“Yes. And so would you. However, just as you said, you don’t need the money that comes with my job listing. I also don’t need additional power. I have power. I have a lot of it. That doesn’t stop me from wanting more.”
“And again, what would you gain by marrying me?”
“There would be the obvious controlling majority stock share in Wade. That’s only the tip of the iceberg. Since you and I spent the night together and I saw your name on the résumé, I’ve felt more alive than I have in years. That’s you, Julia. I don’t know how to define it, but whatever it is, I don’t want to let it go. Concocting this plan to marry, acquiring the shares of Wade, the whole process has invigorated me in a way I haven’t felt in longer than I can remember. It’s made me see what could be, what I’ve missed in life by closing myself off. Now that I’ve seen it” —his smile grew— “now that I’ve had it in my hands, I don’t want to let it go.”
“What do you want?”
“You.”
Me.
“Why do you want me?”
“Let’s forget for a moment that you’re brave and adventurous, taking on a snowstorm by yourself, or that you’re intelligent and determined, or that you’re beautiful” —his gaze shimmered— “dressed as you are now and even more so wearing my shirt or how spectacular you are when you’re wearing nothing at all. For those reasons alone, I’d want you.”
My breathing quickened as my pulse followed suit.
I wasn’t sure how Van did it, how he made me feel all the things he was saying or how his tenor and words twisted my core with memories.
“Following through on this marriage,” he went on, “will allow both of us to explore the more intimate part of our relationship, at the same time watch the Butlers fall, and save Wade Pharmaceutical.”
I couldn’t concentrate on my attraction to Van or my desire to explore an intimate world with him. If I did, I blurred the line between personal interest and business. I tried to deliberate on the details of Van’s plan. “Is that who you are, Donovan Sherman, and what you do—you save companies?”
“No, it’s not who I am. I do the opposite.”
“Why do you care about Wade?”
“I don’t.”
“What do you care about,” I asked, “or is there a who?”
“There’s not a who. I told you, I’ve never proposed.”
I shook my head. “I don’t believe you. Everyone has a who.”
“You can learn my past as you write my story.”
I held tightly to the ribbon and crossed my arms over my breasts. “I’ve been a pawn in the McGrath-Butler connection for too long. And that makes me leery. This whole recent chain of events seems calculated.”
Van stepped closer, cupped my chin, and lifted my eyes to his. The power I’d felt the first time we touched, sitting before the blazing fire, came back with a vengeance, sending small detonations throughout my circulation.
I was undeniably attracted to this man in a way that was new to me.
“The recent chain of events does seem unbelievable,” Van agreed. “I’ll give you that, but calculated, no. The last thing I planned on doing the other night was to find a beautiful, half-frozen woman in a snowstorm.” He reached out to my cheek. “Or for the two of us to—”
I interrupted, “I don’t regret the sex. You said I would. I don’t. Regardless of my better-thought-out answer to your proposal, I’m not sorry for one minute about what we did. I told you then I had no expectations and laid no claims to you or to a future.” As Van began to speak, I placed a finger on his full lips. “That night helped me more than you’ll ever know. Being with you gave me a glimpse into what’s beyond the constraints I’ve allowed to be placed on my life. That night with you, I broke free, and even in a snowstorm, I proved to myself that I was capable of surviving beyond the road map that had been drawn for me. Sex was another barrier that I broke that night.”
Van reached for my hand, moving it away from his mouth as a smile came to his lips. “Technically, I think I was the one who broke...” He let the sentence end as his eyebrows moved up and down.
“I didn’t come to Ashland looking for sex, to give away my virginity, or for another marriage proposal. I came here because of your job listing. All the coincidences...” I took a step back and away from his magnetic pull. “They seem...” I wasn’t sure how to describe them.
“That listing has been open for three months,” Van said. “You’re the first candidate to show for an interview. The rest have all been frightened off by the unknown.”
“Should I be frightened?”
Van nodded with a striking grin. “Very, but not in a bad way. You, Julia, should be exhilarated, excited, and filled with anticipation about the unknown. You said you were looking for a new life. Here it is. All you have to do is jump in with both feet. I’m not going to deny that the chain of events has occurred quickly. Call it fate, destiny, or cosmic irony. Whatever the greater power is that brought you to me and me to you was beyond either of our control. I believe my grandmother called it red sin.”
My head tilted. “Red sin?”