The Tycoon's Marriage Bid Read online

  She should be grateful that he was standing a good four feet away, because it was the only thing that prevented her from reaching out, futilely, for him again. She just lay there, aroused beyond anything she’d ever experienced from just a kiss! and mortified because she seemed to be the only one there who didn’t regret it.

  Well, hadn’t she always known that Alex wasn’t interested in her that way? If he had been, he’d have had ample opportunity in the three years she’d worked by his side to do something about it.

  ‘I’m sorry to have offended you,’ she said stiffly. ‘God, Nikki. For being one of the brightest women I know, you are so totally clueless I could strangle you.’ The conference room voice was gone, replaced by hard irritation.

  He took a few steps toward the fireplace. Wheeled around and paced back. ‘Dammit. You think I kiss women who offend me? I don’t want to get in that bed no matter how bloody cold it is because I don’t think I can stop at a kiss. And that’s a helluva note, isn’t it? Because I’m supposed to be here trying to watch out for you, trying to protect you, not putting the bloody moves on you while you’re carrying another man’s child!’

  Chapter Eight

  Alex heard his voice rocket around the bedroom, and wanted to strangle himself even more than he did her.

  The fire popped behind him and he looked over to see a narrow log split into pieces, collapsing in on itself in a shower of sparks that faded as quickly as they’d flared.

  He exhaled. ‘It’s been a long day. We’re both tired. So let’s chalk it up to that and pretend none of this ever happened.’

  She didn’t reply.

  Given the way he’d pounced on her, then barked at her, could he blame her? Still, he found himself hesitating, and for a man who hesitated as rarely as he lost his temper, it wasn’t a comfortable realization.

  ‘I’m sorry,’ he said again.

  She was so quiet. He hoped to hell he hadn’t scared her into tears or something. He’d never been particularly moved by female tears before, but Nikki in tears undid him.

  ‘Take your antibiotic.’ ‘I already did. At the restaurant. While you were paying the check.’

  Her voice was calm. More like the Nikki he knew.

  Too calm? Not calm enough?

  Christ. He was losing his mind. He tried to shake off the insanity that had him in its grip. ‘Do you need anything else?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘Good night, then.’

  ‘Good night.’

  He turned to leave.

  ‘Alex?’

  God. He needed to get out of her bedroom in a serious way. ‘Yes?’

  ‘Thank you. You know. For everything you’ve done for me.’

  ‘Are you saying that now to remind yourself why you can’t be angry with me for ’ He waved his hand. For kissing her. For stopping. For doing whatever it was he’d done to make her quit her job.

  He wanted to curse the conscientiousness that was such an intrinsic part of her nature.

  ‘Yes.’ She made a soft sound of annoyance. Or maybe hurt.

  He didn’t know.

  Couldn’t tell.

  Where the hell had his objectivity gone?

  ‘Forget about it,’ he said brusquely.

  ‘I can’t.’ The velvet bedding rustled. He could see her sit up in the bed. ‘And not because of well, just now. But because I think you’re helping me because you expect me to go back to Huffington.’

  ‘I’ve told you that’s not the case.’

  ‘Then what is the case?’ Confusion rang in her voice. ‘It’s not that I don’t appreciate what you’re doing for me, Alex. I do. But I don’t understand what you’re getting in return!’

  ‘And I do nothing without a return on my investment.’

  ‘Alex, I ’ She made another soft sound.

  He sighed. ‘Is it so inconceivable to you that I have no ulterior motive?’

  She hesitated.

  ‘Speak up, Nik.’

  She exhaled. ‘You said that to me the second day I was on the job.’

  ‘I meant it then. I mean it now. If you have something to say, then say it.’

  ‘All right!’ She sounded pushed. ‘Yes, it is inconceivable to me.’

  That’s what came of trying to help a woman who’d handled nearly every detail of his life in or out of the office. She knew that he usually got what he wanted, one way or another. ‘Maybe I want an answer,’

  he said. ‘One that makes sense.’

  ‘An answer to what?’

  ‘Why you left me.’

  She went quiet.

  ‘And don’t give me that crap that you gave me in your resignation letter, about taking the position with Huffington as far as you could. That you needed a different, fresh challenge, or some such baloney.

  You loved that job.’ He couldn’t have been that wrong about her.

  ‘But it was just a job, Alex! It shouldn’t have been my whole life.’

  ‘Was it?’ He paced back and forth. ‘Was it your whole life, Nik? Obviously it must not have been, or you wouldn’t have gotten pregnant somewhere in there toward the end. Is the father someone from Huffington? A staff member? A patient?’

  ‘I’ve already told you he wasn’t!’

  ‘Then why the hell did you leave me?’

  ‘Leave you? You keep saying that, Alex! I quit my job. Period.’

  ‘You were always one of the most honest people I knew. I counted on it. And you’re lying now. And damned if I can figure out why you’d go to the trouble unless the answer has something to do with me or Huffington. If it’s someone on my staff, do you think I’m going to let him run out on his responsibilities?’

  ‘Don’t presume to think you know me so well,’ she said stiffly.

  ‘Oh, I know you.’ He paced. ‘I know you used to walk down to the corner drugstore about three times a week, even in the dead of winter, to get yourself a scoop of pistachio ice cream. I know you read decorating magazines when you ate your lunch usually a yogurt with some weird granola crap tossed in at your desk. I know you’re allergic to grass and you got your hair trimmed every eight weeks on Tuesday mornings, while I was meeting with the department heads. Your favorite movies are old romantic comedies black-and-white, preferably and you’re afraid of spiders but you’ll catch one and move it outside rather than just step on the damn thing.’

  He stopped pacing. Stared at her in the firelight. ‘I know that no matter what I tossed your way at the clinic, you could handle it. You’re an MBA. More than capable of running an institution on your own if you wanted to, but you were my assistant and I counted on you. Out of all the women in my life, you’re the only one I ever counted on. And you walked out without one single reason that I can accept. Was I really that impossible to work with?’ He knew he sounded like a blithering idiot, and the knowledge did not improve his mood.

  ‘You weren’t impossible to work with.’ Her voice was thick. Husky. ‘Not that Miriam would agree with that these days,’ she added, in an obvious attempt to lessen the tension weighing down the room like a soggy, wet blanket.

  ‘Then why, Nik?’

  ‘If you’re trying to soften me up’

  ‘Would it work if I did?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘Then what does it matter? Just tell me what I did that drove you away.’

  ‘You didn’t do anything, Alex.’

  ‘But someone did. If not the father of your baby, then was someone else hassling you over something? You know I don’t tolerate that kind of’

  ‘Nobody was hassling me. You did nothing wrong. Just leave it alone, Alex. Please.’

  He paid no heed to the faint break in her voice. ‘You’re just letting this yahoo walk, without taking any responsibility at all for the baby.’

  ‘It doesn’t concern you!’

  He inhaled. Exhaled more slowly. ‘Then why does it feel as if it does?’

  She didn’t answer.

  And he knew he was right. If he weren’t, she�
��d have said so. Instead, she didn’t say squat, because she wouldn’t tell him an outright lie.

  But knowing it with more certainty than ever didn’t make him feel any better.

  And driving for the truth while she was in a fragile state was about as low a thing as a man could do.

  So he left the bedroom before he made matters worse. He grabbed the poker and jammed it into the fire a few times, stirring it up, and tossed on a log large enough to burn for most of the night. Then he grabbed the quilt and threw himself on the couch, closing his eyes.

  But he didn’t sleep.

  After a long while, he got up again and rummaged through the stuff from the courier pack. He found the calendar he’d asked Miriam to send. It was one of the few things in the pack that he’d actually requested.

  He sat on the fluffy rug in the firelight and flipped open the book, paging back to the previous summer.

  Nikki wasn’t being forthcoming about what had happened the previous summer.

  He couldn’t pretend any longer that he didn’t want to know why. And he didn’t like knowing that he strongly wished Nikki would have confided in him.

  Unfortunately, the suspicion that hit him as he refreshed his memory made all too much sense of his questions.

  Alex was in the shower.

  Nikki lay on the bed, staring up at the soft blue sky through the skylight overhead, and listened to the hiss of the water. She assumed it must be hot enough, judging by the curls of steam seeping out beneath the closed bathroom door.

  The electricity was restored, at least. It had clicked on sometime midmorning. It might have been easier on them if it had simply remained out. Then they would have had no choice but to make other arrangements. To leave this un-honeymoon cabin.

  She rolled on her side and stared at the bathroom door. A foolish endeavor, since it only encouraged her to imagine Alex standing beneath the needlelike spray.

  As if her imagination needed any help.

  Her fingers touched her lips. He’d clearly regretted kissing her the night morning before, which made her overwhelming desire for more kisses, more more, all the more humiliating.

  Somehow, she doubted the stress of staying here with Alex like this was what Dr. Carmichael had in mind when he’d ordered bed rest.

  The water continued hissing. Alex had been in there longer than usual. Ordinarily, he was a five-minute shower kind of guy.

  And when in her entire life had she ever imagined she’d know that particular detail about Alexander Reed?

  She rolled onto her back and stretched her arms and legs. Trying to stay prone was all well and good, but she was definitely getting stiff from the inactivity.

  Stiff and not relaxed.

  She heard the familiar toot of a horn outside.

  The courier had arrived. Earlier than usual.

  But instead of leaving the forbidden-to-touch pouch on the step, as he had the other days, the driver knocked on the door.

  ‘Alex!’ Nikki raised her voice so he could hear. ‘The courier is here.’

  But the shower didn’t stop.

  And the knocking on the front door was growing impatient.

  She sighed. Untangled her legs from the bedspread and went to the door herself, feeling as if every muscle in her body was screaming. Two minutes on her feet to answer the door shouldn’t be a disaster.

  She spent more than that upright when she was getting in and out of the shower, which the doctor had assured her was fine.

  But walking through the living room felt distinctly odd. She glanced at the couch, where Alex was spending his nights, and opened the door.

  She blinked in the bracing rush of cold air, then had to blink again.

  Not only the courier stood there in front of the cabin. Valerie Reed stood there, as well.

  And she seemed equally surprised to see Nikki in the doorway.

  Her vivid green eyes widened, going straight to the swell of baby beneath Nikki’s dark flannel tunic.

  ‘Well,’ she said after a moment. ‘I guess I understand what Alex is doing here now.’

  ‘It’s not his.’ Nikki’s face went hot as she blurted the words.

  Valerie’s smile looked tight. She adjusted the stylish red scarf over her shoulder. ‘It never is, darling.’ She looked past Nikki. ‘Is it, Alex?’

  Nikki looked over her own shoulder.

  Of course.

  Now he comes out of the shower.

  And the sight of him made her catch her breath. Hard. His jeans were barely fastened, and the towel slung around his neck did little to stop the water from dripping down his torso, glittering against the whorl of hair sprinkled liberally across his hard chest.

  ‘Um, ma’am? Could I get a signature here?’

  Nikki felt like some cartoon character caught in a weird universe. She turned to the courier standing next to Valerie. She’d all but forgotten him.

  She took the pen he offered and scribbled her name. ‘You haven’t needed a signature before.’

  ‘Looks like a cell phone.’ He handed over a small box, and reached past her to set the fat pouch inside the door, but his gaze hardly left Valerie.

  Why would it?

  The woman was blond and stunningly beautiful, and looked like she belonged on the cover of a fashion magazine rather than the step of this cabin.

  ‘Have to cover our tracks on delivering them,’ he said, ‘because so many get stolen.’ He backed off the rickety step, watching Valerie as long as he could before climbing into his truck and driving off with a spit of gravel.

  ‘What are you doing?’ Alex spoke behind her, and she turned to face him, stepping out of the way so Valerie could come in out of the cold, as well.

  Nikki wasn’t certain which one of them he was questioning, but judging by the displeased look on his carved face, she could make an educated guess. ‘I’m signing for your cell phone, since you didn’t hear the door.’ She lifted the box slightly. ‘Excuse me,’ she murmured to Valerie, and set the box on the back of the couch as she passed Alex.

  He smelled of soap from the shower, and was entirely too appealing.

  In the comparison department between herself and Valerie, she’d never come out on top.

  ‘Where’s she going?’ Valerie asked, as Nikki sank down on the bed she was coming to loathe.

  ‘She’s supposed to stay off her feet.’

  Nikki pulled an extra pillow over her face, trying to block out their voices. As a suffocation device it was pretty effective. Otherwise, it did little good.

  She tossed the pillow away and turned on her side, covering her ears with her hands.

  Alex entered the room, glancing at her. One eyebrow rose a little at the sight of her playing monkey-no-hear, but he continued into the bathroom and closed the door.

  ‘How far along are you?’

  The ground was not going to swallow her whole, no matter how much she wished it.

  She lowered her hands, which were as ineffective as the pillow had been, and looked at Valerie, who was standing beside the fireplace. Not in the bedroom, but not outside it, either.

  The lovely red scarf and black coat were gone. She wore a skinny black turtleneck and equally skinny black pants that made her look even more willowy and ethereal.

  ‘Nearly seven months,’ Nikki answered.

  ‘Alex said he was taking care of something here in Montana. I never dreamed it would be you.’

  Valerie’s voice wasn’t unkind. Merely surprised.

  And why not?

  Alex’s actions were surprising.

  ‘It’s good that you’re taking the doctor’s advice, though,’ the other woman added. ‘You can never be too careful.’

  ‘Alex told me about your’

  ‘Miscarriage?’ Valerie finished as Nikki hesitated.

  ‘Yes. Well. I didn’t follow my doctor’s advice.’ Her eyes were sad. ‘I didn’t follow a lot of good advice, actually.’ Her lips turned up at the corners. ‘I’d like to think I’m smarter
about such things these days, though.’

  Feeling as if she’d entered a movie theater well after the film was in progress, Nikki could only manage a vague nod.

  Then the door opened again, and Valerie looked as relieved at Alex’s appearance as Nikki felt.

  The towel around his neck was gone. His wet hair was no longer spiking around his head in appealingly boyish waves, but was slicked severely back from his face, and that bare, stunning chest was covered by a navy, cable-knit sweater.

  Did he wonder at all what she’d done with the sweater he’d tugged over her head the previous night?

  He barely gave Valerie a glance as he walked over to the bed. ‘You probably have clothes that need laundering.’

  And talking about it emphasizing the fact that his staying with her entailed more than just being a present body in front of his ex-wife was about the last thing Nikki wanted to do. ‘Is there a washing machine lurking in this cabin that I don’t know about?’ She managed to inject a note of humor into her voice as she awkwardly pushed a pillow behind her stiff back.

  ‘Alex, really. As if you’d know what to do with a washing machine, anyway,’ Valerie said, laughing at the idea.

  And even though Nikki had thought the same thing herself, she felt annoyance twitch along her nerve endings. ‘Actually, Alex is pretty adept at appliances these days,’ she told Valerie. Then glanced quickly up at him. ‘But I can manage on the clothes issue.’ She’d have to start washing her lingerie in the bathroom sink, because she’d gone through the supply of clean undergarments she’d brought with her to Montana. Not that she intended to discuss those details with Alex, whether his ex-wife was present or not.

  She may have slept in his sweater, tucking it away that morning alongside Cody’s old jersey, but she was not going to discuss the state of her underwear!

  Judging from his expression, though, he’d read at least some of her thoughts plainly enough. He reached over her, causing her breath to stall, until she realized he was merely grabbing one of the bed pillows. With a quick shake, he tugged off the slippery pillowcase and tossed the bare pillow back on the bed. Then he handed her the empty case.