The Courtship of Dani (15 page)

❧

Barely sparing his secretary a nod and a quick "good morning," Jason marched into his office like a man with a purpose, impatience evident in every taut line of his body. He paused only long enough to deposit his briefcase on his desk before heading for

Dani's office. Cursing vividly when he found it empty, he turned to retrace his steps.

"Find Ms. Edwards and tell her I want to see her in my office right away," he instructed his secretary.

"Oh, but she isn't here. She's—"

"Then send her in as soon as she arrives."

"You don't understand. I don't think Ms. Edwards will be in at all today. She's been out with the flu since Monday."

Jason had started back into his office, but her words stopped him cold. "What?" He turned slowly, his face shocked. "Dani is ill? How ill?"

"Well, I... That is... I really don't know."

"You don't know! Do you mean to tell me that no one has even called to check on her?"

"Well, yes.. .but she doesn't answer her phone," the woman replied nervously. "I think it's unplugged."

The string of expletives that spewed from Jason turned the air blue. With long, angry strides he headed for the door.

❧

A thunderous pounding on the front door woke her. Dani moaned and whispered "go away" and tried to burrow deeper under the covers, but it soon became obvious that whoever was making that horrendous racket wasn't going to give up.

Moaning, she dragged her weak, aching body out of bed and groped her way toward the door, weaving unsteadily on her feet. "Oh, Lord, please stop that banging," she pleaded pitifully, holding her throbbing head with both hands. Every thud was hitting her skull like a hammer blow. Who was the fiend doing the pounding anyway? Why didn't they just go away?

"So help me, if it's Chad, I'll kill him," she muttered as she stepped listlessly over the clothing that still littered the floor.

Just as she reached the foyer the pounding stopped and she sighed gratefully, but immediately Jason called out, "Dani, open this damned door!"

She stopped, horrified, and stared at the door as the blows were renewed with vigor. For a moment Dani considered just not answering, but the pain in her head was excruciating and she simply couldn't tolerate that noise another instant.

"Dani? Can you hear me?"

"Go away," Dani croaked.

There was absolute quiet for a full three seconds, then Jason growled, "Dani, you open this door right now."

"No. Go away. I don't want to see you."

"Dani, so help me, if you don't open this door—"

His fist struck the wood panel three times in rapid succession, and Dani held her head tighter and squeezed her eyes shut, making little sounds of distress deep in her throat. "Go away," she repeated hoarsely.

"Dani, I'm warning you!"

Jason threatened, cajoled, and pleaded, but she stubbornly refused to answer, and after a while he stopped. When Dani finally heard the distant ping of the elevator, she looked through the peephole and found the hall was empty. Clutching the furniture and walls for support, she stumbled back to her bedroom, feeling wretched but triumphant.

Since she was already up, Dani used the bathroom, then wet a washcloth to lay against her forehead. Her throat was parched but she only allowed herself one sip of water. While she had slept her stomach seemed to have calmed somewhat, but she wasn't going to push her luck.

Dani was halfway across the bedroom when she heard the sound of a key in the front door and froze. Her eyes grew round with shock as the door was opened and Jason's voice floated back to her as he thanked someone.

"Oh, my Lord. He got the building super to let him in!"

Dani looked down at her crumpled flannel gown and groaned. She didn't want to see Jason at all. And most especially not looking as she did. Her complexion was a ghastly gray, her runny nose was red and swollen, her eyes were watery and her hair, which hadn't been washed in almost a week, was a tangled, oily mess.

The soft thud of the door being shut jerked Dani out of her horrified stupor, and with a little squeak she tottered the last few feet, dove into the bed and stuck her head under the pillow, pulling the covers over for good measure.

After a moment the mattress tilted as Jason sat down beside her on the edge of the bed. The cover was pulled down to her waist and hard hands gripped her upper arms. "Come on, honey. It won't do you any good to hide under there."

"Go away," Dani insisted, but the words were merely a muffled croak that Jason ignored.

"Don't be silly, love. Come on out," he coaxed as he tossed aside the pillow and turned her over. "I need to see just how sick you are."

His face wore a look of concern and his gravelly voice was amazingly soft and tender, but Dani was too upset to notice. When he tried to feel her forehead she batted his hand away. "Go away! You have no right to be here! Just go away and leave me alone!" she cried, but Jason merely brushed her protest aside.

"There now, honey. Don't get yourself upset," he crooned as he reached to pull her into his arms. "Besides, I love you. That gives me the right."

Weakened by her illness and the stress of the past ten days, Dani's defenses crumbled and she struck out at him with her fists. "Stop it! Stop it!" she cried, raining weak ineffectual blows across his chest and shoulders. "Just cut out the act! You don't love me. You only want to marry me because I'm intelligent and attractive. I know that now, so you can stop pretending."

"Hey. Hey. What is this?" Jason lowered her back down to the pillows and captured her flailing hands, pinning them to the bed on either side of her head as he studied her resentful face. "What are you talking about?"

"You're just like all the others," Dani accused him bitterly in a rasping little voice. "My natural mother, my adoptive parents, Chad, Frank Manders—they all just wanted to use me."

Puzzled, Jason frowned at her vehemence. "Use you? How?"

"Frank wanted me to marry his weak-kneed son just so there would be someone to run his business when he retired. Chad butters me up so that I will continue to finance his education." Dani lay limp, drained by her struggles, her chest heaving, but she managed to glare at him defiantly.

"And the others?"

Dani laughed weakly. "Ah, yes, the others. My mother used me to hold on to my father when their marriage was failing, threatening to take me and disappear if he ever tried to divorce her. Then, after he died in a car crash, she could hardly wait to dump me." At Jason's blank look Dani smiled starkly and looked him right in the eye. "My mother didn't die. She gave me away. Signed papers putting me up for adoption and took off like a shot."

"My God."

Jason's face paled but Dani pretended not to notice. "Sophie and Joe adopted me almost at once, and at first they seemed delighted to have me. But they didn't really want me. As I told you, I was merely their catalyst. Once they had children of their own I was shoved into the background."

Dani looked at Jason resentfully, her blue eyes for once blazing with temper as she spewed out all the pent-up hurt and resentment she had kept inside for years. "And you? You want only the best, don't you, Jason? Especially when it comes to the mother of your children. She has to be someone who can give you heirs who are not only beautiful, but bright enough to hold on to all you've managed to accumulate. Isn't that right?"

Releasing her hands, Jason sat up and stared at her in silence for a moment. Then to Dani's astonishment he threw his head back and roared with laughter.

"Oh, sweetheart, you're not nearly as bright as I thought you were if you really believe that I want you only because you're beautiful and brainy," he choked. "Have you by any chance looked in a mirror lately?"

Dani shot him a resentful look, then lowered her eyes sullenly, her fingers plucking at the full sleeves of her flannel gown. "I'm sick," she muttered in an offended voice.

"I know, sweetheart," he said tenderly, cupping her chin and forcing her head up until she met his caressing gaze. "And you look perfectly wretched, but right at this moment I love you as much as it is humanly possible for a man to love a woman."

Dani was totally taken aback. She stared at him, her expression faintly shocked. "I don't believe you," she said after a moment, but the accusation was halfhearted at best, and in her eyes hope mingled with doubt and fear.

"You will," Jason pronounced confidently. "But we'll straighten all that out later. For now we need to concentrate on getting you well."

"I don't need you to take care of me," Dani said aggressively, her wan colorless face mutinous.

But the words were barely out of her mouth when her rebellious stomach gave a mighty heave. Dani threw back the covers with a moan and scrambled

from the bed. With Jason's help she just managed to make it to the bathroom in time.

"Yes, I can certainly see that you don't need my help," he said a moment later as he gently washed her face with a cool cloth.

Dani was weak and shivering and didn't have the strength to retort. When he lifted her in his arms to carry her back to bed, she laid her head listlessly on his shoulder, too spent to care one way or the other.

When he had her settled Jason tucked the covers up under her chin and stuck a thermometer in her mouth. He disappeared into the bathroom and returned a few minutes later with a wet washcloth that he folded lengthwise and laid across her forehead. After plucking the thermometer from Dani's mouth he held it up to the light and squinted at it, and his pale brows shot upward. "We've got to get some liquids down you," he stated emphatically, and turned on his heel and left.

He was back in a few minutes, carrying a cup.

"What is that?" Dani demanded suspiciously when he eased her up into a sitting position.

"Tea. It will help settle your stomach."

Dani groaned. "No, it won't. I already tried that and it won't stay down."

"Probably because you drank too much at one time." The cup he lifted to her lips contained, at most, a tablespoon of tea. It was barely a swallow but sliding down Dani's parched throat it felt deliciously wet, and she sighed. "If that stays down you can have another ounce in about half an hour," he told her.

Miraculously, it did stay down. And so did the next swallow, and after that Jason doled it out to her every ten minutes until Dani finally drifted off to sleep.

When she awoke three hours later her fever was down somewhat, but she was cranky and listless and her back hurt abominably.

Jason dribbled more tea down her and rubbed her back, and she dozed off again.

The procedure was repeated throughout the day, and finally by evening Dani seemed a little better and had only a light fever, though she was still weak and fretful. Jason fed her a soda cracker and a cup of clear broth for dinner. Afterward he wrapped her in a blanket and set her in a chair while he changed the sheets. By the time he tucked her in bed again Dani was so exhausted she fell asleep in the middle of telling him that she was much better and he could go home.

The next morning when she awoke her temperature was normal and the nausea was completely gone. She was still weak as a kitten but feeling well enough to be uncomfortably aware of her grubby state.

I've got to have a shower, she told herself, resolutely throwing back the covers. The room dipped and wavered when she stood on her feet and Dani grabbed for the bedpost and held on tight. When it finally righted itself she shakily inched her way toward the bathroom. She was halfway there when Jason entered the room.

"What the devil do you think you're doing?" he thundered. "Get back in bed!"

Dani jumped and stumbled and had to grab hold of the dresser to keep from falling. Jason was beside her in a blink, scooping her up into his arms.

"Oh, Jason, please," Dani wailed. "I've got to have a bath."

Frowning, he started to refuse, but the pleading look on her pale face got to him, and he hesitated beside the bed. "Please, Jason," she wheedled. "I feel so yucky."

He grimaced, relenting. She was so weak she could barely stand, but he knew it would probably make her feel better. "Okay. But I'm warning you, the door stays open and I'll be standing guard right outside."

He ran a warm bath, then carried her into the bathroom and set her down beside the tub. When he started to unbutton her gown she stopped him, giving him an indignant look that made him laugh. "Okay, okay," he desisted, holding his hands up and backing away. "But just remember, I'll be right outside. If I hear any loud thumps or even long silences I'll be back, modest or not."

At first all he heard was gentle splashing, but when that was followed by the sound of spraying water he pushed away from the wall, frowning. "Dani, what are you doing?"

"Don't worry. I'm still sitting down. I'm just rinsing with the hand-held shower."

"Oh." Jason subsided back against the wall, only to come springing away from it again a few minutes later when the sound of water gurgling down the drain was followed by a loud thump and a splash. "What the devil are—"

He bit off the question then poked his head around the door and saw Dani struggling to climb out of the tub. Muttering darkly, he crossed the room in two strides, grasped her under the arms and plucked her out.

"Jason!" Dani shrieked, trying desperately to cover herself with her arms. But it wasn't her body that drew Jason's attention. It was the wet tendrils of hair that hung around her shoulders.

"Dammit! You washed your hair," he accused, breathing fire. "I knew I shouldn't have left you alone in here. Now you'll probably get pneumonia."

"Will you please get out of here!"

The shrill pitch of Dani's voice finally penetrated Jason's rage, and for the first time he noticed her utter mortification, her futile, frantic little attempts to protect her modesty, and his face softened. Still holding her by the shoulders, he stepped back and slowly, leisurely took in every dip and curve of her slender body. "Oh, love, you're so beautiful," he murmured when his eyes once more met hers. Dani's breath caught when she saw the desire that was blazing in the tobacco-brown depths.

A deep flush washed over Dani from the soles of her feet to her hairline as she stood quivering under that sensual look. "Jason, please," she whispered pleadingly.

Though obviously aroused, Jason was not immune to her distress and he smiled tenderly. "Don't fret, love," he said in the softest of voices as he reached for a towel and gently wrapped it around her. "You have nothing to be ashamed of. And anyway, in a couple of weeks you'll be my wife, so there's no reason to be so skittish."