“Did she speak to you?” Florence asked.
Dennis looked thoughtful but didn’t stop eating. Katherine couldn’t remember a time when anything had got in the way of a Fortune man’s appetite. “Actually, she did say something about going farther? Or maybe it was, ‘fetch father.’ I couldn’t quite get it.”
“That’s her all right,” Florence crowed. She finished putting the food on the table, untied her apron and came to join them for her own breakfast.
Katherine frowned. “Are you sure you weren’t just dreaming?”
Dennis polished off his first cup of coffee and poured himself a second. “She came into my room twice. I thought she must be one of the maids, or Ian’s sister.”
Katherine munched her muffin, feeling a little left out. “I’ve never seen a ghost before.”
“Stay in Savannah for long, and you get to feelin’ you might trip over ’em they’re so plentiful.” Florence chuckled.
Dennis turned to Katherine. “Are you going to stick to your promise to call Mom and Dad?”
“Already did,” Katherine assured him smugly. “I have witnesses.”
He looked surprised. “What did they say?”
“That I should come home immediately.”
“Are you going to?”
“Not a chance.” She sat back in her chair and sipped her coffee contentedly. “I like Savannah, ghosts and all. And I love working for Danforth’s. Back home, I’ll always be Mom and Dad’s little girl. Here, I’m whatever I choose to be!”
“Here, you’re poor,” Dennis stated.
She made a face at him. “Only temporarily. I’ll work hard, save my pennies, move up in the company as I gain experience.”
Dennis laughed. “Watch out, Ian. She’ll have your job!”
She held her breath, waiting for his reaction.
His gaze settled on her, a mixture of admiration and something she couldn’t quite read. “I expect your sister can do anything she sets her mind to.”
The next day Dennis spent sight-seeing and reported his discoveries to his sister and Ian that evening when they returned from the office.
Ian took them out for dinner in old Savannah. Elizabeth on 37th Street took Katherine’s breath away. Standing on the front porch of the old mansion and looking out over its lush garden, she found it hard to remember she was in the middle of a thriving modern city.
Inside, the decor was perfectly Southern in the oldest, most gracious style. And the food was pure bliss. Both of the men ordered herb-encrusted, grilled steaks as thick as Katherine’s fist. She had trouble choosing but finally decided on a rich seafood soup chock-full of shrimp, scallops and local fish.
As they were leaving the restaurant, Katherine felt as though she was being watched, but when she looked up and down the tree-lined street, no one seemed to be paying particular attention to her.
Still she felt strangely uneasy. It was the way she’d felt when Jaime Hernandez had looked at her in Ian’s office. She climbed into the front passenger seat of Ian’s car. “Have you been contacted recently by the cartel?”
“Not since our meeting in my office,” Ian said.
Dennis leaned forward from the rear seat. “What’s this all about?”
Ian sighed. “The company has had some trouble with a group from Colombia that would like us to buy our coffee beans from them. We strongly suspect they’re linked to organized crime. The FBI was called in after a bomb went off in our headquarters here.”
Katherine winced. She’d hoped he wouldn’t mention the explosion. It wasn’t the sort of thing her brother or parents would find reassuring.
“And this is the place you’ve chosen to work?” Dennis asked Katherine.
“That all happened before I started working for Danforth’s. Besides, everything’s under control now,” she assured him.
“So now I’m supposed to go back to Arizona and assure Dad and Mom that you’re perfectly safe, happy as a lizard on a sunny rock?”
“Well, I am,” she said, and it struck her that it was true. She was happier than she ever remembered being.
Only one thing was missing.
Ian.
And it seemed to her that her chances of winning his trust might have run out.
Katherine delivered Dennis to the airport late the next afternoon. She had dreaded this moment. Not because he was leaving, but because his departure would leave her alone with Ian, and she didn’t know what to say to him.
She desperately wanted to ask him what he was thinking about them. Was there a them? He had given her little or no hope that they could ever be together in a way she found acceptable. Perhaps because she had been so outspoken about not wanting to get seriously involved, he’d decided there could be nothing at all between them.
His attitude totally irritated her. Couldn’t he at least give her time to think about it? Did they have to be an all-or-nothing couple? Whatever happened to having fun, dating, getting to know each other…falling in love? Slowly. She had always assumed marriage was years away for her.
She drove around the city, reluctant to return to Crofthaven to pick up her overnight bag. Now that Dennis had left, Ian would expect her to return to her own apartment. Abraham would soon return from campaigning.
This might be her last chance to clear the air with Ian, but she had no idea what to say to him.
It was dark when she turned into the tree-lined avenue that led to Crofthaven. The oyster-shell driveway crunched beneath the tires of the little third-hand car she’d recently leased. Few lights were on in the house, but a faint golden glow came from the upstairs window she knew to be Ian’s room. She parked and let herself in the front door.
None of the usual staff seemed to be around. With an aching heart, she silently closed the immense oak door behind her and climbed the stairs from the foyer, still unsure of the right words, still hoping for Ian’s understanding.
Did she love him? Absolutely. Did he love her? He’d never said so. Without love and a partnership based on equal rights, she couldn’t commit herself to a relationship. Even with this strong, brilliant and exciting man. If marriage was the bottom line for him, how could she surrender all she’d fought for, just to become another woman buried in a powerful family of males?
She must tell Ian this. She must make him understand.
She would also tell him how much he mattered to her, if she could only find the right words.
Her fingertips rested on the doorknob of his room for minutes that felt like an eternity, before she worked up the courage to turn it. Only at the last second did she realize how presumptuous it was of her not to knock. She tapped with her free hand as she cracked open the door to a place full of male smells. His body, his aftershave, the pungent waxy scent of shoe polish.
“Yes?” Ian’s deep voice, thick and distant with preoccupation.
She slowly moved into his room. He was sitting at his desk, the green glass of the lamp shade glowing in an otherwise dark room. He was in a T-shirt and briefs but didn’t seem flustered by her appearance in his room. His face was cast in a soft wash of light, and he glanced up briefly, then back to the papers resting on the embossed leather desk blotter.
“I don’t want to disturb you,” she began hesitantly, “but I think we should talk.”
“You do?” He didn’t even spare her a glance this time.
She cleared her throat, which suddenly felt scratchy and tight. “I owe you an immense apology.”
“We’ve already settled that. You did what you had to do. Family relations can be complicated.”
“There’s more to it than that, Ian. When it all started, I didn’t know you. I didn’t think that pretending to be someone else would matter to someone who hired me for a few weeks. I mean, how could I know how I’d feel about you. About us.”
“Us,” he repeated, his voice as sharp as glass shards. “Katie, I—” He shook his head, finally standing up to face her. He looked strained, his eyes as sad as a disappointed child’
s. “We want different things. That won’t change. To be honest, I see no future for us.”
She very nearly cried out her denial. “But that’s just it! Maybe we need to give ourselves a little more time to see if what we think we want is really what we do want.” She bit down on her lower lip, determined not to lose all self-control. “That wasn’t very eloquent, was it?”
“No,” he said bitterly, “but I get the gist of it. You want to keep your options open.”
It sounded so shallow, the way he put it.
She drew a shuddering breath for strength. “Ian, I want to be careful not to make the wrong decision. Can’t we please take things slowly and see what happens?”
“No.” He came around the desk and took her hands in his. “I’m past the age of experimentation, Katherine. I’m not interested in trial relationships. I’ll date casually for business purposes, for relaxation, and to keep my family off my back. But dammit, I won’t get emotionally shackled to a woman who doesn’t know what the hell she wants!” He dropped her hands and stepped away from her. “Losing my heart isn’t an option for me.”
“Well, it wasn’t with me, either,” she whispered, tears finally winning the battle. “But I have—”
He frowned at her as she struggled to keep her chin high. His voice suddenly turned gentle. “Katherine, don’t say things you don’t mean.”
“I do mean it. Unfortunately,” she sniffled. “Guess I didn’t realize it at first. I never intended to care for you like this. I didn’t want the man I someday fell in love with to be like you.”
“Thanks a bunch,” he grumbled.
“Listen to me!” she cried out in frustration. “You’re what I’ve been running from!”
“This just gets better and better.” But a wry smile tipped up the corners of his lips.
He was making fun of her, yes, but this was better than his sullen mood moments earlier.
She spoke quickly, as clearly as she could despite the tears. “The thing is, you come from money. When someone close to you is in trouble, you step in like some kind of superhero and try to fix it.”
“And this is bad?”
She punched him halfheartedly in the chest. “Well yeah, if you never let people deal with life on their own.”
Ian caught her fist between two hands before she could withdraw it. “And you’re saying I’ve done that to you?”
“Not yet,” she admitted. “But it’s there…inside of you.” She tapped his chest with their linked hands. “If we stayed together, it would happen, in time.”
“Maybe, since I’ve been made aware of your need for independence, I’d make an effort not to bully you.”
She studied his eyes, so serious. Could she trust him with her life? With her entire future? “Is it even possible, Ian? I mean, you said with Lara, you forced her to do what you wanted. Is it possible for a person to change?”
“Maybe it’s not so much changing as learning. Every relationship is different, Katherine. We’ve been tiptoeing around ours, trying to figure out if there’s a chance it could work for us. As soon as I indicate that I want a family, you give me one of those terrified looks. As soon as you start running, I back off.”
“It’s true,” she admitted sadly.
“We have to call a truce.” He was holding her now, stroking her back softly, speaking into the wisps of hair at her cheek. “We have to stop reacting to our fears, if we’re going to figure out what we really want.”
Back in Arizona, she’d thought she knew what she wanted—freedom to do whatever she chose. But with freedom came responsibilities, and complications she hadn’t foreseen.
“I like working for Danforth’s, even if it means hard work and not making a lot of money. But my loyalty to the company got all tangled up with my loyalty to you, Ian.”
“Maybe it’s just an old-fashioned crush on the boss?”
She shook her head vehemently. “It’s more than that. I like being close to you, and I respect what you’re trying to do. Protecting your employees, your father and family. I want to be part of what you are and what you do. I just haven’t figured out how.” That was as clear as she could make her thoughts for the time being.
He nodded, as if willing to accept this much on faith.
“What about you, Ian?” she asked, her voice sounding thin and unsure to her own ears. If he told her to go away now, after she’d poured her heart out to him, she’d have to leave Savannah. It would break her heart to see him in the offices or around the city, and not be able to be with him.
“Heaven help me, but I’ve wanted you, Katherine, from the moment you walked into my office.” He kissed her then, tenderly but thoroughly. He kissed her as if he’d been thinking about doing it for a very long time. But when he drew back and he looked at her, she could see that he still wasn’t sure of her. Of them.
“If it was just the sex, it would be easy,” he said. “I can have that with other women, but I don’t care about them the way I do you. I want children, a wife I can love and who will love and nurture our children. And a home life that’s good and healthy. And after the children are tucked in bed, I want passion. I want it all, Katherine. But if you can’t promise me you’ll be there for the whole show, I won’t risk courting you.”
Her throat ached with longing at his words. Ripples of need crested within her.
Could she be this person he envisioned? What would she do in Lara’s place? What would she decide if she got pregnant?
The question came at her suddenly, demanding an answer. Demanding the truth.
She reached into her soul. “If I became pregnant…I’d love my baby. Our baby.” She felt warmed from inside at the admission from her heart.
He studied her face, still cautious. “I’m not interested in being a single parent. Or a dad who visits on weekends. It’s all or nothing with me, Katherine. I can’t be any plainer.”
“I understand,” she said. But he still hadn’t actually said he loved her. However, what they’d said this night was a start, a sharing of dreams, of ideals. “My mother says that all love is a risk.”
“Some love is more so than others,” he said.
She gazed up at him. “From where I stand, I think you’re worth the risk.”
He seemed to shudder from within, then his eyes darkened with a desire that she felt as physical vibrations between them. Tremors of passion, invisible but no less potent than an earthquake. “And you’re worth the gamble, my darling,” he said throatily. “But I’m going to have to do a few things to protect our mutual declaration of trust.”
“Hire a bodyguard?” she asked, grinning as she wriggled suggestively in his arms.
“Not on your life. You can do anything you like with my body.”
“Oh, I can, can I?” She ran a finger down the center of his T-shirted chest. Lower down, his briefs revealed a sudden tightness of fit.
“Mmm-hmm. Do with me as you will. As long as you leave me in one piece when you’re done.”
“I promise.”
“And breathing.”
“That, too?” She pretended to pout.
With a lusty growl he swept her off her feet, carried her three steps south and plopped her down on the bed. “To hell with breathing!”
She laughed, but only until his mouth covered hers, hot, demanding her full attention. She closed her long fingers around the back of his neck and head, pulling him still closer to deepen their kiss. His hands roamed her body, slipping beneath clothing, caressing responsive flesh, discarding whatever apparel stood in his way.
Her hands were no less busy, moving up under his T-shirt to tangle her fingers among the luxuriant, coarse hairs across his chest, rubbing her palms over his nipples until they tightened to hard masculine nubs. She slid her hand behind him to knead taut muscles the length of his back, down to his narrow waist, then pressed beneath the elastic top of his briefs to mold his male bottom.
She moaned with pleasure as his mouth caressed her breast. Liquid heat rush
ed through her as he alternately teased and sucked, lips and tongue driving her nearly insane with pleasure.
“I…oh, Ian! Please!”
“What?”
“Now. In me!” She gasped, barely able to breathe, opening herself to him, curling her fingers into his rock-hard shoulders now gleaming with sweat.
“You’re the boss.”
The seconds it took him to provide protection seemed far too long. She couldn’t bear to lose touch with him. She cupped him from beneath, delighting in the weight of his sex in her palms as he slid the smooth latex over his erection.
He pressed her back down on the bed, wedging apart her thighs with his knee. As if he knew she had been ready since the first moment he touched her, he slid hard and fast and fully into her. She let out a cry of intense satisfaction, glorying in his size. She arched her back and lifted her legs up around his hips, encouraging him deeper still.
He thrust, and thrust, and thrust again…until she felt crazed with the heat and the wetness. She clung to him, wrapping herself around him as his deliciously slick, male rigidity pressed into her again and again. Coaxing from her eager body wave after wave of delicious, satisfying pleasure. She blazed. She sparkled.
Then the world blew away, leaving only this man and this moment, and nothing else at all.
Ten
Pleasures given and taken. Physical and emotional highs soaring ever higher. That was how the night passed. Just when Katherine thought her body had spent every ounce of its desire, when she had given all that she could, Ian came to her again, demanding more of her and of himself, pleasuring her beyond imagination.
When daylight finally coaxed Katherine from her dreamless slumber, she turned, naked in the twisted sheets, and looked across the pillow, expecting Ian to be there.
A note rested on his pillow beside a single red tea rose, undoubtedly clipped from Crofthaven’s garden.
Urgent business. Leaving you with immense reluctance. See you tonight? Ian.
The Boss Man's Fortune (Dynasties: The Danforths Book 5) Page 13
