Sweet Fortune (37 page)

D
oes this mean,” Hatch asked carefully a few minutes later as he slowly released her, “that you still view us as being engaged?”

Jessie picked up her champagne glass and shot him a startled glance over the rim. “Are you trying to wriggle out of the engagement?”

“Hell, no.”

“Aunt Glenna said you might.”

“Might what?”

“Might lose interest in me if I didn't bring Benedict Fasteners along as my dowry.”

Hatch was annoyed. “What a coincidence. I was wondering if you'd lose interest in me if marrying me meant losing Benedict Fasteners. Your father says he's going to cut you off without a cent, by the way. I don't think I mentioned that, did I?”

“That's Dad for you. He's so engrossed with the bottom line that he just naturally assumes it's everyone else's first consideration too. How did it happen, Hatch?”

“Me getting myself fired? I gambled. Tried to bluff an old poker player, and he called. I should have known better.” He thought about that. “Hell, I did know better. I realized there was a risk. But I had to take it.”

“Why?”

“I wanted to cut a few more of the knots that keep you tap-dancing between your father and the rest of the family. I thought that if I could arrange for Elizabeth and David to each get a quarter of the company, you'd be out of the loop permanently.”

“Out of the loop?”

“That was Plan A. Split up the company among the logical heirs and let me buy a quarter of it. That would put everyone on a more or less equal footing. No one would be dependent on you to make certain they got their fair share of the inheritance. The moms would stop pressuring you, and maybe a chunk of the company for David would appease Glenna. You would no longer feel like you had to hold the whole thing together all by yourself.”

Jessie's mouth fell open in amazement. “You tried to make Dad give us all an equal portion of Benedict Fasteners?”

“Yeah. Like I said, that was Plan A. Seemed like a good idea at the time.”

“Dad has never been willing to even listen to that idea. I told you that. Lord knows I tried it out on him a few times in the past. He's been absolutely nonnegotiable on the subject. Seems to think it might tear the company apart.”

“I told him to trust me to hold things together. Obviously he didn't.”

Jessie propped her elbow on the counter and balanced her chin on the heel of her palm. “What made you decide to push him so hard if you knew you might lose everything in the process?”

Hatch met her eyes. “I told you, I was just trying to get some of the family pressure off you.”

She started to smile. “There's more to it than that, isn't there? You wanted to prove to yourself I'd marry you even if I didn't have to. Hatch, that's so sweet.”

“
Sweet
? Christ, lady, it is anything but sweet. It's a full-scale financial disaster. Talk about shooting myself in the foot.”

She bit her lip. “Are you really upset about losing Benedict Fasteners?”

“No, dammit. I can live without Benedict. But I don't think it's sunk in yet that you've lost it too, if you marry me.”

“Big deal.”

“Cutting you off from your inheritance,” he continued evenly, “also effectively cuts you off from your primary role in the family.”

“I'm no longer the intermediary, as you called it,” Jessie said slowly, nodding in comprehension. “It's going to feel a little strange at first.”

“Better be prepared to feel more than just a little strange,” he growled. “You don't seem to understand that everyone is going to be madder than hell. They're all going to feel threatened now. Marry me, and everyone's share of the big pie they were all counting on is at risk.”

“Why? What do you think Dad will do now?”

“Who knows? Vincent will either sell the company outright or he'll continue to run it as he has been running it. Either way, the family can kiss off the idea of taking Benedict Fasteners into the fast lane.”

“Dad loves that company. I can't see him selling out.”

“I can. He doesn't like being pushed around any more than I do. He's fully capable of selling it just to prove he can't be manipulated. He's into revenge, in case you haven't noticed. Look what I've gone through to beat out Yorland and Young for him, just because the company once undercut him on a contract.”

“True. And you, of all people, understand vengeance, don't you?”

Hatch sighed. “Yes. I do. And even if he doesn't sell, he won't be able to turn Benedict Fasteners into what everyone wants it to become. The firm is thirty years out-of-date and so is Vincent's management style. He won't be able to revitalize the company unless he gets someone like me on board. He knows that. I doubt he'll bring himself to trust anyone like me again.”

“Which means that Benedict Fasteners will stay a small-time regional business. I don't think that's such a bad fate.”

“Everyone else sure as hell will, including your father. They've had the carrot dangled in front of them now and they won't forget what was once within reach. They're going to blame you for depriving them of it. I'm sorry, Jessie.”

“I'm not.” She was quiet for a minute. “Tell me, just out of curiosity, did Dad leave you a way back?”

Hatch smiled wryly. “Sure. All I have to do is come to my senses, crawl back, and tell him we'll do things his way.”

Jessie looked surprised. “He said that? He ought to know you'd never go back on those terms.”

Hatch lifted one shoulder in dismissal. “It was probably all he could think of on the spur of the moment. When he recovers from the shock, he'll turn the pressure on you. So will everyone else.”

“Let'em. I've already made my decision.”

He still did not completely understand what was happening here. “Why?” he asked bluntly.

“Because I love you, of course. I told you that.”

“Yeah, I know you said that, but—”

She silenced him by putting her fingertips over his mouth. “Do you love me?”

He allowed himself to think about it for the first time. “Hell, I guess so. I wouldn't have gone through all this otherwise.”

She wrinkled her nose. “Be still, my beating heart. Let's try this from another angle. Would you have given up your chunk of Benedict Fasteners and the future you've got planned for it and for yourself for the sake of any other woman of your acquaintance?”

“Of course not.” He swallowed champagne and hid a slow grin.

“Then say it, damn you.”

He smiled into her eyes, finally beginning to relax for the first time that day. “Jessie, I love you.”

Her own smile widened happily. “Was it worth it? Losing everything for love?”

A great weight seemed to be lifting from his shoulders. “Is that what I just did?”

“Uh-huh.”

“You tell me if it was worth it,” he said softly.

“Yes. Most definitely yes.”

“Yes,” he repeated. “Most definitely yes.” He took the wineglass from her hand and set it down on the counter next to his own. Then he got to his feet and scooped her off the stool and into his arms.

“Lord,” she whispered, eyes filling with passion as he carried her toward the bedroom. “I just wish I had a staircase. This would be so much more romantic if you carried me up a staircase, don't you think?”

“No. At my age a man has to consider his lower back,” Hatch said seriously.

She punched his shoulder. “That was a joke. Darn it, this time I know that was meant to be funny. Wasn't it?”

Hatch started to chuckle. The next minute he was laughing out loud, a deep, full-throated roar of a laugh that came from far down in his chest. And as his own triumphant mirth echoed in the white bedroom, he realized he could not remember the last time he had allowed himself to surrender to sheer, unadulterated happiness.

Hatch woke from a pleasant, dozing sleep and felt the soft warmth of Jessie's body curled into his own. Her sweetly curved derriere was nestled against his thighs, and his hand cupped one rounded breast. A nipple thrust into his palm. Hatch squeezed gently.

Jessie shifted against him. “You rang?”

He chuckled and kissed her shoulder. “Just wanted to see if you were still awake.”

“Ummm. Actually, I've been thinking. I know how much you counted on getting your paws on Benedict Fasteners.”

“I'd rather have my paws on you.”

She smiled and turned her head on the pillow to look at him. “That's nice and it certainly represents a drastic reordering of your personal priorities, for which I am extremely grateful. However, I also feel a little guilty about all this.”

Some of Hatch's good mood started to slip. “Don't say that, Jessie. You've got nothing to feel guilty about. If anyone should be feeling guilty, it's me. In one fell swoop I've just changed your whole life.”

“You mustn't say that.” She touched his cheek gently. “As far as I'm concerned, that one fell swoop proved for certain that you loved me and I shall treasure the memory forever.”

“Then what are you thinking about so seriously?”

“I could try talking to Dad for you,” she said. “See if I can get him to climb down off his high horse. I know neither one of you is the type to back down. You're both so stubborn. But maybe if I sort of mediated things, I could find a compromise for both of you.”

“Try it and I'll paddle your butt so hard you won't sit down for a week.”

She blinked. “I beg your pardon?”

“You heard me. Jessie, this is between your father and me. You are not involved. Got that?”

“But I am involved.”

“No. You said yourself, you've already made your decision. You're going to marry me, right?”

“Yes, of course, but—”

“Then you've made your choice. Your first loyalty is to me now, not your family.”

“Yes.”

“You aren't going to play go-between this time, honey. I won't let you. You're on my side of the fence and you're not going to try to straddle it. I don't need you to rescue me. All I need or want is you. Got that?”

She smiled mistily, her fingers splayed on his bare chest. “Got it. You know, I think that's about the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me.”

He grinned. “You mean threatening to paddle your backside?”

She yanked on a handful of chest hair and looked satisfied when he winced. “No, I meant the part about needing and wanting me. Just me. Not me because I can act as an intermediary or because I can get something for you from Dad or because I can smooth things over and hold it all together. But me, just because I'm me.”

“Remember that, okay?” He slid his hand down over her thigh.

“Okay.”

“Jessie?” His fingers were tangled in the nest of hair between her legs now.

“Uh-huh?”

“You're sure about wanting to have my baby?”

“I'm sure. I think you'll make a good father, Hatch.”

“Thank you for trusting me that much. I know what that decision means to you.” He kissed her throat and pushed his leg between hers. The womanly scent of her body filled his head. He was already hard. “No one has ever trusted me as much as you do. Walking away with me will mean starting over, you know.”

“I know. I don't have a lot of money saved, but I've got some. We can sell one of the cars. I hate to say this, but it should probably be the Mercedes.”

“Damn.”

She patted his arm sympathetically. “On the plus side, I'm very good at finding jobs.”

He moved on top of her, cradled her head between his hands, and smiled down at her. “It's not going to be too bad. I've got the stake I was planning to use to buy into Benedict Fasteners. I'll use it start up another management-consulting business. I've done it once. I can do it again.”

“I know.”

“Most of the money will have to go into the new business, though. There won't be a lot left over. Not for a while.”

“Don't worry about it.” Jessie stroked his shoulders. “I'm not. I know you can make it work, Hatch.”

He looked down at her glowing face and was filled with a deep sense of wonder and awe. “Where have you been all my life?”

“Waiting for you.” She drew him down to her, wrapping her legs around his waist and her arms around his neck.

Hatch entered her with a slow, aching tenderness, letting her pull him deep within her body. He watched the desire grow in her eyes and knew a sense of completeness that he had never felt before in his life.

Nothing else really mattered, he decided. Not the uncertainties that lay ahead, not the loss of the bright, successful future he had been planning at Benedict Fasteners.

Nothing mattered except Jessie and the baby they were going to make together.

“I'm going to be one hell of a father for our kid, Jessie.” It was a vow as binding as any oath he would ever take.

“Yes. I know.”

“But I'll be an even better husband.”

“I know.” She smiled brilliantly up at him. “And don't worry. Maybe we can find a way to keep the Mercedes.”

“Damn right we will.”

Elizabeth finished paying for the book on famous women scientists, picked up the paper sack, and turned from the counter to join Jessie.

“I'm ready. You want to go look at clothes now?” Elizabeth glanced up inquiringly as they left the bookstore and ambled out into the crowded shopping mall.

“Nope. I don't want to be tempted,” Jessie said, feeling extremely noble and virtuous and terribly thrifty. “Hatch and I will have to watch every penny for a while until he can get his new business established.”

“Does this mean the big wedding production is off?”

“Afraid so. Don't worry, you'll still get to be my attendant. We'll just be cutting back on some of the extras. Like serving a large buffet to three hundred wedding guests, the way the moms had planned.”

“I'm still going to get to wear the dress Mom picked out for me? And the little hat?”

“Definitely. Hatch and I will probably just wear jeans, naturally, but you can wear the fancy bridesmaid's dress. No problem.”

Elizabeth slanted her a speculative glance to see if Jessie was teasing her. “Thanks. I can hardly wait. What about the engagement party?”

“Oh, it's still on for Friday night. Hatch refused to let me cancel it. Said we weren't so hard-up that we couldn't celebrate the engagement. It won't cost all that much, anyway, if only you and David show up. Do me a favor and don't order the lobster, okay?”