He turned to see his mother grasping the picture frame. She twisted it slowly toward him with a smile in her eyes.
“She’s Canadian, huh?”
He looked at his mother, not bothering to hide the pain he felt. “Yeah. Well, should we go?”
His mother eyed him, then turned the picture back to look at it for a moment. “This picture was taken with love. Dane told us where you met her and what happened,” she said kindly. “She looks like an intelligent, beautiful woman, and no matter how old you are, Steven, or what you’ve achieved, I know what my son looks like when he’s in pain.”
Steven shook his head. “I’m okay, Mom, really. She didn’t…” He paused, gazing into his mother’s kind eyes. “She didn’t want anything from me.” His voice almost broke. “And she trusted me, but I held something back from her.” He berated himself for the umpteenth time. “I did it for a good reason, but it was a deception nevertheless.”
For a change, his father didn’t wear a hard scowl on his face. “You know she saved my life once, twice actually?”
“No.”
“Remember the fire on board the yacht. She handled the call, Dad. I’ve remembered her voice all this time, as if it imprinted something on me that day. Maybe it was so I could recognize her when I saw her for the first time because we were somehow destined to meet. And I can’t stop hearing her.”
“Son, did I ever tell you what your mother put me through when we first met?”
He looked at the man who shared nothing with him and his brothers except doctrine from the bench while they were growing up. A wicked little grin crossed his mother’s lips. She suddenly looked thirty years younger.
“She put me through hell and back. She didn’t want anything to do with the popular, rich playboy who came from a wealthy family. As soon as I laid eyes on her, I was finished. But my reputation had already done me in. I had to practically get on my hands and knees and beg her for our first date.” He laughed. “She told me to go to hell and slammed the door in my face.”
His mother laughed and shook her head. Steven couldn’t help but grin at her. He’d never seen his parents so open.
“Eventually, I convinced her that I was a gentleman, but she had me on a tight rein, and if I screwed up just once I knew that would be it. I didn’t screw up, but bad timing managed to get me into a hell of a lot of hot water when a buxom blonde decided she had a crush on me at university. Just when she threw herself on me your mother came around the corner.” His father pulled the chair from behind the desk and sat in it. “My goose was so cooked ya could have used it for Sunday dinner. I thought I had lost her for good.”
His mother interrupted, “But love isn’t about our mistakes, Steven, it’s about our forgiveness. If you really love someone you also understand deep down who they are, and deep down I knew your father was a good man, an honorable man, so I gave him a second chance.” She smiled at her son. “I’ve read her books, Steven. I don’t think there’s a soul in the world who understands love, hope, and faith more than her.”
Chapter Seventeen
Moira sat at her console, assisting the pilot on the deep sea vessel as he approached the anchorage when Lindy, the administrative assistant, burst through the door.
“Moira, there’s something here for you.”
“Sure, drop it on the console,” she said, giving another range and bearing to the pilot on board the ship.
“Come on in,” Lindy said. “Put them where you can find a place.”
She turned in her chair and then swiveled sharply. Five men walked in, their arms overflowing with roses and wildflowers. Every flower she had ever seen in her life filled every empty space at her console.
Everyone in the center turned to look. Mandy ran over from her position.
“Holy God, look at this.” She grabbed the note pinched in a plastic holder. “Can I?” Mandy asked.
Moira nodded and thanked the men. She couldn’t even see over the console anymore with the jungle of greenery.
“Heading’s good, two cables to go,” she said into her headset.
Mandy grabbed the chair and moved it closer to her.
“What does it say?” she asked.
“It’s a poem,” Mandy said. “It says, ‘though hours of road we are apart, the sea beckons to my heart. Somewhere out there her voice rings true, I hear it in the wind, across a thousand miles of blue.’” Mandy’s eyes smiled at her. “He’s sending you poetry, for God’s sake, Moira. Why don’t you call him? Tell him what you feel. He obviously loves you. If it had been a ruse to get the rights to your books you never would have heard from him again. You know that.”
“Mandy, we are different.” She swiveled in her chair. “We live separate lives, completely different circles.”
“Who made those rules up? You’re just people, Moira, two people who love each other. I mean, look at this.” She raised her hands to the flowers. “How many women do you know get this? He didn’t use you, Moira. He fell in love with you at first sight, and he’s trying to tell you that he still does.”
“You didn’t see his last girlfriend and I did,” she said angrily, pulling another note from the closest bunch of flowers. She opened it, and her eyes suddenly filled with tears. “Your heart is the most beautiful thing I have ever known, your face the sweetest I have ever seen. I love you more now, than I did then. Remember me.” She stood up shaking her head at the garden that had suddenly grown in the operations room. The guys were chuckling, and she gave them a caustic look which toned them down.
“They forgot one bunch,” Lindy said, sticking her head through the door.
“Good grief, I could start my own garden shop.”
“You could—but I think we should just take them home.”
A low, sensual voice she knew well spoke from behind her. She swung around slowly, her heart hammering in her chest.
Mandy whistled under her breath. “Man, this is just too good to be true,” she whispered.
Moira looked into the rugged face and ice blue eyes she believed she would never see again. Steven filled the room with his masculinity, his power—and as always, his gaze trapped hers.
He looked deep into her eyes. “I’m half expecting that you’re going to throw me out of here, but I had to take the chance.”
She took a tentative step toward him, and he met her halfway, sweeping her into his arms. “I love you so much,” he whispered to her, leaning his forehead against hers. “I’m so sorry I didn’t tell you from the start, but I thought you would never let me know you if I did. I promise you can trust me. I promise I will love you forever,” he said, folding her into the protection of his arms.
“You have the rights, you don’t have to be here unless…”
“Unless—I’ve been telling the truth.” He grinned at her. “That’s right, sweetheart, and I always have been.”
“I was wrong?”
His eyes filled with humor. “Yeah,” he rumbled in a low, teasing tone. “And I also believe you owe me a trip to Fiji.” He chuckled at the look on her face.
“Shit.”
“Uh-huh.” He scanned the room. “So this is where you work your magic.”
She watched as he took in everything around him from the radar monitors with little white contacts scattered across them to the radios that squawked, all making noise at the same time. Computers, touch screens, cameras zoomed in on different berths, buttons and switches lay everywhere. His reaction was the same as most who saw it for the first time—confused.
“It all looks pretty technical,” he said in amazement. “You know how to work all this?”
Her shoulders lifted with a short laugh. “Guess I’ll give you the twenty-five-cent tour later on.”
Moira’s boss came through the door and stood behind them. “So I suppose I’m going to be getting a resignation letter shortly,” he stated.
Steven turned to look at her. “Only once she marries me, and if she wants to leave.”
An a
udible gasp came from Mandy as she clapped her hands over her face. “Get real.”
“Was that a proposal?” Moira asked weakly. Her legs felt wobbly all of a sudden.
“Well I did plan it a little differently, but he offered a good segue so I took it.”
“I like a man who thinks on his feet.”
“Is that a yes, Ms. Viterra?”
His eyes glinted not only with love, but a deep desire. A desire she had tried so hard to suppress in her own heart.
“I know you, Moira, and I think you know me, the real me.”
She twisted in his arms. Her eyes glanced around the operations room, at her staff, at her life, and then back at him.
“Moira, you’ve worked your entire life. You’ve given your employer years of service. It’s time for a holiday—a long one. This place will always be here for you, but I want you to spend the rest of your life with me, beside me.”
“I think—” She paused. “I need a holiday.” She was taking a leap of faith, a big one.
A voice from the traffic channel came out of a speaker close-by. “Yeah, Traffic—I lost my anchorage assistance,” the marine coast pilot said, sounding more than a little annoyed.
Patti winked when Moira jumped, remembering that she’d abandoned the pilot. “Roger, that’s because the hottest, richest man on earth just asked her to marry him. You’re over the center, thanks very much,” Patti confirmed.
There was silence for a second, and then the Pacific Coast Pilot said, “Well, tell the guy if Moira says yes, he’s one lucky bastard.”
“Roger, I think he knows that, Traffic out.”
Steven shook his head. “You’re famous in your own right,” He paused. “I am one lucky bastard. Sorry, boss, but she’s gonna be my boss from now on.” He looked over at her O.I.C.
Moira’s Officer in Charge grinned, unfolding his arms. “You’re gonna be sorry you said that, pal.”
Moira narrowed her eyes at her boss.
“Kidding, just kidding,” he said, backing away.
“How long before you’re off duty?”
“Not for two hours,” she stammered, reading his thoughts.
“Fuck that,” he growled, lifting her into his arms.
“Steven, I just can’t leave.” He swung her around. Mandy already had the door open.
“Thanks, Mandy,” he said, carrying Moira away from the only life she knew. “The rest of your days are beside me, and I don’t even feel a little bit guilty about taking you away from them.”
“Remember, roll with it, old girl.” Mandy gave her a small wave as Steven carried her away. “God, I wished someone would go caveman on me,” she murmured.
“You’ll need to call in someone for overtime,” Moira called out, but the door had already slammed shut.
* * * *
He only got halfway down the hall before he let her feet hit the ground, and she was up against the wall. His tongue burned hers as it dove into her waiting mouth, his need for her pushing at her stomach.
“Okay,” she sighed as his mouth found the beating pulse in her neck. “But it’s a half-hour drive to my house.”
“If you think I’m waiting a half hour to make love to you, you’re crazy. Do you know how many times I’ve imagined your sweet body against mine, and how many cold showers I’ve taken in two months?” Heat ripped through him with the anticipation of feeling her silk around his shaft. “Christ, I could eat you right here.” She broke into a laugh, the siren calling out to him.
“Probably about as many times that I’ve dreamt of you plunging slowly inside of me until we’re both crying out.”
“God damn it, woman,” he growled, grabbing her hand, nearly dragging her to the elevator. His legs turned to rubber and his shaft had grown to the size of a missile in his pants.
* * * *
She worked right downtown. Upper-class hotels surrounded them. It only took five minutes to get them to the Wall Centre, another two minutes to get to the penthouse suite he had booked, and three seconds for him to tear every piece of clothing from her body and his in a blazing storm of desire.
“I love you so much,” he moaned, feeling her warm skin mold to his. Her soft lips had already begun to explore him. His shaft felt like it would rupture if she touched it. He buried his hands in her hair. “Sweetheart, please.” She pulled him to the bed and knelt on it, taking him into her sweet mouth. Her tongue toyed with his head as her hand sheathed him. Her moist lips devoured him slowly, taunting him. He was going to lose it fast.
With more willpower than he had ever known, he pulled from her wanting lips, and laid her down on the white sheets, covering her body with his. He looked into her beautiful eyes. “We have the rest of our lives, but baby—right now I need to fuck your brains out.”
Moira spanked his ass and pulled him closer, her breath coming in short pants. “Mr. Porter, you have a worse mouth on you than I do, now that’s an achievement.” She lifted her hips off the sheets, teasing his head at the entrance to her wet and waiting recess.
When he filled her, a groan of pleasure escaped both their lips. He captured her mouth, playing with her tongue. His shaft grew harder inside her channel as her flesh clutched at him.
He loved her so completely, and her passion overwhelmed him. Plunging deep inside her, he lost more of himself with every erotic stroke. Her hips met his, sending tremors through him each time. Like mini orgasms, they shook him. A rhythm that kept him shivering with every long, sensual slide had him gasping with pleasure. The seizing ecstasy took him higher than he’d ever been. He lifted himself off the bed, holding himself with his powerful arms, and watched his glistening erection bury itself in her channel. Her hand slid between their thrusting hips, massaging her hardened bud, making her muscles go crazy on his shaft. Her touch drove him wild, her body pulled him over the edge toward release. Faster, deeper, to the hilt he loved her.
“Oh God, Moira, I need to come deep inside you,” he breathed, drowning in his own senses. His words took them the rest of the way, as the boiling heat of their bodies overflowed, making them orgasm in that instant. A wave of white bliss shook him to the core. He ground his hips against hers, hopelessly wanting to be one with her.
When the world stopped spinning around him, he rolled over and held her protectively in his arms. He looked into Moira’s flushed cheeks, her siren eyes staring back at him. “Will you marry me, Moira Viterra?”
She turned in his arms to rest her chin on his chest. “We’ve only spent five days together. How do you know you won’t hate me in two weeks?” she asked.
The woman was too rational for her own good. “No,” he said, shaking his head. “I knew you were going to be my wife five minutes after you sat down across from me.” The smile that he loved so much, the one that reached her eyes, crossed her lips. He’d always known she was his from the second he saw her. Gently he raised her left hand and slid the exquisite blue diamond engagement ring onto her finger that he’d left on the nightstand.
“Steven!”
“Forever, Moira, you and I, forever.”
Chapter Eighteen
It was the end of June when he took Moira from the only life she knew. After stealing her from her work, they stayed a couple weeks in British Columbia to figure out the logistics. Between handling his business, calls to his lawyers to start the immigration paperwork, and a lot of pleasure, she showed him her province. Seeing it through her eyes made the British Columbia he’d visited many times before so much more beautiful.
They travelled to the Okanagan, the wine country of her province, which rivaled many of California’s grapes. She didn’t stop there, and they crisscrossed the highways and back roads, ending up in the astounding sunsets of the Sea-to-Sky Corridor on the majestic mountains of Whistler. Then she hauled him onto a British Columbia Ferry and took him to Vancouver Island.
The Ferry never ran aground or had a collision, but in the first week of being together they’d attended two car accidents, an old man who
had a heart attack while they were having dinner, and they got stuck in an elevator for two hours.
Every time something happened, she gave him a worried look, and he calmed her fears, but the thought about finding that witchdoctor in Africa crossed his mind a couple of times. It was uncanny, but he stood by his belief that she was in the right place at the right time to help, not cause the incidents.
In their final week, they spent a couple of nights in the downtown core of Victoria with its English charm and fantastic restaurants, playing tourist. For him it was a novelty. Not as many people recognized him there, and he found that Canadian women in general had grace and manners. Although a few still leered, most simply gave him a warm smile.
On their last evening in Victoria, she took him to a place called Butchart Gardens. They toured the gardens, and just before sunset they crested a small knoll to look down into what was called the “Sunken Garden.” The sight overwhelmed him. He’d heard of the gardens before, but he was glad she was with him when he saw it for the first time. Her home, her spectacular British Columbia was a place he knew they would come back to often. Even their license plates boasted “Beautiful British Columbia.” There wasn’t any doubt in his mind, and the most beautiful woman he had ever known had been born and raised here.
Even though it just about killed him, he agreed that she needed to travel between LA and Vancouver to help during the summer season at her center. After several rounds of negotiations, and making love to convince her, he got her to agree that September would be the cutoff. After that, California would be her home.
* * * *
Her first moments in Los Angeles recalled a dark echo in his mind with the warning Dane had laid at his feet about her life changing. Instead of getting her from the jet to the car and the highway, they had to stop at immigration. Although his lawyers did a lot of the quick work before their arrival, it still meant going to the main terminal. That’s when things went wrong.
Too Grand for Words (BookStrand Publishing Romance) Page 24
