Campaign for Love (34 page)

 

 

That evening, after dinner, he set about wooing her all over again,
gently touching her, until soon she forgot all about Elder's
advanced,
and was burning with desire for Quentin.

 

 

She had missed the time away from him, and hated the wedge Elder had
driven between them.

 

 

"My dearest, make me forget he ever touched me. Touch me yourself.
Make
love to me. I've missed you so much."

 

 

Within minutes they were in bed together, and he treasured her body
with his. It was like the first time all over again, though neither
of
them could hold back for long.

 

 

Climax came with a rush, releasing them to plunge into the valley of
satiety. They relaxed in each other's arms as they vowed love and
devotion once again.

 

 

Quentin had dispelled the last of her bad memories, like George
slaying
the dragon. He was her hero, and this was a fairytale come true.
They
worked well together, and also shared a passion that blazed the more
they indulged in it. Her life truly was perfect, and anyone who
tried
to ruin it again was going to have hell to pay.

 

 

With that promise in her heart, she held the drowsy Quentin to her,
and
drifted into a dreamless sleep.

 

 

 

CHAPTER FORTY-ONE

 

 

At work the following day, Suzanna got a call from Barry Jarvis
praising her for her work on the Lincoln Log Cabins which had
boosted
the sale of coconut bars beyond belief.

 

 

Suzanna had calculated that one bag of the bars would make either
six
or seven houses small, seven if a cardboard base was used, six if an
extra cookie was used for the base, or one large house.

 

 

She had also showed them how to make them more colorful with
frosting
shrubbery, frosting curtains, silver balls for a doorknob, and a
miniature flag flying from the front of the house mounted in more
frosting cement.

 

 

He also had much praise for her ginger-snap crumbs to thicken pot
roast
gravy, and for the elegant refrigerator dessert cake.

 

 

He now wanted her to work on their pasta products, which would be
the
easiest of all given her love of Italian cooking.

 

 

"I don't know how you do it, Suzanna," Barry said, "but you're the
best
thing that ever happened to Imperial Foods since Quentin."

 

 

"Thank you for calling, and for all the kind words," said Suzanna.

 

 

"Not kind, true, as I am sure Cyrus will tell you when he speaks to
you
later."

 

 

"Give me love to Elsa, won't you."

 

 

"Sure will. We'll let you know as soon as we set a date for the
wedding. Another thing I have to thank you for."

 

 

"You can blame your own love of German cooking for that one," she
said
with a laugh.

 

 

"I hear Jerry and Sharon are getting to the serious stage as well,"
he
said.

 

 

"I know, it is great, isn't it," she said cheerfully. "I reckon at
the
rate we're going, a triple wedding might be in the offing."

 

 

Barry gasped, and asked in a low, enthusiastic tone, "Has he asked
you
yet?"

 

 

"Not yet, but if he doesn't soon, I am going to pop the question
myself," she joked.

 

 

"I'm surprised you haven't already."

 

 

"Well, Barry, just call me old-fashioned."

 

 

He laughed heartily. "You sure are, a queen of cooks and a Femme
Fatale
model as well. I'm sure your grannies would be mortified."

 

 

She smiled to herself. "I think they'd be pleased, actually."

 

 

"I totally agree. I was just teasing. They have plenty of reasons to
be
proud, and Quentin is a fool if he doesn't see you for who you
really
are."

 

 

"Thanks, Barry. Anyway, got to go, heaps to do. See all of you soon
for
a get together."

 

 

"I'm counting on it. Elsa is a great girl, but she still can't cook
like you, even with all your recipes."

 

 

"I won't tell her you said that," she giggled, and hung up.

 

 

She wondered at the back of her mind as she had made the small talk
why
Barry had said that Cyrus would phone her personally, but did not
dare
ask. She would find out soon enough.

 

 

The phone call from Barry Jarvis had set Suzanna to thinking in
other
ways as well. Not that it was the first time the thought had
occurred
to her, but it seemed to drive home the point at last.

 

 

She realized that none of her problems had been caused by her looks
per
se, but by her near-paranoia about them.

 

 

That, in turn, had been caused by a frightening youthful experience.
Had her mother been less guilt-ridden and more aware of what her
daughter had been going through, she'd have talked it out with her,
and
the whole incident would probably been forgotten before she reached
the
age of puberty.

 

 

But Suzy had been made to feel shame. At long last, she was
comfortable
with herself because of Quentin.

 

 

She was able to admit to herself that it had not been because she
had
dressed down, but because she had for once been calm, not fearful,
confident, not self-conscious.

 

 

She did have talent, she knew that now, and it would be easy enough
to
carry on using those talents outside of the office as well as in it.
She was doing most of the Imperial foods campaigns from her kitchen
or
their labs anyway, so why feel tied to Elder and Rubin, or fearful
because of Rubin?

 

 

The one thing in her favor, which not even Quentin knew about, was
that
the rents from the apartment building her gran had left her made her
more than well-off, and she had a small fortune banked as well.

 

 

It was not the money, it was the ability to be herself that really
counted, and now that she knew she could compete with any man in her
chosen career in the advertising world, she was content. She was not
a
mere trust-fund baby, but a working professional with great
prospects,
and a growing portfolio of projects she could truly call all her
own.

 

 

She told Quentin about Barry's call, and he praised her, pointing
out
that clients usually only rang when people screwed up.

 

 

"He said Cyrus would be ringing later. Do you know anything about
that?" she asked curiously.

 

 

He motioned her to a chair. "Well, the truth is that he wants us
both
to come on board full time. Together. As a team. They have no
children,
and they've taken a liking to us. It may be worth thinking about."

 

 

She could see he was less than enthusiastic with the idea, though.
So
she shrugged and said, "It sounds interesting. We'll talk later."

 

 

Suzy went back to her office and looked through her portfolio of
work
again, and the new requests from Imperial. She did a lot of
soul-searching as well as she reviewed her work. And as she did so,
a
new plan began to form in her mind....

 

 

But what would Quentin say? Did they really have a future together,
or
had all her joking about a triple wedding just been wishful thinking
on
her part?

 

 

 

CHAPTER FORTY-TWO

 

 

When they got back to Suzy's that night, they started dinner before
changing clothes. They decided on a Western omelette and while they
chopped the ham, onion and green peppers, they starting making plans
for the upcoming weekend.

 

 

They had decided that if the weather was good, they'd rent a car and
take a drive into the mountains and have dinner at some out of the
way
place. They both used the chat to distract them from their more
brooding thoughts, which they were reluctant to blurt out too
abruptly.

 

 

Quentin beat the eggs, and when the other ingredients were done, he
poured the eggs into the pan, poured the filling onto one side, and
kept the pan moving so the omelette wouldn't stick.

 

 

When the edges were done, he closed the omelette pan, flipped it,
and
in a few minutes it was done to perfection.

 

 

After the omelette, accompanied by Bloody Marys, a tossed salad, and
chocolate cream pie, they took their brandy snifters to the bedroom,
turned down the bed, undressed and got between the sheets. Suzanna
had
a serious look as she said,

 

 

"Darling, have something to tell you."

 

 

They sat back against the propped up pillows. He put his arm around
her
and said, "Okay, sweetheart. You sound sort of ominous. I think I'll
be
able to take it better lying down."

 

 

She began, "Darling, you know what a mess I was when I came to work
for
you. I had all sorts of hang-ups, maybe even some neuroses, I don't
know."

 

 

"For a fact, you did, although I didn't realize it at first."

 

 

"You've made a normal, happy woman of me, and I'll always be
grateful.
You also gave me space to grow. You gave me work and left me alone
to
do it. All at once, everything was coming up roses. But just now,
there's a snake in our Garden of Eden. I know I haven't heard the
last
of Nathan Elder. I think anything I do as your assistant, I could do
any place. I don't need an office. In fact, I don't even need a
desk. A
table would do as well. In other words, I could work at home, right
here, and still be part of your team. That is, if you wanted me."

 

 

"I've had the same thought often. But are you absolutely sure you
want
to give up your chance to be a big advertising executive at Elder
and
Rubin? Rubin will protect you, I'm sure, once he knows the whole
story."

 

 

She shook her head. "I never really cared about being an exec. All I
ever wanted was the chance to prove I could be, and I think I've
done
that."

 

 

"Then how would you like to start our own agency?"

 

 

She gasped. "Our own.... What about Cyrus's offer?"

 

 

"I love him and Imperial, really I do, but I think I would need more
variety to my work. But he's also offered to back me in my own
advertising agency. How does Pierce and Sills sound? It was on the
pages of your gift at Christmas. I've been juggling ideas and
figures
ever since, and trying to work up the nerve to make my dreams come
true. But they have to be your dreams as well."

 

 

She stared at him. "Are you saying that you're taking Cyrus Reed up
on
his offer? And are you asking me to work for you as your assistant
again?"

 

 

He sat up cross-legged next to her and took her hand. "I am asking
you
to be my partner in every way, Suzanna. I'm asking you to marry me.
That way, I'll have you and your fantastic mind and body exclusively
for all time. The agency will come when we're good and ready. Right
now, I just want to spend as much time with you as I can, making you
happy. And when we do decide to open the doors of Pierce and Sills,
we
will have Imperial and Femme Fatale as our first two clients."

 

 

"Oh, Quentin, I don't know what to say," she breathed, wide-eyed and
still not sure this wasn't a dream. "I thought you had fallen out of
love with me. You were so moody, distant, I just didn't know what to
think."

 

 

He shook his head. "No, never. Impossible. Believe me, I love you,
Suzanna, now and forever. The truth is, well, I didn't want to
overwhelm you, or manipulate you in any way. I held back because I
wanted to do the right thing by you, even though I loved you so much
it
was killing me to even think that I might lose you. Career wise, and
person wise, I thought I would give you a chance to grow, become
independent, work with me, love me and build a life with me, but
still
be able to have a great career that you had earned yourself, and to
be
your own person.

 

 

"But the truth is, well, if being your own person means growing
apart
from me, I could never let that happen. Call me a selfish idiot, my
love, but I want you, body and soul."

 

 

She kissed him warmly. "You have all that and more, my darling
Quentin."

 

 

"So will you?"

 

 

She frowned slightly."Will I what?"

 

 

"Marry me."

 

 

"Why wouldn't I marry you! I've done everything else with you,
Quentin," she said with a long sultry look.

 

 

He laughed hard at that and kissed her soundly. When he lifted his
lips, he said, "In that case, I've been carrying this around with me
since I opened my safe-deposit box last week, trying to work up the
courage to propose. I had a grandmother, too, you know. This was
hers.
I hope you like it."

 

 

He went over to where his jacket was hanging, and fished something
out
of the pocket, then he got down on both knees. Stark naked though he
was, he could not have looked more dignified as he brought out a
magnificent two carat diamond in an old-fashioned, high-pronged
Tiffany
setting. "Suzanna Sills, will you please do me the honor of marrying
me?"

 

 

She could feel the tears dancing just behind her eyelids. "Yes,
Quentin, my love. Yes."

 

 

He took her left hand and slipped it on her ring finger. It fit
perfectly.