The Tycoon's Marriage Bid

by ALLISON LEIGH,

  ‘You didn’t say anything about wanting me to marry you if I did!’

  He shrugged, unperturbed. ‘So? I want you to be my wife.’

  Was this to be her punishment, then? For one night when her weakness had sent her into the wrong man’s bed? To hear the words that she’d dreamed of, when there was no possible way she could accept?

  She shook her head. ‘No. You can’t. You don’t understand.’

  If there was one thing she should have known about Alexander Reed, it was that the man had the persistence of ten. And the patience of twenty, when it suited him. ‘I understand plenty. Admit it, Nik.

  We’re incredible together.’

  ‘Because we have’ she steeled herself ‘ good sex?’ They hadn’t even been able to complete that particular act.

  If they had, she probably would have died from pleasure.

  The thought taunted her.

  ‘I generally have good sex with women,’ he allowed, his lips tightening a little. ‘That’s not all that happens between us, and you know it. It makes so much sense. I can’t believe I didn’t see it sooner. Why the hell it hit me so hard when you left. Why it felt like everything started unraveling.’

  ‘Because I wasn’t sitting at my desk outside your office?’

  ‘Because you weren’t in my life,’ he corrected steadily. ‘I’m asking you to marry me here, Nik, not come back to work for me.’

  One was as impossible as the other. ‘I can’t.’

  He still wouldn’t release her hands. ‘Yes, you can. All you have to do is say yes.’

  ‘It’s not that simple!’

  ‘Yes. It is. Look. I know I’m a lot older than you are. But’

  ‘I don’t care about your age.’ Her throat ached. If she said yes, she’d spend the rest of her life living a lie. And she couldn’t do that to either one of them. ‘And it isn’t simple. Just accept the fact that I cannot marry you!’ Her voice broke. She finally yanked her hands free and started to slide off the couch.

  But he didn’t move out of her way. He merely looked at her for a long moment, the muscle in his jaw flexing, the expression in his dark eyes unreadable. ‘Because Hunter is the father of your baby?’

  She blinked, trying to bring the world back in focus as fresh shock sucked greedily at her. ‘What?’

  ‘Is he?’

  She felt nauseated. How could she have been naïve enough to believe Hunter wouldn’t have tipped off Alex? ‘That’s why you came to Lucius? My God. I’m such an idiot. Of course you’

  ‘I didn’t even know you were pregnant before I came to Lucius. But I’m right. Aren’t I. He’s the baby’s father. He was in Cheyenne at the right time. As soon as I saw the calendar, I remembered. You were in the bar at the Echelon with a few of the women from the clinic. They go for happy hour most every Friday, but you never joined them. That evening, you did. It was the same day Hunt came to the office. He left after arguing with Val. Because for once in her life, she was actually sticking to her guns about not returning to Philadelphia and he was pissed. So he went to the bar. Met you. And a month later you quit. It’s no coincidence. Hunt’s’

  ‘Nothing,’ she interrupted, her voice raw. ‘My baby has no father. Hunter contributed some genes, and that is all he did.’

  ‘Do you love him?’

  She gaped. ‘What? No!’

  ‘Then I don’t see why you’re letting him prevent you from being my wife.’

  She raked back her hair. ‘But you don’t love me. Do you?’ She realized she was actually waiting waiting! for him to say the words.

  And that was the biggest fantasy of all.

  ‘Of course you don’t.’ Her mind ticked along as furiously as her heart clenched. She finally managed to scramble past him and rise, only to regret it because her legs were shaking. ‘This isn’t about me at all, is it? This is about the baby. Just like Valerie said. This is a mess for you to clean up.’

  ‘This isn’t about the baby!’

  Something inside her snapped. ‘Everything’s been about the baby.’ She wasn’t going to cry. She was not. ‘And if it wasn’t about the baby, it was about my job! It was never about me, Alex. Not once. And I I was stupid enough to think you we’

  ‘It’s always been about you.’ His voice rose. ‘Why the hell do you think I wanted you back so badly?

  Because I couldn’t find someone I trusted enough to take a meeting for me? I have two thousand employees across the United States, Nikki. Of all people, you should know that if I really wanted to replace you, I could have!’

  Tears burned her eyes. ‘And if I weren’t pregnant? Would you have come to this conclusion if I weren’t pregnant?’ She waited, shaking, knowing that he’d have no answer to fill the silence. ‘Of course not.’ Her words were barely audible.

  He stood across from her, separated by the width of the mirrored coffee table, his hands on his hips, his lips tight. ‘So, I’m damned no matter what,’ he concluded. ‘Because you are pregnant. Yet if you hadn’t been, you wouldn’t have collapsed and I wouldn’t have come here in the first place and realized what I do want.’

  Her knees finally gave up and she sank down on the arm of the couch. The leather creaked, a sound so cozy and comfortable that it seemed to make the ache inside her even worse.

  ‘If you’re worried that you won’t get to see the baby, don’t be.’

  ‘Would you forget about the baby for a minute?’ His teeth practically snapped off each word.

  She pressed her palm against her belly, feeling a hard thump from the baby in question. ‘How, Alex?

  How do I do that?’

  He exhaled sharply, shoving his hands through his hair, making the short waves stand in spikes. ‘I don’t know. How do I convince you of something I have no way of proving?’

  ‘There’s nothing to prove.’

  ‘Isn’t there?’

  The impasse existed between them, as alive and present as the baby anxiously moving inside her.

  ‘How does Hunt figure into this?’

  She wanted to weep. ‘I’ve told you. He doesn’t!’

  ‘You slept with him. Of all the women I know, you’re the least likely to indulge in casual sex.’

  His voice was tight, but matter-of-fact, and it sent her flying off the edge. ‘It was fifteen minutes and the biggest mistake of my life!’

  ‘Then why?’

  ‘Because I couldn’t have you!’ Her breath was clawing at her lungs. Humiliation threatened to swamp her. She turned, wanting only to get away from him, from the deep foolishness of her own actions, and nearly fell face-first into the empty tub.

  Alex caught her as she struggled for balance, and inserted himself between her and the danger. ‘You have to be careful.’

  She burst into tears.

  He swore and lifted her off her feet.

  ‘I don’t need to be carried.’ The words hiccuped out of her.

  ‘Shut up.’ He rounded the couch and went into the bedroom, settling her in the center of the bed.

  She rolled away from him, but he came down after her, halting her movements by clamping one of his legs over hers and dragging her half-beneath him.

  ‘Be still.’

  She went still. Not because of his autocratic order, but because of the obvious part of him pressed against her hip that told her he wasn’t only furious.

  He was aroused.

  ‘Yeah,’ he said gruffly. ‘It’s a problem, what you do to me.’

  She looked away, closing her eyes. Tears burned beneath her lids, but her trembling didn’t come from the tears. It was because of him.

  Everything was because of him.

  He sighed mightily, a man on the edge of his patience. ‘Nothing about this situation is perfect,’ he finally said slowly. ‘But it’s what we’ve got. What does it matter how we got to this point? I want you with me. Your baby deserves a father. We could be good together, Nikki, and you know it. Just because you’re afraid doesn’t mean’

  Her
head whipped around. ‘I’m not afraid of anything!’ Fine words. If only they were true.

  ‘Then prove it.’

  Her lips parted. She barely realized her tears had stopped. ‘Prove that I’m not afraid by agreeing to marry someone who doesn’t love me? Marriage is surely hard enough without having such low expectations.’

  ‘Do you love me?’ he demanded swiftly. ‘No. You’re still in love with a kid who died years ago!’

  ‘I am’ Realizing her mistake the moment the words flew out of her lips, she broke off.

  His expression softened a little, though he couldn’t possibly have known the confession she’d been about to make. ‘Marry me, Nikki,’ he said quietly. ‘Forget about the past for now. Forget about my cousin and let me take care of you and your baby.’

  Temptation was too quick to flood her veins. She actually hesitated. Had to force the words past her lips. ‘It wouldn’t be right.’

  He lifted a hand and slowly drew her hair away from where it clung to her wet cheek. ‘Why not?’

  ‘I ’ She couldn’t form the words that would explain why not. Couldn’t seem to form a coherent sentence, for that matter.

  Not when he was looking at her with those chocolate-brown eyes, so steadily. So Alex.

  But not quite the Alex she thought she’d known.

  Which one was real?

  The workaholic CEO?

  The jean-clad man who sat on a bed and ate apples and peanut butter, and who ordered up a sleigh ride simply to please her?

  ‘I don’t know what to do. I’ve always known what to do.’

  ‘Don’t think with your head. Lead from your heart.’

  ‘Those don’t sound like words you’d ever follow.’ His lips twisted a little. He stroked her hair back from her face, smoothing it over the velvet spread. ‘First time I followed my heart, I founded Huffington.’

  She was weakening. She could feel it inside of her an inviting fissure that yawned wider and wider, enticing all the sensible reasons why she should not weaken to fall right in and dissolve. ‘If that was the first time, was there a second?’

  His lids lowered a little, which seemed to make the appeal of his dark eyes even more concentrated.

  More heady. ‘Staying here with you.’

  Her throat tightened. ‘Don’t tell me things that aren’t true, Alex. I can’t bear it.’

  ‘I’ve never lied to you, Nikki. Not when you worked for me. Not now. Not ever.’

  And that was the thing. Alex wasn’t a liar. He wasn’t manipulative. He was just Alex.

  His large palm cradled her head. His thumb smoothed from her temple down her cheek, taking away the remains of her tears. He lowered his head, his eyes still locked on hers. ‘Marry me.’

  The baby moved in a long, lazy flutter.

  Alex’s gaze finally left hers. He looked down to where he was half covering her, and she realized he must have felt the baby’s movement, too.

  His hand left her head and he pressed it flat against her belly, fingers splayed, encompassing and warm.

  A moment later, the baby moved again, directly beneath his palm. ‘Amazing.’ His voice was soft.

  Awed.

  The fissure expanded, cracking wide open.

  ‘All right,’ she whispered. ‘Yes. I’ll marry you.’

  Chapter Fourteen

  ‘Home sweet home,’ Alex said when Nikki unlocked the front door of her town house in Cheyenne.

  She looked at him over her shoulder and smiled. She’d been hiding the tangle of nerves inside her for almost a week, ever since he’d proposed and she’d accepted. Particularly since her appointment with Dr.

  Carmichael that very morning, when he’d pronounced her fit and well enough to travel home.

  A whole four days earlier than he’d originally predicted.

  ‘I still advise you to be somewhat cautious with your diet and activities, but for the most part, you can get your life back to normal,’ he’d said, and his eyes had been amused, since he’d obviously been referring to the more intimate variety of ‘normal,’ about which it appeared both she and Alex had separately questioned him.

  Alex, of course, had immediately arranged a charter flight home at the news that she was well enough to travel.

  She hadn’t been surprised.

  Yes, she’d agreed to marry him, but she still needed to be practical about matters. He’d taken too much time away from Huffington because of her. Naturally, he’d wanted to return immediately. He’d made a good dozen phone calls before their arrival. She’d only made one. To Belle, to let her know they were coming home.

  Now Alex ran his hands from her shoulders down her arms. ‘You okay?’

  Again, she nodded. Managed a smile. She couldn’t afford to kid herself that, back on his regular turf, he would continue focusing his considerable attention solely on her. ‘Just a little tired.’

  ‘I’ll bet.’ He leaned past her, pushing the door wider. ‘Get inside. It’s cold.’

  She let him hustle her through the door.

  Everything about the town house from the narrow entry table with its matching antique buffet lamps, to the slightly dusty cherrywood dining table at the opposite end felt entirely unfamiliar.

  ‘Smells a little musty in here.’ Alex set down her suitcase. ‘Need to crack open a window or two.’

  He was right, of course. The home she’d been able to purchase because of the very reasonable salary she’d once earned from him didn’t smell bad, it just smelled as if it had been left abandoned for too long.

  She dropped her keys in the little glass bowl she kept on the entry table for just that purpose, and ignored the cardboard box filled with mail that her neighbor had obviously continued bringing in for her, even when she hadn’t returned home after that first week away.

  ‘You can just leave the suitcase here,’ she told Alex. But he was already moving past her, heading straight for the open staircase that led up to her bedroom, as if he knew exactly where it would be even though he’d never once stepped foot in her home.

  She walked to the kitchen. The plants in the greenhouse window over the sink were in desperate need of water, and she mindlessly pulled out her small watering can, shoved it under the faucet and flipped on the water.

  ‘You’ve got a nice place.’ Alex walked up behind her, looping his hands around her waist. ‘Decorate it yourself?’

  She carefully shut off the water, trying to ignore how utterly good it felt to be touched by him. ‘Yes.

  That’s what those magazines I used to read on my lunch hour were for.’ She lifted the watering can and leaned forward a little to reach the plants.

  His hands tightened on her hips and she realized too late the error of her ways. Leaning forward to water the plants had only succeeded in nudging her rear back against him.

  ‘Gotta love those plants,’ he murmured, taking full advantage of her strategic misstep. His palms slipped boldly beneath her top, cradling her belly for a heart-breaking moment before they moved upward, arrowing straight for her breasts.

  She trembled and water splashed on the window, pouring onto the pretty tiled surface instead of the parched plants. She quickly set the watering can down, her hands closing desperately over the edge of the sink before her knees simply dissolved. ‘Alex ’

  His devilish fingers danced over her bra, then slid away. He pulled his hands from beneath her sweater, leaving her feeling contrarily bereft. He squeezed her shoulders, then brushed her hair away from the nape of her neck and kissed her there.

  She nearly bit her tongue.

  ‘I know you’re tired,’ he murmured, lifting his head and sliding his arms around her, tugging her back against him. ‘You need food. Rest.’

  She stared blindly out the window.

  ‘A night in your own bed.’ His deep voice dropped even further. ‘If you want it to be alone tonight, Nikki, just say so.’ His hands ran down her arms until they covered her white knuckles. ‘I do have some control. We’ll have ple
nty of time to be together.’

  Together. Her eyes burned. From disbelief or relief that they’d have that time?

  She still wasn’t sure.

  She turned in his arms, sliding her hands behind his neck. ‘And I don’t seem to have any control,’ she admitted, her voice husky.

  He inhaled slowly. Exhaled even more slowly. ‘Now?’ ‘Yes.’ Her head spun a little. ‘Upstairs. My bedroom.’

  He lifted her off her feet until their mouths were level. ‘Wrap your legs around my waist.’

  She obeyed.

  He turned and walked out of the kitchen. Strode to the stairs. Took them easily, despite her weight, and went straight into her bedroom and placed her oh-so-deliberately in the center of her pristine, white, goose-down comforter. Then he straightened and pulled his sweater over his head, tossing it aside.

  Nikki’s mouth went dry. Her heart climbed up into her throat. He was so impossibly beautiful to her.

  He pulled off his boots, straightened yet again and undid the top button on his jeans. She pushed herself up on her elbows, vaguely shocked at her own avid attention as he popped free the second button on his fly. ‘Hurry up,’ she whispered.

  ‘No. This time I set the rules, remember?’

  How could she forget? His promise had been circling inside her head for days .

  But when he reached the third button, they both went still as a chime rang through the town house.

  ‘Is that’

  ‘My doorbell.’ She swallowed. Alex’s distinctive silver BMW had been waiting for them in the executive lot at the airport when their chartered flight had landed. It now was parked at the curb in front of her town house. ‘Whoever it is will go away.’

  But the chime came again, demanding. And she frowned, sitting bolt upright when they heard the sound of her front door opening.

  ‘Nikki? Honey, where are you?’