“Sebastian wants to offer me a more permanent position after I graduate and pass the bar exams.”
“That’s more than three years away. Things could change. For you. For us.”
“You’re right. They could. But I think it would be a good thing to shoot for, don’t you think?”
“Maybe.” He hasn’t quite gotten over his animosity toward Sebastian. Oh, he knows I’m not sleeping with Ravensworth as Gabriel calls him, but he still resents the time I spend at the office away from home. Well, in for a penny, in for a pound.
“He mentioned the New York office.”
He jerks up at that. “What about New York?”
“The head of legal there will be retiring in about five years’ time. If I play my cards right, I could take over from him.”
“In New York?”
“Yes. We could make it work, Gabriel. You could maybe work out of your New York office for part of the year, and Andrew could come and stay with me for part of the year.”
“My son is not leaving England.”
“You refuse the idea out of hand, without even considering how to make it work.”
“There’s nothing to consider. I can’t up and move my office to New York City just because that’s where you’ll be. We’d be living apart, Elizabeth. And that’s something I won’t consider.”
“You’re so inflexible. This is everything I’ve ever dreamed about. The head of legal in an international corporation.”
“What about our marriage? What about us? Do you expect me to change everything so you can fulfill your career goals?”
“Isn’t that what couples do? Make compromises? To do what’s best for the marriage?”
“This is not what’s best for our marriage, Elizabeth. This is what’s best for you. There are other jobs, you know. You could come work for me.”
I fly off the bed. “Oh, now you offer me a job. When you refused to do so before.” The day I walked out after his mother blackmailed me into breaking up with him, he’d promised me everything to stay—an apartment, jewelry, money. But when I’d asked for a job in Storm Industries, he’d turned me down.
“I wasn’t about to offer employment to a woman who’d just confessed to betraying me.”
“You’ll never change.”
“And you’ll never take your vows seriously. Not when you put your career ahead of our marriage, ahead of Andrew.” And ahead of him. He doesn’t have to say the words, they bleed into the space between us.
“God. I’m taking a bath.”
To calm me down, I light a few candles around the Jacuzzi, and work the jets just the way I like them. While I bathe, I think back on the conversation. He’s so stubborn. Why can’t he at least discuss the subject? As soon as Sebastian brought up New York, I knew it would be a problem to get Gabriel to accept such a thing, but at the very least he should be willing to discuss it. And we should mutually decide what to do, the way married couples do. But he won’t do that. So typical of him. If he doesn’t like whatever I’m offering, he shuts the subject down, shuts me down. Never to be discussed again. I hate that Lord of the Manor attitude of his. How can I stay with a man who refuses to even talk about a subject?
Resting my head against the edge of the tub, I close my eyes and breathe in the candles’ fragrance while I ponder the situation. This decision is three years away. Gabriel is right about that. I’ll need to finish my degree back home and the studies here at King’s College. And a lot can happen between now and then. So no sense allowing this to drive a wedge between us. Not now when we’ve found a fragile peace.
When I come back he’s lying on the bed, the sheet up to his waist. He’s probably naked under there since he doesn’t wear pajamas to bed. But what’s on display is magnificent. His chest hair gleams gold from the night table light. He’s reading a business periodical, a pair of reading glasses perched on his nose. He’s so hot. When am I ever going to stop lusting after this man?
I’m wearing the peignoir set he bought for me after Andrew’s birth, a see-through wisp of a thing which reveals more than conceals my skin. As I stroll into the room, I smooth on the gardenia-scented lotion over my body.
Needless to say, he notices. His glance tracks up and down my body. Even from across the room I can smell his rising need. I know what he wants, the same thing I do, but there’s something we need to talk about first.
“Have you talked to Brianna?” I say, sliding into bed next to him. I’d called her a week ago, but only managed a ten-minute conversation before we lost the connection. She sounded distant, detached. “I’m really worried about her.”
He puts down the journal, tosses the glasses on the night table, rubs his forehead with the heel of his hand. “She won’t take my calls.”
He seems so despondent over the state of affairs with his sister. Seeking to ease his pain, I climb behind him, curl my legs next to his hips, and massage his shoulders. He loves it when I do that.
“Ummm, that feels good.”
He lets me go at it for a while, before he lays his palm over my hand to still it. “Why the change in your mood?”
I know what he’s asking. I went into the bathroom mad as a hornet, and emerged a pussycat. “Something you said. I won’t graduate for three years. Plenty can happen between now and then. No sense getting bent out of shape about it now. And Storm, I do not put my career goals above our marriage. And most certainly not above Andrew or you. I just want it all.” I knead his shoulders some more, but there’s no give to them. “God, you’re so tense.”
Curling an arm around my neck, he brings my face close to his and drops a soft, tender kiss against my lips. “I know something that’ll relax me.”
For a brief second, I enjoy the warmth of him against me, but then I straighten back. “Stop trying to change the subject. You need to call Jake. Ask him to go to Brazil and check things out.”
“And what do I tell him?”
“You apologize for firing him.”
“I’m not going to apologize. I did the right thing.”
“No. You did not.”
Leaning back, he rests his head against my breasts. All he has to do is turn in either direction and he can suck the tip of one inside his mouth. Well, two can play at his game. I trail my hands down his chest, knead his hard pecs, thumb a nipple.
For a few seconds he enjoys my ministrations and lets me do as I will. But then he pulls me around until I’m lying across his lap. Glancing up at him, I reach out and brush that curl I love so much. “I do love you, you know.”
“Do you?”
“Yes.” How can he doubt me?
“Then show me.”
Ahhh, I knew it would end this way. “Promise me you’ll call Jake.”
“Is that the price I must pay to make love to my own wife?”
“For tonight, it is.”
“Very well. I promise. Now may I do what we’re both hoping I’ll do.”
“Yes.”
He pulls the string of the robe and loosens it off my shoulders.
“Lift.”
I do and he slides it off me. Underneath the robe is only a wisp of a thing. With only a hint of mystery over my boobs, its v neck opening reveals every inch of me. Brushing aside the silk, he sucks one nipple into his mouth. I wrap my hand around his neck while he feasts on me. Soon I grow restless for more. His hand parts my folds and thumbs my clit.
“Yes. Right there. Harder.”
“You’re so fucking hot, Elizabeth.” His voice harshes as the words spill from his lips.
“So are you.” I push him back until he’s lying on the bed, climb over him. Notch him into my opening. I’m still wearing the peignoir it’s a wonder he’s left it on, the way he likes to tear things off me. I shrug and allow the v neck to drop around my hips. Naked above my waist, I cup my breasts, display them for him.
“I love your tits, Elizabeth. Now ride me, love. Ride my cock.”
I slowly descend unto his massive erection. He’s big as
always, almost impossibly so. But I patiently work at it, up and down, slowly, until he’s buried deep inside me.
“Yes.”
I lean into him drop my hands on his chest and slowly rise. His hands go to my hips to help me rise and fall. At first I go slow and my skin blooms with sweat as does his. His gaze is pinned to the joining of his cock and my pussy. I can only imagine what he sees as up and down and up and down I go.
His hands on me urge me faster and faster, but soon the pace is not enough for me. I want his power over me, not beneath me. “Turn us, Storm.”
He grabs my waist and topsy turvies me, grabs my ass and pounds into me. Sweat drips from him unto my belly. With one finger, I swipe it off him and bring it to my tongue. He tastes of salt and potent male.
“I love the way you taste.”
His eyes flash with blue fire and he redoubles his efforts, unhinging his hips. It’s like he wants to get to the end of me. But there’s no end. There’s only this insanity which exists between us. I wrap my arms around him, curl my legs around his hips and let him do his best. It doesn’t take long before we both reach our climax. And then he collapses on me, smelling of hot, delicious man.
Dropping to his side, he lets out a cleansing breath. All the tension has drained out of him. Good. He’ll sleep well tonight.
Chapter 26
______________
Gabriel
GIVEN OUR HIGH LEVEL OF SECURITY, Andrew never goes anywhere, except up to the roof where he takes his daily forays into the sun. Don’t get me wrong. The Brighton rooftop is quite nice. Half garden, half deck. One can enjoy a nice morning or afternoon laying out in the sun or rooting around in the dirt. We’ve even talked Jorge into barbecuing up there.
But Elizabeth has argued for months that Andrew needs to leave the building and mingle with people. Otherwise, he’s bound to turn into a hermit. A little extreme, but I can see her point.
So I’ve settled on the London Zoo for his first public excursion.
A great deal of planning takes place before we take our child into the world. We’ll drive there in a convoy—one car in front of us, one behind, ours in the middle. Except for the security team, no one will know which car carries Andrew and Elizabeth. Once we arrive, we’ll surround ourselves with plenty of security. The agents will be dressed like tourists—cameras, backpacks, the whole shebang. They’ll weave in and around us so as not to attract attention. But the upshot will be anyone would have a hard time getting close to us.
After weeks of anticipation, the day finally arrives. But before we slip out the door, Samuel asks for a moment of my time.
Not in the plans, but maybe there’s a last minute security issue he wants to discuss. Elizabeth’s busy in the nursery, getting Andrew ready for his trip. I’ll fill her in later on whatever Samuel has to say.
Since the study is the best place to hold a private conversation, we head there. Once he steps in, I close the door. Don’t want our conversation to be overheard. “So what did you wish to talk about?” I ask as we take our usual seats.
“The cave expert I told you about? The one who was investigating the tunnels in the castle?”
I nod.
“He found something.”
My senses come to full alert. “What?”
“A body.”
“What? Whose?”
“Well, that’s what the GP is trying to figure out.”
Damn and blast it. “You brought in the police?”
“Had to, Mr. Storm. Can’t hide a body. It’s recent though. Plenty of flesh on him. So it’s not one that’s been lying around for centuries.”
“Any chance it’s Sarah Simmons’ brother.”
“More than likely, I’d say. The police is aware of your need for secrecy so they’ll keep it hush hush. But things being what they are . . .” His words hang in the air.
I can see where he’s going with this. And more than likely, he’s right. “It will get out. The news will hit the papers.”
“Yes, Sir. I’m working closely with the authorities to minimize the damage, but be prepared for the discovery to leak out.”
“Yes, of course. Thank you, Samuel, keep me apprised of any progress.”
“Will do.”
On the way to the zoo, I share Samuel’s news with Elizabeth. She concurs it’s a good thing if in fact it turns out to be Bernard Simmons for it would mean he’s the one who set the fire. And we wouldn’t need to worry about the bastard coming after Elizabeth and Andrew again.
When we arrive, I harness Andrew to my chest. Easier to carry him that way. Five months old now, he bounces up and down when he sees the capuchin monkeys. “He likes them.”
“He should. They’re his best friends,” Elizabeth says. His nursery, decorated as it is in a jungle theme, has monkeys, as well as tigers and lions lurking among the trees. And, of course, he has plenty of stuffed animals to play with.
The rain forest is a cordoned-off section of the zoo where you can meet and touch some of the animals, but you have to be over a certain age to enter. “We’ll have to bring him to the rain forest once he’s old enough. He’ll enjoy getting up close and personal with his real live friends.”
Our security does a bang up job of surrounding us without drawing attention, not even when we pose for a couple of pictures with our son. When he gets too fussy, Nanny takes over and Elizabeth and I spend the next hour strolling along holding hands. When the sun climbs high in the sky, Andrew’s had enough. And to tell you the truth, so have I. The tension associated with his outing’s beginning to wear on me. So when Elizabeth suggests we head home, I readily agree.
On the car ride, Andrew falls asleep in his car seat situated between Elizabeth and me. I drop a kiss on his sleepy head. He smells of sunshine and him. Such a wonderful baby, Andrew is. He hardly fuzzes. Happy most of the time. Now that he’s a bit older he’s much more sociable. He still looks exactly like Elizabeth. That won’t change. He inherited the Storm nose, though. Long, straight as an arrow. And he inherited my height as well. I glance up to find Elizabeth’s soft gaze on me.
“He’s beautiful, isn’t he?” she asks.
“Yes, he is. Have I thanked you for him?”
“Yes. Often.”
“It can never be often enough.” Judging her mood to be mellow, I say, “He needs brothers and sisters.”
Her lips quirk. “Brothers and sisters. As in more than one?”
“Yes. I think two boys and two girls. don’t you think?” I tease, knowing darn well what her reaction will be. Andrew’s a bloody miracle, given her initial aversion to motherhood. Once he was born, though, it seemed to awaken something in her. She’s truly an excellent mother.
She shakes her head. “Ain’t gonna happen, Storm.”
“One more each?” If there’s something I know, it’s how to negotiate.
She glances at me and then at him. Her gaze softens when it lands on Andrew. “I have to finish school first. And then . . . we’ll see.”
She didn’t say yes, but she didn’t say no either. And that is something I can work with. “So you’re not opposed to the idea.”
She plays with the baby’s hand and drops a kiss on his head, much like I did. “No. Not opposed. But the timing would have to be right.”
I don’t ask what she means. I’ve pushed my luck as it is. Edward and I are two years apart. We played with each other, slept in the same room until I was eight. I love Brianna and Royce, but we were never as close as I was with Edward. And I firmly believe it was because of those early years. In many ways, he’s always been my best friend. That’s why his death hit me so hard. It was like a chunk of my heart had been torn from me.
Elizabeth’s classes should end in three years. If we play our cards right, our children would be three years apart. Not bad.
A chuckle bursts out of her, drawing my gaze. “What?”
“Nothing,” she says, shaking her head. Undoubtedly, she knows exactly what I’m thinking. I curl my hand around
hers, bring it to my lips, kiss it, and then pull her into me and kiss her soft lips.
When we arrive home, Elizabeth accompanies Nanny to bathe and feed Andrew, while I head to the study to take care of the thing I promised her.
Taking a deep breath, I dial the number I obtained from Samuel. The phone rings only once before it’s picked up.
“Jake.”
“Storm. How are your wife and son?”
He’s asking to be polite since I’m sure he’s kept tabs on us. Still, I need to respond in kind. “Fine. They recuperated from the fire without any lasting damage. Thank you for asking.” I clear my throat. “How are you?”
“Can’t complain.” He’s not going to volunteer any information about his whereabouts. Fair enough. He doesn’t work for me anymore.
“I need you to do a job for me.”
“I’m busy.” Curt, and to the point, as always.
Samuel filled me in on what Jake has been doing since I fired him from his job as head of security for Storm Industries. He’d turned down a high level operation, similar to the one he enjoyed when he worked for me, to take odd security stints here and there, all temporary in nature. So whatever he’s doing is probably not a long-term commitment. “Doing what?”
“Nothing I can share.”
“Guess I’ll have to hire somebody else to watch over Brianna then.”
“What’s wrong with her?” His Achilles heel. One mention of my sister and his senses go on full alert.
“The foreman called. She’s causing trouble at the site. He wouldn’t give me details, but I can only imagine. And she’s insisting I pay her a salary like she was a ruddy employee, instead of a principal in Storm Industries.”
“The illegitimacy thing hit her hard, Storm. Can’t you see that?” And we’re right back to our former give and take. With him giving me his unvarnished opinion.
“That she doesn’t share my bitch of a mother? I would have considered that a blessing, not a curse.”
“She’s no longer a member of the aristocracy. You never understood how much that meant to her.”
“I’m trying to see things from her side.” I’ve missed Jake’s brutal honesty. I’d like for him to come back to Storm Industries. Not as head of security, but to watch over Brianna and the Brazilian operation. Something which I think would be good not only for Brianna and Storm Industries, but Jake as well. Her being an aristocrat kept them apart. In his mind, he thought he was not good enough for her. But now that she’s no longer legitimate? He finally might be willing to cross that line. I hope so. For he’s the only man able to temper Brianna’s wilder impulses.
Storm Redemption Page 16
