Afraid to look into his eyes, she fiddled with the piles. “Do you want me to leave?” He didn’t answer. She lifted her head and met his gaze. Instead of the anger she’d expected to see, she saw pain. “I’m sorry. It’s just so hard sometimes.”
The pain on his face was replaced with compassion. “I was afraid of hurting you.” He shrugged. “I still am, but I’m older now. I can deal with my illness better. I even agreed to see my psychiatrist tomorrow.”
“Really?”
“Only if you come with me. Auntie Vic was right. We need each other.”
She glanced toward the window. She wanted freedom, but the world wanted to condemn her. The world didn’t want her, and she wouldn’t go where she wasn’t wanted. “I can’t go out there.”
“Then I’ll have him come to us. Will you do it?”
“I’ll do it.” She flicked a purple hexagon chip. “I need you to hear me out about something. Don’t comment.” Eyes closed, she inhaled and exhaled deeply. “I want to make love with you, but…” She lowered her head. “I know it’s vain of me, but I know you won’t be attracted to my body anymore.” She heard him starting to interrupt, so she covered her ears. “I can accept the world rejecting me because of my physical appearance.” Her mind’s eye filled with images of her father when he’d seen her bandages removed. “But if you…” Heart aching, her eyes filled with tears.
He drew her into his arms. “You’re worrying for nothing.”
“That’s easy for you to say. You’re beautiful.”
“Humph.” He chuckled. “According to Anna, I’m a beast.”
“That’s not all she called you,” she teased with less umph than usual.
“I’ll tell you what. I’ll turn the pressure down. I think we have other areas we need to worry about anyway.”
She gazed into his rich brown eyes. She couldn’t recall a time she didn’t want him in one way or another.
Brows creased, he held her face between his hands and repositioned her head as he examined her closely. “You’re wearing contacts! I knew something was up with your eyes.” He released her.
“It’s time for me to get back to the cellar.”
Before she could get away, he grabbed her arm. “You can’t go back down there until tomorrow.” He released her. “What kind of self-respecting water ninja runs away from a fight?”
“I just don’t feel like fighting is all.”
He bounced his finger at her. “That’s right! You had eye transplants.”
“Corneal transplants,” she corrected as she mixed the cream and orange octagons together. Before the attack, her eyes had been her favorite feature, because they allowed her to see the beauty in the world. Now they were just another source of pain. She couldn’t even bear to look at them. And like the rest of her scars, she covered them.
“Please drop this. Let’s talk about Dixon Textiles.”
“We will in a minute. Those contacts make your eyes glassy.” He squinted. “Are they colored?”
“If you can’t handle my contacts, how in the hell will you handle the scarring?” she snapped.
“If you think your little temper will scare me off, think again. You don’t have shit on me, baby girl. And my only problem with the contacts is they make your eyes look like marbles. How bad is your unaided eyesight now?”
“I have twenty-twenty vision. Now can we please change the subject?” Without care that she was jumbling the sorting they’d done, she forked a handful of chips into a plastic barrel the size of her two-liter Kool-Aid pitcher.
“No, not yet. Why are you wearing contacts?”
“If you must know, I draw enough attention to myself as it is.” Exasperated, she turned her back to him, took off her right glove, then gently pinched out one of her dark brown contacts. She faced him, but positioned her ungloved hand so he couldn’t see it. “These flat, dead eyes will make things worse.”
Mouth and eyes wide open, Bruce tapped under her left eye. “Take it out.”
She took out that contact also and placed them both in her jeans pocket. She had several more pair in the cellar. She put her glove back on. “Are you happy now?”
The surprise displayed on his face transformed to desire. “They’re more beautiful than I remember,” he said earnestly.
Anger miraculously transformed to delight, she threw a handful of chips at him. “You make me sick.”
“The next time I see you in contacts, I swear to God I’ll take them out myself. You’ve always had the most captivating eyes… I don’t know. I guess what they say about the eyes being a window to your soul is right.”
Half teasing and half serious, she wrapped her arms around herself. “Awww, that was so romantical, boo.”
“Romantical?”
She nodded coyly.
“Well, since I’m on a roll. That veil has to go also.”
All playing stopped. “I’m not removing my veil,” she said firmly.
“Fine, but why cover your mouth?”
“Bruce, it won’t look right if I have everything covered except my mouth.”
A deep belly laugh buckled him over into the stacks of chips. “I know you aren’t walking around here dressed like a Kung-Fu Theater reject saying something doesn’t look right.”
She lay down beside him and joined him in laughing. This had been a very trying day for her, yet extremely rewarding. Throwing a tantrum and playing like kids again had tapped into the innocence and peace she’d had as a child and rejuvenated her in a way. “I haven’t laughed this much in such a long time.” She turned to him. “Thank you.”
“Hey, what are friends for?” He faced her. Caught in each other’s gaze, he said, “I’m sorry about… about last night. I was acting like a real ass.”
“Oh, that was an act?”
“Ha, ha, very funny, water ninja,” he said dryly.
“It’s forgotten. We need to clean up this mess.” She sat up and dumped the mixed chips she’d put away, then started sorting again.
“Talking about messes. No more wrecking of rooms.” He sat up and helped with the chips. “At least not common rooms. You can tear your own room up all you want, but you are responsible for cleaning it.”
“So you destroy rooms often?” she asked.
“No.” He tossed a few chips at her. “Sometimes I go into rages, but I do it in here.” He motioned around. “You’ll notice that I don’t spend a lot of money on the furniture. I haven’t really had a fit in years. I have more control now, but I do go through at least one laptop a year.”
“They do toss well, don’t they?” she teased.
They both reached for the same chip. He rested his hand on hers. “Won’t you take off your gloves?”
Though she wanted to touch Bruce in the most intimate way, she wasn’t ready to even touch his hand skin-to-skin. She withdrew her hand. “Don’t you think you should try to control your temper?”
“If I’m not hurting anyone, why should I have to control myself in my own home? This suite is the one place I’m truly free.” He gently tapped her chin with his knuckle. “We are truly free. I shouldn’t have gone off in the study. We scared that new girl half to death, and Anna told me if I step out of line again, she’ll have me committed her damn self.” He hunched his shoulders and took on a cute innocent look, which Nefertiti knew better than to fall for. “For some reason, they think I’m corrupting you.”
Laughter erupted from her again.
He chuckled. “You’ve always been so easy to make laugh. I think there’s hope for you yet.”
As they sorted the chips and placed them in the barrels, Nefertiti stole several glances at Bruce and caught him doing the same toward her. Summer couldn’t come soon enough when she was a child. Yes, she’d loved and wanted to visit Victoria, but the real draw to Chicago had been Bruce. I could be such a pest. Why he had tolerated her acting like his shadow was beyond her. He’d had little patience for anyone else besides Victoria. Now here they were—all growed up�
��and she was still the pest he seemed to want to be pestered by. Heart warmed, she almost prayed for him to love her the same way she loved him. The only thing stopping her was she refused to delude herself. Enough issues were at her doorstep—no sense in creating new ones.
“You’re not actually going to put all of those people out of work are you?”
Head tilted to the side, he asked, “What people?”
“The hundred and fifty Dixon Textile workers.” They began setting the barrels on the reading table that was under the window.
“They are free to relocate to Asia.”
“Stop being a jerk. I’m serious.” She set the last two barrels on the table, then padded over to the bed and sat cross-legged.
“So am I.” The bed sank under his weight as he sat across from her.
“So you don’t care about them?”
“I’m not a social worker. I’m a businessman.”
“But that’s a hundred and fifty families that depend on the mill for their livelihood. Can’t you find another way?” How he could be so caring toward her and heartless to others was beyond her. Arms crossed over her chest, she stared him down.
“It’s not my responsibility to employ people too dumb to see their career choice is—has been moved oversees.”
“Dixon Textiles is a family business. The employees are a part of that family. ”
“Do you know how expensive it is to run a textile mill in this country?”
“No, but it’s making a profit, isn’t it?”
“Technically, yes, but barely,” he drawled out.
“You’re worth over a hundred million and that doesn’t count your business holdings, Bruce. How much money do you need?”
A broad grin stretched clean across his face. “The most! I have big plans for Dixon Textiles.”
“This isn’t right.”
“It’s business.”
Since choking him until he turned bluer than her clothes was not an option, she continued arguing her points. “Dixon Textiles is more than a mill. It’s the heart of the city. If you shut down the plant, the city dies.”
“You sound as bad as the whore they sicced on me this morning.”
Taken aback by his words and harshness, she flopped her hands on her hips. “What’s wrong with you? Yes, she was a little…” The word she wanted escaped her. “Just because she doesn’t agree with you doesn’t make her a whore.”
“Any woman who is willing to exchange sexual favors for goods or services is a whore in my book. She lost my respect when she turned from a competent businesswoman into a tramp. Don’t tell me you actually think she wants to talk business tomorrow.”
Jealousy combating common sense, Nefertiti couldn’t think about what Catherine had in store for Bruce. “She looked and sounded desperate. She’s trying to save the factory, save her family, the town.”
“Why is her way the only way, Nefertiti? Maybe she’s too close to see or admit Dixon Textiles is in serious trouble.”
Before she could answer, he hopped up from the bed and headed for his home office, which was an adjoining room. She didn’t agree with the seductress tactic Catherine had tried. Seeing an intelligent woman resort to such a degrading way of conducting business, appalled her. On the other hand, she understood Catherine’s willingness to fight with everything in her arsenal to maintain her way of life.
“I have big plans for the land the mill sits on.” He opened the door to his office. The brilliant white walls reflected the light. “It’s over two thousand acres of the most spectacular land I’ve ever seen.” The excitement in his voice rose with every word. “I’m talking lakes, woods, fields, a few cabins… It’s perfect!” He rounded the large antique red oak desk. “The interstate three miles away runs parallel to the western border. I’ve started purchasing land around the current site.”
She followed close behind him. It took a bit for her eyes to adjust to the brightness of the room. Unlike his sleeping quarters, his office was bright and inviting. “Then compromise. Use the land around the mill for whatever you want.” Seeing several of her paintings and sketches decorating the walls brought a smile to her face.
A topographical map of Dixon, Virginia, was spread out on his desk. He tapped on the lake within walking distance of the plant. “Check this out, water ninja.”
She leaned over the map for a closer view.
“Have you ever been to Virginia? It’s a beautiful state.” His hand gently stroked her back as he spoke and took her mind to other places. Sensual places and dreams that she wouldn’t dare dream. “And Dixon… All I can say is wow!”
The exuberance in his voice and his fingers’ play on her back almost made her forget the people he planned on putting out of work and the town he intended to ruin for a few dollars. She’d known he was hard, but she’d never seen him in action before. The reality of what he was capable of was quickly moving from her head to settle heavily in her heart.
“Did you hear what I said?” she asked. “Compromise. Use the land for your plans and let the mill stay open.”
“But I need the building also.”
“What are you up to, Bruce?” Usually, his smile warmed her, but at this moment, it was pissing her off. He was grinning bigger than a Cheshire cat at the thought of ruining a town’s livelihood.
“I thought you’d never ask. I’m turning Dixon Textiles into Dixon Resort.” Voice filled with the emotion of a child who’d received everything on his Christmas list, he explained how he would convert the mill and surrounding land into a resort. Nefertiti hated to admit it, but his plan to cater to the rich sounded like a winner.
He crossed his arms over his chest. “Early projections say we’ll need at least two hundred employees. And guess who I’m giving first chance at those positions?”
“The mill workers!” Nefertiti smiled so hard, she was sure he could see it through the veil. “I’m so sorry I doubted you.” Faith in him restored, she hugged him.
The devilish expression on his face suited his red pajamas perfectly. At any second, she expected him to sprout horns and a pointy tail. “So what do I get for being the good guy?” he asked huskily as he held her close.
“A clear conscience.”
“Cute.” He held her hands. “I want you to stop wearing gloves in the house. This is your home.”
She withdrew her hands and stepped away. “I’ve already agreed not to wear the contacts. In a few more seconds, you’ll want me naked.”
“Ummm, darling, I’ve wanted that since you were about fifteen.”
The gloves were hot and constraining, but were also an important part of her security blanket. The sound of Dennis cursing and rushing out of her hospital room after he saw her bruised and wounded body replayed vividly in Nefertiti’s mind. An hour before a nurse had checked on her and discovered Dennis’ vomit on the floor. The stench and a broken spirit were the only things Dennis had left her with. Tears filled her eyes.
“It’s all right, baby.” Bruce pulled her into his embrace. “Ignore me. I’m an asshole. Take them off when you’re ready, not when I’m ready.”
“I’m so tired. I’m always either crying or angry. I can’t live like this.”
“Humph, seems like you’ve been laughing quite a bit to me, water ninja.” He tapped her chin. “You just need something to think about besides your problems. Check this out.”
She expected him to release her and show her something, but he didn’t, and she was grateful. She longed for the protection of his loving embrace.
“The first floor of the mill is presently a huge open area with equipment and a few offices. Catherine may be a tad bit slutty, but she has a good business head on her shoulders. She had the second and third floors renovated into office space that Dixon Textiles rents out. The rental space helps keep the company in the black. I’m changing the upper floors into suites for the guests, and the first floor will be mainly your responsibility.”
“Me?” She pulled back. “I don’t kno
w anything about resorts.”
“The first floor will be for vendors. I’m talking arts, crafts, books, homemade jellies…”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa, almighty red one. How did I get nominated for this?”
“You’re the only person I know who can secure top rate vendors to fit my needs.”
“Yeah, right. You’re a successful businessman. You’ve gotten along fine without my assistance for years.”
“Come on. What else do you have to do besides feel sorry for yourself?”
Ice shards shot from her stone cold eyes at him.
“What?” he asked.
“You are such an insensitive asshole.”
“Yeah. And?”
She walked out with him close on her heels. Instead of going back through the door that connected to his sleeping quarters, she exited out of the door that led to the main hallway.
“Oh, so now you’re mad at me for stating the obvious.” He stepped in front of her.
“Excuse me, but I need time alone to feel sorry for myself.” She stepped around him and continued on her way. I’m not feeling sorry for myself. I’m getting used to my situation. She rounded the corner to the curved stairwell that led to the first floor. Why does everyone expect me to pretend my life hasn’t changed?
One of the cleaning crew stepped out of the study. Nefertiti stood still, having forgotten Victoria had hired a cleaning crew. She should have taken the back stairwell. Upon seeing Nefertiti, he cocked his head to the side, a dumbfounded look on his face, then rushed back into the study.
Glad the man hadn’t asked any questions, she quickly continued on her way. Just as she hit the bottom step, three more men, along with the first man, exited the study and stared. Again, Nefertiti froze. Instead of seeing the staring men, she saw the interns the doctors had paraded through her hospital room. The way the students gawked made her feel like the star attraction of a freak show. What hurt most of all happened when they removed the bandages after the reconstructive surgery. Her parents and Victoria had been there for the “unveiling.”
The sight of three of the four people she loved most in the world trying not to cry had been more than she could bear. She just thanked God Bruce hadn’t seen her. He’d said he wouldn’t mind her scars, but if her own father couldn’t look at her, how could any man?
Beauty and the Beast Page 5
