The Billionaire's Elusive Lover (17 page)

BOOK: The Billionaire's Elusive Lover
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Both of them glanced down the hallway just in time to see Elisia bend down and kiss her father affectionately on the mouth, then sooth back his hair, looking down at him with all her love shining through her eyes.

 

“Okay, well, not at this moment,” she said with exasperation but also a large dose of relief and love for both of her parents. “But they are so opposite, they can’t even live in the same country.”

 

“They appear to have worked things out,” he countered, leaning one shoulder against the doorway while he listened to her try and weasel out of their impending nuptials.

 

Helen shook her head and turned away. “Not really,” she said. “They lived together for only a few years before they had to separate. Neither one of them ever remarried. I don’t think my mother even dated another man.”

 

“Indicates to me that they were made to live with each other. Why didn’t they?”

 

“Because they were miserable living together. They fought all the time. My father wanted one life and my mother wanted something else. Their two personalities were too strong and they couldn’t make it work.”

 

“It will be different with us,” he said firmly and with absolute certainty.

 

“How will you be able to accomplish that?” she asked in exasperation. “We can’t even get along now. How do you think we’ll learn to get along when we’re around each other more often?”

 

“We don’t always fight,” he said, his eyes conveying his meaning.

 

“Not
that
way,” she countered. “Besides, we can’t have sex all the time.”

 

“Says who?” He laughed at her blush but shook his head. “Helen, you’re not getting out of this wedding so you might as well learn to accept it. We won’t argue all the time. You’ll learn to live with me and I’ll compromise as well. It’s that simple.”

 

Helen couldn’t help it, she actually burst out laughing at his suggestion. “Alec, when was the last time you compromised?”

 

He looked exasperated. “I’ve compromised.”

 

“Uh, huh. Name one time that happened.”

 

He thought for a moment. “I didn’t drag you to bed the first night we were together.”

 

Helen shook her head. “You didn’t compromise on that. It just wasn’t going to happen.”

 

“Are you saying that I couldn’t have convinced you to come back to my place if I’d really set my mind to it?”

 

Helen gulped, knowing that he probably could have tried. And she might not have been strong enough to stop him. “Name a time when there isn’t sex involved.”

 

He thought for a moment longer, then looked down at her. “I disagree with you wandering around London without a cell phone. I hate your apartment but I haven’t moved you out of it. Yet,” he said, spoiling the compromise. “I think you’re too liberal in your politics, you drive me nuts about socializing with my staff but I’ve instituted a more lenient policy on some social gatherings.”

 

Her eyes widened. “You did?”

 

“Yes. I don’t like it, but Edna came back and thanked me for giving her the day off for her birthday.”

 

“And you don’t like it.” She knew by the look on his face that he wasn’t thrilled with the concept.

 

“It isn’t a formal day off, it’s just a casual policy.”

 

“That you control,” she guessed accurately and laughed when he only stared back at her, basically confirming her statement. Standing up, she patted him on his shoulder. “It’s okay, Alex. That’s progress. You’re starting to show a human side to you. Be careful though,” she chuckled, “ your staff might take advantage of your leniency and work only twelve hour days instead of their normal fourteen.”

 

“You think you’re pretty funny, don’t you,” he said and pushed away from the wall against which he’d been leaning. He slowly closed the gap between them, trapping her against the wall on the opposite side of the hallway and leaning into her. “I have news for you, my dear. You’re going to marry me in two weeks’ time, and best of all, you’re going to admit that you love me.”

 

Helen didn’t like the sound of that. It came too close to all of her fears. “I don’t think so,” she whispered and tried to inch away from him but he anticipated that and trapped her more effectively, pressing his legs and hips against her own. “Let me go, Alec.” She said the words, but they were breathy and didn’t sound very convincing.

 

He laughed at her efforts but moved away from her. “Despite the fact that I’d like to throw you over my shoulder and carry you back to my place, make love to you for the next twenty four hours, I’m going to give you the space you need.” She started to say something but he interrupted, “Not too much space though. If I do you’ll run away because you’re terrified of what I make you feel.”

 

“I’m not,” she said indignantly, and was glad that the sound was louder this time.

 

He shook his head and looked down at her. “You are, but that’s okay. I’ll tell you something myself, he said and took her hand, leading her down the hospital hallway towards her father’s new room, “I’m terrified myself.”

 

Helen made an inappropriate sound as she rolled her eyes. “Right,” she scoffed.

 

“I am. I’m terrified that you’ll run away and I’ll never see you again. I’m afraid you’ll not love me nearly as much as I love you. I’m afraid I’ll hurt you in some way that I won’t realize and I’m afraid that you’ll hear my next statement and be furious with me.”

 

Helen was still too stunned by his second declaration. Her mind was reeling and she could barely concentrate on what he was saying, didn’t realize that he had to pull her off to the side of the hospital hallway since she’d stopped walking and was blocking the other patients and visitors. Looking up at his handsome face, her heart swelled with amazement. “You’re afraid I won’t love you as much as you love me?” she whispered, her eyes watering.

 

He pulled her closer, his hand gently cupping the side of her face as he looked down into her now watery eyes and nodded. “Yes. I didn’t think I’d ever find anyone quite like you but you barreled into my life, disrupting every moment of my routine, driving me absolutely nuts and making me want you more with every moment I spent in your company. I love the way you drive me crazy, I love the way you catch every moment of life as if it were precious, I love the way you bring strangers into your world and care for them as if they were family.”

 

By this time, the tears had spilled over and were sliding down her cheeks. He smiled softly, the pad of his thumb wiping the tears away as he continued. “I love you, Helen. I love everything about you and I want you in my life, driving me so crazy I can barely think. Would you please do that for me?”

 

Helen couldn’t help but laugh and shook her head, hiccupping as she absorbed all that he’d said. “That’s so much better of a marriage proposal than simply telling me that we’re going to be married.”

 

He stood still, waiting. “Before you answer, you have to know something.”

 

She didn’t like the sound of that. “What?” she asked warily.

 

Alec looked around, then pulled her into an empty hospital room. “Your father’s heart attack?” he waited until she’d nodded her head before continuing, “it wasn’t brought on by anything you did. It was brought on by the fact that his company was in financial trouble and,” he took a deep breath, “I came in and bought it up before he realized what had happened.”

 

Helen just stood there for a long moment, staring at him as if he’d spoken in a foreign language.

 

Alec waited for the outburst, prepared to do just about anything to keep her, but unwilling to let her go. The stunned expression on her face wasn’t what he’d been expecting though.

 

Helen turned away, walked towards the hospital bed, back to the door, and then back to the bed once again. Her mind was s whirling, taking in the facts, figuring out the details of the issues he hadn’t told her. Finally, ever several long moments, she looked up and noticed the tense shoulders that looked like he was bracing to be physically assaulted and the jaw that was braced for just about anything. Her heart melted just a little more and she sighed. “You didn’t know it was my father’s company though, right?”

 

“No. I didn’t know. You and your father have different last names. That’s one reason why I didn’t say anything when I left you that first morning even though I wanted nothing more than to pull you back in my arms and forget about the world.”

 

Helen thought back to that morning, about how grim his expression had been at the time. She’d been too devastated by her own worries to have considered what he might have gone through but now that she thought about it, she realized that he’d been pretty upset that morning. Not that a stranger would have noticed. Alec didn’t really allow others to see his emotions. But she’d learned, she realized. And she’d grasped that something had been terribly wrong. And then her phone call had come in and she’d been too worried about her father to think about what Alec might have been going through. “You were upset when you’d gotten the news.”

 

“Yes.”

 

“And you didn’t know. But could you make me a deal?” she asked, moving closer and smiling up at his face.

 

“Anything.” He gently touched her arms as she stepped within his reach, seemingly afraid to be his normal brash, confident self and pull her closer.

 

Helen didn’t like that he was tentative. She understood in that moment that his confidence, actually, his arrogance, was something she really liked about him. He took what he wanted but was considerate enough to step back when he needed to. But if he’d been any less confident and assertive, she never would have fallen in love with him. She needed a man who wasn’t afraid of her, wasn’t afraid to challenge her. She wouldn’t win often, but he would definitely make life more interesting.

 

Alec watched carefully as her mind worked, her eyes darting all around, and he relaxed slightly when her gorgeous, sexy lips started to smile. It was small at first, but after several moments, her smile seemed to light up the room.

 

“Would you promise that the next company you take over, please talk to me first?”

 

Alec was so surprised by such an easy request he didn’t react initially. When he finally grasped what she was asking, he threw back his head and laughed, pulling her into his arms and lifting her off her feet. “Absolutely,” he said, kissing her deeply. “As long as you’re naked and driving me crazy,” he said before he kissed her once again.

 

Helen laughed, filled with joy and amazement that such an incredible man had stolen her heart. “I love you,” she said and wrapped her arms around his neck, reveling in how wonderful he felt.

 

BOOK: The Billionaire's Elusive Lover
9.25Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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