Full Bloom (8 page)

Emily shook her head. "No. They said it had to do with business. Something about a bidding war between your firm and RI."

Damon's mouth curved cruelly. "Didn't that make you curious?"

"My family doesn't confide business secrets to me unless it's absolutely necessary," Emily said grimly. "They think I'm a little too naive and innocent to handle the sordid details of the big-time business world."

"They're right," Damon said with surprising alacrity. "You're a lamb among wolves, my sweet. The rest of the Ravenscrofts must think they were given a changeling when you were born. An innocent little elf slipped into the crib in exchange for a true-blooded, fire-breathing Ravenscroft. You certainly don't belong in that family."

"But you found me very useful, nevertheless, didn't you, Damon?"

He stopped pacing and looked at her. "I also found you very sweet and very desirable."

Emily flinched. "If you think you can soothe my wounded pride by telling me you actually wanted me, not just my shares, forget it. I'm not that dumb or that naive."

He took a step toward her. "It's true, Emily. I'll admit I got involved with you originally because I saw you as a means of gaining access to power within RI. But the more I got to know you, the more I wanted you. I was trying to court you, Emily. I was taking it slow and easy because I didn't want to scare you off. I thought we had time. I should have known your family would be keeping close tabs on you and anyone you started dating seriously."

Emily ignored that. "Are you going to tell me why you wanted a chunk of RI so badly that you were willing to try to seduce and marry me to get it?"

"You make it sound very cold-blooded."

"Wasn't it?"

Damon smiled faintly. "It might have started out that way, but it wasn't going to end that way. I was going to enjoy making love to you, Emily."

"No," Emily said calmly, "you wouldn't have enjoyed it because it was never going to happen."

Damon arched his eyebrows, obviously mildly amused. "You don't think I could have gotten you into bed eventually?"

"I don't love you, Damon. I had fun with you. I liked your companionship and I considered you a friend. But I was not falling in love with you."

"You just needed a little more time," he said with great certainty. "If your family hadn't interfered, things would have worked out exactly the way I wanted them to work out."

"No." Emily was absolutely certain of that. She had never been in any danger of falling in love with Damon Morrell, although Damon and her family and Jacob all apparently thought she was. It made her realize how little these iron-willed, autocratic, predator types really knew her. They were so accustomed to thinking of her as weak and vulnerable and helpless, so accustomed to thinking of her as
prey
, that they had never realized she had her own strengths and abilities and a measure of common sense.

"Emily, listen to me," Damon said persuasively. "You don't owe your family anything. All they care about is controlling your shares in RI."

"You should know. That's all you care about, too."

"You're wrong," Damon told her. "I also care about you. I won't deny I'd like to see RI on the rocks, but I—"

Emily held up a palm to stop him. "Please, Damon. Just leave."

"Not yet." He began walking toward her, his eyes suddenly intent. "I want to make sure you understand something first."

"What?" Emily jerked back in alarm as he reached for her. She didn't move quickly enough. Damon's hands closed around her and he pulled her roughly against him.

"Let me go, dammit," she ordered, becoming annoyed.

"I'm not going to let you kick me out of your life at this stage of the game," Damon vowed. "I've invested a lot of time and effort in you and I want the payoff. Damned if I'm going to let you get away with ruining everything. I should have moved more quickly with you. I can see that now. I gave you too much time and too much room. I should have taken you right at the start. If I had, you would have been right where I wanted you by now."

Things were getting out of hand, Emily decided. She planted both her palms against his shoulders and shoved with all her strength as Damon tried to crush her mouth beneath his own. She turned her head aside and swore in exasperation and anger.

"I said,
let me go
," Emily snapped. If he refused, she would have to do something more forceful, she realized. Matters weren't out of control yet, but they were definitely escalating. Damon pinned her body against his own. She aimed a swift, warning kick and managed to connect with his shin. He muttered something under his breath, but he did not release her.

At that moment the door slammed against the wall and Jacob exploded into the hall in a silent rush. Emily didn't even realize he was in the room until she suddenly found herself free. She was released so abruptly that she spun back against the wall. She opened her eyes in time to see Damon hit the floor with a resounding thud.

"Take your hands off her, Morrell." The command was dangerously soft. Jacob moved to stand over his victim, feet braced, his face set in a savage battle mask. His gray eyes were as cold and hard as granite. In that moment it was very easy to see that Stone was more than just a name to be applied to him. It was also an excellent description of the man himself. "Don't ever touch her again. If you do, I'll take you apart. Slowly. Now get out of here."

Damon rolled to his feet and got up cautiously, his eyes never leaving Jacob's face. There was wariness in him as he weighed and judged his adversary, but there was also a seething anger.

"I don't let anyone get in my way," Damon said. "Not for long. Not when I want something very badly. Remember that, Stone."

"If you know who I am, then you probably also know that I don't let people get in my way, either. Let's call it a draw this time around, Morrell. Cut your losses. You've got other fish to fry. Emily and her shares in RI are not on the menu."

Damon's gaze flicked briefly to Emily's taut features, then he concentrated on the real source of danger in the room. "I get the picture now. You're doing a little fishing for yourself. You're the one who should be cutting his losses, Stone. The Ravenscrofts aren't going to let you within a mile of Emily or her shares. You're playing out of your league."

"Get out of here, Morrell."

Damon's mouth curved derisively as he turned toward the door without another word. But as he stepped out into the hall, he spared Emily one last glance.

"A lamb among wolves," he muttered.

And then he was gone.

Emily, who had been frozen in place against the wall as she watched the small scene of violence played out, felt like collapsing. She closed her eyes and drew a deep, steadying breath. She was aware that her pulse was beating very rapidly and her nerves felt stretched with tension. She heard Jacob close the door.

"What the hell was he doing here, Emily?"

Emily opened her eyes to find her rescuer looking every bit as dangerous as the man who had just left. It took an act of willpower to summon her defenses as she realized she was now under a different kind of attack. It wasn't fair.

"What do you think he was doing here?" She straightened away from the wall, absently massaging her wrist. Damon had wrenched it at some point during the proceedings. "He came to see me."

"Why?" Jacob braced one hand against the wall beside her and planted his other fist on his hip as he scowled down at her.

Emily frowned resentfully. "He wanted to know why I had been finding excuses not to see him lately."

"Finding excuses?" Jacob's eyes narrowed dangerously. "You've been inventing excuses not to see him? You didn't tell him flat out that you never wanted to see him again?"

"I was trying to handle things gracefully," Emily tried to explain, feeling pressured now. "I thought he'd get the point without my having to humiliate both him and myself with a major confrontation scene."

"Emily, you are a little idiot!" Jacob grated. "Your family is right—you can't take care of yourself. Whatever made you think you could deal with someone like Morrell by inventing a series of weak excuses not to continue seeing him? You have to hit a man like that straight between the eyes and show him that you mean what you say."

"You and my family do things one way and I do them another."

"Is that right? Well, just look where your way got you. If you'd been blunt and forceful with Morrell the minute you came back from Portland, he would have realized the game was over then and there. Instead, you played coy and dragged things out. No wonder he came prowling around wondering what had gone wrong with his big plan."

"I did not play coy!" Emily blazed. "I resent that. I told you, I was trying to handle things without a major knock-down drag-out scene. What's more, I could have handled Damon just fine if you hadn't come charging through the door like a maddened rhino. I can take care of myself these days."

"Sure you can. That's why you were getting yourself pawed when I arrived," Jacob shot back. "You don't know the first thing about handling someone like Morrell." He slapped the wall with his open palm in a gesture of frustrated fury. "I knew I should have dealt with him and not left it up to you. I was a fool to let you do it on your own. You need a keeper, Emily."

"Just because I have my own way of dealing with people and just because that way doesn't happen to be your way or the traditional Ravenscroft way doesn't mean I need a keeper, dammit!" She was infuriated. "Furthermore, after what I have just been through, I resent having you yell at me."

"Why in hell did you open the door to him?" Jacob demanded between set teeth.

"When the doorbell rang, I thought it was you."

"You should have checked."

"Even if I had checked, I would still have opened the door," Emily said recklessly. "I had no reason to think Damon would act the way he did. He's always been very much a gentleman."

"Well, now you know better, don't you?" Jacob came away from the wall and thrust one hand under the curve of Emily's thick black hair. He wrapped warm, strong fingers around the nape of her neck. "Men don't always behave like gentlemen when it comes to business and women. And here's another lesson for you to learn. A man who finds himself having to pull another man off his woman doesn't feel at all like a gentleman."

Emily's whole body was vibrating to the sensual tension that was suddenly gripping her. The source of that tension was Jacob. It was as if the frustrated male anger that had been pulsing through him was rapidly converting itself into another kind of emotion. And she was responding to it on a primitive, utterly feminine level.

"Jacob?" Her voice was suddenly soft and breathless as the resentment and anger went out of her. A dizzying sensation of longing swept through her as she studied the gray flames in his eyes. Without thinking, Emily raised her fingers to touch the hard planes of his face.

Jacob looked down into her face and saw the first flickering promise of her response. He could also see the uncertainty and confusion underlying the hint of passionate excitement, but he knew suddenly and beyond any doubt that he could overcome her doubts and misgivings.

Because deep down, she wanted him.

The knowledge that Emily truly desired him was the last straw for Jacob. He had intended to wait awhile before he coaxed her into bed. He had wanted to give her all the time she needed. But having to rescue her from Morrell had set up an emotional chain reaction that was sweeping aside his earlier, more cautious approach. She wanted him and he wanted her with an urgency that knew no bounds. He had waited long enough. Tonight he would claim her.

Jacob groaned and his hand tightened behind Emily's head. The skin of her nape was like silk beneath his fingers—warm, soft, exquisite silk. He could feel the small shiver of pleasure and need that went through her, heard the tiny cry that parted her lips and his own desire surged through his veins like fiery lava. As he was unable to resist any longer, his mouth came down on Emily's with abrupt, hungry insistence.

Passion flared into a roaring blaze, ignited by the smoldering flames of the other, equally elemental, emotions that had been driving him since he had come through the door and found Damon Morrell trying to assault Emily.

"Emily, honey, Emily, I want you so much. So sweet. So beautifully sweet. You're so soft and delicate. I'll take care of you. I'll be so gentle with you. I swear it." The words tumbled out of him as he explored her mouth. Jacob was only half aware of what he was saying. He only knew he wanted to reassure her and remove any lingering doubts she might have about giving herself to him.

Emily smiled up at him, a soft, shimmering smile that was radiant with her passion. "I trust you, Jacob. And I want you very much." Her fingertips trembled in his hair.

Jacob thought he would sink beneath the sensuous waves of that smile. Instead he tightened his hold on Emily and deepened the kiss into one of throbbing intimacy. He could taste her now as she willingly opened her mouth for him and he was intoxicated by the essence of her. His hands shook slightly as he removed her glasses and put them down on a nearby table. Then he began to undress her.

Emily did not try to resist him. She seemed shyly eager to be rid of her clothing. She was already fumbling with the buttons of his shirt. He carefully lifted the top of her black-and-white outfit over her head. When he saw the dainty scraps of silk that barely shielded her breasts he thought he would lose control then and there, and the realization shook him. The last time he had come this close to the edge with a woman had been the first time he had kissed Emily two years ago. That night he had fought an internal battle for control and he had won. It had cost him dearly, but he had won.

Tonight he did not have to wage war with himself. Tonight Emily would be his.

"You're going to drive me out of my mind," Jacob whispered as he struggled briefly with the catch of her tiny bra. He leaned his forehead against hers and watched as the silk fell away to reveal her breasts. She was a small woman, but beautifully shaped, he thought, half dazed. Her breasts were round and full and tipped with rosy nipples that were already budding into full flower. "You've been driving me out of my mind for the past two years. Did you know that?"