Her Tender Tyrant (13 page)

“I’m sorry, could you repeat that?” Juliette asked as politely. She was actually in shock.

The woman at the other end of the line laughed politely. “I’m Doris Chandler from The Dovel Institute,” she explained one more time. “We received a copy of your research and are very interested in speaking with you about a position here with the institute.”

Juliette was too stunned to respond for a long moment. The Dovel Institute was the most amazing center for psychological research. The group tackled the big problems of the day such as bullying in schools, suicide rates, death with dignity laws and domestic abuse, just to mention a few. They were the preeminent research group in the country, and they wanted her? For a job?

“That sounds amazing,” she finally replied, feeling foolish for not jumping on this the first time the woman explained it.

“That’s great. What would be a good time to speak?” she asked.

Juliette didn’t need to look at her calendar. She’d been sending her resume out to what seemed like hundreds of job opportunities over the past week and was just now starting to hear back from potential employers. But her schedule still was embarrassingly open. After a bit of back and forth, the interview was set for two days in the future and, after thanking her and hanging up, Juliette leaned back on her rough sofa in stunned silence. Not even in her wildest dreams had she thought she might earn recognition from the Dovel Institute. It was too crazy!

Marcus took the call as soon as Linda put it through. “Is she in?” he demanded, foregoing any polite chit chat. He needed to get to the point.

Doris smiled at the man’s abrupt tone, not taking offense at all. “Yes, she scheduled for an interview. And I would like to thank you very much for your donation to the Institute,” Doris Chandler said.

Marcus didn’t give a damn about the money. He just needed to make sure that Juliette was safe.

“And she doesn’t know anything about where the interview came from?”

“None of that was mentioned during our conversation. But I wanted you to know that even without your donation, we still would have been interested in Ms. Barnes. Her argument and her ideas make me think that she’s going to have a very exceptional career. And if we at The Dovel Institute can help that in any way, we would be truly honored.”

Marcus thought so as well. “I would agree with your assessment. Please keep me informed of her status. If you find, after the interview, that she’s not a good fit for the job, I’d like to know about it as soon as possible.”

Doris laughed softly. “I’m sure she’ll fit in here quite nicely.”

Marcus got off the phone with her and tossed his cell phone onto his desk, still furious that he hadn’t been able to see Juliette. He wanted to hold her, to touch her, just to know that she was okay. But she hadn’t been answering any of his phone calls. His eyes fell onto the bound document, sitting on his desk, one more time. He hadn’t taken the time to read it yet but he suspected that this was the closest he was going to get to Juliette. Perhaps that was why he hadn’t read her thesis yet. Once he read it, that would be the end. She didn’t want to have anything to do with him, he didn’t understand why, and he didn’t want to let go of his last tenuous thread to her.

With a muttered curse, Marcus picked up the bound document and walked out of his office. “Cancel all of my meetings for the rest of the afternoon,” he said to Linda as he passed by her desk.

He didn’t even acknowledge her startled expression as he stepped into the elevator. Once back in his house, he pulled the diamond engagement ring out of his pocket and set it beside him. He poured himself a stiff glass of whiskey then settled in to a chair. Opening up Juliette’s work, he started reading.

He had to admit that she had grasped the nuances of social circles extremely well. There were even subtle issues within a group environment discussed in her paper that he hadn’t noticed before. Juliette had done an outstanding job of explaining all of the issues clearly and thoughtfully, tying everything back to the way a herd of horses acted amongst each other. Granted, a herd acted within the bounds of a less sophisticated social structure, but the basic, animalistic needs were the same. Comparing human interactions to those of a group of social animals reduced the argument down to its most basic level, clarifying all of the issues.

When he reached the last few paragraphs, her last argument, his entire body stiffened with shock. As he read through her words, there was a familiarity about the situation. The social situation in which she was describing and the people involved sounded strikingly similar to Juliette and…could that be Linda?

Marcus reread those paragraphs one more time. He wasn’t sure but…. Yes, Juliette’s words seem to be describing Linda perfectly. The style of dress, the body language, even some of the comments sounded almost spooky. And if Juliette’s words were describing conversations that had actually happened, then he suspected that she might be giving him a clue as to why she had left him so abruptly. Could Linda really have said these things? Could Linda have undermined his relationship with Juliette to this degree?

He put the document down and started pacing back and forth across the floor of his office. His mind thought back to that day, that last day that they’d spent together. Their morning had been…amazing. But something had changed by the time he’d returned. The only thing that had changed, that he could remember, was Linda showing up. She said she’d come to get him organized. At that time, he’d been hugely relieved to have her presence at the house. Linda was one of the most organized assistants he’d ever worked with and Marcus didn’t have the patience to deal with filing or stacking or whatever it was that she did to keep all of the information that comes through this office organized and easily accessible.

Marcus pushed a hand through his hair, frustration building as he thought through that last day. Could Linda have done such a thing? It made sense. Unfortunately. It would also explain all of her seemingly accidental touches lately. He’d never been attracted to Linda in any way nor had he given her any reason to think that he was attracted to her. So why would she go to so much trouble? Why would she sabotage…?

Marcus glanced back at the bound document sitting on the ottoman in front of his chair. It all made sense now. Furious, pathetic sense!

Marcus picked up his phone and dialed his head of security. As soon as the man answered he said, “I need you to find the address for the…” Marcus stopped in midsentence, his mind thinking back to the whole reason that Juliette had been at his parents’ house. His mother could probably give him Juliette’s address faster than his security team could find it. “Never mind. I’ll call you back if I need you.”

He quickly dialed his mother’s phone number and when she answered, he asked the question that he instinctively knew she’d been waiting for him to ask. “Hi Mom. Any chance you have Juliette’s address?”

“Of course I have her address,” she said to her son. “And it’s about time you finally got around to asking for it. What are you going to do with it? I haven’t talked to her in a while, but I’ve received a few texts. And I don’t think that she’s very happy right now. What did you do to her?”

Marcus’ eyes looked over at the diamond ring sitting on his side table. He thought about that same ring resting on Juliette’s slender finger and the idea actually made him smile. For the first time since she had walked out the door, Marcus started to feel a little bit of hope. “What did I do? I think that I didn’t propose to her quickly enough. I was an idiot, Mom. I didn’t realize how special she was to me.”

He could hear her tears in her voice as she said, “Well I’m glad you finally figured that that out and are going to do something about it.”

“As soon as you give me her address.” He thought about one other action he needed to take as well. “I might have to do one thing before that.”

Jemma didn’t like the sound of that. “I think you should see her first before you do anything else.
I’m sitting here holding my grandchild. I would love to be holding one from you as well.”

Marcus laughed, a deep husky sound that filled the empty room. And filled his heart up again. He hadn’t realized how empty he had been feeling until this point. He hadn’t allowed himself to really analyze what he’d been feeling. “I think that I need to do this for Juliette before I talk to her again. I need to reassure her about something that I believe is very important to her.”

“Well, if you’re going to do it for Juliette, then I agree that it must be important. But don’t wait too long. I’m worried about her. I’m also worried about you. Have you been eating properly?”

Marcus glanced over at the empty glass of whiskey. “I promise to get a full meal in with lots of vegetables tonight.”

Jemma smiled at his assurance. “And will Juliette be eating as well tonight?”

Marcus laughed once again. “I’ll make sure of it.”

“I love you, dear.”

“I love you too, Mom. Gotta go,” he said to her. A moment later, a text came through to his phone. As he looked at it he was already gathering his keys and heading towards the office. At the last moment, he stopped and turned around. He picked up the diamond ring and stuffed it back into his pocket. A split second later, he was out the door heading to his office.

Two hours later, he was standing in front of Juliette apartment, his stomach in knots as he worked through what he needed to tell her. He had so much to explain, so much to get her to understand. But what if she wouldn’t listen to him? What if she was still too angry with him for what he put her through? It was inadvertent, but it was still all his fault. If he had been more aware of what Linda was doing, of what she was capable of, he and Juliette would probably be married by now.

What if she had found someone else? The thought sent a wave of dread throughout his whole body. But he pushed the thought away because he simply couldn’t imagine, couldn’t stomach, the thought of someone else touching his Juliette.

He lifted his hand to knock on her door but at the same moment the door was opened. There she was. Looking so beautiful that he actually ached to pull her into his arms and show her how much he loved her. But the wary look in her eyes, the anger and hostility, gave him pause.

“I fired Linda.” Marcus could have hit himself for the way he started that conversation, but it was the first thing that came to mind. He’d wanted to try and reassure her of his love, but he just blurted out the news.

Juliette stood there in her doorway, staring up at the tall, gorgeous man who had invaded her dreams so often over the past several nights. She was exhausted, she couldn’t eat and she felt like she was walking in a haze of misery every day. It was all because of this man, and the fact that he wanted more than one woman in his life. She had been aching, hurting, angry and resentful that she hadn’t been enough for him. Now he was standing here in her doorway, looking so magnificent.

And then his words hit her. He’d fired Linda? “Why did you do that?” she asked. Her whole body was trembling as she waited for him to answer her question. It was such an important question, so vital to her whole world at this moment in time.

Marcus shook his head, not exactly sure how to explain it to her. “Because I want you. Because you are the only woman in my life that is important to me. Because you invaded my world, drove me crazy, made me angrier than any woman has ever been able to do, and made me happier than I thought was possible. Linda tried to get in the way of our relationship. She lied to you. She lied to me. She...”

Marcus was about to say something else, but his breath was knocked out of him as Juliette’s soft body flung itself into his. His arms automatically caught her, closed around her and pulled her more tightly against him. He closed his eyes as he reveled in how good she felt. He couldn’t believe that she was here, in his arms. Three hours ago, he’d thought that he would never feel her in his arms again. He lowered his head until it was resting against hers, and her arms wrapped around his waist.

“I’m sorry,” he said.

Juliette’s tears were already smearing her makeup when she looked back up at him, amazed that he was here. “No, it’s not your fault. I should have spoken to you about everything. I was just so scared.” She hesitated, her heart beating frantically. She had to say it. He was standing here in her doorway and had taken a huge risk of being rejected. It was her turn to take a risk. “I love you. And I should never have doubted what we had together.”

Marcus hugged her, his arms holding her so close. “I love you too. And if I said that before Linda had arrived, we might have been married already by now.”

Juliette’s eyes widened at his words. “Married?”

Marcus groaned. “I’m really messing all of this up, aren’t I?” He suddenly realized where they were. He was standing on one side of the threshold in the hallway of her apartment building and she was standing just inside of her apartment. Taking her by the shoulders, he pushed her back inside of her apartment and closed the door. Looking around, he noticed how small her apartment was, how shabby the furniture. “So this is where you have lived for the past few years while in college?”

Juliette cringed as she saw her apartment through his eyes. “It isn’t much to look at, is it?”

He laughed as he looked down into her pretty eyes. “Does it…?” He stopped where he was going without thought. He looked around one more time and saw the sofa behind her. Pushing her back gently until she was sitting down, he knelt down on one knee. Taking the ring out of his pocket, the same ring that he had bought that horrible day, he looked into her eyes and took her hand. “I’m going to do this right. Our whole relationship has been based on either fighting or my stupidity. But this I’m going to get right.” He cleared his throat, his large hand gripping her smaller one. “Juliette, will you marry me?”