Damn, but this is going to be fun to watch. All right, Henson,
I’ll sweet talk her for you. But you fuck this up with her and I’ll not only
have her in my company, but I’ll tie her up for the next fifty years.”

Blair said nothing and hung up. The man
wouldn’t live fifty minutes after he got there if he touched her. He looked at
his dad as he pulled his jacket off the hanger and his dad started reading from
a sheet of paper.

“The chopper is ready when you get
there. I’m having Justine set you up in a hotel, bridal suite mind you, for
when you woo her back here. And you’d better, too, or so help me I’ll—”

“Nothing has changed, Dad. I still don’t
want a mate.” He looked at his dad and hated the look of hurt on his face. “Even
if I did, then it wouldn’t be someone like Sapphire. In this type of business
there can’t be any waves made, and she’ll make them for me.”

“Then why are you bothering to go and
get her? Just let her alone before she hurts you again or you hurt her. Blair,
this isn’t right. You have to know that.” He picked up his briefcase and
stopped when his dad stepped in front of him. “Don’t do this, son. I’m begging
you. Just leave her alone before it’s too late.”

“I can’t. I have to make sure she
realizes who the boss is.” He slipped into the limo that had been parked out
front and was on the move when he thought of what his dad had asked him to do. He
had to make her understand that he was in charge of her.

The chopper was running when he moved
across the tarmac. He was buckling in when he felt his dad reach for him. He
wasn’t sure what else could be said about this, but he knew his dad was worried
about him.

She’s a good girl. And I want you to
know that if you do this to her, bring her back here without her consent, or
worst yet, without her permission, you’ll never win her love.
He wanted to
tell his dad he didn’t want her love but for her to listen to him. But that
wasn’t right either.

Dad, you don’t understand. That man
who’s after her won’t stop until she’s dead or he takes her back. What do you
think will happen then? What do you suppose he’ll do to her if he gets her back
to his pack?
He waited for an answer, and when his dad answered him, Blair felt his heart ache.

You do this and I’ll never speak to you
again. I’m not kidding, Blair. I love you very much. But you hurt this young
girl because of some macho bullshit that you have to be in charge, and then
I’ll never talk to you again.
The connection between then severed,
and he felt a pain like he’d never felt before. He tried reaching for him again
and again before he landed and he wouldn’t answer. He was reaching for his
phone when it rang. He nearly dropped it twice trying to answer it before it went
to voicemail.

Justine told him when he called her that
his dad wasn’t coming to the phone. “Not that I blame him. If I didn’t need
this job, I’d not answer either. What are you thinking? That woman has done
nothing to you.”

She hadn’t, either. He’d done everything
to her. He waited for her to stop yelling at him as he thought about what he
was doing. Really? What was he doing here? Did he really expect no less from
her than her to run? He had forced her hand, and now she was leaving him. He
thought of the look on her face when he’d told her to get dressed. He knew that
he’d hurt her and had felt the pain of it every time he thought of it.

“I don’t know what’s wrong with me.” Justine
snorted, and he realized he’d spoken out loud. “I don’t want a mate. She’s
beautiful and smart, but I just don’t have time to train one right now.”

That hadn’t come out right, but before
he could revise his comment, Justine started in on him. He just let her,
knowing that every word she said to him was no less than he deserved.

“Train her? I see, and do you want me to
go to your apartment when you return with her and put out a doggie basket and
piddle papers for her? Do you think it’ll be hard to paper train her, or do you
plan to let her out in the yard when she has to pee? Oh wait, that won’t work,
you only have an apartment. At least ‘untrainable’ Sapphire has a home that she
paid for, a truck that she owns, and sisters she’s put through college.” He
opened his mouth to speak when she cut him off. “You’ve lived in the apartment
with the same maid service since I’ve known you, and I bet you my next check
that you have no idea what her name is.”

He didn’t, he realized. “What the hell
does this have to do with Sapphire and her not listening to me?”

“You don’t, do you? What about her
sisters? Do you know their names? Do you know her grandmother’s name?” He told
her their names as well as her grandmother. “So in one month you’ve not only
found a mate that you don’t want, you’ve gained the family that comes with her.
And for the life of you you’ve no idea what the woman’s name is that has
cleaned your apartment for the past fifteen years.”

He closed his phone when she hung up on
him. He leaned back in the limo and tried to think what the fuck he really was
doing. He realized that as much as he needed to prove a point when he left his
office, for the life of him he couldn’t remember what the hell it had been.

Did he want her? Yes, he did. In his
bed, on the floor, in the shower, anywhere he could have her. Did he need her? That
one was a little harder to answer. No, not really.

Then why did he pursue her? Why did he
need so desperately to bring her in line? Why did he feel the need to protect
her at all costs? He knew that she was brave. Hell, he thought after what her
sister had told him she was a great deal braver than him. She’d taken more
chances in the little time that he’d known her than he had in the last ten
years.

He looked up at his driver, a man he
knew was a tiger. “Lucas, are you mated? Do you have a mate at home now?”

The man looked at him in the mirror,
then back at the road before answering him. “My missus passed some years back. We
had a long, but not nearly long enough life before she left me behind. Why do
you ask, sir?”

“The woman I’m going after now, she’s my
mate. I don’t want her, I don’t need her, either, but I can’t seem to help
myself in trying to drag her back to me. And she doesn’t seem to want me,
either.” Lucas snorted and glanced at him again. “You think I’m an ass, too,
right? A prick because I don’t want what is supposed to be the other half of
me.”

“No, sir, I don’t. You got your reasons,
I’m sure. I didn’t want a mate, either, when I met my Clare. She was just the
opposite of me. Outspoken, had an opinion a mile and a half long, and a body
that would stop a train on a runaway track. So, nope, didn’t want her at all. The
harder I pushed her away, the harder she ran from me. Didn’t do her no good,
‘course. I kept sniffing around her until one day I realized it.”

Blair waited, knowing that he was going
to say something like he realized he loved her or that he found that life
without her was something he didn’t care to contemplate. But when Lucas stopped
at the next light and turned to look at him, he knew it was going to be
something from his heart and the man had shared this with no one else before.

“I realized then that she didn’t need me
any more than I needed her. That when it was all said and done, like them fates
are saying to us, she was the only one in the world that was going to ever love
me like I wanted to be loved.” The horn blared from behind him, but still he
sat looking at him. “Mr. Henson, that woman you want, she got something besides
her body you want? A baby you planted there? Money she might bring to the
table?”

“No. Stubbornness, same mouthyness that
your missus had, I’m sure, and a body that would make a man whimper for only a
small glimpse of it. She’s smart, strong, and took on an alpha twice her size
to save her family.” Lucas nodded and turned back around. When he glanced at
him again after moving in the traffic, he winked at him.

“Then I’d advise you to go on up there,
get down on your knees, and beg her to forgive you. Don’t matter that you don’t
think you did wrong. You more’n likely did to her way of thinking. You got
yourself a woman who’d die for you and more’n likely kill for you, too. If, and
this here is a big if, you can let her be the same woman she is now, and
twenty, maybe even fifty years from now, you’ll have a woman that can’t help
but want you. ‘Cause I gotta tell you, security might be good for your office
and such, but a woman who would kill for you while you’re between her legs,
that’s the woman I’d want by my side for the rest of my days.”

Blair sat back in his seat and thought
about it. Never once did he say he had to love her because he was supposed to. Lucas
had told him that she’d protect him, not the other way around. Did he need
protecting by her? More than likely not. A woman like her would need to be
protected if from no one else but from herself.

“I need to stop and pick up some
flowers.” Lucas shook his head. “You think flowers would be wrong or we can’t
stop?”

“She kicked that alpha’s ass, you said,
then she don’t need flowers. No, a girl like her would need something else.
Something to show that you trust her. What is it a wolf like you is more afraid
of than having your next deal go sour?”

Lucas stopped the car in front of a pawn
shop and got out and opened his door. There were all kinds of signs in the
window. Most of them bright with neon and a few of them hand written. Blair
looked at the one sign that seemed to scream at him “danger.”

Without a word to the man, he walked
into the shop, hoping to Christ he didn’t just sign his own death certificate. The
man at the counter seemed to recognize him as an alpha and asked him what he
could do for him. Blair took a deep breath and told him just what he wanted.

~~~

Sapphire looked at her watch again. She’d
been told ten minutes about an hour ago. Either Bruce wanted her or not. She
wanted to go home tonight and sleep in her own bed. She glanced up when the
elevator opened. She was standing up when the one man in the world she didn’t
want to see walked toward her.

“What the fuck are you…he called you.” Blair
didn’t move, and he didn’t scream and demand like she thought he would. He
nodded and asked her to have a seat please. She didn’t move.

“I would like to speak to you, please,
before you make the decision to work for Bruce. And, yes, he called me for no
other reason than to cover his own ass. He knew we had a contract, and he
didn’t want to lose his shirt over it.” She sat, but wasn’t sitting back all
comfortable like he appeared to be.