[Truyện tiếng anh] The Playboy Boss's Chosen Bride

The Playboy Boss's Chosen Bride
The Playboy Boss's Chosen Bride Page 10



‘What do you mean you’re not?’ Jake fumed.

She fluttered her eyelashes at him. ‘I left my resignation on your desk yesterday afternoon. You no longer have any claim on my time, Jake.’

He was stunned again.

Temporarily speechless.

It was marvellous!

She smiled sweetly at his grandfather. ‘So I’m free to spend as much time with you as I like, Byron.’

‘Bravo!’ he approved.

But Jake wasn’t finished yet. He came back firing. ‘You can’t leave me without notice.’ His eyes glittered satisfaction as he reminded her, ‘It’s not ethical, Mel.’

‘I believe a month’s notice is more than sufficient to fulfil my obligation to you, Jake. I mentioned it in my note of resignation. You have the next month to find my replacement.’

Realisation hit him, drawing his brows into a glowering frown. ‘But you’ll be away on vacation all that time.’

‘Yes. And I am due that vacation, as you very well know.’ Not having had one in the nineteen months she’d been his slave!

‘Splendid!’ Byron approved heartily. ‘Where would you like to spend it, Merlina? Say the word and I’ll…’

‘Merlina…’ Jake grated out between gnashing teeth, ‘is not a true blonde.’

Had he burst a blood vessel?

To attack on such a personal level…

Byron rolled his eyes at him. ‘Neither is your skinny model, my boy. Do be a good chap and go back to her. I understand your disappointment in losing Merlina to me but you obviously didn’t appreciate her enough.’

Too true! she thought, definitely beginning to love Jake’s grandfather.

‘I’m not talking about bottle blondes,’ came the fierce retort. ‘Her hair is dark brown. She’s wearing a wig!’

That was a mean blow. Completely below the belt.

Byron re-appraised her hair. ‘Damned good wig!’ he approved. ‘Had me fooled.’

Jake went for the kill. ‘And she’s fooling with you, Pop.’

Byron grinned at her. ‘Nothing like having a beautiful woman fooling with me.’

The tight place in Merlina’s chest loosened up as imminent humiliation passed. She grinned back. ‘I wore it to please you on your birthday, Byron. Jake said you preferred blondes.’

‘Well, I now find myself leaning towards sassy brunettes. And speaking of my birthday…’ Byron half turned, offering his arm to her. ‘Allow me to escort you to my table where we can toast it together.’

‘How kind!’ she purred, curling her arm around his.

She wasn’t sure if Jake actually growled but he looked at her as though he’d like to go for her throat. The aggression emanating from him was definitely dangerous. And thrilling.

Byron patted her hand and smiled benevolently at his grandson. ‘Thank you, Jake. Best birthday gift you could have given me.’ He blithely waved a dismissal. ‘You can have the cake rolled away now but I’m keeping Merlina. And please ask the orchestra to play Lerner and Loewe’s classic, ‘The Night They Invented Champagne.’

Jake was left standing in fight mode with nothing to fight as Byron led Merlina away in a triumphant walk back towards his guests. Maybe he’ll kick the cake, she thought, and decided to flirt outrageously with his grandfather for as long as the party lasted.

‘Oh, what fun!’ Byron burbled in her ear. ‘I take it you have issues with my grandson and you’ve just given him a wake-up call.’

She smiled at him, noting the merry amusement in his eyes. ‘Something like that.’

‘Brilliantly done, my dear. Don’t know what he sees in all those skinny women.’

She sighed. ‘I don’t think it will change anything, Byron.’

‘Nonsense! You have him on toast.’

‘Just the heat of the moment. And that does my pride a lot of good,’ she wryly confessed. ‘But unlike you, Jake isn’t the marrying type, and I’ve already wasted too much of my life on him.’

‘This is not the day to give up, Merlina. You’re on the crest of a wave and you must ride it through,’ he advised. ‘It’s time the boy did get married and I heartily approve of you as my granddaughter-in-law. A sassy woman puts a bit of excitement in one’s life.’

She laughed, hugging his arm with real affection. ‘You are a darling, Byron. But I don’t think…’

‘Leave it to me. I’m a master of manoeuvres.’

‘I’d have to agree with that. Asking me to marry you was wonderful!’

‘We can play on it. Give me the pleasure of your company and I’ll give you a diamond engagement ring.’

Merlina halted, suddenly unsure of where she was going with Jake’s grandfather. ‘Byron, I think you’re a lovely man but I couldn’t really marry you.’

He laughed. ‘Just setting the cat amongst the pigeons, my dear. How long did you work for Jake?’

‘Nineteen months.’

‘So the hook is well and truly in, even if he doesn’t know it yet.’

Merlina shook her head. ‘I wouldn’t go that far. He’s had a string of women while I’ve been working for him.’

Byron nodded knowingly. ‘The best of both worlds without having to give any commitment.’ He patted her hand again. ‘Let’s nail the pay-time. Be my live-in companion for a week. Just one more week of your life, Merlina, to see if Jake will come to your party.’

It was a tempting prospect. The idea of driving Jake Devila into a jealous rage was the stuff of giddy dreams. If it could actually happen…

‘I promise you we’ll have fun. I’ll take you shopping. Trips to the theatre, dining out. I’ll parade you everywhere, make us a conspicuous couple. I bet Jake won’t be able to ignore that.’

‘You’re as much a devil as he is, Byron,’ she said, thinking Why not? A week of being a pampered companion would be easy to take, wouldn’t it? Some fun time before looking for another job. And if her being with his grandfather did get to Jake…

‘Got his genes from me.’

Warning bells instantly rang. Byron Devila might be eighty but Merlina suspected he hadn’t lost any of his virility. She drilled him with her eyes. ‘I’d need you to be an absolute gentleman if I’m to live in.’

He laughed. ‘Hands off, I promise. I know where your interest lies, Merlina, and I’m feeling very inclined to further it if I can.’

The Playboy Boss's Chosen Bride
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She believed him. With a mad sense of throwing her hat well and truly over the windmill, she said, ‘Okay. I’ll do it.’

‘That’s my girl!’ he rolled out with beaming approval. ‘What a lovely birthday I’m having. Now let me introduce you to Jake’s mother.’

And they resumed their stroll towards his table.

Behind them the orchestra started to play ‘The Night They Invented Champagne.’

CHAPTER FIVE

JAKE returned to his table, furiously smouldering over Mel’s—Merlina’s—hijack of his birthday surprise. It made his grandfather’s delight in her totally intolerable. She’d done it to thumb her nose at his male chauvinist game, to put the icing on the cake of her resignation, to walk away wagging her rose petalled bottom at him. He was so burned up by her triumphant exit from his life, he could barely respond to the bubbling good humour of his friends, the guys in particular.

‘Got to hand it to you, Jake. That was a maxi showstopper. Marilyn Monroe and American Beauty rolled out in one!’

‘Top wow factor. Talk about *** on legs!’

‘If she was in the garden, any man might be tempted to take time out to smell the roses!’

‘Looks like your grandfather is doing just that. Good one, Jake!’

‘Where did you find her?’

‘I bet she cost a bomb.’

A bomb that had exploded right in his face. And the cost was totally unacceptable. Losing Mel as his personal assistant…there was going to be one hell of a hole in his life. Then he remembered the exorbitant fee for the model. That was a kiss-my-arse hit if ever there was one. He almost erupted as he thought of how Mel had fooled him and feather-bedded her retirement from the job.

‘I was not counting the cost,’ he replied, using every gram of control not to sound as violently put out as he felt. ‘I just wanted to please my grandfather.’ And get under Mel’s skin. Except she’d got under his instead. Big time!

‘No doubt about that,’ Vanessa said dryly, nodding towards his grandfather’s table. ‘He’s obviously smitten with her.’

There he was, introducing Mel to his mother and aunts and she was laughing her head off. Jake’s hands curled into fists. Then, to really rub salt into his wound, one of the guys commented, ‘Definitely worth every cent she cost. Where did you say you found her, Jake?’

‘Oh, really!’ Vanessa interjected, a jealous note creeping in. ‘All this leching over the star turn is a bit rude in front of the women at this table.’

Female agreement swiftly followed, though in a more good-humoured tone than Vanessa’s waspish scolding. Which reminded him that his grandfather had always said skinny women thought too much of themselves. It had probably put Vanessa’s nose out of joint to be upstaged by a woman with a far more voluptuous figure.

Jake tried to give her the attention she wanted, but his heart wasn’t it. He didn’t even find her attractive any more. As for having *** with her tonight…no, he didn’t want to. In fact, he could barely resist the magnetic pull of following Mel’s progress with his grandfather.

No way would he give his erstwhile personal assistant more satisfaction by showing an interest in her outrageous gallivanting at this party, but it was damned difficult to keep his gaze trained on Vanessa and his other companions, and he found the popping of champagne corks a major irritation. The whole situation turned into an agony of waiting for the party to end.

Eventually guests started leaving. His friends decided on continuing the evening at a fashionable bar. Jake didn’t want to accompany them. He was in no mood to be civil let alone convivial. Vanessa was seriously put out when he excused himself, inventing some other commitment. He suggested she go with the others if she was so inclined and she rather sulkily said she would.

It made Jake wonder how he could have ever thought she was desirable on any level. Nevertheless, pride insisted he didn’t end their relationship while Mel could still see them together. To his over-burdened mind, that would give the highly provocative Ms Rossi not only the icing on the cake, but the cake, too.

She was hooked to his grandfather’s arm, saying goodbye to guests, playing hostess to his host with all the aplomb of a seasoned performer, which irked Jake to the bone. He put his left arm around Vanessa’s waist as they approached to take their leave.

‘Great party, Pop,’ he said, showing as much teeth as was possible to put into a broad smile.

His grandfather shot out his right hand to give Jake’s a strong shake. ‘Made more so by you, my boy. Can’t thank you enough.’

‘Yes, the cake idea was brilliant,’ Merlina trilled happily. ‘I’ve had such a wonderful time with Byron.’

Jake steeled himself to look at her. ‘Thank you,’ he said, grimly holding his smile. ‘And may I compliment you on once again rising to the occasion.’ Then to underline how gracious he could be in defeat and to minimise his previous bad-tempered reaction, he added, ‘I wish you well in whatever occupation you choose next, Mel.’ Be damned if he’d call her Merlina!

‘Which will be married life if I have anything to do with it,’ his grandfather supplied, twinkling indulgently at her.

‘Oh, Byron!’ she purred, hugging his arm in demonstrative pleasure.

Jake felt his innards being clawed.

The lion in him came roaring out, wanting to carry Mel Rossi off and do some clawing of his own.

‘Do you have transport home?’ he asked, trying his utmost to sound considerate and caring.

She smiled, the golden amber eyes glowing warmly. ‘How kind! But I don’t need transport. Byron has asked me to stay here with him and I am so enjoying his company…’

‘What about clothes?’ came straight out of his mouth. The image of her prancing around in her rose bikini throughout a private evening with his grandfather made him want to club her over the head and drag her off to a ****.

‘I brought a change of clothes with me,’ she answered with limpid ease. ‘The butler kindly agreed to mind my bag until the party was over. You don’t have to worry about me, Jake.’

‘No, I’m sure he doesn’t,’ Vanessa slid in snidely. ‘Thank you for a lovely party, Byron.’

‘Glad you enjoyed yourself, my dear,’ he replied, brimming over with enough bonhomie to indulgently encompass a skinny woman who was showing signs of becoming bitchy.

‘Take care, Pop,’ Jake managed to toss out before leading Vanessa away.

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‘I’m going to take care of Merlina instead,’ his grandfather declared extravagantly. ‘We’re off shopping tomorrow.’ He grinned at her in delighted anticipation. ‘There are some splendid boutiques in Double Bay. And we can have a marvellous seafood lunch at Doyle’s. The maître d’ can always find a table for me.’

‘Oh, goody!’ the femme fatale cried, snuggling closer to her sugar daddy.

Enough was more than enough!

Jake departed in a simmering rage, dragging Vanessa along with him. ‘Don’t walk so fast,’ she protested. ‘I’m wearing very high heels, you know.’

‘You can be barefoot in the park for all I care,’ he growled, having completely lost any semblance of playboy charm.

Vanessa came to a dead halt, spitting mad. ‘You had her lined up for yourself, didn’t you?’

The accusation pulled Jake up, too. ‘No, I didn’t,’ he bit out.

‘You hung around her after she came out of the cake and a moment ago you wanted to take her home,’ came the peevish argument. ‘What’s more, you’re now in a pet because she prefers to be with Byron.’

‘In a pet?’ Jake repeated incredulously.

‘Don’t bother denying it! And don’t think I’m going to play second fiddle to a birthday cake bimbo. Goodbye, Jake! I’ll leave with Tim and Fiona.’

Having slapped him with her rejection, she turned her back on him, strutted several haughty paces, then half-turned to hurl a piece of spite at him. ‘I hope she becomes your step-grandmother!’

Over my dead body!

Jake stood stock-still as the thought crashed through his mind with stunning violence.

For once in his life he didn’t know what to do.

He didn’t have a plan.

Running after Vanessa made no sense. He didn’t want to hang onto her. Best that their relationship be severed and it didn’t matter who’d done the severing. Let Vanessa have the satisfaction of being the one to walk away.

But Mel Rossi’s defection was something else.

That was definitely a blow below the belt.

He had to fight back.

He had to win.

She was using his grandfather as a weapon and a shield but once she was on her own…

Tonight, when she returned to her apartment at Chatswood, he’d be waiting for her, and no way was he about to let Mel Rossi close her door on him!

Midnight…and she hadn’t come home!

Jake’s frustration knew no bounds. She had to be staying overnight at the Vaucluse mansion. In any event, there was no point in camping here any longer. Even if she turned up now, he’d look like a jealous fool for waiting to confront her at this hour, and he was not—not—a jealous fool. He knew what she was up to, playing a one-upmanship end-game, and if nothing else, he was determined to get in the last word.

He drove home to Milson’s Point with that resolution burning in his mind.

However, opening up the opportunity to get in the last word proved difficult. Mel did not answer her telephone on Sunday and Jake seethed over the possibility that she was, indeed, out shopping and lunching with his grandfather. He told himself to calm down. It was only a matter of waiting out some more time before he caught up with her.

Monday was filled with more frustration. He found it increasingly wearing to be civil to his temporary assistant because she wasn’t Mel. She was a skinny blonde who kept transmitting availability signals which sparked no interest whatsoever. In fact, he suspected Mel had gone out of her way to find a woman who fitted the type he usually dated. Another slap in the face!

And still he was only getting the answering machine when he telephoned her apartment. Had she already left on her vacation? Or…no, it was beyond belief that she really was cosying up to his grandfather. That had only been a game…hadn’t it?

He called the Vaucluse mansion.

The butler answered.

‘It’s Jake,’ he said quickly. ‘Is my grandfather in, Harold?’

‘Mr Byron is out today.’

Jake hesitated, but the need to know drove the question. ‘What about Ms Rossi?’

‘Ms Rossi accompanied Mr Byron.’

Jake’s stomach clenched. ‘When will they be home?’ shot out of his mouth.

‘Dinner is to be served at the usual hour so I’m expecting them to return before then.’

Them! Not just his grandfather!

Jake forced himself to say, ‘Thank you, Harold. I’ll call later.’

‘Any message, sir?’

‘No. Thank you.’

It was impossible to apply himself to any work. His mind kept churning over the situation with Mel. Was it going beyond a game? His grandfather had the wealth to wrap a woman in however much luxury she desired but surely Mel wouldn’t consider marrying an eighty-year-old man.

Maybe she’d taken up the position of his personal assistant, with the promise of lots of perks on the side. His grandfather would spoil her rotten and enjoy every minute of doing it. And Mel would perform brilliantly as she always did.

Damn them both!

That scenario was almost as hard to swallow as marriage. But what could he do about it? He chewed over the problem and was still chewing it over when his temporary assistant alerted him to a call from Vanessa Hall. With considerable effort he reset his mind to dealing with the other fallout from his grandfather’s party. It was now late afternoon and he hoped she didn’t want to press for a reconciliation.

‘Vanessa…what can I do for you?’ he asked blandly.

‘I’ve just come home from doing a charity luncheon fashion parade…’

Reminding him she was a queen of the catwalk and should be valued accordingly.

‘Guess who was there, Jake,’ she prompted silkily.

His spine crawled. ‘Do tell,’ he drawled, knowing instantly what this call was about and resolving to sound uncaring.

‘Byron and your cake bimbo,’ she crowed.

‘No doubt they were enjoying themselves.’

‘Oh, yes! The champagne was flowing. For good reason. She’s now wearing a huge, flashy, diamond solitaire ring on her engagement finger. Happy days, Jake! You might get to kiss the bride.’

CHAPTER SIX

MERLINA was beginning to appreciate how very seductive the lifestyle of the mega-wealthy could be. The bedroom suite she was currently occupying was absolute luxury, and from the moment she’d stepped into Byron’s amazing mansion, she hadn’t done a single chore—no cooking, no cleaning, no washing, ironing or tidying up. Her only job was to look good and be ready to do whatever Byron decided they should, which invariably involved the pursuit of pleasure in one form or another.

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In a purely pampering sense, this was the best start to a vacation she’d ever had, though it was impossible not to think about Jake and how her departure from his life might be affecting him. Had he missed her at work today? Or was the new temporary assistant—chosen in a fit of female pique—providing the kind of distraction a playboy appreciated?

She glanced down at the magnificent diamond ring Byron had insisted she wear, arguing that it was a necessary prod to produce results. Her fingers automatically wriggled to catch the light in the facets of the fabulous gem. It was seductive, too, but not all the wealth in the world could give her what she really wanted. Could this pretend engagement to his grandfather pry Jake from his freewheeling life-style?

With a heavy sigh, she picked up her hairbrush, determined on not letting the answer to that nagging question mean too much to her. She had a life to live no matter what, and right now it was better to concentrate on presenting a picture of perfect grooming for Byron.

While the blond wig had worked effectively at the birthday party, she much preferred her own natural dark brown hair for real life and wasn’t about to change it. If Jake didn’t find her so desirable as a brunette, that was his problem, not hers. Such a superficial thing should be irrelevant. It was the person to person attraction that put depth into a relationship—enough depth for a marriage to work.

Having refreshed her make-up, Merlina checked her overall appearance in the cheval mirror before going downstairs for pre-dinner drinks with Byron. She was wearing one of her new dresses from yesterday’s shopping spree—a tan and white polka dot silk wrap-around with a wide tan leather belt cinching in her waist. It was both elegant and ***y and she loved it, especially teamed with the new Ferragamo tan and white shoes. A classy outfit for job interviews, she’d decided, and didn’t care how much it had cost.

If Jake did not rise to the occasion, she was determined to start afresh, setting aside everything linked to him, including the type of clothes she’d chosen to fit into the company image. Stodgy black suits were out, too. They’d been a hangover from what her family had expected of her, and coincidentally suitable for her previous job since her Queen Bee magazine boss had hated anyone stealing her limelight. Now she had the confidence to create her own style and stick to what she liked for herself.

It was also time she found a husband, though where she was going to find a man she’d want to spend her life with was definitely a problem. After being with Jake…she shook her head. Making comparisons was stupid. Besides, hadn’t she thought all along that Jake wasn’t marriage material?

Though Byron thought he might be, given enough provocation to realise that she was the one for him to marry. The hope that her benevolent match-maker’s reading of the situation was right kept pumping through her heart. Dreams did not die easily.

But whatever the outcome of Byron’s manoeuvres, she still had to look for a new position. There was no going back to what had been. Moving forward, one way or another, was the only option.

Having set her mind straight once again, Merlina went downstairs to the main reception room. As she entered it, she couldn’t help thinking that only the mega-wealthy would choose white sofas. They looked wonderfully dramatic set amongst beautifully polished antique furniture and the gloriously coloured rugs on the parquet floor, but they’d be hell to keep clean in any normal living area.

Byron, looking sartorially splendid in white trousers and shirt, teamed with a beige linen jacket, swung around from a ****tail cabinet from which he’d just collected two crystal flute glasses. He beamed at her at her as though she was the best plaything he’d ever picked up. No doubt about it. Jake took after his grandfather.

‘Good news, my dear!’ he cried triumphantly. ‘Harold has just informed me that Jake called this afternoon and he asked about you!’

Her pulse skipped haphazardly at this evidence that Jake hadn’t simply wiped her out of his life as she’d thought he might, his ego smarting at her bold and abrupt departure from the place he’d put her in.

‘It could just be a problem at work,’ common sense forced her to say.

Byron grinned at her. ‘He also asked when would we be home? I am confidently anticipating a visit from him this evening.’

‘He probably asked out of irritation that I wasn’t readily available,’ Merlina muttered.

‘Oh, ye of little faith,’ Byron mocked good-humouredly, his eyes twinkling devilment. ‘You’re forgetting our trump card.’

‘The engagement ring? But how could he know so soon?’

‘I’m betting that Vanessa Hall couldn’t wait to tell him.’

‘Why would she?’

‘Because she had her nose royally out of joint when Jake showed too much interest in you on Saturday. Trust me. I know women.’

Merlina couldn’t argue with that. Byron had married seven of them and no doubt had experience of many more. He oozed gleeful confidence as he strolled forward to place a glass of champagne in her hand and click his own glass against hers.

‘*****ccess, my dear.’

Counting chickens before they hatched was not a good idea, Merlina reminded herself. Nevertheless, Byron’s toast was irresistible. She did hope for success, though she couldn’t feel the same confidence he did. They were both sipping the champagne when the butler made an entrance.

‘Yes, Harold?’ Byron invited.

‘I’ve just opened the security gates for Mr Jake, sir.’

‘Splendid! Right on cue!’

A host of butterflies invaded Merlina’s stomach.

The butler, a tall, thin man in his fifties, very conscious of his dignity, unbent enough to smile at his employer’s pleasure. ‘Will it be three for dinner, sir?’

‘I doubt my grandson will be in the mood to dine with us tonight. Hold dinner back until I give the word, Harold.’

‘As you wish, sir.’

Door chimes called Harold out of the room to greet their visitor and let him in.

‘That was quick,’ Byron commented with amusement. ‘Jake must have burned up the driveway. Are you primed for confrontation, Merlina?’

She took a deep breath, trying to calm herself. This was it—the moment of truth! Jake’s reaction to the situation would tell her if she meant anything to him beyond a wound to his ego.

‘The game is on,’ she said with gritty determination.

Hearty approval smiled back at her. ‘That’s my girl!’

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It brought a smile to her face. If Jake’s grandfather ended up accomplishing nothing else with this marriage campaign, he had certainly done her ego a lot of good, making her feel like a woman worth having.

‘Now drink up,’ he instructed. ‘We’re celebrating, remember? Besides which, the champagne will put some fizz in your brain.’

‘Right!’ she agreed, and gulped down some of the heady liquor.

But the fizz came with Jake’s entrance and it was electric, charging through every cell in Merlina’s body.

‘I hear congratulations are in order,’ came the mocking drawl.

Her heart leapt. Pins and needles attacked her skin. Merlina barely stopped herself from spinning around to face him. She had to hold on to control. It was the only way to deal with Jake.

‘You hear right, my boy,’ Byron answered with great aplomb, giving her a moment to collect herself.

She pasted a smile on her face and turned, lifting her left hand to show off the highly ostentatious ring. ‘We’re engaged to be married,’ she lilted happily.

Jake’s thin-lipped smile did not project any happiness for her. It didn’t even put the usual dimples in his cheeks. There was a killer look in the dark brown eyes as they raked her from head to foot, ignoring the brilliant diamond ring they were supposed to fix on. He wore the usual casual jeans and T-shirt he favoured for work but there was nothing casual about the tension emanating from him, putting her nerves on edge.

‘How fortunate! You won’t have to look for another job,’ he said with the silky cut of a stiletto to the heart.

The implication that she had leapt onto a free ride with his grandfather brought a rush of scorching heat to her face. She was no gold-digger and hated to be viewed as such. Yet reason told her Jake could hardly view her as anything else in the circumstances and it was impossible to protest. The sting would go right out of the game if she told the truth.

Byron laughed, rescuing her from the miserable moment. ‘I think Merlina will have her work cut out handling the role of my wife. I can see us leading a very busy life. A long, leisurely trip around the world to begin with…’

‘Yes. Her planning is impeccable,’ Jake sliced in. ‘An attribute I’ve sorely missed today. Her temporary replacement is a featherbrain. If you don’t mind, Pop, I’d like a private word with Mel. Hopefully it might sort out the mess her leaving has caused.’

Work!

He didn’t care about her life.

He only cared about his precious business.

‘That’s up to Merlina,’ Byron corrected him. ‘And might I add you’re really stretching her good nature by calling her Mel. She’s always hated it, you know. Not wise diplomacy if you want her to help you.’

‘You’re right.’ He sketched a half-bow to Merlina. ‘I apologise for tampering with your name once again. Bad habit.’ His eyes glittered more of a demand than an appeal as he added, ‘If you’ll just oblige me on this matter…’

‘Yes, yes,’ she said with a spurt of impatience, her conscience pricking her over having left him with problems. ‘I’m sorry about the replacement. I thought you’d like her.’

His jaw tightened as though she’d hit him. And so she had. The deliberate choice of a skinny blonde to be her replacement had been intended as a slap in the face. Pure spite on her behalf, having felt diminished by the choices he’d made in the women who shared his private life. But business was business and she shouldn’t have let personal issues sway her judgement.

‘Well, I’ll leave the two of you to sort things out,’ Byron said benevolently. ‘Would you like to join us for dinner, my boy? Lift a glass to our future?’

‘No, thank you,’ came the curt reply, tempered quickly by another thin-lipped smile. ‘Your gain is my loss. I don’t feel like drinking to it tonight.’

Byron nodded. ‘Understood. Another time. I’ll go and tell Harold you won’t be staying.’

Merlina felt the tension in the room move up several notches as Byron left it, closing the door behind him. She stared down at what was left of the champagne in her glass, wishing it could drown the dreadful sense of disappointment tearing at her heart. The game seemed very silly now. Like chasing pie in the sky. Nevertheless, she wasn’t about to confess the truth to Jake. Pride insisted that she hold the line.

‘I see you’ve already changed your image, dressing *****it my grandfather’s life-style.’

The biting cynicism in his voice jerked her chin up. Anger flared. ‘I’m dressed *****it myself, Jake. This is me. I’m done with fitting into an image. I’m not your…your front girl any more. Your grandfather wasn’t the only one who had a birthday last week. I did, too, not that it would mean anything to you, but it does to me. I’m thirty years old, not a trendy teenager.’

She banged her glass down on the table which served the white sofas and planted her hands on her hips in an aggressive flaunting of her preferred style. ‘What’s more, your grandfather likes me as I am. He approves of everything about me, dark hair and all!’

Jake’s arm whipped up, stabbing a finger at her. ‘I never asked you to change the colour of your hair.’

‘No. Only to cut off what I’d been growing for years. Long hair has always been tra***ional in my family, but you didn’t bother asking if I minded having it cut. It was your way or no way.’

‘You could have told me. We were in negotiation.’

‘I was fool enough to want the job.’

‘Fool enough!’ Outrage poured from him. ‘It was the perfect job for you. You revelled in it. And I paid you top dollar. Not to mention the bonus you gave yourself for coming out of the cake.’

‘I was worth every cent of it. You got precisely what you wanted for your money, Jake Devila.’

‘No, I didn’t!’ His arms cut the air like scissors, emphatically demonstrating his frustration and dismissing her claim.

‘So where did I fail you?’ she shot back at him.

His mouth clamped into a grim angry line. His eyes glared black fury at her. His chest rose and fell with a swift intake and expulsion of air. He threw up his hands in an exasperated manner as he finally admitted, ‘You didn’t fail me. I need you back at work.’

The crux of the matter.

Jake was put out.

Merlina folded her arms across her chest in decisive determination to ward off any appeal he might make. Enough was enough. She was not going back. She was moving on.

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‘You managed before me. You’ll manage after me,’ she stated with cold precision.

‘I don’t want to,’ he almost yelled at her. ‘What will it take to get you back?’

‘There’s nothing you can offer me that will change my mind.’

His hands clenched into fists at his sides. He looked as if he’d like to strangle her. Obviously the violent energy storming through him needed some outlet. He broke into an angry pacing back and forth across the room.

Merlina remained absolutely still, viewing him with immense satisfaction. How many times had she wanted to strangle him? It was good to have the boot on the other foot for once, good to see him not in control of the situation. The guilt over her choice of a temporary replacement was gone. Jake Devila deserved a bit of heartburn. He’d given her plenty.

‘You can’t marry my grandfather,’ he fired at her, pulling up to deliver the shot, eyes boring into hers with blazing intensity.

It stirred a mountain of belligerence. ‘Oh, yes I can!’

He shook his head in agitated negation. ‘How can you bring yourself to marry such an old man?’

‘I find Byron very young at heart.’

‘He has an eighty-year-old body,’ was sliced back at her with venom.

‘Which he keeps very fit,’ she answered with lofty disdain for his emphasis on the physical.

‘That doesn’t make it ***y,’ he argued fiercely.

‘Your grandfather is every bit as ***y as Sean Connery, who even at his age is regularly voted one of the ***iest film stars in the world. He has exactly the same twinkling brown eyes, the same charm of manner, the same charismatic presence…’

‘So you’re happy to go to bed with him, are you? A man old enough to be your grandfather?’

It did sound off, but Merlina was on a roll and she wasn’t about to give Jake the satisfaction of winning any round of this game. ‘Why not? Byron makes everything a pleasure and he knows what a woman wants.’

Jake’s eyes suddenly narrowed, dangerous sparks shooting out of them as he started strolling towards her. ‘And maybe you don’t know any better. Is that it, Merlina? You’ve always been a good Italian girl?’

Her arms tightened across her chest as she started to quake inside. Jake was coming at her as though he meant to test her ***ual experience. She was torn by the desire to know what it would be like with him even as a bitter pride insisted he’d be just feeding his male ego if she allowed him any intimate access to her.

‘That’s none of your business,’ she snapped.

His mouth curled into a smile of sensual promise. ‘I have a mind to make it my business.’

Her head started whirling as he closed in on her. She was so terribly vulnerable to the physical attraction he exerted. If he touched her, kissed her…‘Stop right there, Jake Devila!’

Her voice sounded shrill, defensive, fearful.

He stopped barely an arm’s length away from her. ‘Come on, Mel,’ he purred seductively. ‘You know it’s always been there, sizzling between us.’

‘My name is Merlina.’

He ignored the frantic protest, his eyes searing hers, demanding the truth. ‘It was exciting, wasn’t it? The way we sparred—punch and counter-punch, me throwing out the challenge, you meeting it, nailing it…’

Yes, it was. But…‘You’re a playboy, Jake. I’m a thirty-year-old woman. I want to get married.’

‘What for? Security? That’s so boring. What you need and want is…’

‘I want to have a family.’ And she definitely didn’t want to hear about the needs he might fulfil. That would only be a temporary thing with Jake, anyway. It wouldn’t mean anything. If she gave into temptation she would just be another notch on his bedpost.

‘You want children with my grandfather?’ he retorted incredulously.

‘Charlie Chaplin was still fathering children through his eighties,’ she argued heatedly. ‘And Byron has great genes to pass on. Look at you.’

‘What about me?’

‘You’re smart, creative, good-looking. I’ll have wonderful children with Byron.’

‘You could have wonderful children with me,’ he swiftly countered, briefly taking the wind out of her sails.

She came back, blowing hard. ‘But you don’t want them.’

‘Who said I don’t want them?’

‘Do you?’

The direct challenge caught him out. ‘I haven’t thought about it.’

‘Right!’ she mocked savagely.

‘That doesn’t mean I can’t think about it.’

‘For how many years?’

He floundered and she went for the killer-strike, the bottom line. ‘I want to start a family soon, Jake. You’re a playboy who’ll only waste my time. So get out of my life and stay out.’

‘Leaving you to my grandfather?’ The expression on his face underwent a violent change. The moment of uncertainty was swallowed up by impassioned determination. ‘Like hell I will!’ he growled, reaching for her, hauling her into his embrace, his eyes glittering with a wild recklessness. ‘No way are you going to be his bride! You’re mine, Merlina Rossi! All mine!’

CHAPTER SEVEN

MERLINA was so stunned by the raw possessiveness in Jake’s voice and the sudden impact of being arm-locked against his hard muscular body, she didn’t do or say anything to stop his mouth from crashing down on hers, taking instant advantage of the gasp that had left her lips parted, his tongue invading, teasing, goading her into response, twining with hers, activating an intense flood of excitement.

Sensation exploded through her, blowing all reason from her mind, creating chaos everywhere it went, making her heart gallop, her lungs scream for air, her stomach quiver, her thighs quake. Control over anything was completely lost. Her arms struggled out of their fold to wind around his neck, spurred on by her own need to possess, to hold onto this intimate connection with him.

She kissed him back as avidly as he kissed her, again and again and again in a rampant desire to feel his lust for her, the sheer blitzing power of it, the wild urgency of it engulfing her as his arms tightened their hold, pressing her so close her breasts were almost flattened against his chest. She revelled in feeling the strong drumming of his heart, the tense muscles in his thighs, the hard roll of his erection making its indentation on her soft flesh.

He wanted her.

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That intoxicating knowledge blotted out every bit of common sense she’d tried to cling to and turned her into a woman who craved every part of this man. His hands slid down her back, curling around her bottom, lifting her into a more erotic fit with his body, and she willingly, wantonly rubbed herself against him, surrendering to the primitive urge to excite the same feverish excitement coursing through her, to incite him into taking what she was dying to give.

Time and place meant nothing.

Pride was forgotten.

The need to satisfy all the secret yearnings she’d tried to argue away was overwhelming.

‘A-hem!’

The loud clearing of a throat seemed to come from a distance, an alien sound breaking into what should have remained intensely private, jolting the glorious flow of feeling. Jake reacted to it before she did, lifting his head and quickly tucking hers into the curve of his neck and shoulder, holding her protectively as he turned his face towards the intrusion.

‘Please excuse me, sir…’

Harold’s stiffly dignified voice penetrated the cocoon of Merlina’s whirling inner world and cleared some of the dizzy fog in her brain. Even as the realisation of what she’d been doing slid into it, making her acutely conscious of where she was and who she was with, she felt Jake’s chest heave for breath and a wave of tension made her stomach contract.

What would he say?

How would he explain this?

‘Mr Byron is in the library,’ Harold announced with amazing sang-froid. ‘He was wondering how long this…ah…tête-à-tête is going to take?’

‘Just a bit longer, Harold,’ Jake answered in a harsh rasp. He swallowed hard then produced a smoother tone. ‘Please inform my grandfather we will join him in the library very shortly.’

We will?

What for?

Having hopelessly compromised her dismissive stance with Jake by succumbing to a reckless disregard of realities, Merlina tried desperately to collect her wits before having to face up to the man who was still intent on not relinquishing his hold on her. She couldn’t find the strength or will to break free of him. In any event, it was utterly untenable to put on an act of shocked outrage at the liberty he had taken with her when she had responded so unmistakably. So positively.

‘Very well, sir,’ Harold solemnly intoned and the click of the door being shut signalled his exit.

Jake inhaled even more deeply than before, then released his hand clamp on her head, dragging his fingers softly through her hair as he breathed out her name. ‘Merlina?’

Her real name.

Hearing it spoken by him in such a caring tone made her heart lurch.

She wanted him to say more, to tell her he was as shaken as she was by the force of the passion that had swept away any rational thought. But the gentle tug on her hair meant he wanted her to lift her head and look at him. Dragging in a deep breath of her own to feed much-needed oxygen into her brain, she obliged him, realising that to see would probably be more telling than to hear.

There was no amusement in his eyes. No spark of triumph. His face was deadly serious and his gaze locked onto hers with a magnetic intensity that made any evasion impossible. ‘I want you. You want me,’ he stated unequivocally, then punched home his point. ‘You can’t marry my grandfather.’

There was no denying the wanting. And she hadn’t intended marrying Byron, anyway. Where this was leading with Jake she didn’t know. Maybe nowhere. But what had just happened made hanging on to the pretend engagement impossible. The game was over, regardless of what the final outcome might be.

‘You’re right,’ she sighed. ‘I can’t marry your grandfather.’

‘Good!’ The word was loaded with relief and satisfaction. ‘I’m glad we’ve got that settled.’

The fact that he was focussing on breaking her relationship with Byron felt wrong to Merlina. Yet wasn’t it what he had come to accomplish? The real truth burst through the seductive possessiveness which had drawn her in*****rrendering to his will. Jake simply wanted her free of other commitments so he could play with her.

‘But I’m not coming back to work with you,’ she flung out emphatically, her eyes challenging any ownership he thought he’d secured.

‘We’ll talk about that later,’ he said brushing her off. ‘Right now we should go to the library and break the news. The sooner it’s done, the better.’

He had her hugged to his side and walking her to the door before Merlina’s mind caught up with processing his intention. She stopped dead, not sure how the scene would play out in the library. She and Byron had an understanding and she wanted to talk to him alone.

‘No! You’re not to do that,’ shot straight out of her mouth.

Jake frowned at her belligerent resistance. ‘Do what?’

‘I’ll tell Byron myself.’

‘You need me in support,’ he insisted, not liking the idea of her separating herself from him.

Was he worried she might change her mind?

Rattling his confidence seemed like a very good idea to Merlina. Jake Devila was altogether too fond of getting his own way. She was not about to let him direct her life again. As far as she was concerned the rules of their relationship had changed.

‘It’s cowardly to lean on someone else when the message to be delivered is so personal,’ she argued. ‘It’s up to me to tell him. You would only aggravate the situation, Jake.’

‘But I’m part of it.’

‘Only in so far as you showed me I hadn’t given enough weight to one of the factors in my planning,’ she said as archly as she could, hoping to downplay the treacherous depth of her feelings for him.

He was shocked. ‘You were using me as a measure?’

‘Wasn’t that your intention?’

‘No…yes…no…’ He shook his head in angry confusion. ‘I did what I’ve wanted to do for a long time.’ His eyes blazed with absolute certainty. ‘And don’t tell me you didn’t want it, too!’

‘A case of having my curiosity satisfied, Jake. Thank you for the experience. Now if you’ll excuse me, Byron is waiting.’

The verbal exchange had diverted his attention from keeping her strongly secured at his side. She had pushed out of his hold and was heading for the door before he recollected himself to produce another pitch.

‘You can’t go on staying here, Merlina. It would be rubbing salt into the wound. I’ll wait and drive you home after you’ve spoken to my grandfather.’

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Byron would not be wounded. He was far more likely to be elated at having manipulated his grandson into open action and impatient for a report on how well his tactics had succeeded.

However, the resolute purpose in Jake’s voice made her pause. Did he really want to be with her or was this all about winning? It was true that the natural progression from breaking the engagement would be to leave Byron’s home, but that was really irrelevant. She needed to know how much Jake cared about her.

She glanced back, her heart pounding with the hope of seeing something other than a determination to get his own way on his face.

‘Harold will organise someone to pack your things and load them in the car,’ he went on, alpha male taking charge, expecting her to fall in with him.

‘I can call a taxi,’ she said, flouting his arrangements, trying to probe his feelings.

‘No.’ His eyes glittered with battle-readiness, warning her he’d take the fight to any ground she stood on. ‘You’re coming with me, Merlina.’

She instinctively defied his power to beat her in*****bmission, her chin lifting in rebellion. ‘Why should I?’

He gave her an all encompassing look that forcefully conjured up the intimate knowledge she’d given him, his gaze travelling over her curves, making her flesh prickle and heat at the mutual memory of how completely she had abandoned herself to the desire he had stoked with his kisses.

‘Because we have unfinished business together,’ he said, silkily evoking the prospect of complete ***ual satisfaction.

Merlina shivered, knowing if she let him take her home, he’d expect to go to bed with her. The choice was hers right now.

Unfinished business…

There was a terrible truth in those words. A terribly seductive truth. She wanted this man, more deeply than she’d ever wanted any other, and the primitive tug to take what he was offering before she moved on, eroded the reasoning that it would just be another brief affair in his playboy life.

She would be hurt when he finished it, as he undoubtedly would when his pleasure in her waned, but at least she wouldn’t die regretting not having had this experience with him. On the other hand, submission did not sit well with her. Let Jake sweat on her decision! It would be good to know how strong his desire for her was.

‘Do what you like,’ she tossed at him, as though she didn’t care. ‘I have to go and tell Byron I can’t marry him.’

Jake watched her stiff-backed exit, barely controlling the ****-man urge to catch her, throw her over his shoulder and carry her off to his car. Merlina Rossi hadn’t just burrowed under his skin. She was tearing at his guts. And not conceding him anything, despite the fact she had definitely—definitely—been his for the taking a few minutes ago. If Harold hadn’t come in…

But now she’d retreated to their old battle-ground, meeting his challenge and dumping it back in his lap. Though at least he’d won something from her. The intolerable engagement with his grandfather was over. He’d blown that perverted little enterprise apart. It was just as well Harold had come in and caught them at it. Harold was an unimpeachable witness. No way could Merlina make out she hadn’t been complicit in what had happened.

Not that she would.

Too much integrity in her bones.

It would be completely against her grain not to deliver the full measure of whatever she took on—work, marriage, coming out of a cake. That kind of absolute commitment made the thought of having *** with her even more exciting. He’d had a taste of what it would be like. He wanted more. Much more.

Spurred into pursuing this aim, Jake went looking for Harold, finding him in the kitchen, overseeing preparations for dinner. He requested a private word and explained the need to expe***e Ms Rossi’s departure from her ex-fiancé’s home tonight.

‘Are you sure this is Ms Rossi’s wish?’ Harold queried, frowning over Jake’s plan.

‘I advised it and promised I’d execute it,’ Jake stated unequivocally, giving the butler a wise man to man look. ‘It is a matter of sensitivity, as you must understand, Harold. Ms Rossi is in the library, breaking off her engagement to my grandfather. Once it’s done…’

‘Yes, I do see where you’re coming from, Mr Jake, but—’ he shook his head ‘—I’m not sure this hasty decision would meet with Mr Byron’s approval.’

‘A clean cut is always best, Harold,’ Jake asserted.

‘I suppose the packing up can always be undone, should it not be desired after all,’ the older man mused. ‘And it would expe***e matters if events turn that way…’

How else could they turn, Jake thought impatiently. Obviously the butler just didn’t like taking these orders from him, even though he must know they were appropriate in the circumstances.

‘Very well,’ Harold finally decided. ‘If you’ll unlock your car, Mr Jake, I’ll have Ms Rossi’s belongings carried out to it. I will be very sorry to see her go. Such a lovely, lively young woman…’

‘Who didn’t mean to make a mistake but did,’ Jake cut in, wanting action, not more words.

It raised the older man’s eyebrows. ‘I imagine it would be very easy for a young lady to make a mistake with you, Mr Jake.’

‘The mistake was with my grandfather, not me,’ Jake retorted in some exasperation.

The butler had the last word. ‘Well, sir, that is a matter of opinion. If you’ll excuse me, I’ll go and supervise the packing.’

The clinch in the main reception had not been a mistake! Jake churned over Harold’s point of view as he went outside to unlock the Ferrari. He was very fond of his grandfather. He hoped the old man would not be too offended by his actions tonight. All was fair in love and war, and he’d given fair warning that he considered Melissa Rossi his woman right at the initial meeting between her and his grandfather at the birthday party.

If Merlina had not been in such a perverse mood, throwing her independence in his face, and his grandfather backing her up because it suited him, this whole affair would not have got off the ground. He was simply getting her back where she belonged. With him. No mistake about that!

Although he had to concede his grandfather might very well be besotted, given that he had proposed marriage. On the other hand, how could any of his marriages be taken seriously when none of them had lasted beyond a few years?

The discomfiting idea that Merlina might have made the spring/autumn relationship work flitted through his mind. She was a very strong-minded woman. And his grandfather was eighty years old. Maybe he’d seen this as his sunset marriage and would be very aggrieved with Jake for breaking it up.

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‘Damn, damn, damn!’ he muttered, realising his action tonight might well have landed him in a very thorny place. Best he face up to it, too. No whizzing Merlina away without speaking to his grandfather first—find out how troubled the waters were and do his best not to pour oil onto them.

He took a few deep calming breaths of the cooler night air as he waited by the Ferrari to load whatever had to be loaded in the trunk. It couldn’t be much, unless the shopping spree at Double Bay had been over-the-top extravagant. He’d cram it in anyway, leaving Merlina no excuse to come back.

Impatience pumped through him, making it seem like forever before his grandfather’s valet—the invaluable Vincent—appeared, carrying an overnight case and a bunch of boutique bags. ‘Is that all of it?’ Jake asked, moving quickly to open the trunk.

‘Of course, sir. I never miss anything,’ Vincent answered loftily.

‘Well, you’ll be missing Ms Rossi very shortly,’ Jake slung at him, out of temper with the situation.

‘That will be a great pity,’ Vincent remarked, stowing the bags, then stepping back to give a reproving look. ‘Mr Byron has been very happy since Ms Rossi has come to stay.’

‘It’s not even been three days!’ Jake snapped, inwardly rebelling against the guilt building up in him. He was not used to feeling guilty about anything.

‘At Mr Byron’s age, every happy day is precious. Perhaps you are too young to appreciate that, sir.’

Having delivered this insidious hit, Vincent turned on his heel and marched back into the mansion.

Jake slammed the trunk shut, locked the Ferrari again and strode after him. Merlina had certainly had time enough to break the news to his grandfather. Why she was still lingering in the library raised a flurry of a gut-churning questions. He had to get in there and set everything straight, make sure she came away with him tonight.

A sense of urgency drove him into entering the library without knocking. His grandfather was propped against the front of his mahogany desk, looking relaxed and in control of the situation. Merlina was sitting back in the large leather reading chair, looking equally at ease with her legs crossed and her arms draped loosely on the arm-rests. It instantly struck Jake there was no tension in the air, not a smidgeon of distress. It was as though they were simply enjoying a chat together.

‘What’s going on?’ he demanded.

The curt tone raised his grandfather’s eyebrows. ‘I might ask the same question of you, Jake? You come here on the pretence of needing help at work…’

‘I did miss Merlina at work.’

The vehement claim provoked an ironic little smile. ‘No doubt you did. Nevertheless, does that excuse applying all your dynamic *** appeal to take her away from me?’

Jake felt a wave of guilty heat scorch up his neck. ‘I’m sorry but she shouldn’t marry you, Pop.’ He glared at Merlina. ‘Haven’t you told him that?’

‘Yes, I did,’ she answered wryly, waving her left hand for him to see the huge flashy diamond. ‘I offered to give Byron back his ring…’

She was still wearing it!

‘I’ve persuaded Merlina to hold on to it,’ his grandfather went on.

‘Why?’ Jake thundered, a mountain of confusion and frustration welling up and crushing all sense of guilt.

‘My boy, I’ve lived long enough to be worldly about these little peccadillos. Just a flash in the pan, so to speak. It will burn out in what? Three months at most? What’s your judgement on this, Merlina?’

She sighed. ‘Maybe three months, Byron.’

‘And what if it isn’t?’ Jake grated.

‘I can wait,’ his grandfather said blithely. ‘When it’s over and she’s feeling sad and sorry, I’ll be happy to cheer her up again.’

‘Don’t count on it being over in a hurry,’ Jake warned, the violence he’d felt earlier raging through him again, spurring him on to say, ‘I might just marry Merlina myself.’

It shocked his grandfather out of his confidence. ‘You don’t mean that.’

Merlina also gaped at him in surprise. ‘And give up your playboy life?’

‘We’ll talk about that if we come to it,’ Jake threw at her, instinctively shying away from such a total commitment. He addressed his grandfather, wanting this irksome confrontation ended. ‘I’m sorry for putting you out but you shouldn’t have rushed into this breach, Pop. Merlina and I had a connection going before you met her and I’m not about to walk away from it.’

‘Seems to me you didn’t appreciate her enough. Don’t forget that I will, Merlina,’ came the swift counter-argument.

‘Just butt out of this, Pop!’ Jake demanded in exasperation. ‘Merlina, I’ve got your things in my car. Let’s go now. Enough has been said.’

No argument, which was some relief. She rose obligingly from her chair, but then he had *****ffer through her going to his grandfather, kissing him on the cheek and saying warmly, ‘Thanks for everything, Byron. You’ve been very kind.’

‘You will always be a pleasure to me, my dear,’ came the benevolent reply. ‘Take care. My grandson still has a lot of growing up to do.’

Jake’s jaw clenched. He wasn’t about to stay and argue that point here and now. His primary goal was get Merlina away and obliterate any chance of her reconsidering a marriage to his grandfather, who was still clearly capable of charming birds off trees.

At last he had her arm securely tucked around his for the walk out to his car. She was coming with him willingly enough, but the ostentatious ring on her engagement finger was still glinting provocatively at him. Not for long, he vowed. Before they went to bed together, he would make her take it off.

Then he would make damned sure she would never want to put it on again!

CHAPTER EIGHT

I MIGHT just marry her myself…

He’d said it. He’d actually said it. The big M word. Merlina tried reasoning that the stunning declaration had emerged under extreme provocation, but her mind was dizzy with the possibility that Jake could mean it. He surely wouldn’t say it just to get her back working for him, and it didn’t seem likely that he’d say it to win against his grandfather. It was too big.

With her head whirling and her insides wildly tremulous at being physically connected to Jake again as he walked her out to his car, Merlina couldn’t help feeling thrilled at the forceful purpose in his every step, his determination to carry her along with him. He wanted to be attached to her. He wanted to be intimate with her. And only three days ago she had given up on Jake and his freewheeling world.

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Had she been right to play Byron’s game?

In a way, it had been like tricking Jake into rushing down a path he might not have normally taken, and she was still carrying on a deception with Byron’s engagement ring. Yet if she hadn’t done it, would she have ever had a chance of getting this close to Jake Devila? A chance of marrying him? On the other hand, would he make a good husband? Would he be a good father? How could she believe it?

Right now he was helping her into the passenger seat of his red Ferrari. The flashy sports car did not suggest the psyche of a family man. Completely the opposite, in fact. It was probably crazy to think about marrying him. An affair was definitely on the cards and Merlina couldn’t deny she was terribly tempted by the exciting experience of having Jake as a lover. But she was nervous about it, too. He’d had so many women. How would she compare?

He shut the car door and swiftly strode around the bonnet to take the driver’s seat. The tall, athletic maleness of him shot quivers through her stomach. She would soon have the chance to see him naked, feel him naked. So many times she had fantasised such a scene taking place. Now that the hot, hard reality of it was rushing in on her, she was scared of it.

Jake settled beside her and closed his door, filling the space inside the car with a sense of primal urgency. He gunned the powerful engine and they were away, charging into a togetherness they had never had before. The security gates at the end of the driveway were being opened but he had to slow the car briefly and he reached across and took her hand, his fingers tightening around hers in a possessive grasp.

‘Are you okay, Merlina?’ he asked in a surprisingly gentle tone.

His dark eyes scanned hers for some sign that she was with him in spirit as well as physically present.

‘I don’t know,’ she answered shakily. ‘Taking off with you feels like a rash leap in the dark.’

He squeezed her hand reassuringly. ‘Don’t worry. Just let it happen.’

‘Don’t you ever think about what you’re doing, Jake?’

‘I don’t have to think about this. It’s right between us. You know it is.’

His eyes blazed absolute conviction at her, then satisfied that he’d settled that point, he removed his hand to shift gears and turned his gaze to the street they were about to enter.

‘It wasn’t right until I turned into a blonde for the cake act,’ she muttered. Which reminded her…‘What happened with Vanessa Hall? You were in the middle of a relationship with her.’

‘Vanessa and I called it quits on Saturday.’

‘Because of me?’

‘Yes. Because of you.’ He threw her a quick burning glance. ‘Let it be understood that Vanessa was no more than a social convenience in my life.’

‘And I was a work convenience,’ spilled out in a bitter little burst.

‘No. You were never a convenience,’ he denied emphatically.

‘What was I then?’ she challenged, still needing to probe his feelings for her.

‘The light of my life. How’s that?’ He flashed her a grin, getting back into his playboy stride. ‘And I’m not about to let it go out.’

Was it a bit of flippant charm or did he mean it? ‘When did I become the light of your life?’ she asked, mockingly adding, ‘Suddenly? On Saturday afternoon?’

The grin turned into a grimace of vexation at her reading of the situation. ‘This is no flash in the pan, Merlina. In fact, the chemistry we mixed together stirred to life at your job interview with me, strengthened considerably on your first day at work and has been running on well-charged batteries ever since. And for you to pull the plug on it…’ His dark eyebrows beetled down at her. ‘Why did you?’

She shrugged, feeling more able to cope with this conversation. Silence fed too many doubts and worries. ‘I was sick of being your wind-up doll,’ she answered bluntly.

‘Hmm…I always anticipated your calling it time up sooner or later. ‘

That stung her into saying, ‘Oh, really? I thought you expected me to sparkle for you as long as you liked.’

‘No, I was just seeing how far I could wind you. I thought you might explode over the cake idea. I was actually looking forward to the conflagration, but you held it in and paid me out on your own spectacular terms—a tactic, I might add, that I admired for its sheer boldness until my grandfather leapt on board and cut me out.’

‘You weren’t in, Jake. You were with Vanessa Hall,’ she reminded him cattily, remembering how many times she’d burned over his women. It was all very well to call her the light of his life. What were they? Briefly flickering candles?

‘Believe me. Vanessa was well aware of how in I was by the end of Saturday’s party,’ he drawled sardonically.

‘What? You had to lose me before you decided you wanted me?’ Merlina sniped, disgruntled with his twofaced attitude.

‘I told you. It was always there. But you were so good at working with me I didn’t want to complicate the situation.’

‘Right! So it was okay to keep me dangling to serve your interests. Never mind how I felt about it.’

His attention instantly veered from the road to focus intently on her. ‘How did you feel about it?’

Merlina clamped her mouth shut. Those treacherous words had slipped out. She knew better than to give anything up to Jake Devila. He’d go to work on it and get an advantage for himself. She had to keep her obsession with him hidden and try to find the real guts in what he was now revealing.

‘I don’t like being played with,’ she tossed at him. ‘I don’t know what I’m doing here with you. I should have stayed with Byron.’

‘No!’

‘You’re just going to play with me on another level, Jake.’

‘It ceased to be a game the moment you threw down the gauntlet, Merlina,’ he said with surprising seriousness.

‘What is it then? Isn’t this all about winning what you want?’

‘No. It’s about sharing something special.’ His eyes pinned hers in a brief glittering challenge. ‘Something that neither of us will get from anyone else.’

She sucked in a quick breath to ease the tight squeeze on her heart. It was what scared her most, never being able to find anyone else who could touch the chords in her that Jake touched—touched and tweaked and tuned to his pitch. Instinct told her he would have even more power over her feelings if she went to bed with him. Yet if she didn’t…maybe she would be missing the most special experience of her entire life.