Kitabı oku: «Terms Of Engagement»
“Surely there is some sacrifice you’d be willing to make to inspire me to change my mind.”
“I…don’t know what you mean.”
“My hypothetical marriage to your sister is a business deal, after all. As a businessman, I would require compensation for letting the deal fall through.”
Quinn’s blue eyes stung her, causing the pulse in her throat to hammer frantically.
“Maybe…er…the satisfaction of doing a good deed for once in your life?” Kira said.
He laughed. “That’s a refreshing idea if ever I heard one—but, like most humans, I’m driven by the desire to avoid pain and pursue pleasure.”
“And to think—I imagined you to be primarily driven by greed. Well, I don’t have any money.”
“I don’t want your money.”
“What do you want then?”
“I think you know,” he said silkily, leaning closer.
Dear Reader,
Stories are the imaginary children of a writer’s soul. I tend to write about family, the need to belong and loneliness.
My heroine, Kira, needs to feel she belongs to her family. There’s no sacrifice she won’t make in that endeavor. To save her sister, she’ll even marry a man whose lifelong goal has been the destruction of her family.
As in real life, when all too often the most mysterious forces in our lives are the yearnings hidden deep within our own hearts that drive us, Kira doesn’t know where her feelings come from until she discovers a long-kept family secret. Fortunately, by then she is in love with her new husband and is loved in return.
Enjoy,
Ann Major
About the Author
ANN MAJOR lives in Texas with her husband of many years and is the mother of three grown children. She has a master’s degree from Texas A&M at Kingsville, Texas, and is a former English teacher. She is a founding board member of the Romance Writers of America and a frequent speaker at writers’ groups.
Ann loves to write—she considers her ability to do so a gift. Her hobbies include hiking in the mountains, sailing, ocean kayaking, traveling and playing the piano. But most of all, she enjoys her family. Visit her website at www.annmajor.com.
Terms of
Engagement
Ann Major
MILLS & BOON
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To Ted, with all my love.
And as always I must thank my editor, Stacy Boyd, and
Shana Smith, along with the entire Desire team
for their talented expertise.
I thank as well my agent, Karen Solem.
One
No good deed goes unpunished.
When would she ever learn? Kira wondered.
With her luck, never.
So, here she sat, in the office of oil billionaire Quinn Sullivan, too nervous to concentrate on her magazine as she waited to see if he would make time for a woman he probably thought of as just another adversary to be crushed in his quest for revenge.
Dreadful, arrogant man.
If he did grant her an audience, would she have any chance of changing his mind about destroying her family’s company, Murray Oil, and forcing her sister Jaycee into marriage?
A man vengeful enough to hold a grudge against her father for twenty years couldn’t possibly have a heart that could be swayed.
Kira Murray clenched and unclenched her hands. Then she sat on them, twisting in her chair. When the man across from her began to stare, she told herself to quit squirming. Lowering her eyes to her magazine, she pretended to read a very boring article on supertankers.
High heels clicked rapidly on marble, causing Kira to look up in panic.
“Miss Murray, I’m so sorry. I was wrong. Mr. Sullivan is still here.” There was surprise in his secretary’s classy, soothing purr.
“In fact, he’ll see you now.”
“He will?” Kira squeaked. “Now?”
The secretary’s answering smile was a brilliant white.
Kira’s own mouth felt as dry as sandpaper. She actually began to shake. To hide this dreadful reaction, she jumped to her feet so fast she sent the glossy magazine to the floor, causing the man across from her to glare in annoyance.
Obviously, she’d been hoping Quinn would refuse to see her. A ridiculous wish when she’d come here for the express purpose of finally meeting him properly and having her say.
Sure, she’d run into him once, informally. It had been right after he’d announced he wanted to marry one of the Murray daughters to make his takeover of Murray Oil less hostile. Her father had suggested Jaycee, and Kira couldn’t help but think he’d done so because Jaycee was his favorite and most biddable daughter. As always, Jaycee had dutifully agreed with their father’s wishes, so Quinn had come to the ranch for a celebratory dinner to seal the bargain.
He’d been late. A man as rich and arrogant as he was probably thought himself entitled to run on his own schedule.
Wounded by her mother’s less-than-kind assessment of her outfit when she’d first arrived—”Jeans and a torn shirt? How could you think that appropriate for meeting a man so important to this family’s welfare?”—Kira had stormed out of the house. She hadn’t had time to change after the crisis at her best friend’s restaurant, where Kira was temporarily waiting tables while looking for a museum curator position. Since her mother always turned a deaf ear to Kira’s excuses, rather than explain, Kira had decided to walk her dad’s hunting spaniels while she nursed her injured feelings.
The brilliant, red sun that had been sinking fast had been in her eyes as the spaniels leaped onto the gravel driveway, dragging her in their wake. Blinded, she’d neither seen nor heard Quinn’s low-slung, silver Aston Martin screaming around the curve. Slamming on his brakes, he’d veered clear of her with several feet to spare. She’d tripped over the dogs and fallen into a mud puddle.
Yipping wildly, the dogs had raced back to the house, leaving her to face Quinn on her own with cold, dirty water dripping from her chin.
Quinn had gotten out of his fancy car and stomped over in his fancy Italian loafers just as she got to her feet. For a long moment, he’d inspected every inch of her. Then, mindless of her smudged face, chattering teeth and muddy clothes, he’d pulled her against his tall, hard body, making her much too aware of his clean, male smell and hard, muscular body.
“Tell me you’re okay.”
He was tall and broad-shouldered, so tall he’d towered over her. His angry blue eyes had burned her; his viselike fingers had cut into her elbow. Despite his overcharged emotions, she’d liked being in his arms—liked it too much.
“Damn it, I didn’t hit you, did I? Well, say something, why don’t you?”
“How can I—with you yelling at me?”
“Are you okay, then?” he asked, his grip loosening, his voice softening into a husky sound so unexpectedly beautiful she’d shivered. This time, she saw concern in his hard expression.
Had it happened then?
Oh, be honest, Kira, at least with yourself. That was the moment you formed an inappropriate crush on your sister’s future fiancé, a man whose main goal in life is to destroy your family.
He’d been wearing faded jeans, a white shirt, his sleeves rolled up to his elbows. On her, jeans looked rumpled, but on him, jeans had made him ruggedly, devastatingly handsome. Over one arm, he carried a cashmere jacket.
She noted his jet-black hair and carved cheekbones with approval. Any woman would have. His skin had been darkly bronzed, and the dangerous aura of sensuality surrounding him had her sizzling.
Shaken by her fall and by the fact that the enemy was such an attractive, powerful man who continued to hold her close and stare down at her with blazing eyes, her breath had come in fits and starts.
“I said—are you okay?”
“I was fine—until you grabbed me.” Her hesitant voice was tremulous … and sounded strangely shy. “You’re hurting me, really hurting me!” She’d lied so he would let her go, and yet part of her hadn’t wanted to be released.
His eyes narrowed suspiciously. “Sorry,” he’d said, his tone harsh again.
“Who the hell are you anyway?” he’d demanded.
“Nobody important,” she’d muttered.
His dark brows winged upward. “Wait … I’ve seen your pictures … You’re the older sister. The waitress.”
“Only temporarily … until I get a new job as a curator.”
“Right. You were fired.”
“So, you’ve heard Father’s version. The truth is, my professional opinion wasn’t as important to the museum director as I might have liked, but I was let go due to budget constraints.”
“Your sister speaks highly of you.”
“Sometimes I think she’s the only one in this family who does.”
Nodding as if he understood, he draped his jacket around her shoulders. “I’ve wanted to meet you.” When she glanced up at him, he said, “You’re shivering. The least I can do is offer you my jacket and a ride back to the house.”
Her heart pounded much too fast, and she was mortified that she was covered with mud and that she found her family’s enemy exciting and the prospect of wearing his jacket a thrill. Not trusting herself to spend another second with such a dangerous man, especially in the close quarters of his glamorous car, she’d shaken her head. “I’m too muddy.”
“Do you think I give a damn about that? I could have killed you.”
“You didn’t. So let’s just forget about it.”
“Not possible! Now, put my jacket on before you catch your death.”
Pulling his jacket around her shoulders, she turned on her heel and left him. Nothing had happened, she’d told herself as she stalked rapidly through the woods toward the house.
Nothing except the enemy she’d feared had held her and made her feel dangerously alive in a way no other man ever had.
When she’d reached the house, she’d been surprised to find him outside waiting for her as he held on to her yapping dogs. Feeling tingly and shyly thrilled as he handed her their tangled leashes, she’d used her muddy clothes again as an excuse to go home and avoid dinner, when her father would formally announce Quinn was to marry her sister.
Yes, he was set on revenge against those she loved most, but that hadn’t been the reason she couldn’t sit across the table from him. No, it was her crush. How could she have endured such a dinner when just to look at him made her skin heat?
For weeks after that chance meeting, her inappropriate attachment to Quinn had continued to claim her, causing her much guilt-ridden pain. She’d thought of him constantly. And more than once, before she’d returned his jacket to Jaycee, she’d worn it around her apartment, draped over her shoulders, just because his scent lingered on the soft fabric.
Now, retrieving the magazine she’d dropped, she set it carefully on the side table. Then she sucked in a deep breath. Not that it steadied her nerves.
No. Instead, her heart raced when Quinn Sullivan’s secretary turned away, saying, “Follow me.”
Kira swallowed. She’d put this interview off to the last possible moment—to the end of the business day—because she’d been trying to formulate a plan to confront a man as powerful and dictatorial and, yes, as dangerously sexy, as Quinn Sullivan.
But she hadn’t come up with a plan. Did she ever have a plan? She’d be at a disadvantage since Sullivan planned everything down to the last detail, including taking his revenge plot up a notch by marrying Jaycee.
Kira had to sprint to keep up with the sleek, blonde secretary, whose ridiculous, four-inch, ice-pick, gold heels clicked on the polished gray marble. Did he make the poor girl wear such gaudy, crippling footwear?
Quinn’s waiting room with its butter-soft leather couches and polished wainscoting had reeked of old money. In truth, he was nothing but a brash, bad-tempered upstart. His long hallway, decorated with paintings of vivid minimalistic splashes of color, led to what would probably prove to be an obscenely opulent office. Still, despite her wish to dislike everything about him, she admired the art and wished she could stop and study several of the pictures. They were elegant, tasteful and interesting. Had he selected them himself?
Probably not. He was an arrogant show-off.
After their one encounter, she’d researched him. It seemed he believed her father had profited excessively when he’d bought Quinn’s father out of their mutually owned company. In addition, he blamed her father for his father’s suicide—if suicide it had been.
Quinn, who’d known hardship after his father’s death, was determined to make up for his early privations, by living rich and large. Craving glamour and the spotlight, he never attended a party without a beauty even more dazzling than his secretary on his arm.
He was a respected art collector. In various interviews he’d made it clear nobody would ever look down on him again. Not in business; not in his personal life. He was king of his kingdom.
From the internet, she’d gleaned that Quinn’s bedroom had a revolving door. Apparently, a few nights’ pleasuring the same woman were more than enough for him. Just when a woman might believe she meant something to him, he’d drop her and date another gorgeous blonde, who was invariably more beautiful than the one he’d jilted. There had been one woman, also blonde, who’d jilted him a year or so ago, a Cristina somebody. Not that she hadn’t been quickly forgotten by the press when he’d resumed chasing more beauties as carelessly as before.
From what Kira had seen, his life was about winning, not about caring deeply. For that purpose only, he’d surrounded himself with the mansions, the cars, the yachts, the art collections and the fair-haired beauties. She had no illusions about what his marriage to Jaycee would be like. He had no intention of being a faithful husband to Kira’s beautiful, blonde sister.
Rich, handsome womanizer that he was, Kira might have pitied him for being cursed with such a dark heart—if only her precious Jaycee wasn’t central in his revenge scheme.
Kira was not gifted at planning or at being confrontational, which were two big reasons why she wasn’t getting ahead in her career. And Quinn was the last person on earth she wanted to confront. But the need to take care of Jaycee, as she had done since her sister’s birth, was paramount.
Naturally, Kira’s first step had been to beg her father to change his mind about using her sister to smooth over a business deal, but her father had been adamant about the benefits of the marriage.
Kira didn’t understand the financials of Quinn’s hostile takeover of Murray Oil, but her father seemed to think Quinn would make a brilliant CEO. Her parents had said that if Jaycee didn’t walk down the aisle with Quinn as agreed, Quinn’s terms would become far more onerous. Not to mention that the employees would resent him as an outsider. Even though Quinn’s father had been a co-owner, Quinn was viewed as a man with a personal vendetta against the Murrays and Murray Oil. Ever since his father’s death, rumors about his hostility toward all things Murray had been widely circulated by the press. Only if he married Jaycee would the employees believe that peace between the two families had at last been achieved and that the company would be safe in his hands.
Hence, Kira was here, to face Quinn Sullivan.
She was determined to stop him from marrying Jaycee, but how? Pausing in panic even as his secretary rushed ahead, she reminded herself that she couldn’t turn back, plan or not.
Quickening her pace, Kira caught up to the efficient young woman, who was probably moving so quickly because she was as scared of the unfeeling brute as Kira was.
When his secretary pushed open Quinn’s door, the deep, rich tones of the man’s surprisingly beautiful voice moved through Kira like music. Her knees lost strength, and she stopped in midstep.
Oh, no, it was happening again.
She’d known from meeting him the first time that he was charismatic, but she’d counted on her newly amassed knowledge of his despicable character to protect her. His edgy baritone slid across her nerve endings, causing warm tingles in her secret, feminine places, and she knew she was as vulnerable to him as before.
Fighting not to notice that her nipples ached and that her pulse had sped up, she took a deep breath before daring a glance at the black-headed rogue. Looking very much at ease, he sat sprawled at his desk, the back of his linebacker shoulders to her as he leaned against his chair, a telephone jammed to his ear.
She couldn’t, wouldn’t, be attracted to this man.
On his desk she noted a silver-framed photograph of his father. With their intense blue eyes, black hair and strongly chiseled, tanned features, father and son closely resembled each other. Both, she knew, had been college athletes. Did Quinn keep the photo so close out of love or to energize him in his quest for revenge?
“I told you to buy, Habib,” he ordered brusquely in that too-beautiful voice. “What’s there to talk about? Do it.” He ended the call.
At least he was every bit as rude as she remembered. Deep baritone or not, it should be easy to hate him.
His secretary coughed to let him know they were at the door.
Quinn whirled around in his massive, black leather chair, scowling, but went still the instant he saw Kira.
He lifted that hard, carved chin, which surprisingly enough had the most darling dimple, and, just like that, dismissed his secretary.
His piercing, laser-blue gaze slammed into Kira full force and heated her through—just like before.
Black hair. Bronze skin. Fierce, brilliant eyes … With a single glance the man bewitched her.
When his mouth lifted at the edges, her world shifted as it had that first evening—and he hadn’t even touched her.
He was as outrageously handsome as ever. Every bit as dark, tall, lean and hard, as cynical and untamed—even in his orderly office with his efficient secretary standing guard.
Still, for an instant, Kira thought she saw turbulent grief and longing mix with unexpected pleasure at the sight of her.
He remembered her.
But in a flash the light went out of his eyes, and his handsome features tightened into those of the tough, heartless man he wanted people to see.
In spite of his attempt at distance, a chord of recognition had been struck. It was as if they’d seen into each other’s souls, had sensed each other’s secret yearnings.
She wanted her family, who deemed her difficult and frustrating, to love and accept her for herself, as they did her sister.
He had longings that revenge and outward success had failed to satisfy. What were they? What was lacking in his disciplined, showy, materialistic life?
Was he as drawn to her as she was to him?
Impossible.
So how could he be the only man who’d ever made her feel less alone in the universe?
Hating him even more because he’d exposed needs she preferred to conceal, she tensed. He had no right to open her heart and arouse such longings.
Frowning, he cocked his dark head and studied her. “I owe you an apology for the last time we met,” he drawled in that slow, mocking baritone that turned her insides to mush. “I was nervous about the takeover and the engagement and about making a good impression on you and your family. I was too harsh with you. A few inches more … and I could have killed you. I was afraid, and that made me angry.”
“You owe me nothing,” she said coolly.
“I don’t blame you in the least for avoiding me all these weeks. I probably scared the hell out of you.”
“I haven’t been avoiding you. Not really,” she murmured, but a telltale flush heated her neck as she thought of the family dinners she’d opted out of because she’d known he’d be there.
If only she could run now, escape him. But Jaycee needed her, so instead, she hedged. “I’ve been busy.”
“Waitressing?”
“Yes! I’m helping out Betty, my best friend, while I interview for museum jobs. Opening a restaurant on the San Antonio River Walk was a lifetime dream of hers. She got busier faster than she expected, and she offered me a job. Since I waited tables one summer between college semesters, I’ve got some experience.”
He smiled. “I like it that you’re helping your friend realize her dream even though your career is stalled. That’s nice.”
“We grew up together. Betty was our housekeeper’s daughter. When we got older my mother kept hoping I’d outgrow the friendship while Daddy helped Betty get a scholarship.”
“I like that you’re generous and loyal.” He hesitated. “Your pictures don’t do you justice. Nor did my memory of you.”
His blue eyes gleamed with so much appreciation her cheeks heated. “Maybe because the last time I saw you I was slathered in mud.”
He smiled. “Still, being a waitress seems like a strange job for a museum curator, even if it’s temporary. You did major in art history at Princeton and completed that internship at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. I believe you graduated with honors.”
She had no idea how she’d done so well, but when her grades had thrilled her father, she’d worked even harder.
“Has Daddy, who by the way, has a bad habit of talking too much, told you my life history?”
For a long moment, Quinn didn’t confirm her accusation or deny it.
“Well, is that where you learned these details?”
“If he talked about you, it was because I was curious and asked him.”
Not good. She frowned as she imagined her parents complaining about her disappointments since Princeton during all those family dinners she’d avoided.
“Did my father tell you that I’ve had a hard time with a couple of museum directors because they micromanaged me?”
“Not exactly.”
“I’ll bet. He takes the boss’s side because he’s every bit as high-handed and dictatorial. Unfortunately, one night after finishing the setup of a new show, when I was dead tired, the director started second-guessing my judgment about stuff he’d already signed off on. I made the mistake of telling him what I really thought. When there were budget cuts, you can probably guess who he let go.”
“I’m sorry about that.”
“I’m good at what I do. I’ll find another job, but until I do, I don’t see why I shouldn’t help Betty. Unfortunately, my father disagrees. We frequently disagree.”
“It’s your life, not his.”
Her thoughts exactly. Having him concur was really sort of annoying, since Quinn was supposed to be the enemy.
In the conversational lull, she noticed that his spectacular physique was elegantly clad in a dark gray suit cut to emphasize every hard sinew of his powerful body. Suddenly, she wished she’d dressed up. Then she caught herself. Why should she care about looking her best for a man she should hate, when her appearance was something she rarely thought about?
All she’d done today was scoop her long, dark hair into a ponytail that cascaded down her back. Still, when his eyes hungrily skimmed her figure, she was glad that she’d worn the loosely flowing white shirt and long red scarf over her tight jeans because the swirls of cloth hid her body.
His burning gaze, which had ignited way too many feminine hormones, rose to her face again. When he smiled as he continued to stare, she bit her bottom lip to keep from returning his smile.
Rising, he towered over her, making her feel small and feminine and lovely in ways she’d never felt lovely before. He moved toward her, seized her hand in his much larger one and shook it gently.
“I’m very glad you decided to give me a second chance.”
Why did his blunt fingers have to feel so warm and hard, his touch and gaze so deliciously intimate? She snatched her hand away, causing his eyes to flash with that pain he didn’t want her to see.
“That’s not what this is.”
“But you were avoiding me, weren’t you?”
“I was,” she admitted and then instantly regretted being so truthful.
“That was a mistake—for both of us.”
When he asked her if she wanted coffee or a soda or anything at all to drink, she said no and looked out the windows at the sun sinking low against the San Antonio skyline. She couldn’t risk looking at him any more than necessary because her attraction seemed to be building. He would probably sense it and use it against her somehow.
With some difficulty she reminded herself that she disliked him. So, why did she still feel hot and clammy and slightly breathless, as if there were a lack of oxygen in the room?
It’s called chemistry. Sexual attraction. It’s irrational.
Her awareness only sharpened when he pulled out a chair for her and returned to his own. Sitting down and crossing one long leg over the other, he leaned back again. The pose should have seemed relaxed, but as he concentrated on her she could see he wasn’t relaxed—he was intently assessing her.
The elegant office became eerily silent as he stared. Behind the closed doors, she felt trapped. Leaning forward, her posture grew as rigid as his was seemingly careless.
His hard, blue eyes held her motionless.
“So, to what do I owe the pleasure of your visit this afternoon … or should I say this evening?” he asked in that pleasant tone that made her tremble with excitement.
She imagined them on his megayacht, sailing silently across the vast, blue Gulf of Mexico. Her auburn hair would blow in the wind as he pulled her close and suggested they go below.
“You’re my last appointment, so I can give you as much time as you want,” he said, thankfully interrupting her seduction fantasy.
Her guilty heart sped up. Why had she come at such a late hour when he might not have another appointment afterward?
The sky was rapidly darkening, casting a shadow across his carved face, making him look stark and feral, adding to the danger she felt upon finding herself alone with him.
Even though her fear made her want to flee, she was far too determined to do what she had to do to give in to it.
She blurted out, “I don’t want you to marry Jaycee.” Oh, dear, she’d meant to lead up to this in some clever way.
He brought his blunt fingertips together in a position of prayer. When he leaned across his desk toward her, she sank lower in her own chair. “Don’t you? How very strange.”
“It’s not strange. You can’t marry her. You don’t love her. You and she are too different to care for each other as a man and wife should.”
His eyes darkened in a way that made him seem more alive than any man she’d ever known. “I wasn’t referring to Jacinda. I was talking about you … and me and how strange that I should feel … so much—” He stopped. “When for all practical purposes we just met.”
His eyes bored into hers with that piercing intensity that left her breathless. Once again she felt connected to him by some dark, forbidden, primal force.
“I never anticipated this wrinkle when I suggested a marriage with a Murray daughter,” he murmured.
When his eyes slid over her body again in that devouring way, her heart raced. Her tall, slim figure wasn’t appealing to most men. She’d come to believe there was nothing special about her. Could he possibly be as attracted to her as she was to him?
“You don’t love her,” she repeated even more shakily.
“Love? No. I don’t love her. How could I? I barely know her.”
“You see!”
“Your father chose her, and she agreed.”
“Because she’s always done everything he tells her to.”
“You, however, would not have agreed so easily?” He paused. “Love does not matter to me in the least. But now I find myself curious about his choice of brides. And … even more curious about you. I want to get to know you better.” His tone remained disturbingly intimate.
She remembered his revolving bedroom door and the parade of voluptuous blondes who’d passed through it. Was he so base he’d think it nothing to seduce his future wife’s sister and then discard her, too?
“You’ve made no secret of how you feel about my father,” she whispered with growing wariness. “Why marry his daughter?”
“Business. There are all these rumors in the press that I want to destroy Murray Oil, a company that once belonged to my beloved father.”
“It makes perfect sense.”
“No, it doesn’t. I would never pay an immense amount of money for a valuable property in order to destroy it.”
“But you think my father blackened your father’s name and then profited after buying your father out. That’s why you’re so determined to destroy everything he’s built, everything he loves … including Jaycee.”
His lips thinned. Suddenly, his eyes were arctic. “My father built Murray Oil, not yours. Only back then it was called Sullivan and Murray Oil. Your father seized the opportunity, when my dad was down, to buy him out at five cents on the dollar.”
“My father made the company what it is today.”
“Well, now I’m going to take it over and improve upon it. Marriage to a Murray daughter will reassure the numerous employees that family, not a vengeful marauder, will be at the helm of the business.”
“That would be a lie. You are a marauder, and you’re not family.”
“Not yet,” he amended. “But a few Saturdays hence, if I marry Jaycee, we will be … family”
“Never. Not over my dead body!” She expelled the words in an outraged gasp.
“The thought of anything so awful happening to your delectable body is hateful to me.” When he hesitated, his avid, searching expression made her warm again.
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