Christmas at the Castello(29)

She fought against his hold, the tears stinging her eyes reaching a  critical mass. "Goddamn you, Coburn, let me go. I'm not in the mood for  this."

"Tell me what's wrong and I will."

She called him the filthiest word she could come up with. He brought  his mouth down on hers and kissed her. A hard, brutal punishment meant  to command. She fought him for as long as she had it in her, her knee  driving up against him ineffectually, her body twisting beneath his.  Then she unraveled.

Sobs rose in her throat. Her hands came up to push against his face.  Coburn lifted his mouth from hers and stared down at her. Hot tears slid  down her cheeks. She hated herself for it, for this show of weakness.  But her defenses were long gone, annihilated by his persistent seduction  that had knocked down each and every one of her barriers.

She felt stripped raw, ravaged.

He let go of her hands and cupped her jaw. "Tell me what's wrong."

She bit her lip. Tried to resist, but the words slid out of her mouth under his insistent gaze. "I'm scared."

"About what?"

"About us. About this baby. About what it will do to us..."

He frowned. "What do you mean ‘what it will do to us'? We're doing just fine."

"And what happens when you decide you don't actually want a baby? When  the stress of having a child puts more strain on our relationship than  it can handle and we crumble?"

"We aren't going to crumble. And I do want this baby."

"No." She shook her head. "You told Arthur you didn't want to have  kids. You're going to resent me for this someday. Feel trapped."

His gaze softened. "I admit it took me some time to get my head around  this baby. I hadn't even remotely been in that head space with  everything I've taken on. And you know my family history hasn't been the  best. But to say I don't want what you and I made together?  Impossible."

That stole her words. Her breath as she absorbed it. He shook his head.  "And as for feeling trapped? Do you think I would have chased you  halfway around the world if I didn't have the feelings I have for you? I  could have supported you and this baby without making a commitment to  you. I would have if I didn't think we were right."

"That's just it." She fixed an agonized look on his face. "I don't know  how you feel. You've accomplished your mission, Coburn. You've stripped  me wide-open. Here I am, yours for the taking. Madly in love with you.  In fact, I don't think I've ever stopped loving you, not for one minute.  I think I went to that party hoping to see you. Hoping you still loved  me."         

     



 

Something shifted in his face. He was quiet for so long she could hear  the sound of her heart pounding in her ears. She wanted to curl up in a  ball, like an animal protecting its fleshy underside, but his body still  held hers pinned down.

Finally, when she thought she could bear it not a second longer, his  gaze claimed hers. "Do you know how long I've waited for you to let me  in like this? It feels like a lifetime. In fact, I wasn't sure it was  ever going to happen."

She brushed away the tears streaming down her face. "When you said I  left to protect myself, you were right. I abandoned us. I quit on us.  But I'm not going to do it this time. I am in this for the long run,  Coburn. But I need to know your heart isn't closed to me. I need to know  you can love me again."

His eyes darkened to a deep, midnight blue. "Why do you think I  couldn't sign the divorce papers? Because I couldn't let you go. Because  you own a part of me that no other woman ever will, Diana. What does  that say to you?"

She wasn't sure. She wanted more.

He brought his mouth down to hers. "My heart is not closed to you," he  murmured against her lips. "I wanted to hate you for leaving me. I tried  very hard to. But I never could."

Her heart expanded in her chest, her relief at hearing him say those  words making her feel as if it would burst right out of her. It was the  closest to a declaration of love she was going to get right now. And it  was enough.

She curved her fingers around his nape and brought his mouth down to  hers. Lost herself in the perfection they created together. He let her  take the lead, kissing her back, but keeping his hands off her. She  fisted his T-shirt, desperate to feel his skin against hers. Desperate  to have him inside her sealing this bond they had remade.

"You have too many clothes on."

"You told me not to touch you."

"I've changed my mind."

"Is that so?" He lifted himself off her. "Get rid of the nightshirt and I might consider it."

She lifted herself into a sitting position and stripped it off. His  eyes were pure wickedness as he ran his gaze over her body. "Now for  your punishment."

Her breath caught in her throat. "You wouldn't da-" She never got the  words out because suddenly she was facedown on the bed, draped over  Coburn's lap.

"Coburn-"

"Relax, wife," he growled, his palm closing over her buttock. "This type of spanking you'll like."

She did. Too much.

When he pushed her thighs apart, rid himself of his jeans and took her  in a hot, hard possession that stole the breath from her lungs, she was  with him every step of the way as he drove her to oblivion. To a place  without shadows, only truth.





  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

"JACK NIEMAN IS running ten minutes late."

Coburn scowled blackly at Frankie's announcement that the billionaire  investor and ruthless corporate raider, also known as his chief nemesis,  was behind schedule.

When he should have been home dressing for a charity event he was  attending with his wife tonight, he was herding cats into a boardroom.  Big fat cats with extensive personal fortunes amassed from their  considerable brainpower, all of whom seemed to be overcommitted and  unapologetic.

"Let me know when he's here," he growled.

He took the extra moments to anchor his thoughts for what would be the  most important meeting of his life. He was ready for it. Determined to  secure the board's approval to make the announcement on Monday  acknowledging Grant's full responsibility for the massive recall and  deaths associated with it, despite the potential catastrophic fallout it  might have for his company.

It had spun him in circles to be sure, the brutally hard decision he  was making. But the one thing going very right in his life had kept him  grounded: his wife, who seemed intent on prioritizing them for the first  time in the history of their tumultuous relationship.         

     



 

To give them a chance at something extraordinary.

Diana's support over the past few weeks as he'd managed a living  nightmare had been unconditional. She had been his rock in an ocean of  uncertainty when he thought the sleepless nights and anguish might break  him. She had not doubted him once, not even when the board had  threatened rebellion and his head on a platter, always coming back to  the same refrain. Doing what's right is never wrong.

He ran a palm over the stubble on his chin. He hadn't been ready to  tell her he loved her the night she'd broken down and confessed her  feelings to him, because he'd had to be sure if he ever said those words  again he meant them. Had to know the bitterness he'd harbored in his  heart for so long had lifted.

It had. Now he had to make them right. Take a page from his wife's courage and say the words he'd sworn he'd never say again.

Harrison arrived in the foyer, fresh off a plane from Iowa, where he'd  been campaigning. His face was just this side of haggard as he bent and  kissed his wife. It was a hard, possessive kiss that spoke to the bond  they shared.

The bittersweet feeling he'd been experiencing a lot lately grabbed at  his heart. His brother was a different person from the hard, jaded man  he'd come to know since his father's death. Frankie had made him a  better man.

He suspected his wife was doing the same for him.

Harrison dropped his briefcase by Frankie's desk and walked into his  office. "You look like hell. When's the last time you slept?"

"Probably around the same time you did."

A wry smile twisted his brother's face. "You got a plan of attack?"

"Total and complete surrender," Coburn said grimly. "You'd better hope it works so you can keep glad-handing the crowds."

"It will work. The times have changed. It's no longer enough to batten  down the hatches and hope the public has a short memory. The potential  repercussions of not taking full responsibility are too great a risk."

He leaned back in his chair. "Why haven't they figured that out by now, then?"

"Because it's their job to hold you accountable. Make you see things from all angles. Stand your ground. They'll come around."

"Says the man who threatened me with a mass revolt a few weeks ago."

Harrison smiled. "That was before you picked this up, stamped yourself  all over it and made a bold, courageous statement that will define you  going forward." He rested his dark, fathomless gaze on him. "You're  doing this with a hell of a lot more guts than I would have, Coburn.  It's the kind of thing that either tears a man apart or shows what he's  made of. You are doing the latter."