The Tycoon's Misunderstood Bride (14 page)

A small smile appeared on her face but it disappeared quickly.  “We don’t need to do that.”

He sighed and rubbed his hands up and down her arms.  “Need is a relative term, Emma.  How about that I need to touch you and feel you again?  Would that satisfy your puritanical ideas about right and wrong?”

She couldn’t escape the laughter this time.  “No, I don’t think it would help me a great deal.”

He took a deep breath,
then
let it out slowly.  “How about if I convince you that one time might not have gotten you pregnant?  That we really need to do it again to make sure that we got it right?” 

She hiccupped her laughter that time.  “You’re pushing it there, aren’t you?”

“Absolutely not.  The odds of conception are only about fifteen to twenty-five percent each cycle.  The more we work at it, the better our odds.”

“I think you’re grasping here.”

He shrugged and pulled her into his arms.  “What’s your choice?  Study or your bedroom?”

What a choice!  “I don’t think either of those are very good options for me.”

“I don’t know why.  Both would give you pleasure, wouldn’t they?”

She shied away from the both ideas.  “No,” she said and pulled out of his arms, backing up a step.

He was shocked by the change in her.  She was no longer blushing, but her whole face, including her lips, had lost all color.  “W
hat happened, Emma?” he asked carefully.  “One moment, you’re laughing, the next you’re freezing me out.”

“I thought I was some sort of slut in your mind.”  She turned her back on him, unable to look him in the eyes.

“I admit that I read your father’s letter and took it at face value instead of listening to my instincts which were telling me that you were pure and sweet and untainted.  Does that help?”

“I’m not,” she whispered. 

“Excuse me?”

“You heard me.  I’m not good.  Not inside.’

“W
ho the hell told you that?” he demanded, moving towards her but stopped when she backed up a step. 

“My father.  All the time he told me that I was bad, that I was promiscuous.  And other things.”

Jason cursed under his breath, running a hand through his hair.  “You’re father was the biggest bastard I’ve ever known, and I’ve known some horrible people, Emma.  Whatever he told you, push it out of your mind.”

She grimaced.  “Have you had dinner?” she asked
softly
, wanting to change the subject. 

Jason wanted to question her, to find out what her father had said
to her
but he could tell that the subject was closed.  “I’m sending you a computer tomorrow.  And you’ll have computer classes tomorrow morning with the head of my IT department.  I’ll make sure he understands that you’re to understand everything he’s telling you before he moves on.  Believe me, he won’t make you feel like an idiot or he’ll be fired, Emma.”

She was so grateful that he’d accepted the subject change that she happily agreed to the computer lessons.

“So I’ll see you tomorrow night?” he asked softly and moved closer, watching carefully in case she moved away.

“Yes.  I have a beautiful dress thanks to Laura.’

“Good.  I’ll pick you up at seven
.  We have a lot to discuss.”

Sh
e didn’t hesitate as he pulled her back
into
his arms.  Initially, she was stiff and resistant but within moments, she was kissing him back, molding her body against his and showing him that she wasn’t completely broken by their actions the previous night.  He just had to continue the sensual onslaught he thought as he moved his hands up her waist.  But slowly. 

He pulled away
and kissed her forehead, then turned and strode out of the house
before his intentions to go slowly were thrown out the window and he carried her up the stairs and made love to her for the rest of the night
.
 

Emma looked at her figure in the mirror, worried that the dress was too tight or too colorful.  Or just completely wrong! 

“Nancy, are you sure this isn’t too…outrageous?”

Nancy moved around the room, tidying up the clothes and shoes, the scissors and quickly sweeping up the hair that had fallen to the floor after she’d trimmed Emma’s hair.  “You look
exceptionally beautiful, Emma,”
she said with pride.  She’d trimmed about three inches off Emma’s hair, then curled the ends, showing her how to use the hot rollers to soften the
fiery
tresses around her face.  The sides were held back by two clips Emma had found in her mother’s treasures that had been stored away and the style drew one’s attention to Emma’s eyes, making them larger, startlingly so. 

After a little encouragement, Emma had agreed to mascara and lipstick and the woman was fidgeting as if she was about to go onstage in front of millions of people.  “Stop worrying, Emma.  You look incredible.”

The doorbell rang and Emma picked up her clutch.  “There’s nothing I can do about it now, is there?” she asked.

“Not really,” Nancy replied, smiling fondly.  “You’re going to have a fantastic time.”  She hesitated one moment then turned to face her fully.  “Emma, I want you to listen to me carefully before you open that door.”

Emma stopped and looked at her housekeeper.  A woman she now considered to be a friend as well as an employee.  “Okay.  Shouldn’t I answer the door first though?”

“No.  You need to hear this and I’ll say it quickly.”  She took a deep breath, then said, “Everything your father told you was a lie.  He was a horrible man and you’re not a slut, you’re not a whore,
you’re
not promiscuous and I know that you’re a very kind person.  He said those insulting things to you because he was a sick man. 
In the truest sense of the word
, I believe he was literally not right in his mind.  I think you should go out with that man you married and have a wonderful time, then take him to your bed and show him that you’re a whole woman.  All this nonsense about having sex only when procreating is wrong on so many levels and you need to finally find happiness.  I think you can find that with Jason Montenegro, but only if you forget all those horrible things your father said.”  With that, she rushed out of the room, leaving Emma to stare at the place where she’d been in stunned silence. 

Nancy must have let Jason into the house because she heard them speaking below her and she took a deep breath, her mind whirling with everything Nancy had said. 

She carefully descended the stairs, gently putting her foot on each step in case she twisted her ankle.  These shoes were higher than what she was used to, but she felt magnificent in them so she was determined to wear them no matter what. 

And as she walked down the stairs, she knew she’d made the right choice because Jason was watching her take each step, his eyes caught on her feet, then slowly traveling up, taking it all in as his eyes moved up to her face. 

“You look incredible,” he said, his voice husky and his eyes dark with the desire he felt for her as she walked down in the sparkly dark green dress.  The color made her skin look almost translucent while
also bringing
out
the green in
her eyes.  The excitement added a soft bit of color to her high cheek bones. 

“Thank you,” she replied, blushing.

“Are you ready to go?”

“I guess so.  I don’t know what else I could do to prepare.”

Nancy chuckled softly behind her and Emma smiled back at her.  “I’ll take your comments under advisement,” she teased. 

“Fair enough.”

Jason was looking from one woman to the other, not sure about the conversational undertones but he was eager to get Emma out of the house and into his car.  “Let’s go then,” he said and took her wrap and draped it over her shoulders. 

Fifteen minutes later, Jason escorted her into the hotel bar.  “What would you like to drink?” he asked. 

“I’ll just have some water,’ she replied.

Jason turned to the waiter.  “Bollinger please.  And two glasses.”

Emma looked up at the waiter, concerned that Bollinger isn’t water.  “What is that?”

“You’re having champagne.  At least a sip of it tonight.  Live on the wild side. Just until you tell me your list of objectives or hobbies.”

Emma shivered, wondering about his authoritative tone of voice.  She wasn’t sure why she liked it.  Perhaps it was the confidence in him, or maybe he just forced her to do the things she wanted to do, but was too afraid to do. 
Either
way, she accepted the preference. 

She pulled the list out of her clutch and slid it across the table.  The waiter quickly returned with the bottle and poured two tall glasses of the sparkling liquid, handing one to Emma first. 

She took a tentative sip, then waited. 

Jason raised one eyebrow and asked, “Were you
expecting
something to happen?” he asked as he took a longer sip, watching her over the rim of his glass.

She giggled and nodded.  “Actually, I was waiting to dissipate into a cloud of dust for daring to drink alcohol.”

“Another rule of your father’s?” he suggested.

“Oh, yes.  He guaranteed that alcohol would be the death of me.  Apparently he was very wrong
about
that since I’m still here and not something the vacuum cleaner will sweep up after closing time.”  She leaned on her elbows, her face shining with glee. 

“What else did he tell you?”

“Let’s not talk about my father tonight.  He wasn’t one to have fun and I haven’t felt this pretty, ever.  So I don’t want to ruin the night by talking about a man who was….not a nice person.”

Jason looked down at her list, his eyebrows going up at some of the items.  “
Y
ou want to learn to ride?  I would have thought a wealthy businessman would require his daughter to ride horses.’

“Nope.  He thought it was
obscene
for women to have anything between their legs,” she explained and took another sip of the sparkling wine. 

Jason looked at her in stunned silence for a long moment, then threw back his head with laughter.  Emma watched in fascination as he laughed, seeing his neck muscles move.  She couldn’t believe she was so fascinated by a man’s laughter, but there it is.  And the compulsion to make this man laugh more soared through her.  The sound was scratchy, as if he rarely used those muscles and she suspected that he probably didn’t.  He had a great deal of responsibility and his reputation didn’t indicate that he was a member of the old boy’s network, which means that he probably does things the hard way. 

Adding to her list, but only mentally, was to make Jason laugh more.  To see the smile on his face.  She had no idea what might strike him as humorous, but she was determined to try. 
Emma hoped that she would have the chance. 

When his laughter died down, her breath caught in her throat at the look in his eyes.  It was hot and heavy.  Desire, she recognized. 

“I’m amazed that you’ve turned out so sane after living with that man for so long.  But that’s in the past and hopefully you’ll continue to move forward.  What else is on your list?” he said and looked back down at the piece of paper. 

“You want to learn French?  Why don’t you know how to speak French?”

“Because it was too romantic.  My father said I would only use it to lure men into my lair.”