“No, not here.” He crossed the room again, carrying her into the living room. The darkness didn’t slow him. He’d lived in this house too many years to have any doubts about where things were.
Shadows surrounded them, camouflaging the bitterness. Danielle’s muscles slowly loosened as she relaxed. He was overly aware of the soft wool of her sweater tickling his arms, the silk of her hair as it brushed against his neck.
She sighed, her breath sweeping across his face. “Put me down, Jace.” Her voice carried all the pain, all the emotional baggage, that still stood between them.
“Why?”
“I came here to talk, nothing more.”
Her anguish and exhaustion tore at him.
“Jace, please.”
He slipped his arm from under her legs, letting them slide downward. But he held her close, her feet not quite touching the floor as he savored her. She grabbed at his shoulders to steady herself, then tried to pull away.
“Let me go.”
How could he let her go now? How could he step away from her when all he wanted was to lay her on the floor and discover the changes eleven years had made to her body?
“Kiss me first.” He loosened his grip until her toes rested on the floor.
“Don’t do this, Jace.” Her head dropped forward, her forehead leaning against his shoulder.
“Kiss me, Dani. Prove to me it’s over. Prove your feelings for me are dead.”
He waited with anticipation, but she didn’t move. “I dare you.”
Lifting her head, she stretched upward and brushed her mouth against his. “There, see? I’m totally unaffected.”
“That’s not a kiss, Dani. Really kiss me. Or doesn’t Raymond like that kind of thing?” He was taunting her, he knew, but desire had surged through him with an almost overpowering strength when her breasts slid against his chest. He needed to know she felt at least a small measure of the same.
Because desire was all there would ever be between them.
His heart ticked off the seconds. She edged closer until their lips touched. With a small groan. she pressed her mouth against his. Heat swept over him, weakening his knees. Bracing his legs farther apart, he held her closer, trying to force away the overwhelming sensations. But when her tongue darted out to wet his lips, he lost control.
A low growl vibrated his throat as he bent one knee, never breaking the contact of their lips. He eased Danielle to the rug in front of the cold fireplace, cradling her in his arms as he wished for the glow of flickering flames to bathe her skin when he peeled off her clothes. His hand swept the length of her before returning to stroke the side of her breast
When his fingers brushed against the softness he craved to touch, Danielle jerked away. “No.” She pulled her arms from his neck and pushed against his chest.
Jace held her fast, trying to sort through her conflicting messages. But when she pinched him on the tender skin under his arm, he jumped away, dumping her to the floor with little ceremony.
“Damn, woman. You sure know how to end a moment.” He massaged his arm as he glared at her.
“Don’t touch me again, Jace, or else.”
Even in the muted darkness, he saw the anger sparkling in her green eyes, an anger that could spark the cold control he was fighting to retain. “That could make it difficult to have children after we’re married.”
Silence grew between them, a silence that made Jace wonder if he had underestimated Danielle.
“I haven’t said I’ll marry you.”
When her gaze darted away from his, he read the bravado in her words and relaxed. She was in no position to refuse him and they both knew it. Still, he couldn’t resist tormenting her. “Yet.” She grabbed a pillow off the couch and threw it at his head. Jace caught it easily, holding it out to examine. “We used to have some great pillow fights. Remember? And the loser always had to—”
“That part of our relationship is over.”
“Last I checked, we didn’t have a relationship. But I suspect you’re about to make me an offer I can’t refuse. I’ll go make us some coffee while you... plan how you’re going to win me over.”
He stood, trying not to grin at her anger. At least he’d proven one thing. She wasn’t immune to him. Danielle wanted him as much as he wanted her. And once they were married, he could use that desire, use it to get the family he wanted and the revenge he needed.
He had five minutes alone in the kitchen before she joined him. Five minutes to wonder if he should have done something differently. He would give half his land to know what had gone through her head while she sat in the other room alone.
When she finally entered the kitchen, her mask of control was back in place. Danielle didn’t look at him, didn’t speak. Her nylon-clad feet made no sound on the well-worn oak floor as she wandered the room, her fingers brushing against things that still had to be familiar. She stopped in front of the old kitchen clock they’d discovered in a junk store, the one where the cat’s tail twitched in time to the second hand.
Jace felt a twinge of loneliness. That had been a magical day, one of many good times they’d had when they were together. That clock represented the one tangible reminder of her, of their time together, that he just hadn’t been able to dispose of.
Danielle finally settled by the back door, staring outside. Jace sensed a change in her, sensed something was about to happen. He forced himself to quietly drink his coffee and give her the time she needed, but anticipation coiled in his stomach.
Soon—very soon—she would be his again.
The cat’s tail twitched at least another hundred times before she spoke.
“I don’t want to marry you, Jace.”
The coffee mug started to slip from his fingers and Jace barely caught it. Of everything he’d expected her to say, this wasn’t it. He carefully set his cup on the counter.
“Excuse me?” He’d expected a skirmish, some token resistance. But not this—not an outright refusal.
She turned to face him, raising her chin and squaring her shoulders. “I don’t want to marry you.”
He wouldn’t panic, wouldn’t let her see just how deeply her words had affected him. His little Dani girl had grown up. And he wasn’t certain she would respond to the threats he could make. Shrugging, he tried to placate her. “I won’t make a bad husband, Danielle. I won’t force you to scrub the floors or slop the hogs or feed the chickens. Your only job will be to warm my bed.” He paused to let his words soak in. “Often.”
Color flared into her cheeks.
“You did understand that, didn’t you? I don’t just want a dress-up doll for a wife. I want all the trimmings, all the privileges—and a family, too.” He stepped closer to make certain she understood him. “I want forever.”
The pink stains drained from her cheeks and her eyes widened. “But you don’t love me.”
Something shifted deep inside him, but he forced himself to ignore it. “A good marriage doesn’t require love.”
She flinched at his cruel words, but he could see she was wavering and he crowded her space even more. She took a half step back and met with the wall, her palms flattening against the painted surface.
He traced her jawline with his finger, reveled in the softness of her skin. Soon, he would possess her body again. Soon, she would be his.
When her throat moved in a soft gulp, he stroked her neck, then dipped one finger inside the neckline of her sweater. “Take it off.”
She gasped and shrank away from him, but he planted both hands against the wall on each side of her.
“It’s over, Danielle. Take it off.”
Anger sparked her green eyes and she stiffened. “I’m not undressing for you.”
A stab of heat flashed through him and his physical reaction was immediate and obvious. Struggling for control, he waited to voice his response. Finally, he raised his left hand and waved his fingers. “That rock on your finger? It’s not mine.”
Danielle looked down a
t her hand as if she’d forgotten what it looked like. Her lips tightening, she twisted the ring off, then held it in her palm, glaring at it.
“I...I don’t want...” She finally met his eyes, her own shadowed with doubts.
His jaw tightened, then he forced himself to relax. “What you need is a roommate and a bundle of cash to save your father, right?”
“It could work, Jace. And there would be no complications for us to deal with.”
“I have no problem with that.” He waited until she looked up at him. “During the day.”
“But—”
“At night, we will share a bedroom. And a bed.” He leaned closer, until the scent of her perfume filled his head and her hair brushed against his cheek. “At night, you’ll be my wife in every sense of the word.” She gasped, but the sound only stirred his senses to a higher pitch. “And I promise you, you’ll enjoy every moment.”
Danielle ducked under his arm and darted across the room. Her hands shook slightly as she took down a coffee cup, only spilling a few drops of the brew when she poured. Taking several sips, she fingered the locket at her throat, letting her gaze settle everywhere in the room but on him.
“Fine. I’ll even sleep with you. I’ll pretend to be the perfect wife. But I won’t make love with you.” Her voice hardened with determination. “I won’t have sex with a man who doesn’t love me.” She shook her hair back and raised her chin. “That’s all it would be between us, Jace. Just sex. No emotions. no feelings, nothing but a physical release.”
Anger surged through him. He knew how she responded to his. to his touch. He knew he could make her melt in his arms. She couldn’t deny the physical chemistry that sparked between them. “I’m supposed to lie next to you night after night and never touch you?” He snorted his disgust at her idea. “I’m not a Boy Scout, Danielle. I’m a man.”
She had the grace to look a little guilty. But she still had the strength left to argue with him. “And I’m not the kind of woman to sell her body.”
Silence throbbed between them.
Jace struggled to control his icy rage at her words. Without thinking, without realizing the consequences, he struck back. “If I remember correctly, your daddy needs money, over a million dollars. And you were perfectly willing to sell your body to Raymond. When I arrived at the party, you even managed to look like you were enjoying his attentions.” Jace dropped his voice to a husky threat. “But I know something Raymond doesn’t know. I know how to make you burn in my arms.”
Pausing, Jace watched as the color drained from her face. Guilt tweaked at his conscience, but he almost had what he’d dreamed of for eleven years and he wasn’t about to let up now.
“And I know how to keep your daddy from getting the money he so desperately needs.”
“Don’t threaten me.”
Danielle’s voice trembled with the emotions building inside her. Jace knew the explosion was coming, knew he would get burned, but he chose to ignore it. “If you don’t marry me, Danielle, I’ll make damn sure no other man will have you. It was easy enough to get rid of Raymond. Do you honestly think I’d find it difficult to get rid of any other marriage candidates?”
He waited, certain she would give in. She had no choice. Victory hovered just a breath away.
“No, Jace.” Her lips tightened, turning almost white with her anger. “I’ve changed my mind. I’ll find another way.”
“There is no other way.” Needing some time to regroup, Jace stuffed his hands into the back pockets of his blue jeans and went to stare out the kitchen window. He was too close. He couldn’t let her go now.
To match his deteriorating mood, dark clouds rolled in from the west, threatening an early snow. He frowned, briefly considering the extra work and longer hours a storm would bring.
Frustration welled up inside him and his teeth ached from the pressure exerted by his jaw. Getting Danielle back into his life wasn’t supposed to be this difficult. But he wouldn’t give up. He needed his revenge against Simmons, needed to hold Danielle again. By Jace’s thinking, everyone would win with their marriage, but the Simmons family would still pay their debt.
As if on cue, flakes of snow began to slowly drift to the ground.
He needed time, space, a chance to plan a new attack. With his back still to Danielle, he said, “You’d better leave before the snow starts to stick. That little race car of yours will be worthless once the roads ice up.”
“I’m not going anywhere until we get this resolved.”
He didn’t have to turn around to know her chin had come up while she braced for a battle. And he refused to accept defeat. Since threats hadn’t worked, maybe it was time to turn on the charm. Jace softened his voice and his stance. “I can help you—you and your family. And I’m not asking for much in return.”
“Just my soul.”
Jace winced as her words knifed through him. But he refused to retreat. “We can help each other.”
“Like you helped me last night?” Danielle bit her lip. “You should have stuck around, watched the fireworks.” Her laugh was tinged with bitterness. “You would have enjoyed the show, I’m sure.” Tears swam in her eyes, but she blinked hard, refusing to let them fall. “After Raymond left the party, Daddy sent everyone home. The looks they gave me...”
She struggled to draw a deep breath. “Daddy called me a failure, said I couldn’t even manage to hold a man.” She brushed angrily at the one tear that dared escape. “And I guess he’s right.”
Jace moved closer, willing to offer comfort. “I’ll never consider you a failure. I’ve seen what you can do when you set your mind to it. Marry me, Danielle. Marry me and prove your father wrong. Together, we can build a good life together.”
She gulped. “Do you really think that’s possible?” Her voice echoed her disbelief.
“Anything is possible. I’ve had to prove that several times these past years.”
He waited, let her absorb his words. Then he ruined it all. But the words had to be said. He couldn’t deceive her in that way.
“I’ll never love you,” Jace said. A shaft of guilt stabbed him when her eyes darkened with pain. “You walked away once. I can’t give you my heart again. But we can make a nice enough life together. As long as you don’t fight me at every turn and you understand why you’re here.”
“I walked away?”
“Ran is more like it. And never once did you look back.” The days after she’d left town still haunted him. But her rejection had also been the secret to his achievements. Anger had fueled his desire to succeed and combined with it to make a potent potion. Whenever he felt discouraged, all he’d had to do was remember.
Danielle moved toward him, her expression unreadable. Jace resisted the urge to draw away. She reached up and stroked her fingers across the dark shadow of his beard, the rasping sound bringing on a new set of memories.
A flicker of hope flared inside Jace. Maybe, by some miracle, he stood a chance of winning. Maybe she would give in and they could go to bed. Together.
Suddenly, he was bone weary, tired of the fighting, the struggling. All he wanted was to make love to her, then fall asleep with her in his arms.
Danielle leaned closer, just close enough for him to catch the teasing scent of her perfume again.
“I despise you.”
The carefully enunciated words vibrated through the room as she pushed past him and walked away.
Chapter Three
She’d lied.
She could never hate Jace, even after he’d spumed her love and traded a lifetime with her for the temptation of money.
But she wanted to hate him. And someway, she was going to have to learn how. Because right now, he could hurt her again. Hate was the only thing that might protect her. Her pride had been wounded by Raymond’s callous rejection, her heart almost shattered by her father’s anger. If Jace offered her just a crumb of warmth, she would fall in love with him all over again.
She had to protect herself
against the indomitable force that was Jace. Hugging her arms around herself as she entered the living room, she slowly sank to the floor and tried to silence her torrential thoughts.
Slipping Raymond’s ring into her pocket, she closed that chapter of her life. Danielle raised her left hand to study it, a frown pulling at her forehead. Why did her hand suddenly feel so light, so free? Why did the weight of her problems seem to diminish with the removal of the two-karat diamond? She’d simply traded one set of disasters for another.
But for now, there was an odd acceptance in her, as if she’d known all along this was how it was going to end. In spite of her brave words, she would have to marry Jace. If the two of them could find a middle ground to share, they just might manage to build a contented life together. That image was probably more fairy tale than reality, but she needed to cling to the idea that they would be happy.
Dropping her left hand in her lap, she massaged her forehead with the right, trying to ease the headache building there.
When she’d driven up to the ranch tonight, the shadow of his hat had concealed Jace’s expression. But she didn’t have to see him to know his eyes reflected wariness and a deep, quiet anger. The only time he’d ever allowed himself a measure of any other emotion had been during their lovemaking. But even that had been a small allowance, only what he was willing to let her see.
Her breasts tightened and warmth pooled in her stomach as she remembered the nights she’d spent in this house, snuggled in Jace’s big four-poster bed, wrapped in his arms.
Warm, protected, cared for. All hers simply for the asking when Jace had wanted her. For the first time in her life, she hadn’t experienced the lonely ache in her heart that had started the day her mother had walked away.
Without warning, that tenderness had been ripped away from her. When she’d lost Jace, the pain had been so powerful, she’d simply built a wall around her heart and made the decision not to love again. Ever.
After so many years of being on her own, she’d decided friendship would be enough to keep her happy. She’d thought once she was married to Raymond, she’d be safe. But Jace had interfered. As usual. And now she wasn’t certain she’d ever be safe again.
The Cowboy Proposes... Marriage? Page 3
