A British Bride by Agreement (11 page)

“She’s gotten so big.”

“She’s now five and, “she turned to show
off her baby strapped to her back.
“
We have Angel
and,” she nodded toward her husband’s back.
“Amelia who are
our ten month old twins.”

“Brilliant.” But a pang of wistfulness
hit Emma. She’d always wanted children, and here was one of her dearest college
friends with three of them. Seeing her children brought back a sad memory of a
baby that could have been.

Emma shook her head. “Well, you have
beautiful girls. So what are you doing in Germany with three kids?”

“Oh, Ben has always wanted to come, so
we’ve saved and scraped, and earned a few airline miles and now we’re here.
We’re staying right by this really exclusive shopping area, but the hotel’s
pretty small and cramped. I guess you get what you pay for.”

“Honey,” Ben touched Debbie’s shoulder.
“I think we need to head down. My headache isn’t getting any better and Chloe’s
hungry.”

“But we just got reacquainted—”

Ben nodded toward Jonathan and mouthed
the word
honeymoon
.

“Oh, sure, yup, time to be going.”

Emma and Debbie traded cell phone
numbers and vowed to keep in touch. As Emma and Jonathan continued their trek
up the mountain, she nudged his shoulder. “Thank you for, you know, not
flaunting your name or position.”

He nudged back. “My family and our
situation are gifts from God. I can’t take any credit for them.”

She kept her eyes on the gravel path,
but inside her heart was brimming over with joy. Jonathan Steller was a good
man.

After a meal at a restaurant on an
overlook point, they headed back down the winding stony path in companionable
silence. The setting sun cast long rays of tangerine, butterscotch, and blush
across the snowcapped mountain vista. This had been the day of a lifetime and
she didn’t want it to end.

But now and then, her thoughts would
drift to life once they got home. What would life as a Steller be like? Would she
fit in the society world? Would she and Jonathan’s feelings continue to grow? A
tendril of worry snaked up her spine. What if he hadn’t really changed? Was he
still a big spending partier? What if this turned out to be another difficult
marriage?

Her foot slid out from under her on the
gravel path, but Jonathan caught her in his arms. Their lips were only an inch
apart. His eyes were full of concern. “You’re safe...with me.”

 
***

Emma sipped her tea and stared at the
distant mountain range through the floor-to-ceiling windows in their luxurious
two-bedroom suite. Jonathan was still asleep in his bedroom and the quiet
morning had given her a few minutes to read her Bible and pray.

She was reading in the Psalms,
I will lift up my eyes to the mountains. From
where shall my help come? My help comes from the Lord
, seemed so
appropriate. She allowed the verse to linger in her spirit. Never again did she
want to rely on her own strength to get through her days. Her strength, her
help, would come from the Lord. She didn’t know what was ahead in this new life
as the wife of a very wealthy man, but she knew God would see her through.

“Good morning.” Jonathan sauntered into
the room, his
pj
shirt undone and his hair a tousled
mess. “How is my favorite
fraulien
?”

A wave of giddiness swept over her. She
hardly knew where to look, or if she should look. Clad only in her white silk
pajamas, his lingering gaze told her he was enjoying the sight of her, too. She
patted the cushion next to her on the couch. “That’s
Frau
to you mister.”

He poured some coffee into a mug and
sipped it.
His gaze never moving from her.
A grin
tugged on his lips. He picked up a muffin. “Oh, right I forgot.
Fraulien
means
miss.”

When he sat beside her, his thigh
brushed against hers, a tingle of awareness shivered through her. Had she ever
been this attracted to DJ?

“We only have two days left, and we
still need to go shopping.”

“Shopping?” She forced her brain to
concentrate on what he was saying. “Is there something you need?”

He leaned over and kissed her cheek. “I
need to get something for you.”

Her face warmed, glowing with that
unbelievable,
pinch me
feeling.
Her
once stressful and chaotic life seemed like it was
falling into order and she had landed in a very soft place. Jonathan’s
affections had been steadily increasing over their time in Germany, and her
heart trembled at the thought of them increasing further still. Emboldened by
his tenderness, she ran a finger down the side of his bristly cheek. “And what
is it that I am lacking?”

He pulled her to her feet.

She stood close enough to him to see his
shoulders rise and fall. Her own heart started thumping with measured beats of
hope. Would he kiss her?

“You, Mrs. Steller, lack nothing, but I
would like to give you some extras. So, off you go to get showered and
dressed.” Instead of a kiss, he took a bite of his glazed muffin.

It took her a moment to realize he’d
dismissed her and not kissed her. With an impish urge for retribution, she
snatched his muffin out of his hand and raced toward the bathroom door with at
him at her heels. Slamming the door shut, she leaned against it and laughed.

“What was that for?” He shouted
good-naturedly.

“I didn’t get a proper good-morning
kiss.”

Quiet sounded on the other side.

Her smile dropped. Had she been too forward?
Made him cross? She pressed her hands to her flushed face. How embarrassing.
She’d let her emotions take over. Romance wasn’t part of their agreement.
“Jonathan?”

No answer.

Slowly she inched open the door to find
him leaning one hand against the wall, watching her intently. “I’m ready for
that kiss.”

She leaned in and kissed him on the
cheek until he caught her by the arms and pressed his warm lips to hers,
lingering over her mouth like a sweet sip of hot chocolate. When he pulled
back, she sucked in her breath. Was it possible to fall in love in thirty
seconds?

***

Jonathan and Emma rode back from the
shopping trip in a Mercedes in silence. Jonathan shifted on the leather seat as
Emma sat staring out the window with the back of her hand pressed to her lips.

“Thirsty?” He tilted his head to get a
better look at her. Was she upset?

“No, thanks.”

“Too warm?”

“No, I’m fine.”

He wracked his brains trying to think of
something he might have said to offend her, but nothing came to him. She seemed
happy about the black Chanel dress and the Prada bags. The complete set of
pearls in two lengths and the two gold necklaces with matching bracelets looked
lovely on her. Some very respectful photographers asked if they could take
their pictures and he and Emma complied, was that
it?
“Are you okay with having your picture taken again? Did you like the gifts I
bought you?”

She offered a wan smile and squeezed his
hand. “They were lovely.”

There was that
lovely
word again. Normally it meant something good. He leaned
forward in his seat to see beyond the side of her face. “But you’re not happy.”

She turned her body completely toward
her window.
“Oh, no.”

“If you didn’t like something—”

“I see Debbie. Stop the car.” She
stiffened.

A flash of frustration shot through him
like a hockey puck. All he’d wanted to do was shower her with gifts and this is
the thanks he got? “Don’t you think you’re overreacting—Debbie?
Where?”

She reached up and banged on the glass
separating the driver from them. “Please stop.”

Jonathan swung around and looked through
the back window.

As soon as the car halted, she jumped
out and started running in the opposite direction. She glanced over her
shoulder and shouted, “I just saw Debbie and her girls, coming out of a
hospital entrance—something’s wrong.”

He took off after her. By the time he
caught up to her, Emma had her arms around Debbie.

“What’s wrong?” His breathing sounded
heavy.

Debbie wiped away tears. “Oh, it’s so
good to see you,” she sobbed as she stood in front of a sign with a red cross
on the front. “I didn’t know what to do.”

Chloe clung to her mom and the twins
fussed in their double stroller. Emma leaned in and patted them both on their
heads. “Where’s Ben?”

“He’s been airlifted to another hospital
in Berlin. He’s had some kind of seizure. The hotel called an ambulance and
they took him to this emergency center. The doctors there said he had to go to
a specialty hospital, but I don’t know how to get there, and how much it will
cost. And here they seem very strict about children visiting.” She dissolved in
a flood of tears.

Emma reached for her purse. She only had
100 Euros. “Take this and I will get you more.”

Jonathan stepped in. “I think it would
be better if we flew with you to Berlin, get a good translator, and find you
some help with your children.”

“And an English
nanny.”
Emma smiled at the children. “There is nothing as efficient as an English
nanny.”

Jonathan nodded. “Whatever you need,
Debbie, we’re here to help.” He got on his cell phone to make the arrangements
while Emma and Debbie got the kids and the stroller loaded into the car. The
driver took them to Debbie’s hotel room to pack their things and then to the
Steller jet where two English nannies met them. From Munich, they flew to
Kranenhaus
Centre in Berlin.

After conferring with the doctors,
Jonathan arranged for Debbie to stay at a hotel within walking distance of the
hospital, and organized a cell phone and a translator to be with her as long as
she needed them. He and Emma took the girls back to Munich, where they met up
with two
wel
-vetted English nannies. By the time they
got to their resort, it was well after midnight.

The nannies and the twins stayed in an
adjoining room with added cribs, so Jonathan laid Chloe on the couch, and Emma
covered her up.

Emma flopped on her bed and rested her
head on the pillows. “I’m so exhausted.”

But Jonathan paced the room, adrenaline
still flowing through his veins. “That was great. I mean helping someone, not
just handing them money, but really doing something to assist them.”

She glanced over the pillows at him.
“You were brilliant. You arranged everything, were sweet to the girls,
checked
the references on the nannies yourself. You thought
of everything—and for people, until yesterday, you didn’t even know. I’m so
proud of you.”

He came and sat next to her. Something
changed inside of him because of today. His focus had shifted from chasing
business to understanding the power in helping others. Maybe this charity
directorship was a good thing. He wanted to accomplish things for needy people
beyond giving money. He wanted God to forgive for what happened to his brother.
“We had an impact on someone in need. I want to do more of that—to be used by
God.”

“You won’t get in any trouble for the
cost?”

He cupped the side of her face. “I think
we make a great pair.”

His fingers caressed the side of her
cheek and she pressed her eyes shut and leaned into his hand. “I think so,
too.”

They slid into each other’s arms and he
held her, relishing the soft warmth of her frame. She belonged in his arms. For
a few minutes, they sat in companionable silence as they clung to one another
and stared out at the darkened outline of the mountain range through the French
doors next to the bed.

He looked at the floor and then looked
up at her. “I’m not sleeping there.”

A startled look swept over her. “Oh.”

Had she read his actions wrong? “I
didn’t mean we would—”

“I knew that. I just thought you were—”

“What?”

“Sweet to give
up your bed to the nannies.”

A sense of well-being infused him. This
day with Emma beside him made him feel ten feet tall. “I’m sad that our trip is
almost over.”

Emma leaned forward and planted a kiss
on his cheek.
“Me, too.”

Make that twenty feet.

Until she
crawled into bed with him.

“Goodnight,” she said as she turned out
the light.

The moonlight coming through the French
doors filled the room. He could make out the pink tank top she wore. He
swallowed. This intense attraction to her was growing every day. Emma was a
sweet, wonderful, smart, caring woman. So opposite the women he used to date.
And she was as beautiful dressed up with make up as she was without and in
sweats. He ran his fingers through his hair. How long could he keep from
touching her completely? It would be so easy just to let it happen and then
maybe a child would be on the way. He kicked back the covers, the room suddenly
warm. He wished he could take off his sweatshirt.