“Jonah, I hear what you’re saying, and while I joke about all that married sex, honestly, in my mind—” she tapped her temple “—we’re divorced. We have been for a long while. It’s going to take time before I can reconcile all these changes. So much is happening so fast…I want to trust it…trust you.”
“Then do it.”
“That’s easy for you to say. You’re adventurous by nature.” She eased her wrist free then clasped his hand. “Just this—” she raised their linked fingers “—is risky for me.”
“I don’t believe that, not after the woman I met a year ago.” He paused, realizing, holy hell, she really was scared. There was a side to her he hadn’t met in Spain. He honestly didn’t know the woman he’d married. And if he intended to stand a chance with her now, he needed to push harder than he had before.
He had to understand her in order to keep her. He searched for the best place to start. “Are you upset about your brother showing up tonight? Hearing your father is ill had to be upsetting. Are you going to see him? Is that what’s wrong?”
She looked down at the bedspread for so long he wondered if she would answer. Would she decide to cut him off at the knees? He wouldn’t be pushed aside again without seeing this through.
“Eloisa?” He tipped her chin up with a knuckle. “I asked about your father.”
“My father…right…uh, I haven’t decided.” Her grip eased on the hugged pillow. “I don’t even know what to think about Duarte showing up here. It was so unexpected, I’ll have to give this more thought.”
“But you believed him when he said your father is ill.” He sat up beside her, stroking her hair back from her face.
She didn’t flinch away.
“My lawyer does keep me informed to a certain degree. I know what my brothers look like. They were already teenagers when I saw them before. Even if I don’t know where everyone lives.” She laughed dryly. “Actually I don’t want to know. Being responsible for their safety would be too scary.”
He didn’t like the way they left her out here, unprotected. Then it hit him that he couldn’t let her go. He couldn’t leave her out here unprotected. There weren’t many who could protect her at the level she needed.
But he was a Landis.
And even though there had been times he’d bucked the Landis conventions, right now he welcomed every bit of power the Landis influence could bring if it kept Eloisa from being hurt in any way—physically or emotionally—by her Medina ties.
The Landis influence and money could also bring her peace in other ways, pampering that by rights should have been hers from the start. “You need a distraction.”
“You’ve done a mighty fine job of that tonight.” Looping an arm over his shoulders, she leaned against him, kissing him with unmistakable promise.
His pulse jackhammered in his chest, throbbing through his veins thicker, lower, urging him to act now. He steadied his breathing and his resolve.
Stick to the plan. More time with her. Show her how well she could fit in his world, how easily she could leave her old one behind. “I’ll up the ante. You took the afternoon off. Any chance you can call in sick for a couple of days?”
Interest lit in her eyes, followed by wariness. “I have to help Audrey.”
“When’s her next shindig?”
“Joey’s family is throwing a party—” a tentative hope replaced the wariness on her face “—but it isn’t until the weekend.”
“So that’s not a problem for you as long as you come back. Can she handle her own plans for two days?”
“I could take care of things by phone.” Her words tumbled over each other faster. “The bridesmaids’ fittings are already done.”
“That just leaves your job at the library. Can you get time off?”
“There are people who owe me favors.” Her slow seductive smile turned him inside out. “It depends on what you have to offer.”
“Trust me,” he urged her, determined to make that happen on every level. “You won’t be disappointed.”
Ten
“Open your eyes.”
Late afternoon nipping her arms with prickly heat, Eloisa pulled Jonah’s hands from her face and gasped in awe. She stood on top of a building overlooking a massive canyon sprawled out in a craggy display of orange, brown and bronze rock. Wind tore at her clothes with an ends-of-the-earth force. She inched to the edge, grasped the scrolled iron railing and found she stood on top of a mammoth hacienda-style retreat, built on the edge of a cliff corner.
When they’d left Pensacola earlier this afternoon, Jonah had kept the windows closed on the airplane and the limo windows had been shaded. By their fourth hour traveling she was nearing the edge of her trust factor, but wow, had her patience ever paid off.
The property was deserted. Scaffolding remained visible on one side of the expansive resort building, though no workers filled the platform levels of it today, their work apparently complete for the week. The historic hacienda appeared to have had a recent makeover, the scent of fresh paint mingling with the light fragrance of a potted crepe myrtle nearby.
She leaned farther over the rail. Terra-cotta pots were strategically placed around the patio with a variety of cacti—prickly pear, blooming hedgehog, spiking organ pipe, saguaro, even a towering Joshua tree. Below, in a stomach-lurching drop, away from the sculpted rooftop garden, cacti dotted the landscape in sparse and erratic abandon, no less beautiful. “This is magnificent. Where exactly are we?”
An eagle banked into a dive—down, down, down—so far it seemed impossible to continue, then it swooped upward again into the purple-blue sky. Warm sun counteracted the dry breeze pinning her cotton halter dress to her skin.
“Does it matter where we are?” He dismissed the luxurious digs around them and pointed outward. “Can’t it be beautiful just because it is, rather than because it has a fancy pedigree attached?”
She snorted on a laugh. “Spoken like a savvy investor who can see the possibilities in previously unappreciated properties.”
He clapped a palm over his chest. “I’m wounded you would think I’m so calculating.”
“You’re practical, and I admire that.” In fact, the more she learned about him the more she realized how she’d stereotyped him from the start. “You’re not at all the reckless playboy I mistook you for last year.”
“Don’t go romanticizing me. I simply found a job that suits my wandering feet and desire to create luxurious digs.”
She started to laugh, then stopped to look beyond his casual dismissal of her compliment. “I think it’s more than that for you.”
“Maybe. I’m a guy. I don’t analyze like you women. I just know that I like transforming things others have overlooked.” He smiled distractedly before his eyes cleared again. “We’re in West Texas, by the way. I figured that was about as far as I could go without you freaking out over the secrecy or worrying about getting back for your sister’s party.”
“You guessed right.” She accepted his conversational shift for now since he actually had shared more than she expected. “I’m glad I took the leap of faith and joined you.”
Thank goodness Audrey hadn’t been upset by the prospect of her leaving for a few days. In fact, Eloisa had been surprised at how readily her sister had encouraged her to go away. Only a week ago, Audrey had been hyperventilating over punch flavors, insisting she needed Eloisa and the caterer’s input on everything. Brides were notoriously edgy. She could understand and be patient.
Yet suddenly Audrey seemed calm. Go figure.
Regardless, that seemed a universe away now. She’d packed so carefully for this trip, choosing her most silky underwear, remembering to pack cologne, and her favorite apple lip gloss he’d so intensely—deliciously—noted in the library. Just this morning she’d even spied him sniffing the tube at her dressing table.
Yes, she’d taken care in choosing what to bring along, cautiously pinning high hopes on this outing. She wanted reassurance they had a ch
ance at a future before she could open herself up to him totally. This compressed time together, away from distractions offered that opportunity.
She trailed her fingers along the curved railing. “So this place is your work? I’m very impressed.”
She couldn’t miss his artistry as she looked down at the structure built in such a way she couldn’t distinguish the old from the new.
“The resort is set to open in another month once the decorators have finished their gig inside. Working this place landed me a contract in Peru to pull off something similar with a nineteenth-century structure. It’ll need expansion as well as renovation.” He shook his head. “Enough about work. We’re here to relax, alone up here where no one can see us and no one will dare interrupt. Now it’s time for the real reason I brought you.”
Jonah turned her to the right along the corner for even more canyon panorama and, just to her side…
Rippling water slipped off the edge of the building, somehow disappearing. She pivoted to find a rooftop pool, but unlike any she’d ever seen before. It stretched off the end of the building and seemed to blend into the horizon.
“Jonah?”
“It’s an infinity pool,” he announced.
It was magnificent. “Infinity pool. That makes sense in theory—” given the way it blended into the canyon view “—but I don’t understand how.”
Her feet drew her closer to the clear waters swirling over the blue tiles, sunlight sparkling diamondlike dots along the surface. The romanticism reached to her heart already softened by a night spent in Jonah’s arms.
Even now, she could feel her body reacting to just his presence, the knowledge that she could have him right now and indulge herself in everything he had to offer. And he did offer her so very much on so many levels.
Eloisa reached for his hand, listening to his explanation and letting herself dream. Maybe, just maybe her instincts had been right that all they needed was more time.
Jonah linked his fingers more firmly in hers. “The pool is architecturally designed with the edge smoothed out until it seems to extend forever, blending into the horizon. Some call it a negative edge. A side is built slightly lower with a catch basin that pumps water back into the pool.”
“That sounds extremely complicated.” She didn’t have to be an architect to tell this required incredible talent and expertise. She imagined the least miscalculation during construction could crumble the cliff. Much like the delicate balance and attention to detail needed in building a relationship. “Tell me more.”
“An infinity pool can be built on a rooftop or into the side of a mountain or right against a larger body of water.” He stretched a hand toward the horizon. “The effect is the same. While you float and stare out, boundaries disappear.”
“Possibilities are limitless.” That sounded good in theory, but felt scary for a woman who found comfort and safety in the cool confines of her dimly lit library stacks. She would take it one deep breath at a time, because the thought of turning back scared her even more than standing here at the precipice.
His arm dropped to his side. “There’s an infinity pool in Hong Kong on the roof of a hotel that’s the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen.” He squeezed her fingers. “Wanna go?”
“What? Now?” Startled by his abrupt offer, she backed away a step, instinctively craving the safety of even a few inches away from wide-open abandon. “We just got to Texas. I’m still soaking everything in.”
“But you want to go.”
Did she? Could she just drop everything at his whim and see the world?
“I think so, maybe,” she said to the adventure. To him. This didn’t seem the place for stark realities and secrets. It was the ultimate place to lose yourself. Here, she didn’t have to worry about what it meant to be a Medina or a Landis. “For a short time perhaps, but—”
“Quit thinking about afterward. Enjoy the now, here at the edge of a canyon. Take a risk, librarian lady.”
She bristled instinctively. “Who says there’s anything wrong with being a librarian in Pensacola, Florida?”
He tugged her closer to him, his hand soothing along her waist. “I never said there was anything wrong with your profession. I’m just offering you the chance to experience the books. You can have it all.”
Stark realities intruded all the same, memories of her mother, memories of her own, even glimpses of her father’s pain-filled eyes. Consequences for stepping out of her safety zone could be huge. “They killed my father’s wife, you know. They assassinated her while trying to get to him.” She looked into his eyes for answers, for reassurance. “Doesn’t your family worry about that kind of lurking threat? Your father may have died in a car wreck, but you had to be aware of danger at an early age.”
God knows, she had worried for her mother. And in the darkest, quietest times of night, she even worried for herself.
The wind lifted Jonah’s hair and flapped the edges of his sports coat. “I hear you, and yes, my family has lived with the reality of possible kidnappings and bribes and threats because of political stands. It’s not fair, but that's how things are even if we gave away the money and left the public scene tomorrow. No one would believe we didn’t have something hidden somewhere. The influence remains and we have a responsibility to use it wisely.” He cupped her face in his sun-warmed hands. “You can’t live your life dictated by fears.”
She pulled out of his arms. Leaning against, leaning on him would be too easy.
“Tell that to Enrique Medina.” Her chest went tight. How much longer did her father have left? “He’s spent nearly three decades hidden away from the world, living out his life.”
“If I knew where he was, I would tell him face-to-face.”
“I thought you would have learned that when you found me.” Maybe she’d hoped he knew so she wouldn’t have to make the choice to search. Jonah would know, blindfold her and take her there. And only now did she realize she’d hoped he would do just that today. Good Lord, she was a coward.
“Medina keeps his secrets well.”
“I guess he does.” As did his daughter. Guilt pinched over what she should explain to Jonah.
He drew her to his side again. “What do you think he wants to talk to you about?”
“I have absolutely no idea. Probably just to say goodbye, which I should probably go along with. It sounds simple enough. Except I have this sense that if I step into his world, I will have made an irrevocable change.” She blinked back tears until they welled back up inside her soul. She tipped her head up to look at him. “Jonah, we should talk.”
He thumbed under her eye, swiping away dampness that must have leaked anyway. “I think we’ve done enough talking for one day.”
She wanted to agree, reminding herself of her resolve to wait until she was sure he would stay before risking the pain that would come from sharing all. Still, her conscience whispered. “Seriously, Jonah, I need to tell you—”
“Seriously, stop arguing. We can talk about whatever you want later.” He slid his other arm around her and pulled her flush against him again, rekindling the desire that had been barely banked all afternoon. “Right now, I want to make love with you in this pool while we look out at infinity.”
Infinity.
Forever.
They could have it all. She could have the time to tell him the things that needed explaining. The possibilities truly seemed as limitless of the edge of that pool reclaiming and holding everything in an endless cycle.
Jonah kissed her and she allowed herself to hope.
Jonah hauled Eloisa closer, sensing something shifting inside her, tension flowing from her in a tide as tangible as the infinity pool streaming away. He didn’t know what exactly brought about the change, but he wasn’t one to argue when it brought her warm and willing into his arms.
“Inside,” she whispered, “to your suite.”
“Here,” he answered. “We’re alone. No one can see us, of that I’m certain. I des
igned this patio with complete privacy in mind.”
Over the past few months, he’d tortured himself with fantasies of bringing her up here and baring her body to the sun. “Do you trust me?”
“I can’t think of anything more exciting than making love to you out here in the open.” Her arms slid around his neck, her fingers in his hair. “I want to trust you.”
He noticed wanting to trust wasn’t the same as giving trust, but still a step in the right direction. And since he had her in his arms, ready to have sex outdoors? No way in hell did he intend to dwell on semantics.
Eloisa slid his sports coat from his shoulders, his shirt open at the collar, no tie to bother with removing. Backing him toward the double lounger beside the pool, she toyed with one button at a time, unveiling his chest until the shirt whipped behind him in the wind.
Smiling, Jonah shook his head no and danced her toward the pool instead. Her eyes widened momentarily before she grinned in return. Eloisa kicked off her sandals and trailed a toe in the water.
Her sigh of pleasure left him throbbing against his zipper damn near painfully. But soon…so soon…
He toyed with the tie behind her neck holding her halter dress in place. A simple tug set it free and falling away to reveal her breasts to the sun. He nudged the fabric down around and past her waist to pool at her feet. She kicked it away behind her, their clothes littering the stone tiles, lifting on the wind and catching on the furniture.
Eloisa glanced over her shoulder with a flicker of concern. He guided her face back toward him again. “To hell with the clothes. We brought suitcases. I’ll buy you more.”
“In that case…” She unbuckled his belt, slipped it free and flung it out into the canyon, with a flick and a snap.
Her uninhibited laughter rode the wind along with the rest of their clothes and his shoes until they stood bare in the open together. Her breasts brushed his chest as she took him in her hand and stroked until he worked to keep his feet steady under him.
The Tycoon Takes a Wife Page 10
