The Perfect Fit Page 13

  All he had to do was make her comfortable with this new level of their relationship and take himself out of the buddy chorus line.

  “When you show your teeth, in what you think is a friendly smile, I don’t trust you,” Silver noted warily. “You’ve been too quiet. Too...brooding, and now this. I have no intention of marrying you, Nick.”

  He ran his finger over the button at her throat and down the opened circle of fabric that modestly exposed her chest. Nick allowed his hand to be swatted away...for the moment. “I’m committed to making this relationship work. You should know that. I’ve already told Mamie that you’ve agreed to marry me—”

  “You what?”

  After one look at Silver’s growing outrage and her taut body, Nick decided to place the desk between them. Leaving Silver melted and hot and fragrant with musk in that moonlit meadow had caused him to lose sleep. Her aching purrs had shattered any possibility of sleep until she was tucked safely in his bed, wearing his wedding ring.

  “It’s now the third week of June. We can be married before the Fourth of July. You did say yes.”

  “Huh?”

  Eight

  “Huh?” wasn’t a term Silver had ever used, even when she was distracted in her lab. It was a sign that Nick had her wavering; he advanced carefully. “That night on the mountain, when I came to you, I asked you several times to marry me and I clearly defined what I wanted before we made love.”

  “Yes...smesh...I meant yes, I would—Yes...you were—We must have been talking about two different things.” She waved her hand ainly, dismissing the fact he bad just placed in front of her. “I did not agree to many you.”

  “I’m a very serious man. I’m good at details. I told you exactly how I felt. I’m committed now and there’s no turning back. You’ve compromised me, and now you’ll wear my ring. You will marry me.”

  After a full five seconds of staring at Nick, Silver collapsed gracefully into a chair. Nick refilled her glass and handed it to her. “Thanks,” she muttered automatically and drank, emptying the glass.

  He refilled her champagne glass again and watched with interest as Silver eyed him. “That’s what this is, isn’t it? An engagement dinner? You had this all planned.”

  “I’m good at planning and reducing things to basics.” Nick hoped he wouldn’t have to use his backup plan to secure Silver. Acquiring Silver by today’s politically correct methods wouldn’t be possible, and every molecule in his body told him that his troubleshooting background had brought him here, to this moment, facing Silver with an established, ring-certified marriage proposal.

  He wanted his marriage in place before she discovered that he’d chatted with her parents and brother.

  She downed the champagne and reached for the bottle, sloshing more liquid into her glass. She lifted the glass and eyed him. “You will go in there and straighten this out. I won’t be responsible for misleading your grandmother. I respect her. We’ve grown very close.”

  “You’re hunting something in Amen Flats, and it’s related to the Tallchiefs and their legends. I will secure it for you. You have my promise. As my wife, you will have my full dedication and my protection. I want you to be happy.” Nick watched Silver filter through her emotions, shielding them quickly. He ached to hold her, to share the pain within her. He could not do that with Silver holding him at a distance, offering to help him with love potions and regarding him as “one of the guys.”

  He was putting himself on the marital platter and praying that he wouldn’t fall into the reject pile, not with Silver.

  “I don’t think I like this side of you,” she muttered as she glared at him. “I liked you when you were sweet and vulnerable.”

  When I was the appliance, one of the doo-wop boys... “I do have a nasty streak, when I want something. And I want you. I’m hoping we can move into our alliance easily and make everyone happy—”

  “No...way...in...hell.” Silver poured another glass of champagne, drinking it quickly.

  Nick didn’t like his momentary bounce into the reject “guy” pile. An experienced troubleshooter knew when to gamble and when to tighten the noose. He wanted Silver’s very desirable neck within his reach and moved to close the gap. “The alternative isn’t pleasant. There’s that breach of promise thing.”

  “You’re breaking my heart. Your pride wouldn’t let you—”

  “Yes is a word that goes very deep with me. I didn’t force you then, and you agreed.” Nick pushed his temper and his uncertainty down. Silver was a strong woman, determined to flow her own way, and he intended to be included in her life. “You’re not receptive to my invitation?”

  “Listen, you—”

  Nick didn’t give Silver a chance to storm at him. “You could be pregnant.”

  When the idea first hit him, as he was sprawled over her, trying to pull his brain back into his body and unmelt his bones, Nick had floated, almost hoping that she would carry his child Now, he desperately wanted her as his wife and he wanted a family; he didn’t want to be an outsider to life. He wanted a home, not a camping house, where every day he woke up to Silver and went to bed with her every night—and several times during the day. He watched awakening emotions zipping across her face, ranging from shock to wary admission of the potential, and then to furious denial. “One time,” she snapped back at him, defensively.

  “We both know our biology, sweetheart. I was there, remember? And you took me by surprise...ambushed me in my sleep. However, I was fully awake when I asked you to marry me.” Nick watched Silver’s shaking hands reach for the champagne bottle and pour another glass. “You don’t drink. Take it easy.”

  “I’m trying to empty this bottle, so I can smash it over your thick head. I thought you were easygoing...you’re not. You’re doing the suit thing. You’re almost cute when you’re concentrating on cooking or ironing, but—” Her gaze took in his suit. “Black, formal, tie, shoes polished so bright you can see lights in them. That gangster-pirate look. That showing your teeth thing, like a wolf getting ready to feed. You’re enjoying this, aren’t you? You’ve set the stage for tonight. This isn’t a business dinner... you’re out to satisfy your family.”

  She eyed him carefully, and Nick wanted to run his hand along that long, smooth line of her thigh—“What was that again about your protection? Why would I need your protection?” she asked.

  “My family has nothing to do with this. I want you for myself. I want to make a life with you. I want to court and romance you and help you find whatever it is you want in Amen Flats. Marriage is just cleaving away the debris and moving into a different stage of our relationship.”

  Silver’s gray eyes flashed at him beneath her long, straight, glossy lashes, her lips tightening. “I can’t settle for that. I manage my own life. I won’t be placed on a bargaining table, Nick”

  Then as she stood and prepared to leave, Nick plopped Plan B on the discussion table. “Then there’s my obligation to Palladin, Inc. I can’t let you bamboozle my grandmother. That is why you need my protection. If you betray Mamie, then I’ll see to it that you lose everything. As my wife, you would be protected from the excellent legal muscle of Palladin, Inc.”

  They were on his ancestral territory now, and Nick was claiming Silver—permanently.

  “Did you say bamboozled, my dear?” Mamie asked at the head of the dinner table. “What was that about a gangster, suitpredator, a pirate boarding your ship?”

  On the elegant tablecloth, Nick’s ruby engagement ring glittered on Silver’s third finger, left hand. Her other hand was enclosed in his big one as they sat close together. He frowned as Silver tried to withdraw her numbed, cold fingers from his clasp, holding her easily. She settled for placing her sharp heel over the toe of his gleaming big shoe and pushing down hard.

  In the elegant candlelight, his green eyes narrowed and he showed his teeth in one of his icy smiles. “She’s an impatient woman. Eager for our wedding. Silver said she’s very happy, but she’s tired.
Too much excitement...the wedding preparations...”

  He’d plopped a threat in her lap and walked out of his office, leaving her to follow. She couldn’t leave the beautiful ring unattended, and had jammed it on her finger as she’d run after him. Before she’d had time to launch an attack, he was introducing her to Mamie—

  “The Tallchiefs will take care of arrangements. Their weddings are unusual and wonderful. Rafe and Demi have that fabulous castle—they were married there.”

  “No castle.” Silver fought to keep afloat in a fast-moving current called Nick Palladin. She was a little fuzzy on the details right now, but she’d untangle the mess at any minute.

  While Nick and Mamie dropped into the warmth of the Tallchief family and Rafe’s and Joel’s new families, Silver studied the ring—the rubies were huge, glittering, bloodred against her lightly tanned skin. The gold Celtic setting intertwined the heavy stones, creating a rich, opulent, yet savage design. Just exactly the style a pirate would place on his captive princess’s finger before he swept her away. Just exactly what she and Jasmine had dreamed about with their princes—“Oh!”

  Mamie peered at her sharply. “You look close to tears. Is anything wrong, my dear?”

  “She’s emotional now,” Nick explained smoothly, and raised Silver’s hand to kiss her palm. “We’re hoping for a girl just like her.” He bit gently and heat skittered through her body. She wondered if she could skip dessert and take Nick on the huge table.

  Of course she couldn’t. There was that little girl to consider, one with laughing green eyes and a dimple in her chin. Then Silver would have to worry about protecting her innocence from great big wolves, younger versions of her father.

  She was angry at his gangster-pirate technique in his office. Nick had carefully outlined just how she had defaulted on the contract: The “liquor” for Palladin’s new scent was to be developed after months of research—on site. Nick had a file of hard evidence sucked from her notes, sketches and her computer. The liquor formula, the marketing campaign, the sketches for the crystal perfume bottles, packages for the soap and bath products, had all been developed prior to her arrival in Amen Flats. She had worked quickly since he’d first contacted her, and though the essential scent-liquor was good, the ideas strong, they were not her best. They did not convey the unique setting Palladin, Inc. had chosen to duplicate in scent. The word “fraud” lurked in every fact Nick had neatly placed in front of her.

  “Fraud” and contract default could ruin her career as a perfumer, She wouldn’t be trusted again. Nick could methodically tear apart everything—

  A master puzzle-solver, Nick had effectively closed all protests to what he wanted: marriage to him.

  The ring glittered ominously on her finger and Silver drank another glass of champagne, meeting Nick’s forbidding frown with her own.

  “I’m going to finally see my great-grandchild from Nick—the last Palladin desperado and the great-great-granddaughter of Una and Tallchief. You’ll make a marvelous mother, Silver, and I couldn’t be happier about you coming into our little family. Nick needs you to keep him in line, from running off with the ball, so to speak. He gets a little heavy-handed, and moves quickly when he thinks takeover is necessary. I’m glad you liked the ring, dear. Nick wanted your Tallchief heritage to be included in the design he created for you, and the jeweler worked overtime creating it. Nick has told you, of course, that the stones are from my own wedding ring, from my dear husband. I took the reins of this business after he died, and through the worst of financial times, I saved that ring for Nick, the youngest of my grandsons and the last to marry.”

  Mamie lifted her glass in a toast. “Now that Joel and Rafe are happily married into the Tallchief family, and Nick is about to complete the circle, I couldn’t bear to have my ring sitting cold and alone in a bank’s safety box. Years of hopes and dreams and happiness are in those stones. They belong where life and love and excitement fairly burst from the bride—”

  Mamie’s eyes shimmered with tears, her well-preserved beauty visible as she traced the ring with her finger, then took Silver’s hand. “You’ve made me very happy, dear. I have worried about all of my grandsons. They’ve overcome much of what my son did to them. Now, with Nick so happy and a baby on the way so quickly, I am relieved A child would not be an accident between you two strong-minded young people. You both know exactly what you want and how to get it, and you must have instantly wanted each other, aware of your destiny. I knew that once the two of you met, Nick’s life would change. He’s always been a lone wolf, avoiding entanglement, flying all over the place, and now he’s found you. From what I know of you, you’ve traveled extensively yourself. Two like people finding each other. You’ll do perfectly.”

  Silver stiffened under the weight of Nick’s warm hand on her nape, a reminder of his intended possession. His warm thumb cruised along her ear. “She’s a little nervous. I didn’t give her very much time to decide.”

  Mamie laughed with delight. “He’s been running from women for years, my dear. I’m glad you’ve caught him. I’m looking forward to a profitable alliance—” She winked at Nick. “And more great-grandchildren.”

  “Not if I can help it,” Silver muttered.

  “What was that, dear?” Mamie asked. She quickly frowned at Nick. “He’s not being a bully, is he, Silver? I will not have my boys bullying women into marrying them.”

  “As a matter of fact—” Silver began slowly, preparing to appeal to the older woman.

  Mamie’s eyes narrowed at Nick, who smiled blandly. The silent battle waged past Silver, who was fascinated by the exchange. Petite and agile, eighty-plus-year-old Mamie pushed away from the table. She plucked the bottle of champagne from the iced silver bucket. “Silver, you look to be in good shape. Let’s adjourn to my exercise room for a girl talk. Bring the glasses. Nick, you are not invited.”

  Nick rose to his feet, carefully pulling out Silver’s chair as she rose. She smiled up at him, aware of the old-fashioned gentlemanly manners petite Mamie demanded from her towering grandsons. She winked at Nick’s glare as she followed Mamie.

  A half hour later, draped in a lamé srole, seated on her Exercycle and pedaling slowly, thoughtfully, Mamie studied Silver. She lay on the workout bench, her head very light and her body very heavy, a champagne flute balanced on her flat stomach. Mamie’s discussion about Silver’s progress with Palladin’s new scent line slid slowly into—“He wants you desperately, you know. Nick hasn’t had to pull out his charm to acquire women, they’ve simply tumbled into his life, and frankly he hasn’t been that interested. Until now. Perhaps you could forgive him if he is a little arrogant and remember that I haven’t long to live now—with my heart acting up—and if only I could see Nick happy for a small time before I passed on, that is all I could ask of you. I’m really looking forward to the wedding. If anything happened to prevent it, I don’t know how my heart would react—are you groaning, my dear?”

  Silver struggled to present her case logically. “I might not be pregnant. Chances are that I am not.”

  “Nick is hopeful. He’s positively beaming. If there is anything that would rev up my poor old heart, make me want to live at least another few months, it would be to see Nick happily married, child on the way or not. Did you groan again, dear?”

  Nick let himself into the penthouse. At three o’clock in the morning, he badly needed a shower, sleep and a reassuring taste of Silver’s soft lips, her scent curling pleasantly around him. A drunken driver had forced a Palladin eighteen-wheeler off the highway, sending the truck down a mountain ravine. The truck had come to rest on the edge of a cliff, the driver bruised and frightened. One wrong move could have sent the truck into a gorge, and with expert direction, Nick had set the weight of his helicopter on the rear of the truck. In a driving, icy rain, he’d secured the cables from the team of wreckers, attachmg them to the truck. After helping the driver safely out of the truck, Nick had climbed back up onto the helicopter and signaled
the truck to be hauled back from danger.

  “Blasted cameras and newswoman cluttering up the job—what made that woman think I needed her hug?” After a fivehour fight to unload the truck and drag it back up the incline, the driver and the shipment to Palladin’s Department Store were safe.

  A battered, grim man returned Nick’s look in Mamie’s ornate gilt mirror. He smelled like diesel fuel—the fuel tanks had to be emptied before hauling the truck up the incline. A metallic spark could have started a forest fire. He smelled like sweat and curses and loneliness.

  In the midst of the danger and icy rain, Nick had thought of Silver. Blackmailing her into marriage was typical of his troubleshooting technique—if the bargain wouldn’t budge, apply force.

  Nick studied his tired reflection. His father’s hard features stared back at him. A man set on serving himself, Lloyd would have used blackmail to get a woman he wanted.

  Nick tiredly rubbed his rope-burned hands across his jaw. They stung a bit and he stared at them, remembering the slight bruises he’d given her during their lovemaking. With Silver, he hadn’t been charming.

  He’d wanted her...had to claim her. The need was raw, primitive, essential...more than sex—he’d taken her virginity, prized it. A shudder skidded through Nick. He was like his father on that level, too....

  A woman like Silver needed to be approached like a fine puzzle, the player taking time to fit the pieces together. He’d lacked that patience, but he had made a trip to her parents, and now he better understood what drove her.

  In the mirror, his father’s hard eyes glittered at Nick. A woman like Silver couldn’t be forced into marriage—shouldn’t be acquired by blackmail. Nick was a predator, like his father, taking a woman whom he wanted with an intensity that terrified him. Nick sucked diesel-scented air into his lungs, forcing himself to breathe. He didn’t expect Silver to be waiting for him. The best thing he could do for Silver was to step out of her life. He’d crawled from a gutter, done things he shouldn’t have, and he’d survived with the memory of his father’s backhand slamming into his face.