A cold, sick feeling of dread slipped down her spine. What did he know?
“Why do you ask?”
“A lot of young people your age have debt, need money. I can help you out with that. I’m not expecting you to do this favor for me for free.”
She hesitated, then slowly answered him. “I have a small amount of debt.” Her eyes watched him, watching her, and guilt washed through her at the white lie. Then she continued. “But this is more than just a favor.” Her voice remained soft and gentle.
His eyes searched hers. “Look, we need to talk privately about this some more. We can’t do that here. I’ll pick you up at seven, we’ll have some dinner and continue this conversation.”
He was already looking down at the thin gold watch strapped to his wrist and pushing his chair back.
Jenna knew she was being dismissed, but didn’t want to meet him tonight. She came to her feet and stood next to the chair. “I don’t want to marry anybody. There’s no way I can—”
He came around his desk and advanced on her. He took her chin in his hand and casually threw out a bomb. “How about a hundred grand? Will that help sway your decision?”
Jenna hung in silence, shocked at the feel of his rough palm holding her face up to his. Her heart tripped out of time from the effect of his hard body so close to hers and her vocal chords wouldn’t function. His heady scent hit her nostrils. Masculinity radiated from him, and she wasn’t immune to it. Far from it. Her breathing fractured and she bit her bottom lip as his thumb grazed slowly across her cheek.
In the back of her mind, the amount of money he was offering was staggering.
David felt the currents of awareness between them, her soft skin silky against his fingers. As shock held her immobile, the throbbing in his groin intensified as her scent went to his head and he found himself sweetening the deal, extending the length of the commitment he had originally planned. “A hundred grand a year. I need two years, so two-hundred thousand dollars.”
Jenna shook the cobwebs from her mind. She could pay off all her debt with that amount of money. Then she could concentrate on getting a better job, somewhere she could use her education. She could at least listen to what he had to say, right?
“Just dinner? I’m not agreeing to anything yet.” She managed to pull away from him and with jerky movements turned toward the door. She stopped, looked back at him with an expression that conveyed that she didn’t know what the hell she was getting into.
****
That night, David had one thought only. Getting her to agree. He wanted her to agree to his plan, and get the marriage underway as quickly as possible. He had a vague idea of hustling her to Vegas for a quick ceremony.
At seven o’clock, she was waiting for him on the sidewalk of an old brownstone where she rented the basement from an older couple.
He pulled up to the curb and without giving him a chance to get out, she slid in the vehicle. She avoided his eyes and began to fasten her seatbelt.
Jenna hadn’t known what to wear, so she had opted for the middle ground, dress slacks with peep-toed pumps and a red sweater. Fall was definitely in the air, and she knew it would be chilly tonight.
She had been having nothing but second thoughts about this. They weren’t really second thoughts, because he had railroaded her into this dinner meeting. That was the only way she could think of this outing, because it certainly wasn’t a date. Her aim tonight was to make him see reason, and have some really nice food for a change. Counting every penny sucked, and it was a rare treat to get to have a nice restaurant meal. She just hoped her nerves would allow her to eat.
She softly cleared her throat and began to try to make him see reason. “Mr. Bennett—”
“David. My name’s David.”
“Okay. David.” She lost her train of thought as she glanced his way. His eyes were on the road, and she watched him silently. His profile was rugged, his hair badly in need of a trim. All at once it hit her exactly what her co-workers saw in him. She had a moment to study him, without his intense gaze focused solely on her. That predatory attention that usually had her so flustered and disturbed was not focused on her at the moment, and she had a chance to observe his features, to notice the dark beauty his eyes imparted to the rest of his face.
The silence continued until finally, he broke it. “What were you going to say, Jenna?”
Her name rolled off his tongue and slid like molten lava through her. She shook herself and tried to get a grip. She couldn’t remember what she was going to say. She saw the world passing outside the window, and realized they were heading south, toward the river. “Are we going to the riverfront?”
The Ohio River was a natural border between Ohio and Kentucky and separated Cincinnati, Ohio and Covington, Kentucky. The two cities were connected and divided by the river. The stadium of the Cincinnati Reds was on the Ohio side of the river, and the River Center in Covington was a famous tourist spot with lots of floating bars and restaurants. Jenna had been there a couple of times and loved the whole atmosphere.
“Yeah, that okay with you?” His voice was deep and controlled, his Midwest accent vibrating through her.
“Mmm-hmmm.” She continued to stare at the night sky out the window, wondering why she suddenly had that soft, satisfying feeling of safety she usually only felt when it was raining in great sheets of water and she was at home in her bedroom in Texas. It was a pleasurable feeling. It was probably just a visceral reaction to an enclosed space that reminded her of the coziness of home. It confused her, but she didn’t dwell on it.
Soon they were crossing the huge suspension bridge and travelling parallel to the river. She sat up straighter when they continued to pass the restaurants, one by one, and he never chose one. Minutes later, the pleasurable feeling in her stomach was replaced by nerves as he pressed a button, and a black, wrought-iron gate began to open. He pulled into the long drive, and pulled up to a house that was so impressive she thought for a moment they were at a restaurant. But it was too deserted to be anything but a private home, and a feeling of trepidation grew.
She turned to him as he parked the car. “Where are we?”
He deactivated the ignition and popped the handle on his door before answering. “My house.” With that, he swung out of the car and moved around to open her door while she sat, still as a statue.
Chapter Four
Her door opened and he took her hand in his and began leading her to the front door.
David didn’t entirely understand the reasons behind his actions. He knew he wanted her to see his house. He felt like a kid trying to impress a girl at school. But if he could get her to want to live here, see what it was like, maybe it would be one more reason
for her to agree to his proposal.
It was an old, stately home, located on the river. He had a housekeeper that came in every day to take care of the incidentals that he neither had the time or desire to do himself. Mrs. Hudson cleaned for him, cooked his meals and disappeared before he got home from work. He had more or less inherited her with the house when he had bought it five years before. She had worked for the previous owners for years, and knew the house front to back. She had also learned exactly what he expected from a daily housekeeper. They got along fine.
Jenna was still fighting shock at their location when he led her in through the front door. She stood in awe as she admired the cathedral ceiling. She had never been in a private home that even remotely compared to this. It was beautiful, every inch of it decorated in the traditional style, and Jenna didn’t know what shocked her more, the way he lived every day of his life, or the fact he had brought her back here when she thought they were going out to eat in a public setting.
She looked around as he led her to the French doors overlooking the river. The water was beautiful, black and inky, except for where the lights glistened and then you could see for a long distance, everything glowing and shimmering in the night.
“You—you live here?” The serenity she had experienced earlier was gone. She tried to maintain her fragile control as she desperately tried to make conversation. She was entirely out of her element. She had never met a man like him before, and her emotions were conflicted, in turmoil.
“Yeah.” His answer was short, succinct.
“Alone?” She couldn’t hide the dismay in her voice that all of this was for one person.
He chuckled. “Yeah.”
Jenna turned to him and blinked. He was watching her intently.