Tempted by the Tycoon's Proposal

by Rachael Stewart

  He stalked towards her, his anger fizzing in his bloodstream. ‘And you thought that was wise, with a storm on its way?’

  He threw a hand in the direction of the outdoors, shaking his head in disbelief. ‘Anything could have happened, Sophia. Anything.’

  ‘It was...it was f-fine when we left. The sky was virtually clear, the lights were dancing, and Lily... Lily just wanted to play some more in the snow.’

  ‘At the lake! You, of all people, should know better than that!’

  He was shaking inside and out as he loomed before her now. He couldn’t stop. He was so afraid, so angry. He needed her to see what she had done, to realise the danger in it. If he had lost Lily—hell, if he had lost Sophia too... And she looked so tiny right now, so fragile and easily broken, her auburn hair a crazy mess around her porcelain complexion.

  He reached for her, gripping her forearms, grateful that she was living and breathing in his hold even as the words tumbled out of him. ‘What if you’d fallen, what if she’d slipped, what if you’d cracked your head open on a rock, then what? What would have happened?’

  She inhaled sharply, her eyes widening, the tears quick to well. ‘How could you say that to me?’

  He stared at her, saw the hurt in her eyes, the pain, the anguish, and his stomach lurched. She wasn’t seeing him; she was seeing the death of her sister all over again. After all he’d said, after he’d encouraged her to move on, to believe she wasn’t to blame.

  ‘Sophia...’ He cursed, squeezing his eyes shut and opened them again, his head shaking. ‘I didn’t mean...’

  She pulled out of his grasp, stepping backward, her own head shaking, the tears spilling over. ‘You meant it.’

  ‘Sophia, I just... I couldn’t go there again, after Elena, after she’d run out...the accident... I have to keep Lily safe...and you, you were out there...’

  She was still shaking her head, her whole body trembling. ‘You told me it wasn’t my fault. You told me I shouldn’t live in fear of the past. You told me to face up to it and move on.’

  ‘I did and you should.’

  She was heading for her room now and he was torn between Lily in his suite and Sophia across the hall. ‘Sophia, please, come back. Let’s talk this through.’

  ‘No, Jack,’ she threw at him over her shoulder. ‘I fell in love with you for so many reasons...’ Her voice cracked and her lashes fluttered over her eyes as more tears escaped, each and every one killing him. ‘But being a hypocrite wasn’t one of them.’

  ‘Sophia, please, I’m sorry. Tell me what I can do to fix this.’

  She shook her head. ‘It’s too late for that, Jack.’

  He stepped forward again as she unlocked the door to her room, desperate, pleading. ‘Please, I love you.’

  She pushed the door open and turned to him. For a second he dared to hope, dared to believe she could give him a chance.

  ‘I love you too, Jack...but without trust...’

  She looked away, her breath shuddering through her.

  He frowned, his palms outstretched emphatically. ‘I do trust you.’

  He did. He felt that trust all the way to his bones. He trusted her more than he had anyone else in his life, but she wouldn’t even look at him, her body shuddering with every breath she took.

  ‘I’m not sure you know how to trust, or how to move on from Elena.’

  She took another breath, slower this time, her chin lifting, her eyes raking over him before coming back to meet his eyes coldly. It was admirable even that she could find the strength from somewhere.

  ‘Goodbye, Jack. Give Lily my love. Tell her she can write to me if she likes. I’ll find my own way home.’

  And then she was gone, the door closing softly behind her, and he knew she meant it. That she wanted nothing more to do with him.

  But she was angry, upset; she just needed time to think, time to understand how worried he’d been, why he’d said all he had. Idiot. He forked his hands through his hair, leaving them to hang off the back of his neck in desperation.

  He should have been more controlled. He should have thought before he’d spoken. But that was just it—he’d been too upset to think.

  And he’d hurt her in the process.

  Really hurt her.

  He turned to go back to his suite, turned again to go to Sophia, repeated the move and knew he had to go to Lily, that Sophia needed time to cool off. And that was the one thing they had—time.

  All flights were grounded due to the storm.

  He just hoped there was enough time to fix the damage his words had done.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  THERE WASN’T ENOUGH TIME.

  Twelve hours later and he’d learned from the hotel staff that Sophia had checked out and paid for her room. She’d left no message, no details of where she’d gone or how she planned to get home. Domestic flights were still cancelled when his own jet had been given permission to leave and so they’d travelled back to the UK without her, a fact that had Lily refusing to speak to him.

  It had been nearly a week now and no word. Lily was still barely speaking to him and he couldn’t concentrate on work, on anything. He’d avoided booking back into her hotel, wanting to give her the space she so obviously still needed. But it was becoming more and more obvious she wasn’t coming around.

  Every message, every email, every phone call, all ignored, and he couldn’t bear it any longer. He had to see her. He had to explain. He had to make her see how sorry he was, how right she had been, about everything. He had been living his life in fear of the past, doing everything he’d accused her of doing.

  And now he wanted a chance to show her that he was ready to move on. With her. If she’d have him.

  He checked his watch. It was two o’clock on a Friday afternoon. She was more likely to be at work than at home and since Lily was with Ms Archer studying—something she was far more positive about now that she knew he was finding her a school—it meant he could go to see Sophia alone.

  He walked into the hotel foyer and felt his heart pulsing right up through his throat. He was nervous, so nervous, and being in her space, surrounded by memories of her... He couldn’t mess this up. He just couldn’t.

  He strode over to the reception desk and the woman behind it smiled up at him. ‘Good afternoon, Mr McGregor, it’s a pleasure to see you again. How may I help you?’

  ‘I’d like to speak to Ms Lambert, if she’s available.’

  She frowned, her head cocking to one side as she looked to her computer screen. ‘I do believe Ms Lambert is currently on leave. Let me just check...’

  She navigated the system as he drummed his fingers on the countertop, hoping that she was wrong.

  ‘Yes, I’m afraid she is away, but—’

  ‘Mr McGregor, how lovely to see you back here.’

  He turned at the familiar male voice and saw the assistant manager approaching.

  ‘Andrew, isn’t it?’

  ‘Yes, well remembered, sir.’

  Jack looked to him with hope. ‘You wouldn’t happen to know where I can reach Soph—Ms Lambert?’

  Andrew’s eyes sparkled over his faux pas. Just how much did this man know of him and Sophia? And if he did know, would he still help?

  ‘Come this way, sir.’

  He touched Jack’s arm lightly and led him off to one side, out of earshot. ‘I believe she’s in Hertfordshire.’

  ‘Hertfordshire?’

  ‘Visiting her parents.’

  ‘Her parents?’

  ‘Yes. It seems she decided that it was time she spent some quality time with them.’

  ‘She did?’

  Andrew’s eyes sparkled even more, his lips curving into a smile. ‘I believe you have something to do with that.’

  ‘I did?’ Jack’s own lips quirked up; he’d got some
thing right then. ‘Yes, I guess I did.’

  ‘And since she’s been there a few days already, it must be going well, don’t you think?’

  He did think. He really did. But it didn’t change the fact that he needed to see her, he needed to put things right between them.

  ‘I did get a message from her confirming that she would be back at work on Monday. I think she intends to travel back this evening, taking the weekend to get sorted out, that sort of thing.’

  ‘She’ll be home tonight?’

  ‘Indeed.’ He grinned now, his face so full of encouragement Jack had the sudden urge to kiss the man. Instead, he gripped his arms and thanked him.

  The old man nodded, his eyes starting to glisten. ‘I reckon if you try about eight-ish, she’ll be home.’

  ‘Good. Good. Thank you, Andrew. Thank you.’

  He started to leave.

  ‘You’re welcome...and sir?’

  Jack paused midstride.

  ‘Good luck!’

  * * *

  Sophia slotted the key in her lock and winced as her shoulder twinged, her body protesting after four nights in her childhood bed. But it had been worth every broken spring, every minute of lost sleep, to have reclaimed what she’d lost all these years: a place in her family home with parents who clearly loved her and had missed her so much.

  How she had been blind to it before she didn’t know, but it had taken Jack—Jack. She closed her eyes over the pain that tore through her, the ache of loss as acute as any grief, and tried to push past it. Though it was no use. She missed him. She missed him so much it hurt like a physical pain no medication could cure.

  She opened her eyes and dragged in a breath as she pushed open her door and lifted her suitcase off the floor. A hot bath would help; it wouldn’t stop thoughts of him, but it would ease her aching—

  ‘Sophia?’

  She froze, the voice, the man who had plagued her day and night was so real, so very real.

  ‘Sophia?’

  She turned towards it and there he was, standing in the hallway. ‘How did you—?’

  ‘Samantha let me wait for you with her and Noah.’

  She nodded dumbly. So that was where he’d come from. But it didn’t change things... It didn’t change the fact that she couldn’t be with him.

  ‘Why are you here, Jack?’

  He walked towards her. ‘Can I come in?’

  She dragged in more air, her eyes watering as her mind waged war on her body. One saying yes. The other saying no.

  ‘Please, Sophia, just give me five minutes?’ he pleaded, his brow raised, eyes emphatic. ‘That’s all I need.’

  She couldn’t fight him. She didn’t have the strength for it. She’d played out so many scenarios in her head and none of them could match the reality, the force of her own reaction to him, her need for him to hold her and tell her all would be okay in spite of how much he had hurt her.

  ‘Five minutes, Jack.’

  She turned away and headed to the kitchen, leaving her case in the inner hall.

  She heard him close the door, his footsteps closing in behind her. He was really here. A week apart and he was now here, in her home. She remembered the last time they had been here, her eyes flitting to the sofa that had been extended out that night. The night they’d... She pressed her shaky fingers to her lips, swallowing back the sob that threatened.

  ‘Look at me, Sophia...please.’

  He sounded so broken, so strained, his vulnerability impossible for her to ignore as she did as he asked.

  ‘I’ve missed you so much.’ It rushed out on his breath, his eyes glistening with sincerity. ‘I am so sorry for everything I did, everything I said. The truth is you were right. I was a hypocrite; I was living in the past, scared of it, scared of everything I couldn’t control.’

  He stepped closer, so close she could smell his scent, his painfully familiar cologne, and it made her body warm, her throat close over with another wave of tears, of longing, of what she daren’t hope for but did anyway.

  ‘It wasn’t about my trust in you; it was about my fear of losing Lily, of losing—’

  ‘I would have protected Lily with my life,’ she forced out, hating that he could doubt it. ‘I never would have put her in danger.’

  ‘I know that, and that’s what I’m saying. I trust you to keep her safe, but that day, that morning, I was so scared, not just about losing her, but you too. If anything had happened to either of you, I don’t know how I’d cope.’

  Words failed her. She could only stare at him as he continued. ‘Don’t you see, Sophia, you are as much a part of me as Lily is? Don’t you see that’s why I felt guilty about Elena? Knowing that you could become a part of me whereas she...she was Lily’s mother, she was my best friend, but she was never the woman I wanted to marry, to make a life with, to make a home with.’

  His words teased at her heart, every one of them pushing out the chill and replacing it with the warming beam of hope.

  ‘I do love you, Sophia, more than I ever thought possible. I want to be with you. I want to make a life with you, here in London, or anywhere you want to go, just so long as you are with me. With us.’

  He reached out to gently raise her chin, to hold her eye. ‘Please believe me.’

  ‘I do believe you love me,’ she whispered. ‘But I need you to trust me too.’

  ‘I do...and I’ll prove it to you. I can be better. I try to control everything that happens to Lily, who she’s exposed to, what she does... Everything. But I’m trying to change. I’ve promised her she can go to school. I’ve promised her we’re going to have a home. I’ve promised that I’m going to try and bring you home too.’

  She smiled at that. It was small, watery, but it was there.

  ‘You’ve changed so much since I met you.’ He curved his hand around the back of her neck, his touch lighting up the skin beneath and feeding her with his warmth. ‘You’ve faced up to the past, your fears, you’ve returned to your family—’

  She frowned. ‘How did you know?’

  ‘Andrew.’

  She gave a gentle scoff. ‘Figures.’

  ‘Don’t be mad with him. I think he knew a desperate, lovesick man when he saw me.’

  She laughed softly, her eyes searching his. ‘Lovesick?’

  ‘Heartbroken. I’m nothing without you, Sophia.’

  Seeing the tears in his eyes tore her apart inside but she was struggling for words, struggling to be rational when all she wanted to do was cave in to the emotions within and kiss him, hug him to her and never let him go. But how could she trust him to trust her?

  ‘You changed with my help,’ he said into her pained silence. ‘Please credit me with the same ability, please help to make me a better man too.’

  He was right, so right. If she could change so much, why couldn’t he? She talked about his lack of trust in her, but she needed to put her faith in him too. To believe he could change. That together they could be so much better.

  She couldn’t hold back anymore. She launched herself at him, her lips claiming his as they parted on a surprised rush of air.

  ‘Does that mean you will?’ he tried to say against her lips that were pressed tightly to his. ‘You’ll give me—us—a chance?’

  She laughed as she kissed him more. ‘Yes,’ she blurted. ‘Yes.’ She kissed him again. ‘Yes.’

  And this time she deepened the kiss, coaxing his whole body to life as he kissed her back, his arms folding around her and lifting her off the ground. She’d never felt so light, so free, so happy and complete.

  She lifted her head, gazing down into his eyes that were so wet and so happy at once. ‘I love you, Jack.’

  He beamed up at her. ‘I love you too, Sophia.’

  ‘Always and for ever.’

  ‘Are you getting all romantic
and hopeful on me?’

  ‘Yes.’

  He swung her around in the kitchen and nearly took out the pots on the drainer. ‘Lily’s going to be made up; she’s already insisted on being a bridesmaid.’

  Sophia froze, her heart pulsing in her chest. ‘Are you asking me to marry you?’

  ‘Not right now, of course. I’ll prove myself to you first, but when I said all that stuff about making a life together, about you being the woman I want to marry, that’s kind of where I was heading...’

  She started to laugh. She couldn’t help it, his boyish, almost coy expression doing her in. ‘In that case, just so you know, it would be yes. Not now, of course, but when you feel ready.’

  ‘When I feel ready?’

  She nodded, making an agreeing squeak.

  ‘Are you mocking me, Ms Lambert?’

  ‘I wouldn’t dare.’

  ‘Why you...’ And then he was tickling her and she was running away, stumbling through the living room as she tried to avoid his wandering hands, the backs of her knees colliding with the sofa, and then she was tumbling over it, taking him with her. Two bodies, all legs and arms entwined.

  ‘Sophia?’

  She wrapped her arms around his neck as she gazed up into his flushed face. ‘Yes?’

  ‘Shall we get the bed out?’

  ‘I’ve a better idea. Why don’t we actually christen my bed this time?’

  He laughed as he kissed her. ‘I’m not sure I want to waste another second. A week’s been long enough.’

  ‘True...but now we have the rest of our lives together.’

  ‘I love the sound of that,’ he murmured against her lips.

  ‘And I love you, Jack...’

  She sealed her declaration with a kiss, one that spoke of her love, her trust, her faith in their long and happy future together...and they did get to the bedroom, just much, much later.

  EPILOGUE

  Two years later

  NEVER BEFORE HAD Jack suffered such noise. His eardrums were ringing with it. Laughter, shouting, music playing—it was about all he could do to still smile.