A British Bride by Agreement (12 page)

“Are you hot?” He asked her.

“No, I mean yes.” She looked wide awake.

“I can’t sleep.” He stared at the
ceiling.

“Me neither.”

He leaned up on one elbow. “Tell me
about your favorite moment on this trip.”

“That’s easy, the walk up the
alps
. We were alone.”

He reached up and smoothed back her
hair. “Mine was being able to help your friends.”

She slipped down onto one elbow and
faced him. “You did such a wonderful job. You just took charge and then
everything was in order and everyone was taken care of. I really admire that
about you.”

He smirked. “So not my good looks?”

She punched him good naturedly.
“You cad.”

“A guy can hope.”

Is that a family trademark on your
sweatshirt?”

He pulled on his grey sweatshirt.
“Where?”

She pointed.
“That
spider looking thing.”

He pulled further. “I don’t see it.”

Suddenly, she screamed, lunged forward
and hit his shoulder, sending both of them onto the floor.

He quickly snatched her up and threw her
on the bed. “Stay there.”

She clenched her hands to her chest. “I
am so afraid of spiders!”

He flipped on the lights and grabbed his
shoe and killed it. “It’s dead.”

“Are you sure?” Emma, now trembling,
peered over the side.

He turned off the lights and settled
back into bed. “Are you going to lie down?”

She nodded and slowly slid down right
next to him. “How do we know there aren’t more?”

“There aren’t many poisonous spiders in
Germany.” He slipped his arm around her. Her body was still shaking. “Calm
down. He’s gone.”

She pressed her face into his chest. “I
don’t know when I developed this fear of spiders, but it throws me into a
panic. I’m sorry I’m being such a pudding head.”

He kissed the top of her head and
snugged her closer. “I happen to love pudding heads.”

He felt her stiffen. He had just used
the word
love
.
Awkward.

She looked up at him and a grin spread
across her lips like syrup on pancakes. Pancakes he’d like to take a bite of.
He leaned in and kissed her. The warmth from her lips and her frame pressed
against him sent his heart hammering.

She pulled back. “What are you most
afraid of?”

Tracing the soft curve of her shoulder,
his pressed his lips.
“Disfigured people.
Sick people.
I guess because my childhood was so blessed. We
were insulated from people who weren’t like us.”

“But isn’t that who you’re going to work
with in the charity?”

He let out a long sigh. “Yes.” Moving in
closer, he softly kissed the spot he’d been tracing.

She slipped her arms around him pressing
herself closer.

A moan escaped his lips. By now he was
on fire. What had been a containable flare of attraction had now exploded into
a raging burn. It would be so easy to let nature take over. Nine months from
now, welcome a child, the fourth generation of Stellers. Please his father.
Assume his place in the company. It was all he wanted wrapped up in a beautiful
blonde package who was right now kissing him.

He gently eased her back, placing her
arms on either side of her head, kissing her face, her neck, her shoulder. “I
want to be a husband to you.”

Her face searched his in the dark, her
breathing rapid, when she screamed out loud. “Something touched my leg!
”
 
She jumped out of
the bed and flipped on the nightstand lamp. “There,” she pointed a shaky
finger.
“Under the covers.
Is some
dreadful creature.”

Jonathan jerked back the covers and
searched all around. “There’s nothing.”

Her hand on her throat, she looked under
the bed. “But I felt something.”

The bedroom door opened, and a sleepy
girl wandered in. “Why were you screaming?”

Emma rushed forward. “Oh, Chloe, I—I
thought I saw a spider, so Mr. Steller looked, but there was nothing there.”

Chloe rubbed her eyes. “I don’t like
spiders.”

Emma glanced back at Jonathan and then
led the little girl back to the other room. “I think they are horrid little
creatures.”

Jonathan took a moment to double check
again there were no spiders. He let out a deep breath. He was already so out of
control with emotions for Emma, consummating their marriage would be too
distracting for him. Later, when they’d gotten home and he’d delved back into
his work world.

CHAPTER SEVEN

When Emma came back in, Jonathan was
already under the covers and turned away from her. She flipped off the lights
and crawled in. Because of her fears, she had ruined the moment with Jonathan.
Was he mad? “I’m sorry.”

“For what?”
His voice
sounded a bit cross.

A long pause hung in the air. She swallowed
back the tears welling in her throat. She so wanted him to love her.
To have a successful marriage.
Even his
children.
She silently wiped her tears with her tank top.

In her second year with DJ, she’d had a
miscarriage at home. She had just found out she was pregnant and wanted to wait
until Father’s Day to tell him. But instead, a week later she’d lost the baby.
She cleaned things up on her own, never sharing the shattering event with
anyone other than her doctor. There was a little part of her that feared she
could never have children.
Another failure.

“Nothing, good
night.”
But a few seconds later, she couldn’t help the images of spiders in her mind
and scooted over to lightly press her frame against his. “I’m still a little
scared.”

Jonathan didn’t say another word, but he
didn’t move away either…

***

The day after Jonathan and Emma had
returned from Germany, Jonathan strolled into his new office at the Steller
Charity. There was a lift in his step and an energy he’d not had in a while.
Was marriage to Emma the reason? A smile crept onto his lips as warmth spread
across his chest. The decision to marry her had turned out far better than he’d
ever imagined.

They ended up sleeping together for two
nights before Debbie came and got the kids. Their relationship was still
chaste. He wanted Emma to feel comfortable with him, this new life, this
agreement before they started trying for children. Sweat beaded his forehead at
the memory of it. It was one of the hardest things he’d ever done.

Knowing she was right next to him all
night.

Smiling and sighing in her sleep.

He and Emma had been relieved to get a
call last night from Debbie that she and Ben and the girls were heading home,
and Ben had a clean bill of health. His episode turned out to be nothing more
than a bad case of sunstroke.

But that encounter had changed Jonathan.
He was ready to help the injured and the needy. This new position at the
charity had to be God’s way of allowing him to do some good for a change.

As soon as he set his briefcase down, Geraldine,
his secretary, handed him some messages. “These came in last week. Ted in
communications said those suggestions you gave have boosted the charity’s
publicity exposure by thirty-five percent. And Angie in marketing wanted to
thank you for the ideas on the new ad campaign. She says you’ve saved the
charity hundreds of dollars.”

Heat welling in his chest, Jonathan
flipped open his briefcase and pulled out a few files. After years of being
bogged down by bureaucracy and paperwork, the Steller charity, at his
direction, would begin performing once again to Steller standards. After a time
of doing good deeds, then he would pass the position off to someone else, and
he would return to Product Development and the eventual helm of the family
business.

“Those were Nick’s ideas.
Anything else?”

Nick poked his head in. “The owner of
the Cardinals baseball team loved the scheme I gave him for auctioning off box
seats to fund their charity. He called back to see if I could join him and the
players for dinner so they can thank me, but I can’t go. Do you and Emma want
to go instead?”

Jonathan’s breathing caught in his
throat.
A chance to meet all the players?
He’d been an
avid Cardinals fan since he was a boy. “Yes, let them know,” he kept this voice
steady, “that any night this week or next will work for me and Emma.”

Nick tapped on his phone. “Sure. And one
other thing, in a few minutes, you have a meeting—”

“Jonathan.” His dad strolled in.

His gut tightened.
“Dad.”

“Uncle Hans,” Nick adjusted his tie.

His father nodded his head at Nick to
leave and folded his arms. “So, how was
Erste
Tag?”

“Beautiful.”

“And Emma?”

Jonathan couldn’t help but grin.
“Beautiful, too.”

His father almost smiled. “Well, let’s
hope you can keep your mind on your work.”

Jonathan stilled. This marriage was meant
to advance him back to the main company, not show any weaknesses. “I can assure
you—”

“While you were gone, an issue came up
with that orphanage in Belize.
Something about potential
fraud.
I’d like a report on my desk by five.”

A ripple of anxiety shot through
Jonathan. The Belize Children’s Center was the first large charity donation
he’d approved as the new director just before he’d left for the honeymoon. And
it was a hoax? Tension tightened his neck. “No problem.”

His father paced out of Jonathan’s
office.

Jonathan followed him out the door. “I
can assure you there is just some misunderstanding. I’m sure it’s all
legitimate. I checked all the references myself—” Jonathan was standing in the
accounting cubicle area and all eyes were on him. He set a reassuring smile on
his lips.
“Good morning, everyone.”

He strode back to his office.
Fraud?
They had sent the orphanage tens of thousands of
dollars. Before he could even sip his black coffee, his secretary had made for
him, the phone buzzed.
“Mrs. Peterson for you.”

“Who?”

An older woman’s voice squawked from the
phone speaker. “The annual Steller Benefit Concert needs to be organized by the
end of the month. You know a bird in hand is better than three elsewhere.”

Mrs. Peterson, a friend of his mother’s
had helped with the concert for the last twenty years. And she took it very
seriously.

“Are you still there?” Her voice
squawked again.

Jonathan shifted his gaze back toward
the phone. “Excuse me, I—I was thinking very hard about what you said. Yes, the
concert. I will have my people look into several locations and get back to
you.”

There was a grumble on the end of the
phone and a click. Another ring interrupted him. “Yes?”

Geraldine cleared her throat. “Your
finance committee meeting has been waiting for you in the conference room to
discuss the Belize orphanage situation.”

His shoulders slumped. Maybe turning
this charity around was going to take a little longer than he thought.

***

Emma sighed and stretched as she sat by herself
in the sun-drenched breakfast nook that overlooked a small pond. Her chin
rested in her hand as she enjoyed the view of two swans idly swimming side by
side. Just like
she
and Jonathan.

The glow from the honeymoon still warmed
her insides like a bowl of hot custard on a cold day. She still couldn’t
believe all that had happened on their trip and how each day
unwrapped
new discoveries about her husband. Did he feel the same way about her?

She glance around the room full of boxes
and wondered where to begin. How did one act as a society wife? The idea of
decorating this gigantic home overwhelmed her, although Jonathan had said
something about a family decorator that would help. How she wished she and
Jonathan could have had one more day together, then she could have asked him a
lot of questions. What did he expect of her? How did he want her to spend her
days? She lingered on the memory of the two nights they slept side by side.
Jonathan was, of course, the perfect gentleman, but she found herself resisting,
several times the urge to smother kisses on the back of his neck.

She sipped the last of her morning tea
as a maid named Adele cleared the dishes. When the woman removed the saucer,
Emma took it as a sign she was expected to be done. “Thank you for breakfast.”