TRENT WATCHED AS Mara walked the perimeter of the room, trailing her fingertips over the back of the long sectional sofa, touching briefly the small sculptures on the side table and the granite of the kitchen breakfast bar.
The thing about Mara was that for all her boisterous enthusiasm, she could be maddeningly self-contained sometimes. She smiled but was it because she was happy or because she was used to showing a happy face to the world? Was her tactile exploration a sign of acceptance, an interest in her new home or was it merely curiosity? Polite interest?
He had no idea and the pressure of wondering whether he was getting through to her or whether his entire plan had already crashed and burned was driving him crazy.
"I have a confession to make."
That finally got her to stop moving. She glanced over at him, her amusement evident in the small lift of her lips. "Just one? Why stop now, you seem to be on a roll."
He laughed. If she could make jokes then things weren't as bad as he feared. He motioned around the room. "I brought you here to impress you."
"You don't say." She'd done a full circuit of the room and finally made her way back to him. This was as close as she'd gotten to him voluntarily all day. Her eyes sparkled as she smiled up at him. "Well, I'm impressed. I can't deny that."
"I hoped that if I dazzled you with all that I have, all that I would gladly lay at your feet that you'd be willing to overlook the dark side of this life. And I'm just selfish enough to hope that you're too tightly bound to me by the time you notice that this life can sometimes feel like living in a gilded cage."
"This is some cage," she muttered.
He reached out and grabbed her hand. The words he would say next were so important and if he could go forward with any semblance of his conscience intact, he had to know that she'd really considered the pitfalls.
"When people know your net worth, there's always a risk that someone will try to harm you. Privacy becomes nonexistent. Being a Townsend is like having a target on your back.”
"But I'm not a Townsend,” Mara protested.
"If you marry me, then you will be."
Although she’d stopped moving, he still couldn’t tell what she was thinking. When he’d imagined showing her his world, this wasn’t what he was expecting. He’d wanted to impress her and so far, she seemed more distant than ever.
"This is my chance to treat you like the precious jewel you are."
Mara looked up at him and her eyes softened, her breasts rising and falling under the thin material of her blouse. He moved behind her, inhaling her sweet scent. After a moment, she leaned back against him with a sigh.
Unable to resist any longer, Trent buried his face in her hair. He didn't touch her anywhere else, sure that if he allowed himself the luxury of touching her that he'd never stop. But then she made a soft, needy purr in the back of her throat, the helpless sound ricocheting through him and grabbing him by the balls. He hardened instantly and took a shallow breath, hoping that she wouldn't move against him because there would be no way to disguise his reaction to her. There would be nothing to hide the fact that just being near her inflamed him. She'd always had that effect on him, inciting his deepest passions and making him feel like a feral animal.
"I don't need any of that," she whispered.
"I know you don't," he choked out. "But I would shower you with gifts just to see the glitter of diamonds against your perfect skin. You have no idea how hard it's been to hold back, to not buy you the things you deserve. That ends now. No more holding back. I am going to take care of you. And you are going to let me."
Trent knew it was a risk. Mara was so independent that from the very beginning he'd had to curb the arrogance that came from being born into one of the nation's richest families. He was used to doing whatever he wanted and having things exactly the way he liked. But with Mara, he'd had to learn to temper that part of himself for fear that he'd scare her away. But now the curtain had been pulled back, his true nature revealed and he found he couldn't stop himself from telling her exactly how things would be.
Instead of pulling away, she arched her back, brushing her curvy bottom against his erection. Trent groaned and his hands on her arms tightened. Maybe it had been an accident. She truly didn't know how she affected him sometimes and he couldn't fall on her like an animal when she was likely just moving against him inadvertently.
Then she did it again. Rubbed that sexy ass back against him and he lost it.
"Damn it, you know exactly what you do to me, don't you?"
She opened her mouth to respond but whatever she was about to say was covered by the sound of a loud chime.
“What was that?” Mara glanced around warily.
Trent was tempted to lie but knew there was no use. Few people visited him here so if his visitors’ were who he assumed, they wouldn’t go away until they’d seen him.
“It’s the front desk calling up. I must have visitors.” He crossed the room and snatched up the phone. It took all his patience not to snarl into the damn thing.
“Yes, Walter?”
“Sir, y
our parents are here to see you.”