Deceiving Her Boss (16 page)

 
"Because I care about my company, and ultimately my employees."

 
"And me?"

 
"You made your bed many months ago, Allie," he responded.

 
Allie had never seen Sean's face so cold.  But then, she'd never seen him quite
this angry before.  And she supposed he had reason to be.  This one mistake on
their parts had changed things completely, and had the power to change their
lives forever.  He must be wishing he'd never met her, she realized.  And her
deception from over a year ago now seemed like the catalyst that started them
both down this path.

 
Picking up her mug, she moved back over to the coffee pot and refilled it.  She
took the full mug over to the table and sat down.   Looking at the photo again,
she knew that there was no explaining it away.  Not with the way he was looking
at her.  Not with her arm curled up and around his neck like that.

 
Finally, she pushed the newspaper away and nodded.  "Very well.  You win. 
But with ground rules," she added quickly.

 
Sean's eyes narrowed as he remained standing, looking down at her.  "And
those are?"

 
"I want my own job, not in your employ.  I don't need you to help me get
it, but I need you to not stand in my way," she said quietly, not looking
at him.

 
Sean stopped to consider this.  "And if I don't want to lose you from my
company?"

 
She looked up then, her eyes boring into his.  "I need this, Sean.  I need
to know that if something bad happens between us, I will still have a job and a
way to make ends meet."

 
Sean raised an eyebrow, but nodded.  "All right.  I'm not going to fill
your position for a while.  Perhaps you'll learn to trust me over time and come
back.  I'd prefer that you did not work directly with any of my competitors. 
If you need me to put in a good word for you somewhere, I can do that.  What
else?"

 
"A pre-nup," Allie said.  "I never want anyone thinking that I
married you for your money."

 
Sean sighed at that.  "I'm well aware that you're not marrying me for any
reason other than that I'm forcing you to.  But I can have my lawyer draw
something up.  Do you have a lawyer to look it over?"

 
"I'll find one."

 
"What else?

 
Allie raised her eyes to his and said firmly, "I'm not sharing your
bed."

 
Sean's eyes narrowed as he looked across the table at Allie.  His voice, when
he spoke, was soft, but the steely tone was unmistakable.

 
"That is not acceptable, Allie.  You will be my wife in every sense of the
word."

 
Allie blushed, but continued.  "No.  Not right away.  Maybe someday.  But
I won't be forced or coerced into having sex with you, just because of the
circumstances of this marriage.   That's a deal-breaker for me."

 
Sean leaned back against the counter and crossed his arms, pinning her with his
gaze.  "Do you honestly think that I need to force or coerce someone to
share my bed, Allie?" he asked softly.  "And do you honestly think
that you and I will be able to deny our attraction to each other for any length
of time?"

 
Allie shook her head.  "I don't know.  I'm angry enough at you right now
that I think it might be pretty easy," she admitted.

 
Sean smiled then, but it wasn't a smile that reached his eyes.  "Very
well.  I will agree to not force or coerce you into bed with me.  But I will
not agree to a celibate marriage.  Is that clear?"

 
"You won't coerce me?" Allie asked, needing to hear it from him
again.

 
"No, but that doesn't mean I won't try to change your mind."

 
"OK.  I can live with that," Allie conceded.

 
"Anything else?" he asked.

 
Allie shook her head.  "No."

 
"Then we have plans to make," Sean said.  "The wedding will need
to be soon.  Within the next two weeks."

 
"Why?" Allie asked, looking up in alarm.

 
"We need to make it seem like the planning has been going on for a while,
Allie, and that we've been intending this all along.  Otherwise, it will look
like we're doing this for exactly the reason we are -- the photo in the paper.

 
"This afternoon, we'll go shopping for your engagement ring.  The jeweler
I want to use is closed on Sunday, but I called him this morning and he is
opening for us at 2:00 this afternoon."

 
"You were that sure of yourself, were you?" Allie asked with some
bitterness.

 
"I didn't intend to let you say no, if that's what you mean," Sean
responded.  "I'll call the Justice of the Peace tomorrow and see when we
can get an appointment for the ceremony, and we can take care of most of the
paperwork this afternoon and tomorrow."

  
Allie sat silently at the table, absorbing all of this.  He was serious, she
realized.  This wasn't just a joke or a game.  He was completely serious.  He
honestly was going to blackmail her into marrying him.

 
She knew that her reputation was on the line too.  Probably more-so than his,
since it was she who would be seen as the gold-digging assistant, while his
reputation would likely just be enhanced.  But she knew that he took great
pride in his ethical conduct, and this perceived affair could potentially put
quite a dent in that armor, if they didn't do as he was suggesting.

 
But it was a hard pill to swallow.  Marriage was always something she dreamed
about for the future, something that would happen when she fell in love with
someone, and wanted to have a family with them.  When she met a man that she
not only could live with, but couldn't live without.  And to settle for
something business-like was the death of that dream.

 
Harder for her was the fact that she honestly liked her boss.  Liked the man
who was currently forcing her to do something that she didn't want.  How
different it would have been if he had come here this morning, told her that he
loved her, and that he wanted to marry her.  But this?  This was a nightmare,
not a dream.

 
"I wanted to marry for love," she whispered to herself.  "Not
like this."

 
Sean heard her, but didn't respond.   He simply stood there, leaning on the
counter, and waited for her to come to terms with this.  When she at last
looked up at him, there was resignation in her gaze.

 
"I want to go to Vegas," she said.

ELEVEN

 
"What?  Really?  Why?" Sean was not opposed to the idea, but he was
surprised by it.  He had pegged Allie as the white dress, church service,
flower-carrying woman who wanted to be surrounded by family and friends, and
he'd expected to compromise on some of that for her.  But Vegas?  That was
completely unexpected.

 
"It's more in line with what this wedding will be," Allie said. 
"Plastic.  Fake.  Business."

 
Sean's expression was stern.  "This will be a real marriage, Allie. 
Nothing fake about it. But if you want to go to Vegas for the wedding, I'll
allow it."

 
"Allow?" Allie asked coldly.  "Let's get one thing straight, Mr.
Greyson.  You may be my employer, and you may be able to tell me what to do at
work, but you do not own me."

 
A muscled in Sean's face twitched, his only visible reaction to Allie's
declaration.  Pushing himself from his leaning position, he sauntered over to
where Allie was sitting, and simply bent down, took her elbows in his hands,
and lifted her until she was standing next to him.   He held her firmly,
shaking her gently until she looked up at him.

 
Quietly, he said, "I told you before, Allie, that you are mine.  And while
I will never try to control you or your actions, the fact is that you were mine
from the moment you walked into my office, revolting tweed suit and all.

 
"We are going to be married, Allie.  And once we are, you will be my
wife.  That's an equal partnership in my book, so you don't ever need to worry
about me making all the decisions, or running over you like a truck.  But don't
ever forget,
Ms. Mitchell
," he said sarcastically, "that you
belong to me.  Is that clear?"

 
Allie pushed against him futilely.  "No, damnit.  I do not.  I will
not."

 
"Shall I prove it to you?" he asked mildly.

 
"How?  By assaulting me?  Making me so crazy that I beg you to take me? 
Oh, I have no doubt that you can do that,
Mr. Greyson
.   Lord knows
you've done it before, and I've let you.  But no.  You may physically own my
body in the sense that you know how to touch me, but you do not own my heart or
my brain or my spirit.  And unless I choose to give them to you, you never
will."

 
Sean's fingers tightened over her arms, but instead of drawing her closer to
him, he released her.  She sank back down in the kitchen chair, rubbing her
arms where he had gripped her, and looking up at him with an accusing glare.

 
He watched her fingers moving lightly over the skin where he had held her.

 
"Did I hurt you?" he asked quietly.

 
She just shook her head.  "The only thing hurting is my pride."

 
Sean nodded, then pulled out the chair across from her and sat down. 
"I'll make the reservations for Vegas.  You don't have to do anything
apart from finding a dress.  I'll take care of everything else."

 
"And when people ask me for details on Monday morning, when I show up at
the office, wearing your engagement ring?"

 
"Tell them the truth.  That I'm surprising you.  But Allie, I expect you
to act far happier about all of this than you're appearing right now.  This is
not a game, for either of us.  This is our future."

 
Allie sighed.  "I'll try."  When Sean looked at her skeptically, she
said, "No, I really will.   I know what's at stake here."

 
"Very well," he said.  We'll make it two weeks from yesterday.  That
gives you a weekend to take care of things, and it gives us two weeks in the
office to get things ready to handover to Clay and Jason while we're on our
honeymoon."

 
Allie closed her eyes briefly.  She hadn't even considered a honeymoon. 
"Do we have to...?"

 
"Of course.  Everyone will expect it."

 
She nodded.  Once.  Briefly.  "OK," she said quietly.  "But I
need to tell Anna the truth," she added.  "I need her to shop with
me, and I need her to be my support.  Can you live with that?  Because she will
tell Paul, and I'd expect her to."

 
Sean sighed.  "I'll talk to Paul.  So yeah, you can tell Anna.  Are we
good, Allie?  For now?"

 
Allie looked at him seriously.  "Not really.  But I'll do what you
ask."

 
"That's enough for now.  OK.  Get changed, and let's go."

 
"Go where?"

 
"Anywhere.  Out of here.  Away from that," he said, pointing at the
paper.  "We'll have a nice quiet lunch somewhere by the water, and just
relax.  Then we'll go to the jeweler's. "

 
Allie's eyes rested on his face for some time before she simply nodded. 
Standing up, she slipped around him, careful not to touch him, and headed
directly for her bedroom.  Closing the door behind her, she sank down onto the
bed and rested her head in her hands.

 
She tried to imagine Anna's reaction to all of this, and couldn't.  It was so
far beyond anything that she'd ever thought her life would be.  And after
watching her friend walk down the aisle to the man of her dreams just a few
months ago, she couldn't even fathom what it would be like to marry a man who
didn't love her.  Who didn't even pretend to.  Oh yeah, he wanted her, but that
wasn't the same thing at all.  If he liked her, even a little bit, he wouldn't
be doing this, would he?

 
She sat on the bed for some time, looking at her options.  And as far as she
could see, she had very few.  She had enough money in savings to keep her going
for a few months, and she had friends and family that she could call on if
needed.  But unless she was going back to school for a completely new career
path, one that Sean Greyson had no influence over at all, she would eventually
need to find a job.

 
Getting to her feet, Allie went over to her closet and pulled out a casual
khaki skirt and a dark brown V-neck patterned t-shirt.  Adding a beaded
necklace on a string, and a pair of sandals, she pulled her hair back into a
pony tail and lightly applied makeup to her face.  Taking one last look in the
mirror, she stopped short.  She looked....  sad.  Well, it wasn't every day
that the man of your dreams proposed marriage, but without love.

 
Oh no
, she thought to herself. 
Wait a second
.  What was she
thinking, 'man of your dreams'?  Sinking back on the bed, Allie rolled her head
back and looked up at the ceiling.  Well damnitall to hell and back, she
thought.  She was in love with the guy.   She had been stupid enough to fall
for her boss.  Oh for heaven's SAKE, she thought.  Talk about cliché.  Talk
about  stereotype.  Talk about setting yourself up to get your heart broken
into a million pieces.  Because the one thing that Allie was absolutely sure
about was that her boss was NOT in love with her.