The Tycoon's Temporary Bride: Book Four (15 page)

Tashi stood in the middle of the dirt road
that ran the perimeter of the lake and admired the natural scenery
around her. Never in a million years would she have imagined a lake
nestled inside a mountain. This was a treat any serious
photographer would die for. Searching through her camera bag, she
fished out her 20mm wide-angle lens and switched it for the 45mm
micro she’d been using while traipsing through the forest. As she
followed the road around the lake, Tashi took her time compiling a
collage of the breathtaking, colorful landscape from every angle
possible.

She’d gone about a quarter of a mile, passing
stone-cut picnic tables and benches, when the sound of rushing
water caught her attention. Guessing that it was the waterfall
she’d heard from the house a few nights ago, Tashi took the narrow
path that led from the road into another wooded area. She passed a
flagpole with a white flag in the lowered position, and followed
her ears toward the gushing sound. As she traveled deeper in, the
air became crisp and fresh and charged with electricity—similar to
the way it felt right after a heavy rainstorm.

Rounding a bend, Tashi stopped suddenly as
two white limestone square structures situated in the middle of a
green lawn with garden beds bursting with blooming flowers and
herbs lining its perimeter. Marble effigies of Greek and Roman
mythical goddesses scattered about seemed to keep watch over the
private refuge. Rolling lush hills, ancient sprawling trees, and an
abundance of foaming waterfalls gushing from a rocky hill into a
gigantic whirlpool completed the background.

The structures, separated by a white stone
canopy, each exhibited three oblong windows with golden panes that
cast off an iridescent glow against the midmorning sunlight. But
the serendipitous discovery of the picturesque sanctuary-like
structure in the middle of a modern day Garden of Eden—minus the
Tree of Life—wasn’t what made Tashi gasp.

It was the naked, motionless man coiled into
a yoga pose that only a seasoned yogi or a very advanced
practitioner would dare to attempt. His knees and shinbones were
flat against a white floor, and his body was curved backwards with
his stomach and chest stretching toward the sky. His forearms were
flat against the mat—perpendicular to his legs. His hands gripped
his ankles while his forehead rested between them with his face
upside down and facing away from his body. His long black mane was
pooled around his arms and legs creating a stunning contrast to his
muscled tanned body fashioned into a graceful human triangle.

Inevitably, Tashi’s eyes zeroed in on his
erection extending like a bronze flagpole from the thatch of curly
black hair at his groin. She’d never imagined a man’s penis could
be that big, especially from a few yard’s distance. She was very
naïve when it came to human anatomy. She’d attended all-girls’
parochial schools all her life where pictures and drawings of naked
men and women were prohibited in biology classes and where even the
first violation of that rule brought immediate expulsion. With the
church’s philosophies and her uncle’s strict rules, it was a wonder
she hadn’t turned into a frigid maiden, incapable of any type of
sexual sensations.

Sensations that were frighteningly powerful
and foreign, she realized as saliva gathered inside her mouth and
her skin began to burn with curious excitement. Her nipples tingled
and hardened and pressed painfully against the cotton material of
her shirt, but most poignantly she felt an incessant throbbing deep
inside the core of her womanhood as moisture poured into her
panties. She felt as if someone had turned on a faucet inside her
and then broken off the handle so there was no way to stop the
flood once it started. The sight and sounds of the gushing
waterfalls in the background and the subtle blend of jasmine, mint,
oregano, and other herbs floating on the gentle breeze toward her
only seemed to intensify her arousal.

“Adam.”

His name slipped from her mouth, unwittingly.
It was a tiny whisper, but when Tashi detected a slight tremor in
Adam’s body, she knew he’d heard her above the roar of the
waterfall. She should leave, she thought, but her feet seemed to be
rooted to the ground and her eyes glued open to the irresistible
specimen of male flesh in front of her.

Her heart fluttered when he began to unfold
like a graceful ballerina. Walking his hands away from his feet, he
brought his head and torso upward with slow controlled movements.
Coming into a kneeling position with his shins flat against the
mat, he bent forward and rested his torso on his thighs, his
forehead on the mat, and his forearms extended backward along the
sides of his body. He stayed in that position for about thirty
seconds before he brought himself to a kneeling position again.
This time he extended his arms out on either side, his palms raised
toward the sky, his thick black hair falling down his back, past
his waist to rest gently against the firm hills of his buttocks. He
clasped his hands together and bowed in reverence, twice.

Tashi had never seen anything so magnificent,
so arousing in her life.

She held her breath as he turned his head and
gazed at her, finally acknowledging her presence. Tashi’s body felt
heavy and warm as he pushed to his feet. Again, she wanted to
leave, to apologize for wandering into his private sanctuary, but
neither her limbs nor her tongue would obey her.

He glanced at a white robe lying on the floor
next to the mat, but instead of picking it up, he walked to the
edge of the podium and down a flight of wide steps toward the lawn.
He seemed to cover the short distance between them in slow motion,
his eyes never leaving her face as he drew closer to where she
stood next to a granite table and cushioned chairs under the shade
of a sprawling willow tree with branches so low, they kissed the
grass.

He stopped a couple feet in front of her and
held his hand out to her like a guru welcoming the newest member of
his shrine into the fold. “Come, Tashi,” he said, ever so
gently.

His smile was devastatingly sensuous, and his
invitation was a passionate challenge, hard to resist. Tashi’s
heart began to pound in her chest and her stomach began to heave
like an ocean wave battered by the force of hurricane gale winds.
What in heaven’s name had she wandered into?

“Come,” he repeated. “I’ve been waiting for
you.”

Adam’s pulse pounded at finally admitting to
himself that Tashi Holland was
the
perfect woman for him—his
heart and soul mate. He’d known it the moment he first gazed into
her eyes and felt the heat and light of her soul connecting with
his, saw the glorious sunrise and the golden sunset of his future
illuminated within their emerald depth, felt the fusing of their
spirits in that sharp bolt of electricity when they first
touched.

As he gazed into the emerald pools of her
eyes, Adam felt himself falling, tumbling into space where little
boys and girls with auburn and black hair, green and blue eyes
floated around him and Tashi. He’d often dreamed about the children
he’d have one day, but never had he seen them so clearly—as if they
already existed, were already inducted into the circle of life.

Adam had never felt this mystic connection to
any other woman. He hadn’t felt this way about Claire, not after
investing months of time and energy into their relationship, not
when he’d gotten down on his knees in front of his family and
friends and asked her to marry him.

Tashi Holland had revealed nothing about
herself in the two weeks they’d spent together, yet Adam felt as if
they’d known each other all their lives, and even before then in a
former life. Time and circumstance had separated them, but the
instant they’d collided, their souls and hearts had rejoiced at
meeting again. Well, that’s how he’d felt about her. How she felt
about him was another mystery in itself.

It was no coincidence that they’d collided in
Mountainview Café, two weeks ago. If he’d come through the door, or
if she had gotten up from her table one second earlier or later,
they would have missed each other. Fate had placed them both in the
right place at the precise time. But due to his past experiences
with her kind—damsels in distress who’d kicked his world off its
axis—he’d fought the magnetism. He just couldn’t trust his
heart.

Fate had been kind enough to give them a
second chance meeting outside the grocery store. Again, he would
have let her walk out of his life, perhaps forever, when something
had propelled him to shout out his name to her—his name that she’d
been curious enough about to look up on the Internet. His name had
saved her life.

And now here she was standing in his most
private, most cherished place on earth—a place where he came when
he wanted to connect with his inner universe. Since he’d built it,
Adam hadn’t invited anyone to his sacred sanctuary, and no one had
come. He hadn’t invited Tashi either, but here she was—being
everything to him that her name signified: blessings and good luck,
prosperity, and connection to the divine.

“Hello, Tashi,” he said, breaking the
electrifying silence.

“I’m—I’m sorry.” She took a step back from
him, but kept her eyes locked with his. “I didn’t mean to disturb
you.” With one hand, she gripped the strap of her camera case
hanging from her shoulder while her other hand was balled into a
fist at her stomach.

Adam noted the mixture of curiosity and
awakening desire in her eyes, the convulsing of her body as she
tried to cope with the magnitude of sexual tension running rampant
through her. She looked so innocent and inexperienced, so way out
of her element, it was almost sinful to stand before her in all his
naked glory while she was still fully clothed.

Adam cleared his throat. “You didn’t disturb
me, Tashi. Come,” he said for the third time, holding his hand out
to her, willing her to trust him, to take his hand and let him lead
her into their future, show her how safe and protected she’d be
with him.

She shook her head and crossed her arms over
her stomach. “I should go. You were clearly in the middle of
something deep.”

“I was, but it’s okay. Perhaps we can get
into something deep together.”

Her forehead crinkled. “I’ve never done
yoga.”

“Would you like to try it? I can teach you.
We’ll begin with the basics, of course.”

“Now?” Her eyes flittered down his body and
lingered briefly on his erection that had begun to lose some of its
rigidity. It came instantly back to life as if she’d caressed him
with her gaze. She looked away. “You’re naked. Do you usually do
yoga naked?”

Adam smiled. “When the weather permits, I try
to make the most of it. It’s a beautiful day, so… Does it bother
you that I’m naked, Tashi?”

A blush appeared in her cheeks. “I’ve never
seen a naked man before.”

Relief flooded Adam as he ruled out sexual
abuse and assault as the reasons for her violent reaction to him in
the tub. It was perhaps the strange novelty of having a man touch
her so intimately that had scared her. “But you’ve seen pictures,
I’m sure. I don’t think there’s a girl out there past the age of
fifteen who hasn’t at least taken a peek at naked men on the
Internet.” The truth in his words distressed him.

The ease with which children could access
adult material was a disturbing by-product of the digital age. Kids
were growing up much too fast for his liking these days. Innocence
seemed to have flown in the face of the sexual revolution epidemic
sweeping the globe. It wouldn’t be so bad if they had adult
supervision while viewing that material to explain exactly what was
going on. Then their perception of human sexuality wouldn’t be so
warped and depraved.

“You’re looking at one, and I’ll be
twenty-three in December,” Tashi said, her voice dropping in
volume. “There was some nudity in my textbooks in college.” She
shrugged. “I studied photography, and we did a chapter on nudes,
but other than that, no. I’ve never seen a live naked man, nor have
I ever peeked at them on the Internet. I’ve never even been
kissed.”

Adam was floored. “Never been kissed? Where
did you grow up, in a convent?”

That brought soft chuckles from her, and she
cupped her hand over her mouth to stifle her merriment. The sound
of her laughter and the light of humor in her eyes were priceless.
Adam wished for more of this side of her. She was breaking out of
her silent shell.

“Something like that,” she finally said,
catching her bottom lip between her teeth. “I attended parochial
school all my life, and my uncle…” She paused. “Uncle Victor was
very strict. He didn’t allow too much socializing, and boyfriends
were out of the question.”

Uncle Victor.
She’d given up his name,
albeit with a little hesitation. It was a small step forward, but
every step she took toward him was progress.
Bravo to her Uncle
Victor
, Adam thought. He’d probably lock up his daughters, too,
ban computers from the estate until they reached the age of
consent. “So you have no idea what goes on between a man and a
woman.”

“Well, I’m not stupid.” Exasperation edged
her voice. “We were taught about the birds and the bees, but we
were forbidden to indulge in self-stimulation and carnal
debauchery, as they called it.”

Adam couldn’t suppress the laugh that rose to
his throat. “Carnal debauchery?” That was taking it to the extreme.
“Did your teachers commute from the Middle Ages in time
machines?”

“It felt like it.” She chuckled. “And
sometimes they dressed like it too with their ankle-length skirts
and long-sleeved blouses.”

The fact that she could laugh at her
cloistered upbringing was a healthy sign. “You were never tempted
to peek?” he asked.

She shook her head. “Some girls peeked. Those
who were caught were expelled. Although,” she added with a touch of
compunction, “when I look back on it now, I realize that expulsion
was probably the best thing that could have happened to those
girls. They were free to experiment and explore while I was still
stuck in an archaic institution.”