A British Bride by Agreement (18 page)

When Jonathan’s gaze found hers, her
face grew hot. Her stomach swirled. He’d already caught her staring at him
twice. The more she got to know him, the more attractive he became.

Emma turned her attention to a little
boy in a wheelchair
who
wasn’t playing with any of the
toys set up for the event. A twinge of sadness hit her. Perhaps the child
couldn’t move his limbs. Maybe he was too weak from chemotherapy to play. She
found a bottle of bubbles and sat next to him.

She glanced at his name tag. “Brett, how
do you work this thing?” She huffed out a few mediocre blows. “I can’t seem to
make any bubbles. Could you help me?”

At first, he hung his head and fought to
hide a grin. Then he leaned forward, toward the wand, and blew. Five fat
bubbles floated up in the air, bolstered by the air coming down from a vent
above. When the children caught sight of them, they squealed with delight.
Brett blew a steady breath again and four more shimmery bubbles wafted into the
air. “You got to brow
slowee
.”

His lisp warmed Emma’s heart until someone
nudged her.

“Time to go.”
Jonathan stood
beside her and consulted his watch.

Emma made a silly face at Brett.
“Now?
I was just getting to know my new friend.”

Jonathan glanced around the room without
looking at her. “We’ve two other hospitals to visit today.”

He took her by the hand, but his grasp
was cold.
Cold like his tone.

They rode in silence in a limo to the
next hospital. Bruised by his brisk demeanor, the view of the limo’s dark
interior, stretching out in opulent luxury annoyed her. “Why are we traveling
in a gas-guzzling car to an event that is supposed to raise money for
children’s hospitals?”

Jonathan, deep in thought, stared at
her. “Because that’s how I travel to all my meetings.”

“But you’re a charity director now, not
a corporate business man. Don’t you think the two positions are quite
different?”

Without speaking, he turned his gaze
back to the window.

She folded her arms. If he couldn’t
endure a few words of constructive advice—

“If you want me to drop you off at home,
I can.”

Stunned, she blinked several times
before any words came to her. “No, I didn’t mean—” Her mouth went dry. She
wanted so desperately to fit in with his world.
To make him
happy.
But it was all turning out badly. “I don’t want to go home. I
want to be here with you.”

“Fine.”
Without looking
at her, he squeezed her hand. And for the rest of the ride, his hand didn’t
move.

***

Jonathan stood back and watched Emma
interact with the children at the second hospital, gathered in the
castle-themed playroom. Despite their burns, she found ways to engage them in
all kinds of play, never once flinching at the horrible scars, or missing
limbs. With her cheerful smile and easy manner, she talked with the parents
gathered, even teasing one dad into letting her draw a smiley face on his bald
head.

And it was making him miserable.

All day Jonathan had been wrestling with
being a charity director. To think he’d invited her to come out of guilt for
keeping his distance, and now all he wanted to do was send her home. Not only was
she distractingly beautiful with her bright blonde hair and green eyes, her
concerned nature and her ability to interact with parents, sick children, and
bossy nurses was as genuine as her cheerful disposition. Qualities he wished he’d
had.

She cared about these people. A trait he
desperately needed. And she was right about the limo thing. Why couldn’t he see
the need for economy? One thing was becoming very clear to him. He had married
up.

She was an amazing woman. He shifted his
stance. Romance wasn’t part of their original agreement. His words,
marriage doesn’t have to be an emotionally
based pledge,
mocked him. Would she consider a marriage on a deeper level,
based on love—he clasped and unclasped his hands. What if she didn’t?

Nick nudged Jonathan. “Your wife’s quite
a stunner. A good addition to a man trying to climb to the
top,
and she’s is a natural for this kind of event. Should we put her on the
payroll?”

Jonathan bristled at Nick’s
insinuations. “She’ll do.”

Geraldine came and stood between the two
men. “Emma is so at ease with sick kids. And you’re going to need all the help
you can get.” She passed a note to Jonathan. “The puppet show people just
called and canceled. They’re stuck in Pacific with an overheated engine.”

“Can Emma sing or dance?’” Nick
chuckled. “At least she looks like a TV star.” Nick clapped Jonathan on the
shoulder.

“No, but she can play the piano.”
Jonathan frowned for a minute, remembering he’d never actually heard her play.

“Okay, well, I’m sure they’ve got a
keyboard around here somewhere.” Neal looked over his shoulder. “I’ll see if
they can bring one in here.” He headed toward one of the young nurses eyeing
him.

“Wait.” Jonathan grabbed his arm. “I’m
not sure.”

Geraldine shook her head. “The kids seem
to be getting restless. You’d better do something.”

Jonathan’s gaze found Emma as she tucked
her blonde hair behind her ear and leaned in toward a girl who was missing an
arm. Emma threw back her head and laughed with her eyes shining. Tightness
constricted his chest. He felt himself being drawn to her in deeper ways. Was
she happy with him? Did she like being his wife? How many children did she
want?
Boys or girls?

“They can get a piano.” Nick
straightened his tie. “Have you asked her, or do you want me to?”

“I’ll handle my wife.” Jonathan rubbed
his chin. What was important was living up to Steller expectations.

He snagged Emma’s wrist as she tossed a
ball to a boy on crutches. Jonathan leaned in to whisper in her ear, but the
fresh floral scent lingering in her hair, distracted his thoughts. He cleared his
throat. “Hey, the puppet group that I arranged isn’t able to come.”

“What are you going to do?” She stared
back at him with trusting eyes.

Nick strode up to them. “They’ll have it
here in a few minutes. I let your father know what was going on, but that you
had it all under control.”

“You what?”

“I just thought we should keep him in
the loop.”

Jonathan shrugged off the uneasy feeling
he had about Nick. Sometimes working with him felt like two men on a small
platform and one of them was going to get pushed off. “I’ll manage my father
too.”

Cinching his yellow tie back into place,
Jonathan remembered his thudding heart this morning as Emma tied it into place.
A wave of longing for her rolled over him like a Mac truck.
Whoa, buddy. Passion is not on your agenda
today.
He licked his dry lips, forcing his mind back to the present. “We
need entertainment, to keep the press here. I know you said you didn’t want to
play the piano—”

“Jonathan Steller.” A tall man in a dark
suit held out his hand. “Gabe Lockwood.”

Heat prickled Jonathan’s scalp. Was the
air-conditioning on? Jonathan shook the man’s hand. “Mr. Lockwood, I’m honored
that you could come. With so many hospitals under your watchful eye—”

“Thirty-four.”

“Thirty-four?”

“I run thirty-four hospitals.” Gabe removed
an imaginary speck of dust from his sleeve. “So, what do you have planned next?
The program says a puppet show. I don’t like my patients disappointed.”

Jonathan fixed his gaze on Emma. “Would
you play, for everyone?”

Dede stepped in the circle next to
Jonathan. “I was just in a meeting with some hospital people and I heard
there’s a problem.”

Jonathan pressed his lips in
frustration. Did Nick invite her?

“You’ve got the press here and
everything. This should raise a lot of money. So,” Dede glanced over her
shoulder. “You’ve got to keep these events moving. What’s next?”

“Emma?” Jonathan asked.

Emma cast a glance at Dede. “I’ll play.”

As if on cue, a grand piano and a bench
were rolled into a corner of the room. The children stopped playing and the parents
urged them to sit down.

Emma watched the instrument settle into
place. She looked so pretty in her light blue sheath dress. She looked…very
still. He wanted to apologize to her for putting her on the spot, but everyone
was hovering around them.

She moved toward the piano as if in a
trance and sat on the bench. She smoothed out her dress tucked her hair behind
her ears.

Jonathan bent over her. “You have no
idea what this means to me—”

“I can’t. I’m sorry.” She pulled her
shaking hands back from the keyboard. “I know I’m letting you down, I know I’m
a failure, but I can’t.” She pushed past him, Dede, Nick and Geraldine and
scurried for the door.

Jonathan’s heart lurched. What had he
done? He started after her when a lady reporter stuck a microphone in his face.

“Mr. Steller, can you tell us anything
about your move from the Steller Corporation to the Steller Charity?”

Jonathan focused his gaze on his last
glimpse of Emma. As she passed through yet another set of glass doors, he saw
her wipe tears from her face. He whirled around, his hands shoved onto his
hips. What was he thinking?

“Mr. Steller?”

The impatient voice of the reporter and
the glare of the bright lights from the camera brought him back to reality. He
whirled back around. “I’m—what?”

“I want to know about your future plans
with the Steller Corporation.”

He craned his neck to see if he could
catch another glimpse of his wife. “My plans are…walking out the door. Excuse
me.”

He strode past the reporter and dashed
through the sets of doors and outside to the parking lot. The limousine was
just leaving. He ran over to it and pounded on the last window. The darkened
glass slowly rolled down. The look of betrayal on her face combined with her
wet cheeks was a lethal weapon.

“I’m sorry. I don’t know what possessed
me to ask you to perform.”

“I don’t expect you to understand.”

“No. You’re my wife. What kind of man
puts his wife in such a situation?”

“A woman who’s
merely a wife on paper.”
The window closed up and the car pulled away.

***

Nick saw Jonathan leaving and stepped
into the light of the TV cameras, flashing his perfect smile. “I’m Mr. Nick Steller,
and I can answer any questions you might have about the Steller organization.
The owner, Mr. Steller, is my uncle and I work closely beside his son.”

The red-headed woman reporter smiled
back at him. “How long have you worked for the Stellers?”
 

“As a close cousin, I don’t see myself
working for the Stellers, but working for family.”

“And where do you see yourself in ten
years?”

“Wherever my
Uncle Hans thinks I can best move the company forward.
My talents have
always been in Product Development, but we’ll see.”

“And Mr.
Jonathan Steller?
Why has he been moved to the Charity Division?”

“I never question my uncle’s decisions.”
Nick leaned in. “And there are certain things that,” he made a face, “should
stay within the family.”

***

“Long after the last hospital event
ended and everyone headed home, Jonathan trudged into his office. Tension
thumped in his head. He pulled open a drawer, looking for headache medicine and
found none. He eased onto his chair and held his throbbing head. What a
complete failure the day was.

Dede ended up saving the day by offering
face painting and somehow coming up with a DVD of the latest kid flick that
hadn’t even hit the theaters yet. He merely stood by completely paralyzed by
the situation.

He rubbed his tired eyes. He needed to
get home to Emma to apologize. To confess he didn’t fully grasp her reasons for
her not wanting to play, but that he hadn’t forgotten that she told him
upfront. The blinking light on his phone compelled him to play the message it
held.

“This is Mrs. Peterson.”

He groaned.

“I need to know the caterer and the
orchestra you have scheduled for the concert. You know you can’t burn a candle
at both wicks. You need to organize your schedule better. Time and time, waits
for no man—”

“Jonathan.” His father strode into his
corner office, his face lined in frustration.

Jonathan clicked off the answering
machine and snatched his feet off his desk. “What are you doing here?”

His dad folded his arms. “I’m here to
congratulate the director of the Steller Foundation on his whirlwind media
blitz. Do you know we’ve been on all the local stations and we were picked up
by the one of the national news?” He laughed out loud. “I knew you’d do well
here. Because of your efforts today, we may be able to sponsor that new
children’s research hospital.”