“You lied to me, Samantha,” Tyler accused. “You lied about the Chicago job offer.”
She felt the heat of a flush sweep over her face. “Tyler, this really isn’t the proper time to discuss it. Gary is in the middle of interviewing me.”
“You’re telling me what’s proper and what’s not?” Tyler threw back his head and laughed. “That’s rich, but at the moment I don’t give a damn about proper behavior. I’m feeling decidedly improper.” He advanced toward her desk.
Samantha jumped up, uneasy about the fiery light she saw in Tyler’s eyes. Had she somehow managed to drive him over the edge of sanity? God knew, he’d told her often enough she would drive him crazy. She stepped away from him, stopping only when her back hit the wall.
“Tell me why you lied, Samantha.” He braced an arm on either side of her, effectively making it impossible for Samantha to go anywhere. “Why did you lie?” he demanded softly, his breath warm on her face.
“Tyler...” she said between clenched teeth, motioning toward Gary, who took notes furiously, a huge grin on his face. “Have you gone crazy?” She tried to duck out from under, but he tightened his arms, holding her captive.
“Talk to me, Samantha,” he persisted.
Samantha shot another look at Gary, who seemed to be enjoying the action, then looked at Tyler helplessly. “What do you want, Tyler? You want to hear me say it again? You want to know just how much I love you? All right, I’ll tell you. I love you more than anything I’ve ever loved before. That’s why I lied about the job in Chicago. Even though you don’t want me, I love you enough not to take Justice Inc. from you.”
To her horror, tears sprang to her eyes. “I love you enough to go away and let you live your life in peace.” She swiped at her tears, angry that he seemed bent on humiliating her. “Dammit, Gary, would you please leave?” she begged.
“Don’t you leave that chair,” Tyler said to the reporter. “It would be far too predictable for me to ask you to leave. Just to show my own brand of perverseness, I want you to stay and listen while I propose.”
“Propose?” Samantha stared at him in surprise.
“Hot damn!” Gary exclaimed.
“Propose what?” Samantha demanded with narrowed eyes. She was afraid to hope, afraid to believe her dreams might actually have a shot at coming true.
“Marriage, what else?” Tyler drew her into his arms, his eyes lit with a glow that stole her breath away. “Marry me, Samantha. Be my partner...be my wife.”
Samantha’s heart beat rapidly at his words, at the future they promised. Still, she held down her joy, refusing to allow its complete release. She didn’t doubt her own feelings where he was concerned, but she needed to make absolutely certain about his. “Yesterday you didn’t even think we could be partners in the firm. Now you’re asking me to be your life partner. What changed?”
Tyler took his hands and framed her face, his gaze so filled with love she felt it penetrate through her, touching her heart with warmth. “Nothing changed...and everything changed. I went to my mother’s grave, and I realized that I’ve been afraid to love you because I thought you’d die like she did—too soon.”
Samantha shook her head. “I don’t intend on going anywhere for a very long time.”
“It doesn’t matter anyway.” He caressed her cheeks with his thumbs. “Whatever time there is, I want to spend it with you, whether it’s a moment, an hour...or years. Oh, Samantha, I was a fool to turn my back on your love. Tell me it’s not too late. Tell me you’ll marry me.”
“Yes...yes, I’ll marry you.” She barely got the words out when his lips captured hers in a kiss that spoke all the things she needed to hear, all the promises to last a lifetime.
He drew back from her, a smile curving his lips. “We’re going to fill that house with children and with love. You’ll be one hell of a mother.”
She smiled tremulously. “I’ll make you one hell of a wife,” she promised.
“This is going to be one hell of a story,” Gary exclaimed from behind them. Samantha jumped in surprise. She’d forgotten all about the reporter’s presence.
“Get out, Gary,” Tyler said, the look in his eyes sending shivers of anticipatory delight through Samantha.
“Yeah, Gary...get out,” she echoed.
“Yes, but the story—”
“Out!” Tyler and Samantha yelled it together. Gary jumped out of his chair and scooted toward the door.
When he was gone, Tyler turned back to Samantha, his arms tightening around her, drawing her intimately close against him. “Now...where were we?” He smiled, the light in his eyes fiery with desire.
“You were telling me how much you love me, how you can’t live without me,” Samantha replied.
He nodded, the glint of humor gone from his eyes as he looked at her intently. “I could live without you, Samantha, if I had to...but it wouldn’t be living, it would simply be surviving. I’ve done that for too long. Closed myself off emotionally, held on to the pain of the past for too long.”
Samantha traced the line of his brow with a fingertip. She knew all about emotional pain, and somehow she believed that fate had brought them together to heal each other. “I think we were destined to be together from the moment my father brought you home that first time.”
He smiled, with no shadows in his eyes, only love. “And I think I fell in love with you that night I hauled you out of that bar and you tried to seduce me.”
“You should have let me seduce you that night. Just think of all the time we’ve wasted.”
He laughed. “I’m all for not wasting another minute. Tell me, if I were to make love to my fiancée right here in this office...would that be unpredictable?”
She nodded, leaning her head back as he trailed blazing kisses along the column of her neck. “It would be utterly scandalous.”
“Oh, my love, I can’t think of anyone I’d rather be scandalous with,” he told her. With one smooth movement, he picked her up and carried her to the love seat.
“You’re beginning to show real promise, Sinclair,” Samantha said softly.
He laughed and stroked a finger down her cheek, loving her with his eyes, with his touch. “I’m just getting started, my love.”
As his mouth touched hers again, Samantha tasted the promise of their future on his lips—a future filled with laughter and challenge—but more than anything, with love forever and ever.
ISBN : 978-1-4592-6553-0
RELUCTANT WIFE
Copyright © 1998 by Carla Bracale
All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the editorial office, Silhouette Books, 300 East 42nd Street, New York, NY 10017 U.S.A.
All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention.
This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
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Table of Contents
Table of Contents
“You might be surprised at what rebellious, unseemly fantasies occasionally rus
Letter to Reader
Books by Carla Cassidy
CARLA CASSIDY
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Copyright
Reluctant Wife Page 21
