A smile bloomed on her lips. “You really do want that baklava recipe, don’t you?”
He took his cue from her tone. “Hey, if I have to sleep with the head honcho.” He ran the tip of his finger along her lips and enjoyed the way she shivered. It went right through him. “It’s a sacrifice I’m prepared to make.”
“You still haven’t told me…” She wasn’t going to beg to hear the words. But until she did, she couldn’t accept. “Things.”
“What things? That I love you?” He shook his head. “Hell, I thought that would be self-evident by now. Maybe I didn’t realize it was happening while it was happening, but that didn’t stop it from happening.”
His tongue was getting twisted again. The only way to make her understand was to bare his soul. It took Jared a moment to work up the courage.
“I was in love once and I swore I’d never give another woman that kind of power over me. Where it would feel as if my heart had been ripped out and thrown through a plate-glass window if she left. But I never counted on meeting someone like you. Someone who reminded me about all the things I’d gotten away from. Treating people as if they were people and not just extensions of business propositions. Having time for my daughter, no matter how hectic the day was. Finding the time to kibitz at a never-ending chess game. Smelling the flowers.” He smiled at her. “That’s the part I liked best. Do you know your hair smells like flowers?”
She liked that, liked hearing him say sweet things to her. “And the rest of me?”
“Like baklava.” The answer required no thought at all on his part. “And I have developed such a sweet tooth for baklava.”
“Never mind the snow job.” He was just trying to get her mind off what she’d asked him to say in the first place. “If you want an answer, you’re going to have to say it.”
“Say what?” he asked innocently. And when she punched him, he could only laugh. “Oh, you mean ‘I love you’?”
Demi refused to give him the satisfaction of playing along. Instead, she just looked up at the ceiling as if she hadn’t heard a single word.
The next second, he was pulling her down onto the sofa. Demi found herself pinned beneath him. His eyes were laughing at her.
She squirmed and only belatedly realized that she was just adding to the problem. “What are you doing?”
He laced his hands through hers, holding them over her head. It seemed safer that way. “Just making sure you don’t laugh in my face and run off after I tell you.”
She played it his way. “Tell me what?”
“I love you.”
He said it so softly, she knew it wasn’t an answer to her question. He was telling her what was in his heart.
“I love your stubbornness and the way that silly little chin of yours sticks out every time you think you’re being challenged. I love the way you look with flour on your cheeks and dabs of honey on your fingers that I can lick off.” As if to illustrate, he brought her hand to his lips and then slowly, one by one, drew each of her fingers into his mouth, suckling gently.
Demi squirmed again, unable to help herself.
“I love the way your eyes begin to drift shut when you respond to me. I love the fact that you care about people even if it’s not practical or expedient. I love you,” he repeated with feeling. When she said nothing in reply, he looked at her. “Well?”
Suppressing a smile, she cocked her head. “Well, what?”
All right, he’d let her have her fun. “How do you feel about me?”
“You’re okay,” she tossed off indifferently.
He took his revenge by tickling her mercilessly. Demi wiggled and tried to get away, but couldn’t. He was too strong for her to shrug off.
“Stop,” she begged. “All right, all right, I give in. You’re better than okay.” The laughter left, and a sweetness took its place. A sweetness ushered in by a feeling of utter contentment. “Better than I could have possibly ever hoped for. I love you, Jared.”
That was more like it. “I can live with that.” He shifted his weight so that his body no longer pinned her down. Jared looked into her face, into her eyes, searching for something that would give him his answer. “So, what do you say? Will you marry me, Demi?”
It wasn’t a dream. He was asking her, really asking her. “You know, Panetta, I have to hand it to you. You finally came through with an offer I can’t refuse.”
He grinned. “It’s about time.”
“Yes,” she agreed, bringing his mouth down to hers. “It is.”
Epilogue
Jared wasn’t quite sure if it was the anisette or love that was responsible for this exuberant, heady feeling rushing through his veins.
Probably a little bit of both, he decided as he looked around the crowded restaurant. The sign on the door outside said Closed For Private Celebration.
It didn’t look very private on this side of the door, he mused with a grin. The music from the band swelled as he danced with the most beautiful woman in the room. The woman he had, just one short hour ago, promised to love and cherish until his dying breath. And beyond that if he could manage it.
Jared inclined his head, bringing his mouth next to Demi’s ear. “You really know all these people?”
Out of the corner of his eye he saw Theresa dancing with her new great-grandfather. His daughter looked as if she were in seventh heaven. Join the club, honey. Theo showed absolutely no signs of being tired, though this was their third dance. There were some amazing genes in this family.
“Every last one,” Demi assured him. From where she was, she could see her mother beaming at her. Antoinette’s feeling of triumph mingled with a touch of relief radiated clear across the room. “Except for your friends,” she admitted, “and I intend to get to know them before the night is out.”
He laughed and shook his head. “If I return the favor, we’ll have to wait until the year is out.”
Her eyes glinted wickedly. “I don’t think I can wait that long.”
Jared laughed, pulling her closer. “I love it when you talk dirty.”
The clinking sound of a knife rhythmically striking the side of a glass penetrated above the music. Someone else wanted to see them kiss, a task that Jared thought he was bearing up to manfully, though he had lost count by the eleventh time.
He looked around, but the source of the sound was lost to him. “Are there a lot of voyeurs in your circle of friends?”
She tried to look perfectly serious. “Just the usual amount.”
He wasn’t sure if she was putting him on. “Do you think they’re trying for some kind of record?”
“Everyone should have a goal in life.” She grinned just before he kissed her.
Never, she thought. She was never going to get so used to his kiss that she could take it for granted. He was always going to make her head spin, her blood rush.
Demi savored the flavor of his lips a second before saying, “You know what’s great about all this?”
You, he thought. “What?”
Her brother caught her eye. Guy winked at her, obviously pleased that she’d found someone to make her life as happy as Nancy made his. Married, she was married, Demi thought. Wow. She took a long breath, as if drawing the atmosphere deep into her lungs. “Everything.”
Jared couldn’t argue with that. He just had something to add. “I was going to answer that it’s the beginning of a wonderful life together.”
She smiled into his eyes, so content she thought she could hardly stand it. “Yes, there’s that, too.”
The clinking, sharp and urgent, began again. When she looked around to see who was responsible this time, she saw that it was Theo. He’d interrupted his dance to take his turn at the ritual. Bless him. ”Looks like Theo has a request of his new grandson.”
Looking over toward the man, Jared saw Theo silently urging him on with very expressive hand gestures. He knew he’d always liked that old man. “Can’t disappoint the head of the family.”
Sh
e nodded solemnly, offering her mouth up to his. “Wouldn’t be right.”
And, Jared thought, his lips meeting hers, he always made a point of doing what was right whenever possible.
* * * * *
eISBN: 978-14592-6716-9
THE OFFER SHE COULDN’T REFUSE
Copyright © 1998 by Marie Rydzynski-Ferrarella
All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the editorial office, Silhouette Books. 300 East 42nd Street, New York, NY 10017 U.S.A.
All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention.
This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
® and TM are trademarks of Harlequin Books S.A., used under license. Trademarks indicated with ® are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the Canadian Trade Marks Office and in other countries.
Printed in U.S.A.
Table of Contents
Cover Page
Table of Contents
Excerpt
Dear Reader
Dedication
Dearest Reader
Books by Marie Ferrarella
Books by Marie Ferrarella writing as Marie Nicole
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Epilogue
Copyright
The Offer She Couldn't Refuse Page 14
