The Barons of Texas: Jill (15 page)

Later, as she lay beside him, he ran his hand over her still-trembling body. “I’ve been half out of my mind with worry about you. Molly wouldn’t tell me where you were.”

“That was my fault, not hers. I needed the time to try to figure out some things.”

“Next time you need time like that,
tell
me, okay?”

“Okay, although it won’t happen again. Everything is finally crystal clear to me.”

“Thank God.” He reached for her hand and kissed it. “So when did you decide to give up on trying to get Des?”

“Almost as soon as you started those damn lessons. I couldn’t keep my mind on Des. In fact, after that first night at the blues club—No, it started even sooner than that. It started the morning I woke up and discovered I had slept the night through in your arms. I couldn’t get that intimacy out of my mind, or your scent, or the way you looked in those briefs. Then you proceeded to send one shock after another at me.” She lightly laughed. “There were times when, if you had said ‘Des,’ I would have said ‘Des who?”’

“Lord, I wish I had known. It would have saved me a lot of agony.”

“And if
I
had known, it would have saved me the same torture. But you gave me no sign—” she paused and thought “—other than what I thought was normal for a man in close proximity with a woman.”

He groaned, and she lightly hit him. “You have to understand, I didn’t know a lot about men other than in business. I also didn’t know about love.” She gave an embarrassed little shrug. “The way I was raised—”

Two fingers quickly covered her lips. “You don’t have to tell me. I know. Des, remember? He said your dad kept you girls on such a regimented schedule that you rarely saw him or his father, which might have given you at least a glimpse of kindness and love.” His lips curved. “Except he did mention something about William’s housekeeper sneaking you a cake on your birthday.”

“Yeah, that was pretty much it.”

“That was cruelty, plain and simple. From what I’ve heard, your father was a monster.”

She sighed, then rolled over until her head was resting on his shoulder, her hand lying lightly on his chest and her leg thrown over his. “No more. That’s all in the past. From this moment forward, we can make the future what we want it to be.”

A shudder wracked his body, and he pressed a kiss to her forehead. “One thing. What about your ambition to gain control of the company?”

She fell silent for several moments, and when she at last spoke, her voice was soft. “You have to understand—for so long, my part of the company was all I had. And because of the competitive way we were raised, it was natural for me to want control. But it’s simply not important to me anymore, not in any way. And you know, during the last couple of days, when I thought about it, I realized that my sisters and I have never disagreed on anything major concerning the company, anyway. For all our competitiveness, our bottom line has always been what’s best for the company.” She shifted so that she could look up at him. “Thanks to you, I have so much more now. I’ve learned what true happiness really is. It’s all about loving and being loved.”

He bent his head and gently kissed her. “You can’t even imagine how happy I am at this moment.”

“Yes, I can, because I feel the very same way.”

He smiled down at her, then let his head fall back to the pillow. “So tell me about this future of ours. Do you have any specifics in mind regarding what you want?

“Yes,” she said slowly, thoughtfully. “I want to
love you and be loved in return, every single moment of the rest of our lives. I want to make our houses into real homes, homes that will not only make us feel comfortable and safe, but be a sanctuary, a retreat from the rest of the world. And I want babies—lots of happy babies who will be so loved they’ll never have to think that they have to prove themselves to us.”

His hand moved caressingly over her arm. “Anything else?”

“Yes. There’ll be a garden in every one of our homes where irises from Tess’s garden will grow and our children will play.”

“Anything else?”

“I want you to take me to East Texas so that I can see where you grew up and meet your family.”

“Anything else?” Amusement was creeping into his voice.

She looked up at him. “I’ll want to continue to work of course. But I won’t eat, sleep and drink it as I have in the past. For that, I’ll have you.”

His smile broadened, and he tightened his hold on her waist. “Anything else?”

She lightly laughed. “That’s all I can think of for now.”

“What? Nothing else? Are you sure? In my opinion, you’ve forgotten one very important thing.”

Her brow creased as she tried to figure out what it could be. “What?”

“Doesn’t marriage figure into your wishes anywhere?”

She sat straight up. “Oh, my goodness,
yes
.” She looked back at him. “
Yes
. But—”

He pulled her back down to him. “No buts.”

She struggled to breathe, because suddenly he was holding her so tightly, but she managed a grin. “I guess I sort of took that for granted. But now that I think about it, I guess I should ask if that’s what you want, too.”

He gave a loud shout of laughter. “Honey, I’ve waited for you for over two years. The whole point of working with you on the land development deal in the first place was to give us an excuse to be together. And the whole point of the lessons was to get you to fall in love with me. You’re
never
going to get away from me now.”

He had called her honey. Contentment flooded through her, and with a secret smile, she snuggled against him. “Just think of all the fun we have ahead of us, teaching each other new lessons.”

He rolled over on top of her and slipped into her. “Let’s start with a lesson about trying to learn to get enough of each other.”

She closed her eyes and gasped with pleasure as he pushed deeper and deeper into her, until he couldn’t go any farther. “I’m positive that’s one lesson we’ll be trying to learn for the rest of our lives.”

ISBN: 978-1-4603-1114-1

THE BARONS OF TEXAS: JILL

Copyright © 2000 by Fayrene Preston

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