Her Tender Tyrant (11 page)

“Maybe she was just out in the cold for too long,” a feminine voice suggested.

As soon as she heard Linda’s voice, Juliette jerked upright and her eyes were wide with the horror of someone seeing her like that with Marcus. So far, their interludes had all been private but, just as she’d suspected earlier today, that private world was falling apart as reality cruelly came back.

Juliette cleared her throat and stepped back so that Marcus’ hands would fall away from her touch starved body. “Yes. I was out in the cold for a long time today. I think I’ll just head on upstairs and take a warm shower.”

Linda piped in. “Hurry up, dinner is almost ready.”

Juliette turned back, her eyes focusing on the one other person in the room, astonished to see that Linda was in a pair of tight fitting jeans now instead of her power clothes. And she’d paired those jeans with a shirt so tight, Juliette could actually see the indentation on the lace of her bra. Or what there was of that bra. The woman really wore low cut under garments, she noticed.

“I made shrimp scampi,” she said, raising a wooden spoon as if she’d just been stirring something.

Juliette was sure of only two things at that moment. She hated Linda and there was no way she was eating that shrimp scampi. She simply couldn’t sit across the table from the ultra-sophisticated woman while she flirted with Marcus. In fact, she felt almost sick at the idea of doing such a thing.

She tried to smile, to show Marcus that she was okay and prove to Linda that she was unaffected by the situation. “You guys go ahead. I’m going to warm up and then dive into my work.”

“You need to eat something,” Marcus said, stepping in front of her to stop her momentum.

Juliette looked up and saw the concern in his eyes. She smiled, not wanting to worry him. She couldn’t really be mad at him. He’d never promised her the “forever” that she craved. In fact, he’d never promised her anything. She had to keep that uppermost in her mind.

“I’m fine,” she replied, looking away from him, trying to keep her hungry eyes from devouring his presence. She had so little time left with him. Shaking her head, she continued, “Really, I think what I need most right now is a warm shower.”

Marcus looked into her soft eyes and realized that something was wrong. He wasn’t sure what it was, but he understood that Juliette didn’t want to talk about it with Linda around. Which was fine with him. He wanted his assistant to hit the road as well. But Linda had insisted on cooking for him. He had no idea why. They’d eaten dinners together before, but they would be working dinners when they were both in the office late. And normally, others were around as well. Hell, they’d spent nights together but only because the work had gone through until the morning hours.

So why she was here now, acting all domestic and sweet, was a complete mystery. He didn’t have time to worry about Linda right now though. He was too concerned with the strain he could see in Juliette’s eyes and around her mouth. Something was very wrong.

“I have whole wheat pasta to go with the scampi,” Linda interrupted yet again. “I made it from scratch.” There was a slight pause. “Once you’ve had homemade pasta, you’ll never go back to store bought again. It’s just incredible!”

Juliette looked down at her feet, refusing to look at Marcus again. “Have a great meal, you two,” she said and pretended to smile in Linda’s direction but it might have come out more as a grimace. “I’ll get something later. Don’t worry about me.”

Marcus watched with hungry eyes as she walked up the back stairway. Yes, something was very wrong. The faster he got Linda out of the way, the sooner he could get back to Juliette and find out what was going on inside her beautiful head.

When Juliette’s adorable backside disappeared from view, he finally pulled his eyes away. “Okay,” he sighed and turned to smile grimly at Linda. “Let’s eat!”

Linda not only saw the look Marcus had given the other woman, she’d felt it as well. The little slut thought she could move in on her turf? She’d just see about that, Linda thought. “Here,” she said, handing two bowls to Marcus. “Put the salads on the table and I’ll get the rest of the food ready.”

Marcus took the two salads, wondering why there wasn’t a third. He’d told Linda that Juliette was here. As he set them down on the table, he supposed that the other salad was in the fridge for Juliette. He’d bring it to her later.

“This smells wonderful,” he told her as she spooned the shrimp and lemon sauce over the noodles. “And you’re right, homemade noodles are amazing.” At this moment, he couldn’t give a damn whether the noodles had been store bought, freshly made or out of the trash. He just wanted to hold Juliette. Their evenings had been pretty nice lately, with the two of them making dinners together, cooking up anything that appealed to them. And she’d made another batch of cookies! Damn that woman could bake!

During dinner, Linda proceeded to give him more details about the negotiations and Marcus wanted to snap at her to just shut up. He’d been on the phone for all of the negotiations. What was she trying to prove? Hell, he was the one who had initiated some of the issues that she was regaling him with.

The meal was finally over and Linda stood up, taking his plate.

“I’ll do the dishes,” he told her, starting to take the plates out of her hands.

She quickly pulled the plates out of his reach. “No way. You go sit down with a brandy or whatever it is that you drink and I’ll clean up. Most everything is already put away anyway. I just need to rinse these plates off and put them in the dishwasher.”

Marcus gritted his teeth. He didn’t want to relax. He wanted to go upstairs and check on Juliette. The shower had turned off more than forty minutes ago so he knew she was out of the shower. Why hadn’t she come downstairs? He could just picture her, all pink and warm, her soft curves slightly damp from the shower and his body instantly reacted.

“So that desk of yours is finally up to my standards,” she told him a few minutes later as she leaned against the back of the couch, her hands resting on his shoulders.

Marcus practically leapt off of the cushion, glaring down at her.

“What the hell are you doing?” he demanded. She’d never touched him before tonight. Nor had he ever touched her or given her any indication that he would appreciate such advances.

“You’re tense,” she said, lifting a shoulder. “I just thought you needed to relax.”

He rubbed his face with his hand. “You’re right. I am tense. I’m worried about Juliette and I want to go check on her. Would you mind?”

Linda shrugged again, waving her hand in the direction of the back stairway. “Oh, don’t worry about her. She and I had a chat earlier today. I know exactly what’s wrong. And I guarantee that there’s nothing you can do to help her.” She smiled secretly. “Man troubles,” she whispered.

Marcus felt like he’d just been punched in the stomach. “Man troubles? What kind of man troubles?”

Linda sat down in one of the overstuffed chairs in the great room. “Oh, I don’t know. Someone asked if seeing other men would be okay. I have no idea what she was chattering about. She seemed pretty upset.” Linda watched Marcus carefully, trying to decide if she was getting through to him. “I told her I didn’t think you were the kind of man who would be able to share, but that she should talk it over with whoever was involved. Threesomes just aren’t good for anyone.” Bull’s eye, she thought.

“So,” she continued, moving in more carefully this time. “What’s next on the agenda?”

Marcus rubbed the back of his neck, trying to get the image of Juliette in another man’s arms out of his mind. He hated the idea and couldn’t believe that she might want to be with another man. Hell, she’d saved herself all this time, why would she start to become a flirt now? What changed?

“If you don’t mind, Linda, I’m going to go through the files on my desk and see what I’ve missed.”

Linda stood up, eager to help. “No problem. What can I do to assist you?” she asked.

Marcus shook his head. “Nothing. I’ll go through it alone. I’ll e-mail you tomorrow when I know what the next step is.”

Darn it! Linda had screwed up. Where had she gone wrong? The meal was perfect, the jeans were a great touch…what had she done wrong?

With a sigh, she determined that she’d just have to start over tomorrow. “Good deal,” she replied with a smile. “I’ll be here bright and early and you can let me know what needs to happen.”

Marcus wasn’t sure he would be ready by then, but he was relieved that she was finally leaving. His priority now was to find Juliette and find out what was wrong. And why the hell she had even thought about another man. He’d never experienced a sexual chemistry with another woman the way he did with Juliette. It was phenomenal! And what’s more, he liked being with her. Hell, he loved being with her. She didn’t have to be doing anything more than just working on her thesis and he wanted to sit with her. He simply liked knowing she was in the same room with him.

When he finally closed the door on Linda, he took the stairs two at a time, walking into Juliette’s room without knocking.

When she looked up at him over the monitor of her laptop, his stomach tightened even further.

“Okay, talk to me. What’s going on?” he demanded, standing at the end of her bed and trying not to reach for her. She looked so tempting with her hair wet and those sexy little shorts that barely covered her butt. He loved the way she wore those things. And damn, but she wasn’t wearing a bra either! Was she trying to torture him? His eyes watched with raging hunger as those full breasts swayed gently as she settled back against the pillows behind her.

“Nothing is going on. But I really need to finish this paper. My professors have been nagging me for a while and if I don’t focus on it now, I’m going to be in trouble.”

He seemed to accept that explanation but she didn’t want him to. She wanted him to throw her laptop away and take her into his arms. Linda had worn those jeans on purpose, Juliette was sure of it. And so she’d fired back by not wearing a bra. But Marcus just stood there, not even noticing.

A sure sign that things had come to an end, she realized with a painful stab to her heart. She watched his face, longing for him to give her some sort of signal that this wasn’t over. But the compressed lips, the shuttered eyes, all told her the same thing. He’d moved on. He had no interest in pursuing anything more permanent.

Marcus nodded his head and backed up out of the room. Going into his own room, he paced the floor, trying to decide what to do. She was pulling away from him and he refused to believe Linda’s words that she wanted variety. That just didn’t make sense from what he knew about Juliette. He might know all about her but he knew enough to understand that, at a basic level, Juliette was not a player. She would not give her heart to someone and then go to another.

Maybe he had just been fooling himself. Maybe she didn’t feel the same way about him that he felt for her. He wanted to be with her forever. He wanted to marry her, which, only a month ago would have made him shudder with revulsion. The idea of attaching himself to one woman had been abhorrent. And then he’d met Juliette. Now he couldn’t imagine being with another woman.

So what the hell had happened between this morning and tonight? The only thing that had changed was Linda’s arrival.

Was that what had happened? Could she be upset about Linda?

He stormed back into her room. “Are you jealous of Linda?” he demanded, hoping furiously that he was right. “I mean, the relationship I have with her has nothing to do with how I feel about you.”

Juliette cringed. All of her arguments for going to Marcus and asking him about his relationship with Linda were shot to hell with that one statement. “No. I don’t care about your relationship with Linda. I don’t think I can be with you though. Not the way you want a relationship to work. I’m just not made that way.”

“You don’t…” he was about to ask if she didn’t love him, but stopped himself, feeling foolish. Of course she didn’t feel that way about him. She was young and beautiful. She had yet to experience the world and she was rearing to get out there and get a larger taste.

With a sigh, he rubbed his face. “Fine,” he grumbled. This was one of those moments when he had to let her go. He suddenly realized that he wanted her to be happy. Marcus supposed that was what love was all about, sacrificing for another person’s happiness.

Love sucked!

“Fine,” he said again and backed out of the room. “I can see that you need to see the world a bit, to know how things work. And that’s okay.” But it wasn’t okay! He definitely wasn’t okay with this at all! He didn’t want her to find another man! He wanted her all to himself.

“Fine,” he said and backed out of the room. With reluctance, he went back into his own bedroom, slamming the door behind him. He was furious and couldn’t get the acid taste out of his mouth because all he could picture was Juliette, his Juliette, in the arms of another man.

He felt like punching something. Or someone! Specifically, the man she wanted to be with. Or all of them, in fact.

Juliette closed her laptop and curled up into a ball. She hated this! He wanted her to grow up and become harsh and brittle just like Linda! He wanted her to be mature about sharing him with other women?

No way! She simply couldn’t do it.

Wiping the tears away, she pulled her duffle bag out from under the bed where she’d stored it. Dumping her clothes into the bag, she didn’t fold them, didn’t care how they ended up in the bag, just so long as she could get out of here, away from the place of her humiliation.