The Way You Love Me

by Unknown

  “The Carrington Estate is beautiful and perfect, Paige.” Mrs. Albright’s eyes remained red, but the hopelessness in them had been replaced with happiness. “I don’t think I’ve been back for an event since your debut.”

  “Then it will be a night to remember for both of you,” Shane commented, enjoying their happiness.

  “Shane, you can drop me off at the house,” Mrs. Albright told him. “If you need any more help, Paige, call me.”

  “I’m going to take you up on it.” Paige turned around in the seat to look at her mother. “In the meantime, I think I’ll give up the hotel room and come home.”

  Her mother’s smile wobbled. “I’d like that.”

  It occurred to me too late that I should have kept this place,” Paige said, moments after they entered her hotel suite. The curtains remained open, giving a beautiful view of Atlanta by night. The maid had turned down the king-sized bed. Swiss chocolates were on the pillow.

  Shane’s arms curved around her, kissed her upturned chin, her waiting lips. “I won’t lie and say it didn’t cross my mind, but your mother needs to know that you and she are all right.”

  Sighing, she placed her head on his chest. How she’d missed this, missed him. “We might not have been if not for you. You have a way of making complicated things seem simple.”

  “Old age,” he bantered.

  Chuckling, Paige lifted her head. “I think we had this discussion before. It went like this.” Pulling his head down, she kissed him deeply, holding nothing back. As she watched him slip on those tiny bows with his long-fingered hands, she’d decided he was worth the risk. No matter what, he was there for her, and he did it willingly. She wasn’t going to be a coward ever again.

  He held her just right, kissed her as if she were his salvation. She knew he was hers.

  Her hands tugged out his shirt. She wanted to feel his warm, supple skin beneath her fingertips, excite him as he excited her.

  “Paige,” he moaned, his hands cupping her hips against his hard masculinity. “Maybe you shouldn’t do that.” “

  She laughed, a sexy, throaty sound. In Shane’s arms, his mouth and hands on her, she felt powerful and all woman. “I disagree. I missed you. Missed this.” She nipped his earlobe, felt his shudder, his hands clench.

  Helpless, she arched against him, powerless to do anything else. His desire didn’t frighten her, it pleased her. She tucked her head.

  “What?” He lifted her head. His dark eyes stared down into hers.

  “I—”

  “Say it.”

  There was a command in his voice, made deeper by his passion, but the underlying gentleness and patience was also there. “I’m shameless with you.”

  His eyes, dark with desire, narrowed. “Do you regret it?”

  “No.”

  “I’m the same with you. I hear the water running in the bathroom and I imagine you stepping naked into the shower, the water flowing over your skin. I imagine I’m there with you, my mouth and hands caressing, pleasing you.” His forehead rested against hers. “You enter a room and I can’t get enough of just looking at you. Your laughter makes me wonder if you will be playful in bed or wild and untamed.”

  Her heart thudded, her breathing grew ragged, her hands fisted. “I want you and yet—”

  He kissed her on the mouth, the barest touch of his lips on hers. “When it’s time, you’ll know.” He stepped back. “I’ll grab the laptop and you can pack.”

  She picked up her suitcase from the closet. Instead of packing, she crossed the room to where he was unplugging her computer. “Why do you put up with me? Another wo—”

  He put his finger over her mouth, moving with that fluid quickness of his that stunned her into silence. “For me, there is no other woman.”

  The suitcase dropped from her hand. Her entire body trembled. “I—” She had to swallow and try again. “I’m going to hold you to that.”

  His thumb replaced his finger. He grazed her lower lip. “I figured you would.”

  “Well, I guess I better go pack.” Picking up the suitcase, she went to pack. Hot damn. She was Shane’s woman.

  Chapter 19

  Paige knew she should be working, but she just couldn’t concentrate. She’d turned on her computer when she arrived at work that morning, but little else.

  It was Shane’s fault, of course.

  Shane’s woman. She hadn’t been able to get his startling admission out of her mind. From the torrid kiss he’d given her last night before she’d gone into her room, and the one this morning after he walked her to her car in the garage, he had no plans to let her. Good, because, as she’d said, she planned to hold him to it.

  He grounded her, made her feel invincible. He might not be thinking of forever, but somehow she’d get him around to that. She refused to think otherwise.

  A brisk knock sounded on her door. “Come in.”

  The door opened and the last person on earth she’d have expected came in. “Hello, darling Paige,” Russell greeted.

  Her good mood evaporated. She straightened in her chair. “Russell, what are you doing here?”

  He quickly crossed the room and rounded her desk. She studied him with mild annoyance. “I had to see you,” he finally answered, grasping her hands before she could evade him.

  “But you’re supposed to be in Beijing until next week.”

  “I couldn’t stay.” His hands tightened in despair around hers. “I was no good during the negotiations so I came home. I had to be with you.”

  Paige could only stare. Russell, like her father, always believed in business first and always. “But the e-mail I sent—”

  “It doesn’t matter,” he told her, cutting her off. “You were reacting to my shameful e-mails. You’ll never know how much reading them the next day made me want to slit my own throat, knowing that they cost me the only woman I’ll ever love.”

  This time she pulled free. She wanted nothing from Russell, least of all his love. Even polite friendship was iffy. He’d crossed the line when he’d attacked Shane. “Russell, I’ve explained that I don’t feel the same way.”

  “Your father wanted us together,” he reminded her. “Doesn’t his last wish mean anything to you anymore?”

  Hurt and anger splintered through her. She shot to her feet. “How dare you say anything like that! I loved Father and you know it.”

  “Please forgive me, Paige.” Standing, looking distressed, he shook his head, paced away, then back. “This entire situation hasn’t been easy. I’ve loved you for so long. I thought if I was patient with you, you’d see we were right for each other and we’d unite our families as one.”

  “I’m sorry, Russell, but it can’t be the way you want,” she said.

  “Because of Elliott,” Russell retorted. “He’s turned your head, made you forget who you are and what plans we had. What plans your father had for us. Marshall would have been so proud of our getting married.”

  An ache started in her head. “Please, Russell.”

  He grasped her hands again, his face frantic. “I looked up to your father. Admired him. I was honored that he thought I was worthy to marry his daughter. We can’t let his last wishes go unheeded. It would be as if he hadn’t mattered. As if you’d forgotten him.”

  The office door opened and closed. “Get away from her,” Shane said tightly, crossing the room in ground-eating strides.

  Wide-eyed with fear, Russell released her hands, and quickly stepped away. “What would your father say if he knew you were dating a man who is taking advantage of your mother and making a laughingstock of you? He doesn’t even have a job.”

  Shane grabbed Russell’s silk tie, ignoring his frantic attempts to free himself. “Say another word and you’ll be spitting out teeth. Be thankful you’re in Paige’s office so you get a pass.” His grip unrelenting, he pulled Russell to the door. “Come back here or to her house at your own risk.” Opening the door, he released Russell, then closed the door and returned to P
aige.

  His heart lurched on seeing her pale face, her hands clenched tightly together. He’d seen Jackie when he’d arrived, and she’d told him Russell was in Paige’s office. “Don’t let his lies upset you.”

  “I loved my father,” she said softly, her voice filled with anguish.

  He was a cheating bastard, Shane thought, but he bit back the words. “But you can’t let that love decide how you’re going to live.”

  “But I can’t ignore it, either.”

  “The hell you can’t.” He took her arms, pulling her to him. “You pushed your way into my life. You’re not going to walk out of it again.”

  “Shane—”

  “No. If you want to honor your father’s memory, we’ll find another way, but you’re not going to sacrifice your life on a bastard like Russell.” His voice was sharper than she had ever heard.

  “Shane—”

  His mouth on hers stopped what she had been about to say. There was anger, a hint of desolation in the kiss that she would not have equated with a strong man like Shane. Deeply concerned, she sought to soothe him. She opened for him, kissing him as greedily as he kissed her. Her arms went around his neck to hold him, to freely give him whatever he needed from her. In doing so, she received as well—passion for a lifetime, pleasure only he could give her.

  His dark head lifted. She whimpered at the loss.

  Her eyes opened to find him staring down at her. She saw the worry in his face before he veiled his emotions. Her fingers traced the lines in his forehead. A smile trembled on her lips. “One day I’m going to win an argument.”

  He crushed her to him. “Where do you want to go for lunch?” He lifted her away, a wicked grin on his face. “Or we could order in. I give a mean foot massage.”

  “And I’d take you up on the last offer if it wouldn’t get us both in trouble.” She kissed him on the chin, then grabbed her purse.

  “How about tonight?”

  She thought of the oil Jackie had mentioned and grinned. “Only if I can return the favor one day, only a little higher up.”

  His dark eyes glinted. “I can’t wait.”

  Her office phone rang late Wednesday afternoon just as Paige opened her door to leave work. She groaned, debated whether or not to answer, then went to pick up the receiver. She hadn’t been able to get her massage that night or the following night because several of the volunteers hadn’t shown up to stuff the gift bags.

  She and Shane had spent the last few nights working at the estate instead of driving each other crazy with desire. With Gayle and her mother helping, they couldn’t even sneak a kiss or two. She’d promised herself that wouldn’t happen tonight, but with the ball three days away she couldn’t take a chance.

  Retracing her steps, she picked up the phone. “Hello, Paige Albright.”

  “Paige, I’m so glad I caught you.”

  Russell’s mother. Why hadn’t she looked at the caller ID? She didn’t want to speak to Tess any more than she wanted to speak to her son.

  “Paige?”

  “Tess, I was about to leave,” Paige finally said. “If this is about Russ—”

  “Of course it is!” she cried, her voice breaking. “He’s miserable without you. He loves you.”

  “Tess, I don’t mean to be rude, but this is none of your concern.”

  “I’m his mother. Of course it concerns me,” she said. “He’s lost. I’ve never seen him so despondent. You were his life.”

  Paige did not want to hear that. “Tess—”

  “How can you just abandon him?” she interrupted. “Russell has always been there for you, even more so after your father’s death. He helped you get through a difficult time.”

  Guilt that she had been trying not to feel nudged her. “I’m thankful, but it doesn’t change how I feel.”

  “It should,” she snapped. “Russell, not your mother’s houseguest, was there when you needed someone the most. Russell is the one your father wanted you to marry. You can’t have forgotten that.”

  As if you or Russell would let me, she thought. “I haven’t forgotten.”

  “You were always so sensible, Paige,” she went on to say. “Some women like that type of shiftless man, but your father wouldn’t have approved, and you know it.”

  The muscles of Paige’s stomach clenched. She didn’t want to think about what her father would have thought of Shane. “Tess, I don’t love Russell.”

  “Great marriages aren’t always built on love, but on other, more important considerations like being of the same social class, mutual respect, compatibility. You and Russell make the perfect couple.”

  “No, we don’t, and I refuse to marry a man I don’t love. I’m sorry, I have to go.”

  “Paige, please, just see him.” Her voice broke. “He’s miserable. You can’t do less to help him now that he needs you. He helped you.”

  “I’ll try to drop by,” Paige said, feeling trapped.

  “Oh, Paige. He’ll be so happy,” Tess told her. “Russell loves you so much.”

  Tired of saying she didn’t love him, Paige just said “Good-bye” and hung up. If Shane found out, he’d be livid. Pushing away from her desk, she retraced her steps, digging for her car keys. She saw the bottle of massage oil Jackie had given her. Was she woman enough to use it?

  She was happy now, but she knew how it felt to be lonely. Opening the door, she headed for the elevator. Everyone had gone home. She’d stayed to double-check with Charles, the valet service, and all the myriad other services hired to make the ball a success. Once she arrived home, she wanted her entire attention to be on Shane as his would be on her, not on the ball.

  In a matter of minutes she was in her car and exiting the garage. Her cell phone rang just as she pulled onto the street. She looked at the screen and smiled. “I’m on my way home.”

  “It’s almost dark,” Shane said. “Drive carefully.”

  “I will.” It was nice having a man worry about you.

  “Your mother went to dinner with friends.”

  Her body actually tingled. “I wish I could hurry, but traffic is almost at a standstill.”

  “You just drive carefully. Bye.”

  She inched up and stopped. “You think I’ll be distracted talking to you?”

  “I’m not taking a chance. Bye.”

  She chuckled. “Bye.” Disconnecting the call, she drummed her fingers on the steering wheel, wishing the traffic would speed up. She didn’t want to waste a moment.

  She glanced out the window and froze. Russell and a woman who looked oddly familiar were getting out of a cab in front of the Marriott Hotel. After paying the fare, he curved his hand around her waist and they entered. He was smiling. He certainly wasn’t the grieving man his mother had described.

  Traffic began to move. Instead of continuing, Paige put on her turn signal and pulled in behind the cab. Grabbing her purse, she didn’t wait for the valet but went to him, pulling a ten from her wallet. “I’m in a hurry.”

  “Sure.” Pocketing the money, he gave her a ticket.

  “Thanks.” Paige rushed into the hotel, careful to remain out of sight. Russell was at the registration desk. The woman sat in a chair near the elevator. Paige’s heart pounded as Russell left the desk and headed for the bank of elevators. The woman rose. When the doors opened, they got on together.

  Paige’s hands clenched. The desk clerk wouldn’t give her the room number, but she was friends with the head of the wait staff. Shane could get the information as well. She’d figured out that he’d traced her from the credit card she’d used to book her room. If she called him, he’d want to come. She wanted to do this on her own.

  “Room service.” Paige lowered her voice and knocked on the suite’s door.

  “That was fast,” Russell said, opening the door wearing a white hotel bathrobe, his bare legs sticking out from the terry-cloth bottom. His eyes rounded in shock, his mouth gaping.

  “Hello, Russell.” Paige stepped past him. Th
e woman she’d seen with him had on a white bathrobe as well. “I don’t think we’ve met.”

  The woman gasped, scrambled up and ran to the adjoining bedroom, slamming the door behind her. “I guess she’s shy.”

  “Paige, this, I—”

  She turned to him. “Your mother called and said you were brokenhearted over me. I’ll be sure to call her back and let her know you’re recovered. Good-bye.”

  “Paige, I . . . She’s just for—”

  “Don’t say it, Russell,” Paige snapped.

  “Men have needs,” he said, his voice pleading.

  “Real men like Shane control themselves,” she said.

  Russell’s eyes chilled. “He’s just playing you along. He’s a nothing. A nobody.”

  Paige got in his face. “He’s more man than you’ll ever “ be. He doesn’t take, he gives. Every time I’ve needed him, he’s been there. No excuses. I’d trust him with my life.”

  He sneered. “That’s a bit melodramatic.”

  “And beyond what a selfish liar like you can understand,” she said. “Everyone saw through you, but I trusted you, made excuses for you. No more. Now get out of my way before I do something we’ll both regret.”

  He moved aside. “He’s no better than I am.”

  “A snake is better than you are.” Head high, she walked out of the room.

  Shane was waiting for Paige when she pulled into the garage. She’d called him after leaving the hotel. Before the motor died, Shane opened the door. “You’re all right?”

  After unfastening her seat belt, Paige stood. “Why am I so angry? I didn’t love him.”

  Shane’s hands swept up and down her arms. Paige fumed. “But you trusted him.”

  “It wasn’t the first time,” she told him. “I remembered seeing her the day you arrived. She came off the elevator with Russell when I saw him earlier that day.” Paige frowned up at him. “I’d seen her before. I think it was in Father’s office building.”

  Shane didn’t want her going there. “It’s over.”

  Slowly she shook her head. “He made a fool out of me.”

  “No. He was the fool,” Shane said hotly. “Forget him and move on.”