This Holiday Magic (14 page)

“I'm sure there's nothing you did that makes Tara act out,” Sage said encouragingly. “I was a handful when I was that age, too. In fact, I had so much energy, my mom signed me up for every group she could find to keep me occupied and out of her hair.”

“What age were you when you stopped acting out?” Trudi asked. “I'm about ready to have Tara tested for attention deficit disorder or something.”

“I was six when I discovered horses and started concentrating on
them,
and everything else kind of fell in line. I became more disciplined. I had something on which to focus my energy.”

“That could help,” said Trudi. “She likes animals.” She turned to Ethan. “You used to ride, didn't you?”

“It's been years,” Ethan said. “But I did enjoy it. We'll look into it when we get back home.” He regarded Sage. “Do you still ride?”

“Does she still
ride?
” Adam spoke up, and before Sage could prevent him, he whipped out his cell phone and showed Ethan and Trudi the video of Sage astride Alexi.

Sage observed Ethan and Trudi as they watched the video together with smiles on their faces.

“I'm jealous,” Ethan said, grinning. “I always dreamed of riding a Lipizzaner.” He looked up at Sage. “How was it?”

Sage grinned, too. “It was awesome!”

“How did this happen?” Trudi asked. “I've never heard of anyone riding a Lipizzaner except their trained riders.”

She was looking at Sage, but Sage had no idea what Adam had done to make her dream come true.

“I had nothing to do with it,” she said honestly, turning her gaze on Adam.

“You must have moved heaven and earth,” Trudi said.

“I just asked nicely,” Adam said modestly.

To which Ethan and Trudi laughed. Sage laughed, too, but what Trudi had said about his having moved heaven and earth made her think about what Jim had said about Adam being a rich and powerful man.

Was there anything Adam couldn't do? The thought kind of gave her chills.

Chapter 8

T
he next day was the first day of the summit. Adam had made sure that Sage had full access to any of the seminars she wanted to attend. However, there were exclusive meetings that only Adam and Ethan were invited to. Therefore, Sage and Trudi decided to team up and sample what the summit had to offer to someone who was not a trained scientist or a techie.

They had just sat through a two-hour seminar on the environment and were exiting the conference room, along with two hundred other attendees, when Trudi pulled Sage aside and said, “I don't know about you, but I don't want to sit through another dry lecture. Let's ditch this place until the keynote address at two, okay?”

Sage was in total agreement. She glanced at her watch. It was only 11:00 a.m. “Sounds good to me,” she told Trudi. “I've been dying to try a Sacher torte.”

“I know just the bakery,” Trudi promised with a grin.

So they left the Hofburg Congress Center, formerly the winter palace of Emperor Franz Joseph I, and hailed a cab.

“Demel,” Trudi instructed the driver.

A few minutes later they were sitting at an outside table, eating small spoonfuls of the rich chocolate torte, which was Demel's house specialty. The coffee served with it was black, thick, heady and the perfect complement to the torte.

“You know,” said Trudi, smiling at Sage over her coffee cup, “I've never seen Adam look at anyone the way he looks at you.”

Sage blushed and Trudi laughed softly. “I take it from the expression on your face that you've noticed.”

“Trudi, we've just met, but I'm going to ask you to keep this between you and me.”

Sage met Trudi's eyes. After a moment Trudi nodded and said, “All right, this is between the two of us. I won't even say anything to Ethan.”

Sage sighed gratefully. “Until a year ago, Adam and I hadn't spoken to each other in about nine years. I hadn't said a word to him since I was nineteen, when he broke up with me. Now...well, we both know we never stopped caring for each other. But where it goes from here, I don't know. I felt like I knew the old Adam, but the new Adam kind of intimidates me.”

Trudi was listening closely, her dark brown eyes sympathetic. After Sage finished talking, Trudi laughed softly and said, “Honey, is that all? I thought you were going to say you didn't want him or something else equally absurd. Who isn't intimidated by men like Adam and Ethan? They're uncommon, one in a billion. Something would be wrong with you if you weren't a bit intimidated by them.

“That doesn't mean you can't love them. Take Ethan and myself. We met when he and Adam were at MIT. They were roommates and came to the restaurant where I worked part-time as a waitress. I was working on my bachelor's in business at the time. They came in wearing MIT T-shirts and I instantly knew they were a couple of brains, so I played it cool. Adam started flirting a little with me. I ignored him and flirted with the blond. For the next six months they were regulars, and then something happened—Ethan came in alone and asked me out, and we've been together ever since. Was I intimidated by his intelligence? Yes, but I didn't let that stop me. They may be supersmart, Sage, but remember one thing—they're also living, breathing men who need love like everyone else.”

“I know you're right,” Sage said. “I just don't know if I'm up to being all Adam wants of me.”

“That's probably why he invited you this weekend,” Trudi said. “So you'll get the chance to see him in his element. But try to remember, Sage, that all the accolades in the world, all the admirers, all the groupies don't mean a thing to Adam. They're just things imposed on him by society. Next time you're alone with him, ask him what really matters to him and he'll tell you, like Ethan told me eight years ago when we got married, that
you're
what matters to him.”

Sage wanted to believe Trudi because it corroborated what Adam had earlier told her, that deep down he was still the Adam she'd always known. Now, she supposed, it was all up to her. Would she be able to let go of the past and embrace the future?

* * *

Sage and Trudi got back to the Hofburg Congress Center in time for Adam's speech. Ethan had saved them seats down front, and they flanked him as Adam strode onstage to thunderous applause.

He began by welcoming the five thousand attendees to the summit, greeting them in English, Spanish, German, Italian, Russian and Mandarin. He joked that no matter which language he spoke, he always spoke it with an American accent.

Then he said what he'd come there to say. “When I was a kid, I would race home from school in time to catch reruns of
Star Trek.
I wanted to be Mr. Spock. I wanted to live in their time, where currency was no longer needed because society made sure that all its citizens had what they needed without having to beg, borrow or steal. Everyone had access to a good education and was allowed to develop their talents. There was no caste system. Everyone was equal. We're here today to discuss how we can change the world.”

He spoke for more than an hour with enthusiastic audience participation. Questions were asked and answered. If Adam didn't know the answer to an honest query, he referred the audience member to one of his colleagues.

Sage found the whole thing stimulating. She knew that Adam was a mathematician, but until today she had been unfamiliar with the practical applications of mathematics in solving everyday problems.

After the speech Adam joined her, Ethan and Trudi. He went straight to her and hugged her. They hadn't seen one another since they'd split up at eight that morning.

Sage smiled up at him. “I'm so proud of you,” she said with admiration. And she meant it. He'd really impressed her with his depth of feeling for the planet and its problems.

Adam smiled happily at the compliment. “Really?”

“Not only did I understand everything you said, I now want to go out and do something about it,” Sage told him, her eyes ablaze with excitement.

“Don't lay it on too thick,” Ethan laughed. “We don't want it to go to his head.”

Adam playfully shook his fist at his best friend and then pulled Sage into his arms and kissed her.

Sage kissed him back.

It was only after he'd let her go that she remembered they were in an auditorium full of summit attendees, to say nothing of Adam's best friends.

But, shyly looking around them afterward, she noticed that no one gave any outward indication that their kiss had been anything out of the ordinary. Ethan and Trudi were warmly smiling at her. But everything else remained unchanged. There was a buzz of human voices in the air. People were gathering their belongings, preparing to leave the auditorium and move on to some other event on the schedule.

Adam pulled her close. Seeming to read her thoughts, he said, “Don't worry. The media was only invited to the awards ceremony tomorrow night.”

Sage was just about to tell Adam that it hadn't even occurred to her that the media was there, but Ethan interrupted them. “Hey, how about a late lunch? I'm starved.”

The next thing Sage knew, the four of them were squashed into the back of a cab heading somewhere to grab a bite to eat.

* * *

Later that night she and Adam got some alone time when they returned to the Palais Schwarzenberg. Because the day had been hectic, they'd elected to dine in her room and relax in front of the fire afterward.

They were doing just that, cuddled on a love seat, cups of coffee in front of them, when Adam looked her in the eyes and said, “Sage, these past few days with you have been everything I imagined they'd be when I asked you to come with me. I've learned so much about you, and what I've learned I like very much. I challenged you, and you were woman enough to accept my challenge. Now I'm going to ask you to do something that is really going to take you out of your comfort zone.”

Sage's eyes had been closed as she enjoyed being in his arms. She'd changed into lounging clothes and taken her shoes off. Dinner had been delicious and she'd had two glasses of wine, which had her in a mellow mood.

Adam's nearness was doing crazy things to her body. She was aroused and very close to suggesting they move this scene to the bedroom, which was what went through her mind when he said he was going to ask her to do something out of her comfort zone.

She gazed up at him, her thick-lashed eyes sultry. “I don't think making love to you would be out of my comfort zone.”

Adam smiled. “Nothing would make me happier, darling. But I was going to suggest something more.”

Sage sat straighter on the love seat. “Like what?”

Adam laughed. “You should see how big your eyes are now.” He turned and took her hands in his, then got down on one knee in front of her. “I'm trying to propose to you, Duck.”

“Oh, my God,” Sage cried. She didn't know how to react. Adam seemed to like springing surprises on her, but this was a little too much. She had gone along with a trip to Vienna, the ride on a Lipizzaner, but now a
marriage proposal?

“Adam, you're moving too fast for me. I don't know what to say. I like you. I want to make love to you. But I can't truthfully say a marriage between us is the right thing to do. Give us time to get to know one another again.”

“We've already wasted too much time,” Adam said vehemently. “I feel like we should have been married years ago and already have a family by now. I may seem overeager to you, Sage, but I never do anything without thinking about it for some time, and you've been on my mind for years. I love you, and I want you to marry me and be the mother of my children. I can't state it any plainer than that.”

Looking deep into his eyes, Sage sighed. “Remember the day you told me that it would be best if we stopped seeing each other?”

Adam smiled sadly. “I didn't mean to hurt you, Sage.”

“I know you didn't,” she said softly. She gently touched his cheek. He grasped her hand and kissed the palm. Desire shot through Sage, jolting her to the core. He was looking at her with such longing, such utter loneliness that her heart could not deny him anything at that point.

She kissed him. “Adam, Adam, this is exactly why I avoided you for a year. I knew that once you touched me, I'd lose all reason.”

“That's a good thing,” he said as he leaned forward and took her mouth once more. This time the kiss was more insistent and so sensual that Sage lost what little control she had.

What he could do with his tongue was indescribably wanton. Her limbs went weak, her nipples hardened, and she was so aroused she could feel herself moistening and her feminine center begin to thrum pleasurably.

Breathing hard, she broke off the kiss. “I'll make love to you, but I'm not going to give you an answer to your proposal tonight, Adam Benson. That's too much pressure.”

“Well, I'm not going to make love to you until you marry me,” he countered. “We made a promise, remember?”

He got to his feet, smoothing his pant legs as he did so.

Sage rose, too. “I was a teenager when I made you promise we'd wait until marriage!” she cried, outraged.

“Which was a good thing then,” Adam said, “because I was a horny teenager. And it's still a good idea because you make me
feel
like a horny teenager. Besides, I want our kids conceived after the wedding.”

“That's sexual blackmail!”

“Call it what you will,” Adam said stubbornly. “But you don't get the goods until you agree to marry me.”

“
I'm
supposed to be the one saying that!”

“I guess our roles have reversed,” said Adam. He picked up his suit jacket from a nearby chair, then turned back to face her, his eyes roaming over her body. “I may regret saying no tonight, but a man has to do what a man has to do.”

Sage angrily threw up her hands in defeat and walked over to the door, opened it and gestured for him to leave. “Go right ahead and see if I care! I'm not marrying you just so I can sleep with you.”

“I thought you'd marry me because you love me,” Adam said, which took some of the wind out of Sage's sails. Her momentary anger fled.

She appealed to him once more. “Adam, stay.”

“No, thank you. I've got a date with a cold shower.”

“I'm a lawyer,” Sage warned him. “I know how to play hardball. You're not going to win this one, Adam.”

“I lost when I broke your heart,” Adam said, looking her straight in the eye. “I'll see this battle to the end.”

“Good night, then,” Sage said.

“Good night,” Adam replied softly. He left with his jacket thrown across his shoulder and his head held down.

Sage closed the door and locked it.

In times of stress she invariably turned to tidying up her surroundings, and she began with their coffee cups. She fumed as she worked. Adam Benson was insane. That was the only rational explanation. The billionaire genius was certifiable. He was so used to getting everything he wanted that he thought all he had to do to get her to marry him was dangle a million-dollar wager in front of her eyes, whisk her off to Austria and she'd be his!

After returning the coffee cups to the room-service cart, which someone from the hotel staff would soon come to retrieve, Sage brushed her teeth in preparation for bed. Adam was not going to wear her down.

Tomorrow, she would tell him she was going home, even if she had to take a commercial flight. She wasn't playing his games any longer.

When she came out of the bathroom and sat on her bed, she looked over and saw a small Tiffany bag sitting on the nightstand.

Dread filled her as she reached for it and opened it. When had Adam come in here and put this beside her bed? She had no idea. She slowly opened it and reached inside. When she pulled her hand out, in it was a ring box. Her heartbeat quickened with excitement. Tears clouded her vision.