Matched to a Billionaire(26)

       
           



       

But what could Dannie do about it? She didn't have any money of her   own-everything was Leo's. A nasty voice inside suggested he could pony   up alternative living space for her mother in reciprocation for last   night.

She hushed up that thought immediately. Leo hadn't treated her like   that. He'd told her what would happen on more than one occasion and   she'd chosen to create a fairy tale in her head where love conquered   all.

Her mom slid into the car and beamed at Dannie. The nurse had done   wonders to improve her mother's quality of life with daily pulmonary   therapy and equally important emotional support.

"I'm so glad to see you, baby," her mom gushed.

The driver raised the glass panel between the front seat and the back,   then pulled out into the flow of traffic to ferry them to the   restaurant. Dannie leaned into her mother's cheek buss and smiled. "Glad   to see you, too."

What ills could she possibly have that Mom couldn't make all better? The pricking at her eyelids grew worse.

Her mother's hands on her jaw firmed. "Uh, oh. What happened?"

She should have known better-sonar had nothing on a mom's ability to see   beneath the surface. Dannie pulled her face from her mother's grasp  and  looked out the window in the opposite direction. "Nothing. Leo and I   had a little...misunderstanding. I'll get over it."

Probing silence settled on her chest and she risked a glance at her   mother. She was watching her with an unreadable expression. "Nothing   serious, I hope."

Dannie half laughed. "Not in his opinion."

With a sigh of relief, her mother settled back against the seat. "That's good."

"Well, I don't think he's planning to divorce me, if that's what you're worried about."

At least not yet. By all rights, her desperate mental reorganization of   their arrangement should have resulted in a firm boot to the backside   long before now. Yet, he hadn't breathed a word about divorce, so   apparently he still needed her for reasons of his own.

"Of course that's a concern." Her mother's warm hand found Dannie's   elbow. "Fortunately, you married a solid, respectable man who believes   in commitment. A very wise choice. You'll never end up brokenhearted and   alone like I did."

Yes. That was the purpose of this marriage. Not grand, sweeping passion   and a timeless love. This was a job. Wife was her career. Hardening her   heart against the tiny tendrils of feelings she'd allowed to bloom  last  night in Leo's arms, Dannie nodded. "You're right. Leo is a good  man."

The muted sound of sirens filtered through the car's interior a moment   before an ambulance whizzed by in the opposite direction. She'd ridden   in an ambulance for the first time not too long ago, on the way to the   hospital, with her mother strapped to a gurney and fighting to breathe.   When the bill came, she'd gone to the library that same day seeking a   way to pay it.

And now she was riding in the modern-day equivalent of a horse-drawn   carriage, but better because it had air-conditioning and leather seats.

Leo had saved them both, providing security for her and for her mother.   She couldn't lose sight of that again. He'd held up his end of the   bargain honestly. It was time for her to do the same and stop wallowing   in the mire of lost romance that she'd never been promised in the first   place.

Love didn't work out for other people. Why would it be any different for her?

"The misunderstanding wasn't over the possibility of children, was it?" her mother asked.

Hesitantly, Dannie shook her head.

They hadn't used protection. Actually, she could be pregnant right now.   Warmth soaked through her chilled soul. If Leo gave her a child, his   absence would be notably less difficult. Her mother had raised her   single-handedly. Dannie could do that, too.

Funny how she hadn't thought about procreation once last night. Yet   children had been foremost on her mind when she'd agreed to marry Leo.   Back when she assumed there was no possibility of more between them than   an arrangement. Now she knew for a fact there was no possibility.

Suck it up. She pasted on a smile for her mother. "Tell me more about the cruise."

Her mother chatted all through lunch and Dannie responded, but couldn't   have repeated the content of their discussion for a million dollars.   Fortunately, Leo didn't come up again. That she would have remembered.

Leo didn't call and didn't join her for dinner. She got ready for bed, resigned to sleeping alone.

At ten o'clock, he strolled into the bedroom.                       
       
           



       

Her gaze flicked over him hungrily, searching for small clues to the   state of mind of the man who'd put his lips on her body in very   inventive ways not twenty-four hours ago.

"Hi," she said politely and flicked off the TV she'd been staring at for   who knew how long with no idea what was on. "How was your day?"

"Fine," he said. "I got you something."

Her eyebrows rose. "Like a present?"

Lifting the small silver gift bag clutched in his fingers, he nodded and   crossed to the bed to hand it to her. She spilled out the contents and   opened the square box. Diamond earrings sparkled against royal-blue   velvet.

The box burned her hand and she threw it on the bedside table. "Thank Mrs. Gordon for me. She has lovely taste."

His face instantly turned into a brick wall. "I spent an hour picking   them out myself. To thank you for the party. You were amazing. I should   have told you before now."

"I'm sorry." Remorse clogged her throat. What had happened to the quiet,   demure girl Elise created? Lately, Dannie rarely thought twice about   what came out of her mouth. "That was obnoxious."

"And well earned." He cleared his throat and sought her gaze, his blue   eyes liquid. "I'm sorry I left the way I did this morning. That was far   more obnoxious. And undeserved."

"Oh." He'd robbed her of speech. Which was probably fortunate, since the   question on the tip of her tongue was, Why did you leave that way,   then? She didn't ask. If he'd intended for her to know, he'd have told   her.

Regardless, he'd apologized. Apologized. And bought her a present.

Leo retrieved the box and handed it to her. "Will you wear the earrings? I'll take them back if you don't like them."

A touch of the vulnerability she'd witnessed last night darted across   his expression. The earrings represented both a thank-you and an apology   and he wanted her to like them. Just when she thought she had the   dynamic between them straight in her head, he flipped it upside down.

"I love them." She unscrewed the backs and stuck them in her ears, then struck a pose. "How do they look?"

"Beautiful." His gaze skittered down her body and back up again. He wasn't even looking at her ears.

A wealth of undisclosed desire crackled below the surface. Some of it   was physical. But not all. He'd picked out the earrings himself. What   did that mean? She'd lay odds he didn't even know what the significance   of that was.

Last night, she'd learned one surefire way to communicate with him.

She flung back the covers and crawled to him. He watched her, his body   poised to flee, but she snagged his lapels before he could. Without   speaking, she peeled his jacket from his shoulders and teased his lips   with hers as she unknotted his tie.

"Daniella." He groaned against her lips and pulled back a fraction. "The earrings weren't... I'm not-"

"Shh. It's okay." The tie came apart in her hands and she leaned into   him, rubbing his chest in small circles with her pebbled nipples.

Almost imperceptibly, he shook his head. "I don't expect sex in exchange for jewelry."

How could such a simple statement sink hooks so deeply into her heart?   He was trying so hard to be honorable, so hard to keep from hurting her   at great expense to himself. "And I don't expect jewelry in exchange  for  sex. Now that's out of the way. Shut up and put your hands on me."

His eyelids flew closed and he swallowed. That was close enough to a yes   for her. She bridged the gap and claimed his lips with hers.

Winding the ends of his tie around her hands, she pulled him closer and   deepened the kiss. A firestorm swept outward from their joined lips,   incinerating her control.

Urgently, wordlessly, she undressed him, desperate to bare Leo in the   only way he'd allow. He ripped off her pajamas and they fell to the bed   already intertwined.