Earth Angel (17 page)

“We will go to my house and we will have this out,” he announced abruptly. “You broke the deal, Catherine. Again.”

All the defiance went out of her when she realized Miles was a thread away from losing his control. Smothering the urge to tell him why she had done what she’d done, she pulled the jacket tight around her shoulders. She felt cocooned in his body heat. The so-familiar scent of him enveloped her, and pain knifed through her at the thought of what she wanted and couldn’t have.

In the car, conversation was nearly nonexistent and tension was tantamount.

At one point, she did ask, “Do you think our disappearance might cause some talk?”

“I doubt it. You saw fit to take care of that,” he said coldly.

The car screeched to a halt at his front door. She had just touched the door handle when her car door was wrenched open. Miles had come around the car that fast.

She scooted past him when he opened the house door, then jumped and spun around when he slammed it shut behind them.

He looked about to explode.

“Now, Miles …” she began, backing away from him.

He stalked her. “Why? Just tell me why you pulled this stunt that could ruin everything.”

“Nobody saw me.”

“There were over two hundred people in that room!” he roared. “How could you
not
be seen?”

“I checked,” she said, glancing around for an escape route. None was available.

“You better hope to heaven you weren’t seen. Because if you were—”

“If I was, the phone would be ringing off the hook already for a statement from you.” She rushed on with her explanation. “Miles, it was my last time as the Earth Angel. Truly. I wasn’t going to do it at all. Honest. But this has been too important not to use such an event to make a point—”

“A point!” He gaped at her. “I have been working my tail off to get you a legitimate forum for your cause, and you sabotage me.”

“I wasn’t trying to sabotage you. I didn’t want the family to become complacent …” The look on his face shook her. She scrambled for a better explanation as anxiety mingled with anticipation. “I mean, I … It was …”

“You did it just to be obtuse.”

She wondered if she had. She had known he would figure out who did it. And she had known somewhere inside her exactly what he would do—bring her to his home and keep her under twenty-four-hour surveillance. The two of them alone.

He backed her against the wall, pressing so close, a sheet of paper couldn’t have been wedged between them. “Dammit, Catherine. If I say the car is black, you automatically say it’s white. If I ask you to do something or not do something, it’s because I care about your welfare. But you have
defied me at every turn and treated me like I’m the muck from the bottom of a pond. I’ll tell you who the pond scum was: that philanthropic jerk you keep on a pedestal. He was using you for a meal ticket and you still can’t see it. You make me insane with jealousy and drive me crazy in general, and I don’t know why the hell I put up with it except that I love you—”

Catherine gasped at the shocking words. There was no doubting they were unprepared, unrehearsed, and totally genuine.
Genuine
. Her wall of resistance crumbled away.

Miles stopped his tirade and stared dumbfounded at her. All of his anger dissolved as the truth of what he’d said rocked him to his roots.

“Do you mean it?” she asked.

“I guess so.” He smiled, then laughed. Suddenly, everything made so much sense. He must have been blind not to see it before. “Oh, hell, Catherine, it figures.”

He touched her cheek, the softness of her skin springing up a well of desire in him.

“You don’t sound very happy about it,” she whispered.

He grinned wryly. “I’m not sure I should be. Will you marry me?”

Her jaw dropped in complete astonishment. His grin widened.

She was silent for a long moment, then looked straight at him. “I already do.”

His whole world tilted at the wonderful words, then snapped back into place. He kissed her, and her mouth instantly surrendered to his. All of her seemed to surrender in his embrace. She had never felt so soft and gentle with him before.

Everything went out of his head except her revelation. He didn’t care how she had come to love him, it only mattered that she did. He wanted her so badly. All the lost days and nights needed to be erased in an intimate confirmation of their words.

He broke the kiss and lifted her in his arms. She was solid and real, and he turned and carried her up the stairs.

“What are you doing?” she asked, clinging deliciously to his shoulders.

“Rhett Butler imitations,” he answered, holding her tightly against him.

“Just don’t get a hernia.”

“It’s not in the script.”

She smiled. “You really know how to end a fight.”

He smiled in return. “This is just the break between rounds. I’m still furious with you, but we’ll argue later. First, we’ll learn to trust each other.”

“Can we?”

The question was hesitant, and he heard the desperation in her voice.

“We can,” he assured her. “We have a lifetime to do it in.”

It occurred to him that she hadn’t answered his proposal, but by then he’d reached his bedroom. Catherine was in his arms, in love with him, and he knew he already had his answer.

He kept one arm around her bare back, but let go of her legs, her thighs sliding against his and taking his breath away at the same moment.

He ran his hands along her spine, her, flesh like silk under his fingers. “I think I asked you into my bed those years ago to keep you from marrying the pond scum.”

“It took you long enough to do anything about it,” she said, unfastening his shirt studs.

“You didn’t help matters.” He unhooked the halter from around her neck. The bodice dropped to her waist, exposing her breasts to his gaze. Her nipples were tight already.

“Never,” he said hoarsely, “wear this dress again for anyone except me.”

“Never,” she promised, pushing his shirt open. She rubbed her breasts against his chest. “I love you, Miles.”

His control broke. He took her lips in an all-encompassing kiss. Her tongue mated with his, driving him to the brink of insanity. She would always do that to him, and he didn’t want it any other way. He loved her.

Clothes disappeared in a frenzy of hands. Every touch was a renewal and discovery. Every kiss a commitment. Catherine became one with him, each thrust a wild promise of the future.

And all wrapped in the passion was the tender thread of love.

Catherine slowly surfaced. Morning sunlight streamed through the windows. Her first thought was that it had all been a dream. Her second was the realization that she was in Miles’s bed, naked
and contented, lying atop a naked and contented Miles.

Everything came rushing back to her.

He had said words she never thought she’d hear from him. It was what she had wanted for so long, and her willpower had dissolved instantly. She had no doubt that he did love her. She smiled to herself, remembering that he’d been as surprised as she at the spontaneous acknowledgment.

“What’s so funny?” he asked, his voice husky with sleep.

“Just thinking,” she murmured, recalling, too, the way he had whispered “I love you” later like a litany. No, like a discovery of something wonderful. The words had touched her so deeply, she had been branded by them. How could she not be?

“Thinking is dangerous,” he said. “Especially with you.”

“Are you starting another fight?”

He grinned and ran his hand along her backside. “Only if we can make up like this.” His grin faded. “Catherine, promise me Earth Angel has made her last protest. Ever.”

“I promise.”

“I’m trusting you to keep it this time.”

“I’ll keep it.”

Her throat tightened, though. There was that word. “Trust.” She believed he loved her, but she was almost afraid to take that first tentative step toward trust. He had said he was a changed man from before. He had been very solicitous when he’d thought she was ill. He had spoken out at the board meetings for environmental changes. He had even put up the sign and got arrested for her. She had to admit he was meeting her halfway. She
could only do the same. Besides, if they were ever going to trust each other, it had to start now.

“Catherine, you never answered my proposal.”

The hesitancy in his voice was obvious. She glanced at him and saw his worried expression. It figured, she thought. Now she found herself reluctant to make a commitment.

“I thought you wanted to see where the relationship was going,” she said.

He smiled sheepishly. “I didn’t want to rush you. I know what I want, and I don’t want to lose you. I love you. Marry me.”

If she said yes, her surrender to him would be complete.

She drew in a deep breath. “Yes.”

He pulled her into his arms and kissed her. Her head was spinning by the time he released her.

“Just don’t ever say no,” he whispered, nuzzling her throat.

Sensual pleasure surged through her, and she couldn’t think straight. She didn’t want to.

Much later, Miles said, “I wonder how the reception went after we left.”

“We could always have hung around,” she commented.

“You probably would have stood on a table and announced you were the Earth Angel.”

“Mmmm. Now there’s a thought.”

“Catherine,” he began in warning.

She laughed and snuggled in his arms.

“As long as it’s only a thought.” He was silent for a moment. “When we left, Byrne was making a complete fool of himself with the media.”

She shuddered, thinking of the news reports.

“We had better get started taking advantage of
that,” Miles went on. “Once we get you installed as chairperson, I’ll call Bob Ross from Kimble Industries. He owes me for a bank deal, so I think I can lure him away to become Wagner’s chief executive officer …”

Catherine shut her eyes. Miles hadn’t changed all that much. Clearly, he was on a course that would give him behind-the-scenes control of Wagner Oil. She couldn’t allow that. She had to believe he loved her. There was just too much evidence proving it. She wanted desperately to trust him, to trust that his marriage proposal wasn’t connected in any way to the business. She wanted to know she had surrendered everything to a man who wanted her for herself.

What she needed was proof.

“… I’ve looked at the corporation bylaws,” he was saying, “and two directors can also call an emergency meeting. I think you and I can do that. Everyone was more than ready to remove Byrne when I talked to them last night. I think they’ve all seen the light.”

A brilliant idea flashed through her head. Catherine swallowed back a jolt of fear, but it grew in her mind, clicking into place like the last pieces of a puzzle. It would put the company into caring hands, and prove whether or not his proposal was motivated by business. If he truly loved her, he would even understand. And if he didn’t …

She only hoped Miles would see the light after she was done.

The atmosphere in the conference room was grim.

Miles glanced around at the faces of the Wagner board of directors. Each one was set with a cold expression—except Byrne’s. He was sweating profusely. Miles almost felt sorry for the man. The various newspapers on the conference table were filled with his attack on the media at the reception. The videotapes next to the newspapers were worse, with the TV news reports of Byrne’s performance. He and Catherine had missed quite a show, evidently.

She sat across from him now, looking quiet, subdued, and beautiful in a pale green outfit. Only Catherine could turn soft colors into a power suit, he mused. He knew she was nervous and unsure of her abilities to chair Wagner Oil. But he knew different, and he had never been prouder of her. She had fought him every step of the way, but now it was over and she was his. He still felt as if he’d been hit on the forehead with a sledgehammer and the granite had fallen away from his eyes. She was a unique woman, and the moment he’d said he loved her, he’d known that was what had been happening all along.

People at the table looked expectantly at him. He and Catherine had spent two days huddled in separate rooms, talking the relatives into this meeting. They all wanted it short and sweet. As the director who’d called the meeting, Miles cleared his throat and opened it. “It is obvious that board management at Wagner Oil cannot continue as it has. We have to change our tactics, our entire method of doing business, and we need someone who understands that.”

“That’s been very obvious for a long time,” Catherine’s father said.

Miles smothered a wry smile. When the man came around, he really came around. He still wasn’t quite convinced that his own daughter was the best choice, but he was convinced the bank held the voting strings.

“We’ll lose our shirts,” Byrne said, smacking the table with his palm.

“We’re already losing them,” Catherine said coolly.

“And Wagner cannot afford to lose more,” Miles said, turning to Byrne. “I’m sorry, Byrne, but I have no choice but to call for your resignation.”

“No! No!” Byrne shouted, banging on the table.

“A resignation would be best for you,” Sylvia said, sympathy in her voice. “You know we’re in trouble, and we all know you want what’s best for Wagner Oil.”

“You’re all just jealous of me because Father put me in charge.” Byrne’s eyes were bulging. “You always have been.”

Miles shook his head. “Allan wasn’t my father, Byrne. I have no ties. I move Byrne be removed from the board of directors.

Several voices sounded. Privately, Miles was relieved there was more than one. There would be fewer hard feelings afterward. “All in favor?” he asked.

The ayes were firm and nearly unanimous. Byrne collapsed in defeat. Nobody looked at him. Nobody said a word. He got up and left the room, finally gaining the dignity he had needed as chairman. Even though he knew it was the only option, Miles couldn’t help feeling guilty.

From across the table, Catherine looked sadly at him, and he smiled to reassure her. To his surprise,
there were tears in her eyes. He had known this action upset her, but he hadn’t expected her to react like this. If she blamed him … he didn’t think he could handle it.