For the Love of Sami (13 page)

"Daniel? Is it really true that you own this building?"

With a thoroughly exasperated gesture, he ran his hands through his hair, mussing its perfect styling. "I couldn’t believe it when one of my assistants told me what was going on over here, but I thought I should come over and check it out."

"Then you do own it!"

"Yes, through my investment company."

"Daniel, how could you?"

"How could I what?"

"You took her sunshine!"

"I took her what? What is all this about anyway?" Sami took a breath, about to tell him, but he held up his hand. "Never mind, we don’t have time. You can tell me later." He grabbed her wrist. "Come on, I’m getting you out of here. I saw two TV crews about a block away, trying to fight their way through that traffic jam you’ve created. They’ll be getting here at any minute."

"Good!" Sami pronounced with satisfaction. "I’m staying."

Daniel spoke through gritted teeth. "Sami, do you realize that I could have you and your whole gang arrested?"

"They’re not my gang, and on what grounds could we be arrested? We’re not disrupting anybody’s business. No one’s complained."

"I could complain. I would be perfectly within my rights. This is my property. And let me ask you this: did you obtain a permit to demonstrate?"

Sami looked at him blankly. "A permit?"

"I didn’t think so."

Cold fear began to creep into her. She began to gnaw on her lower lip. "Daniel, would you really have me arrested?"

He pressed a kiss to her lower lip where she had been gnawing. "No, of course, not," he said softly. "Don’t ever be afraid of that. No one will ever lock you up again. Come on"—he began pulling her away from the crowd that had gathered around them—"we’re going to get out of here."

"Wait a minute! I’m not going anywhere. I’m running this demonstration, and I’m staying here to see it through."

"I won’t have you arrested, but I can’t say the same about the rest of these people."

As the full implication of what Daniel was saying hit Sami, the blood drained from her face. Still, she stubbornly held her ground. "I’m sure you must be bluffing."

He turned to the people standing around them, drilling each of them with a hard, cold, dark expression that Sami had never seen before. "And what about the rest of you? Do you think I’m bluffing? Do you want to take the chance and spend some time in jail? I can assure you that if you don’t break up immediately, you will be arrested."

Sami heard the faint murmurings of the group in the background, but all of her attention was on Daniel. "I don’t understand. I would never have thought you were the type of person who would tear down somebody’s home."

"We’ll talk about it when we get home." His voice was deliberately soft, but there was no mistaking the inflexibility in it.

The voices around her got louder. "Tell us what you want us to do, Sami, and we’ll do it. Do you want us to stay here?"

She looked at Daniel with troubled eyes. How could she have forgotten? Sergeant Johnson, a man who appeared to be impressed by very little in life, had told her that Daniel Parker-St. James could be a deadly opponent. He had also said that he wouldn’t want to go up against him. She should have listened to the man.

Without taking her eyes from Daniel’s, Sami said, "Bill, tell Mama everything will be all right. Everyone else go home, and I’ll be in touch with you later."

#

The curtains in the den had been closed against the night, and a fire had been lit in the fireplace. Still, Sami felt cold as she stood in front of it and listened to Daniel.

"I know it must be hard for you to understand, but it’s strictly business, Sami. A decision based on sound economics."

"And what about humanity, Daniel? Doesn’t that enter into it? You’re throwing those people out of their homes."

"You sound as if I’m tossing them and all their worldly goods out on the street. That’s not the case at all." He loosened the knot of his tie and undid the top button of his shirt. "I gave everyone more than adequate notice and I arranged a service to find them new places to live and to help relocate them. The majority of the people took me up on my offer and moved. I’m sorry, but I refuse to accept this monster image you’re trying to thrust on me."

"Daniel, the people who want to remain have lived in that apartment building most of their lives. You could arrange for them to live in the most luxurious penthouses in this city and they still wouldn’t be happy."

"And don’t you think that attitude is a little close-minded and unrealistic on their part?"

"Can’t I make you understand? They know they probably won’t live that much longer, and they want to die in familiar surroundings. There’s no place else that will ever seem like home to them."

"Yes, and their ‘home’ is falling down around their ears. If you’ve been in it, and I sincerely hope you haven’t, I’m sure you couldn’t help but notice in what bad repair it is. It’s just not safe."

"So why haven’t you fixed it?" she flared.

He took his glasses off and rubbed his eyes. "Because, Sami, I plan to tear it down."

"Well, now that you own it, surely you can repair it as easily as you can tear it down."

"Don’t you think I had thorough and comprehensive studies done? To make that apartment building safe and livable again would take a small fortune. It just wouldn’t be economically sound. If I can replace a decrepit old building that’s half empty anyway with a modern, high-rise condominium where two hundred families could live in comfort and ease, and at the same time make a generous profit on it, why not?"

"Because of people, Daniel, people. Don’t those old people touch your heart at all?"

"Yes, of course they do, and that’s why I think they’d be much better off living in a safer building."

"But their building would be safe if you’d fix it."

Daniel sank wearily into a chair. "I told you, it would take too much money."

"Just how much money do you need to live, Daniel? A person can spend only so much. You could probably retire tomorrow, never have to work another day in your life, and still not spend all of your money."

"I like to work. I enjoy what I do. I like the feeling that I’m helping people."

"Then help these people."

"I told you, Sami"—his voice sounded wearily patient—"it just wouldn’t be a good business decision."

"Was helping me a good business decision? I didn’t have the money to pay you."

"That was different, and you know it."

"Okay, okay, if it’s the money you’re interested in, I’ll—" She hesitated. She had been about to say that she would buy it. She could imagine his incredulous reaction to a statement like that. Well, she couldn’t buy the building in her own name, but she could buy it through one of her corporations. "What if I could find a buyer?"

"You wouldn’t be able to get me a buyer for that building who would pay me the money I’d make by tearing it down and building a condominium." He shook his head. "Sami, this is getting us nowhere, and it’s only making you upset."

"Upset! You’d better believe I’m upset. Those people are my friends."

Daniel stood up. "I refuse to discuss this with you any longer, Sami. We’re only going around in circles. What I’m going to do is eat dinner and then go up to bed." He walked toward the door and paused. "Are you coming?"

"No! I’ll sleep in the guest bedroom tonight."

He started to say something but apparently changed his mind. Instead he shrugged. "Suit yourself."

#

Sami punched the pillow, trying to make it more comfortable but knowing, even as she did so, that it wasn’t the pillow’s fault that she couldn’t sleep. She had been tossing and turning for what seemed like hours. She looked at the bedside clock again. Nearly one o’clock. Rolling over on her back. She groaned. Every light in the guest room was on, and still she couldn’t sleep.

She had become so used to sleeping at night that she had automatically assumed she would be able to fall asleep. But now she had to face the fact that there was a very important element missing: Daniel. It seemed that only with him beside her could she sleep.

What was she going to do? She was so tired. Their argument had taken a lot out of her. She’d hated it.

She wrapped the top sheet around her and got up. Walking softly a little way down the hall, she glanced toward his room and saw that his door stood open. Maybe, if she was very quiet, she could take her pillow and creep into his room without his knowing it. It was worth a try.

When she got to his door, she stopped uncertainly. She could see that the lamp in the corner of the room had been left on—the lamp she always insisted be left on because of her fear of the darkness. Peering further into the room, she saw the still form of Daniel outlined under the sheets. Good. He must be asleep.

Holding her pillow, she dropped to her knees and crept along the floor, stopping every so often to untangle the sheet from around her legs. It took her longer than she had anticipated, but finally she was beside the bed and Daniel was right above her. She stayed very still, listening to his steady breathing, making sure that she hadn’t disturbed him in some way. Then, silently, she curled up with the pillow. Funny how just the presence of one man could give her such a feeling of peace and security.

Suddenly, strong hands reached for her and pulled her out of the sheet and into the bed. "Sami, Sami, what am I going to do with you?" his soft voice asked, even as his arms curled around her and drew her into the warm strength of his body.

"I couldn’t sleep," she tried to explain.

"I know." His hand smoothed her hair away from her face, and he kissed the lavender-scented sweetness of it. "I know."

"How do you know?"

"Because I couldn’t sleep either. I was waiting for you, and while I was waiting for you, I made a couple of decisions."

Sami turned her face up to his. "What?"

"First of all, your friends can keep their apartment building. I’ll make all necessary repairs and maintain the building until their deaths or until for some reason they decide to move. No new tenants will be allowed, though, and when your friends are finally gone, I’ll tear it down and build my condominium."

"Oh, Daniel." His name was only a breathy sound on her lips, and he kissed the sound away.

"I love you, Sami, and there isn’t anything I wouldn’t do to make you happy. Which leads me to my next decision." He drew her closer to him. "I’ve wanted to ask you this for a long time, but I was afraid to, because I was afraid it was too soon for you. Actually, I’m still afraid it’s too soon, but I can’t wait any longer." He paused and looked down at her searchingly.

She returned his look, slightly puzzled and more than a little apprehensive, unable to guess what the question could be. What could Daniel possibly be afraid to ask her?

"Sami, will you marry me?"

Something in her froze. She couldn’t help it. That had been the last thing she would have thought of, and he was absolutely right. She wasn’t ready for it.

Apparently, he could feel it, for he began to stroke her, his hands running up and down her body, trying to get her to relax again.

"Don’t freeze up on me like that, sweetheart. It’s not such a preposterous thought. I’ve loved you from the very first moment I saw you, so frightened of things you couldn’t control. You’re still frightened," he crooned softly, "and I wish I knew why. Unfortunately, it’s something that seems to be beyond my control. I can get into the most complex of criminal minds, but I can’t figure out what’s going on inside of you." He cradled her face in his hands, forcing her to look at him again. "We’ve been living together for months now. With every day, I love you more . . . and I know you love me, yet you can’t seem to acknowledge it."

Tears formed in Sami’s eyes. "Daniel, I don’t know what to say to you."

"Whatever you say, please, please, don’t cry." His thumb swept across her face to catch a teardrop. "I can’t bear it. I want to help you, but I don’t know how. I know you have such deep hurts inside of you, yet evidently they’re so deep that you can’t talk about them."

Sami sat up, breaking free of Daniel’s hold. She had been thinking it for weeks. Now she had to say it. "Sometimes I think that the best thing for me to do would be just to leave here and go away some place."

"No!" He sat up beside her. "I won’t even let you think it."

She shook her head. "But I’m not being fair to you, Daniel. You deserve so much better than I give you."

"Don’t you realize what you give me?" He pushed her hair behind her shoulder so that he could see her better. "I thought I had everything I needed before I saw you. I thought my life was full. But I had a regimented life-style, dry and organized. You brought unexpectedness and gentleness and laughter into my life, but most of all you brought me love. I won’t let you leave me."

She looked solemnly at him. "But I’m afraid all the time, Daniel."

"Everyone has fears, Sami, don’t you know that?"

"What are you afraid of?"

He lifted his hand and touched her cheek caressingly. "I’m afraid of losing you."

What irony, she reflected sorrowfully. At the bottom of all her fears was her biggest fear of all—her fear of losing him. Yet because of what had happened to her as a child, she couldn’t tell him. She had been abused as a child and now she was handicapped as an adult.

Her eyes held his for an endless moment that was poignant with all the things she couldn’t express to him, yet when she finally did speak, there was a telling break in her voice. "In more ways than I can say . . . I have such a need for you."

Slowly Daniel brought his lips to hers, touching them with a tenderness that pushed a rush of liquid heat through her entire circulatory system. Her mouth opened to his, and she felt herself being lowered back down to the warm, silken depths of the bed. His lips moved to her ear, following the delicate curves to the lobe, where he stopped to nibble for a while.

Sami’s hands clutched at his shoulders, and his lips moved to the hollow behind her ear, to the crazily beating pulse point. Daniel inhaled deeply. "You smell so good . . ." His lips slid down her neck, and his hand took possession of her breast, his fingers curling into her softness. ". . . and you feel so good . . ." His teeth took a tiny bite of the skin at the base of her throat. ". . . and you taste so good."