True Bliss (29 page)

"Just stopping by to say hi to an old friend," Maryan said smoothly. "After all, it isn't as if Bliss and I are strangers."

"No," Bliss agreed. "We met once before—for five minutes."

"Why did you come here?" Sebastian asked Maryan.

"I told you. To say hi."

"Garbage," Sebastian told her. To Polly he said, "Can you be reached here?"

"Y-yes." Polly's mouth trembled.

He smiled reassuringly. "Zoya will call you and set up an appointment. This is a fine young man you're bringing up. You must be very proud of him."

Bliss could have kissed him. She'd known for too long that Bobby's confidence was almost zilch. This afternoon, using Sebastian's ears as handles, he glowed.

A swish of silky raincoat drew Bliss's attention back to Maryan. Fury drew her features tight. She spared Bliss a withering look that traveled her length, then made for the door, not, Bliss noted, without a parting glance in Morris's direction.

"Thanks for coming," Bliss said, and instantly regretted her mean effort. "It'll be okay, Maryan. Trust Sebastian to do the right things for everyone."

The sunglasses came off, revealing puffy eyes underscored with dark lines. "You trite bitch," Maryan said. "The first time I met you, I detested you for what you are."

Such bald hatred stunned Bliss.

Her father busied himself checking his pockets for some mystery possession.

It was Sebastian who gave Maryan his full, furious attention.

"That's really too bad," he said. "A real shame. It's going to make things pretty complicated."

"Not from where I'm looking," Maryan said, replacing her glasses. "You're no fool, Seb. You know who your best friend is. You know who'll always be there for you—who'll make sure you get whatever you need."

"I think I do," he told her. He lifted Bobby from his shoulders and put the child's hand in his mother's. "D'you suppose you two could track Beater down for me?"

"He's—"

Polly interrupted Bobby, "Of course we will. Come on. Bobby. We'll make sure he gets some water and food, too."

Without waiting for the door to entirely close behind Polly and Bobby, Maryan swaggered to hang on Sebastian's arm. "I'll send the car back and come with you."

Firmly, but gently, he disengaged her grip. "Go in the car. We'll talk later."

Maryan's gray eyes sparked. "I need to discuss some things with you and they can't wait."

"And I need to discuss some things that can't wait," Sebastian said. "But not with you."

Bliss felt uncomfortable.

"Morris?" Sebastian said.

"I think Mr. Winters would be more appropriate."

"You asshole."

"Sebastian!" Bliss said.

"Yeah. Sorry, Mr. Winters. Your daughter doesn't like me to swear—so I try not to."

"Shit," Maryan muttered.

"Do you have anything to say to me before you leave, Plato?"

"Sure do, Mr. Winters." Sebastian smiled—the picture of charm and respect. "I'm going to marry your daughter."

UTiireteen.

Some might say he'd made a tactical error. Sebastian preferred to consider himself a brilliant wartime strategist. Bliss was definitely not dripping honey all over him in the wake of his announcement, but desperate conditions called for desperate measures and he'd been damned desperate. He'd risen to the occasion.

She wouldn't look at him.

Morris had been the first to thunder from the lodge, spewing threats—and assurances that Bliss would never be Sebastian's wife. Maryan had hung around a few minutes longer to question Sebastian's basic intelligence quotient, then, finally and blessedly, left in a shoe-slapping flurry.

Bliss still hadn't said a word.

But she hadn't told him to fuck off and die, either.

No, he'd better try to stop even thinking those words. She hadn't told him she wouldn't marry him, or that he was all kinds of a fool, a presumptuous fool, for saying she would.

"I think you've lost your mind, Sebastian. I'm not going to marry you."

And that exploded whatever small reassurances he'd allowed himself until now. "Yes, you are."

"No, I'm not." She delivered the statement with her pointed chin raised and mutiny in her blue, blue eyes.

And he never backed away from what he wanted, and what he was going to get. "You will marry me. You may fight what

you really want, but in the end you'll give up and give in. We're going to be married."

"You're arrogant."

He bent forward from the waist and went to her, brought his face close to hers. "Why don't you let it all hang out? Say something really terrible, like, mmm"—for an instant he couldn't find the words, then they came to him—"Like, you nasty man, you. Try it, babe. I promise you I'll still respect you, even if you do sully your pristine lips with such epithets."

"I hope you never call me babe, again"—she tried to make more space between them—"Darn, you, Sebastian, you're so abysmally sarcastic."

He frowned. "A-bys-mal? Great going, Bliss. That sounds really obscene. I'm proud of you."

"I didn't believe Maryan when she told me you were having me followed."

"Maryan"—he processed the comment—"Maryan told you that?"

"Maryan's a miserably unhappy woman. Maybe you should give her a break. She obviously loves you too much. And yes, she told me you'd hired a private detective to follow me around."

In other words, Maryan had come to Bliss to mix things up, to point out what a worthless shit he was, and how wise Bliss would be to wish him adios. His sister would get her chat, but she wouldn't like it.

"You hired someone to spy on me," Bliss said, her voice rising.

"I did do that. Before I got here to Washington, and for a while afterward. I needed to be sure I wasn't breaking in on you if you had a husband and ten kids."

"I don't. You knew that some time ago. That poor man died last night and it was completely pointless."

"And I feel partially to blame. I should have told him to"—he recalled the shadowy shot of the inside of Bliss's bedroom—"I intended to release him. The appropriate moment didn't occur before it was too late."

"You don't like losing women, do you? It makes you angry and vengeful."

"Where did that come from?"

"I don't know." She shrugged and turned a little pink. "Just an idea I had. Forget it."

"I don't think so, Bliss. What do you mean?"

"I don't know what I mean! Just drop it."

"Was it something else Mary an said? Another of her persuasive arguments?"

"Drop it, please. I don't know most of what I'm saying. I haven't slept in almost two days."

"Neither have I."

"Of course." Sliding along the couch, away from him, she pushed to her feet. "Are you in financial trouble?"

She caught him off guard. "Huh?"

"Financial trouble. Short of money."

"Good God . . . No, I'm not short of money, Bliss."

"Good."

She made for the stairs.

Sebastian cut her off. "Not good enough. Why would you suddenly ask if I'm short of money?"

"I don't know. You did point out to me that I've got a trust fund."

"When?"

"I can't remember."

To stop himself from touching her, he stuffed his hands into his pockets. "Try."

"Okay." She appeared short of breath. "We were talking about my having a tough time making ends meet here. You said I should go into my trust fund."

"If you need money, I think you should. It's yours."

"I'm going upstairs."

The sound of his footsteps behind hers on the stairs didn't slow her down.

She hurried.

He speeded up and passed her, and reached the bedroom door in time to throw it open for her. "Allow me."

"Thanks." She went inside and made to shut the door again.

It was Sebastian who shut the door—from the inside. "What point are you trying to make about money?"

She looked trapped. "Forget it."

"My sister is . . . She's my sister. The closest thing to family I've got, but she's possessive. I don't even like thinking that. Saying it burns me. She's afraid someone else is going to hurt me."

Bliss pushed at the bridge of her glasses. "I've got enough trouble all on my own. I'd like you to go."

"I'm pissed, Chilly." He parted his lips over clenched teeth. "Now I remember when the subject of your trust fund came up. We were talking about that damned dangerous hole you've got out there. You said you'd fill it—"

"If I had the money, I know."

"And, if I remember the way it went, I said I'd fill it for you and you lost your wool over that."

"Right. All absolutely right. I'm sorry. Yes, that's the way it went. Forget it, okay?"

"I'm trying. Marry me, Bliss."

"You're pressuring me." She crossed her arms over her middle. "Crushing in on me from all sides."

"Marry me."

"No," she told him. "I've already told you, no. This has happened too fast and there's too much going on for me to trust any decisions I make now."

"True. Particularly a decision not to marry the man you love." Her long stare unnerved him. He said, "What? What are you thinking?"

"Look at you. Rumpled. Who remembers how many hours' growth of beard that is. Your hair . . . Wind and too many trips through it with the fingers would make some men a mess. Not you, Sebastian. You're a picture no woman would look away from. You're gorgeous."

When he could finally speak again he said, "I'm angry. That's

what I am. Simmering with it. It's so close to the surface, I'm shivering. Just under my skin, Bliss."

Her eyes never left his face.

"Bliss." He strolled toward her with a nonchalance he didn't feel—and that couldn't fool her. She held her middle tighter. "You couldn't wait to marry me once."

She stood her ground. "True. But you found you could wait, Sebastian. You found you could wait a very long time. Then, for some weird reason, you had to show up here and demand another chance. Why?"

"Because nothing's changed about the way I felt about you back then. Except it's even more intense, more desperate. Remember how we tried not to talk about the end of the school year? How it was getting close?"

"Of course."

"Remember how we didn't talk about it, but we knew the end of school could mean the end of us?"

"We'd only known each other three months and you sold your truck." Her short laugh hurt him as much as it must hurt her. "You sold it to buy me a ring. We both knew we were crazy but we—I wasn't afraid of having nothing as long as I had nothing with you."

"Bliss, you don't get to love like that more than once in a lifetime. Not exactly like that."

"I haven't," she said quietly.

She was the most beautiful woman in the world. Who she was, what she was, showed in every glance. Honest and true— and his love.

"Neither have I," he told her. "I don't want to."

"But you did something that made you leave me. And you never even sent me a note, Sebastian. Why?"

"It's a long story. You'll hear it all eventually—or as much of it as you need to hear. But I've told you I never stopped loving you—wanting you. I sure as hell want you now."

The echo of his meaning glittered in her eyes. He tasted triumph.

His body answered the desire he saw in her. Heat and a deep ache only sharpened his need. "There's something physical between us. We can't deny that. But there's so much more."

"I'm not interested in sex for the sake of sex."

"That didn't stop you at the Wilmans' last night. You were all over me then. You couldn't get enough."

Her face turned scarlet. "What a cheap shot."

"I'm only human. Tell me about Lennox Rood."

Bliss faltered. "I thought I heard a click on the line when Lennox called last night. You heard it all, didn't you? So there's nothing else to tell."

"Don't lie to me."

"What is this? Jealousy?"

"Hah! Hardly. Curiosity maybe."

"I believe honesty's the best course. You listened to his call last night."

He shrugged. "I tried to get to the phone before you. I wanted you to sleep."

"At least you're straightforward about listening in."

"I'm straightforward about everything."

"Are you?" Their eyes met and Bliss told him, "Lennox is part of my past. A very small part. You know? Like you have parts of your past, big and little. The end. There's nothing more."

"Good enough. Why don't you trust me?"

"You know why."

"Things happen. We went through hell. We, Bliss. Not just you. But it's over. We can start again."

"Oh, sure, start again with threats on all sides. I've been warned to stay away from you—with special effects to back up the warnings."

"I'll deal with the warnings, sweetheart."

"Sebastian, Sebastian. The term 'torn' is taking on a whole new meaning. I think there's too much for us to overcome. Maybe we should just forget anything ever happened between us."

Sebastian caught her arm and pulled her so close she had to raise her face to see him. Fury mounted again and he felt himself pale. "Forget, huh? Why? Because you don't mind making love to white trash, but you're sure as hell too wise to marry it now?"

Bliss slapped his face. He grasped her wrist and stared into her eyes. A sob choked from her throat.

"I've never hit anyone in my life," she told him.

"Until now. But you're dealing with trash. The rules change then, don't they?"

"Stop it!"

His tension didn't ebb. "You don't want to make love with me again? Isn't that what you're telling me?"

"I didn't say that." Her mouth trembled. "This is too much. Too hot, too powerful. Too dark. It frightens me."

"But you are saying you don't love me."

"I should never have let this begin again. I let you know I loved you once before and you turned away."

"This is different."

"Yeah. Different."

"You think I want to marry you for money."

"I don't know."

"No, you don't. That's asinine. If you knew more about me— about—hell, it doesn't matter. I don't need your money. I want to possess you."

She averted her face. "I'm not available to be possessed."