Matched to a Billionaire(5)

She was clutching her hands together so tightly, her knuckles had gone   white. The art of small talk was not his forte, but surely he could do   better than this.

"I'm pleased, as well." Pleased, not happy. This marriage had never been   about being happy, but being sensible. "But now we have to live   together and it should be comfortable for us both. You can talk to me   about anything. Finances. Religion. Politics."

Sex.

His mind had not jumped straight to that...but it had, and unashamedly   so, with vivid mental images of what her legs looked like under that   prim skirt. She glanced at him, held his gaze. A spark flared between   them and again, he sensed her energy, coiled and ready to whip out-and   his body strained to catch it.

Stop, he commanded his active imagination. He and Daniella had an   agreement. A civilized, rational agreement, which did not include   sliding a hand over her thigh. His fingers curled and he shoved them   under his leg.

She looked down and shifted, angling slightly away. One finger drummed   nervously against her skirt. "Thank you. I appreciate that."

His very carnal reaction to a mere glance had obviously upset her.

He cleared his throat. "Are you still okay with letting the intimate side of our relationship unfold naturally?"

Her eyes widened and he almost groaned.

What a fantastic way to set her at ease. He needed to dunk his head in a   bucket of cold water or something before he scared her into complete   silence. Though that might be better than her constantly starting   sentences with yes, as if she thought he expected a trained parrot.

"Yes." She met his gaze squarely and earned a couple of points for courage. "Why wouldn't I be?"

Because you feel this draw between us and it's making your palms sweat, too.

Chemistry had been far down the priority list, for both of them.

He just hadn't anticipated having so much of it right out of the gate.   Or that it would pose a very real danger of becoming such a distraction,   the exact opposite of his intent in hiring a matchmaker.

His focus should be on work. Not on getting his wife naked. Indulgent   pleasures weren't on the menu, particularly not for someone with his   inability to stop indulging.

"I want to be sure we're on the same page," he said.

"We are. Our marriage will be companionable with a progression toward   intimacy when it seems appropriate." Her tone wavered, just a touch, and   was coupled with a glint in her eyes he couldn't interpret. "Like we   discussed."

His exact words. And suddenly he wished he could take it all back.   Wished he could put a glint of happiness in her eyes instead of the look   currently drilling a hole through his chest. The unsettling feeling   bothered him more than the chemistry, because he had no clue what to do   with it.

"We'll have separate bedrooms, for now." That had been his intent from   the beginning and seemed even more necessary given her nervousness. It   should solve everything. The back of his throat burned with inexplicable   disappointment. "Take things slowly."

Separate bedrooms would serve to put some distance between them. Ease   the tension, give them both time to acclimate. Give the chemistry time   to cool. And definitely allow him to refocus.

Then they'd settle into what he'd envisioned: a marriage where they had   fulfilling lives outside of each other and enjoyed a pleasant   relationship both in the bedroom and out. No one with his intense   personality could have any other kind of marriage.

His phone beeped and he glanced at it. He'd taken a half day to attend   his wedding and given his employees the rest of the day off as well, but   he was never "out of the office."

The email was a brief courtesy notice from Tommy Garrett's people to let   him know Garrett Engineering had narrowed the field to Leo and another   firm, Moreno Partners. Excellent. The timing couldn't be better. His  new  wife could organize the wine and dine for Garrett as soon as she  was  settled.

"Do you need to make a call?" Daniella asked politely. "I don't mind. Pretend I'm not here."

That wasn't even possible. "Thanks, but it was an email. No response needed."

A different strategy was in order. In light of the wife he'd ended up   with, thinking of her as an employee might work best to stave off the   urge to spend the weekend in bed, making his wife laugh and then making   her gasp with pleasure. And then hitting repeat a hundred times.

If he fit Daniella into a predefined box, she'd slide into his life with   little disruption and that was exactly what he wanted. What he needed.

Success guaranteed security. It was the only thing that could and no   price was too high to ensure he kept his focus on Reynolds Capital   Management-even continued solitude.                       
       
           



       

* * *

Dannie kept her mouth shut for the rest of the ride to her new life.

Where she would not share a bedroom with her husband.

She was alternately very glad for the space and very confused. The flash   of awareness between them must be one-sided. Or she'd imagined it. Leo   could not have been more clear about his lack of interest in her.

Maybe he'd seen right through Elise's makeover.

And now her fantasy about the way he'd kiss if he really meant it had   shattered. Such a shame. Her husband was attractive in that unattainable   way of movie stars, but in her imagination, he kissed like a pirate on   shore leave, and no one could take that away.

She stole a peek at this hard-to-read man she'd married for life.

Her lungs froze. What if Leo decided he didn't like her after all? Just   because he claimed to have a strong sense of commitment didn't mean  he'd  tolerate screwups. And screwups were her specialty.

Her mother was counting on her. She was counting on herself, too. If Leo   divorced her, she'd have nothing. One of his first acts upon learning   she'd accepted his proposal was to hire a full-time caregiver for her   mother who specialized in pulmonary rehabilitation. The nurse was slated   to start today.

Without Leo, her mother would surely die a very slow and painful death. And Dannie would be forced to watch helplessly.

Her nails bit into her palm and she nearly yelped. Long nails. Yet   another thing she had to get used to, along with all the other things   Elise had done to make her over into Leo's perfect wife. Organization   and conversation skills came naturally, but the polish-that had taken a   while to achieve.

She had to remember her job here was to become the behind-the-scenes   support for a successful man. Not to be swept away in a haze of passion   for her new husband.

"We're here," Leo said in his smooth voice.

Dannie glanced out the window and tried not to gape. Leo's house practically needed its own zip code.

They'd discussed her comfort level with managing a large house. During   the conversation, she'd pictured a two-story, four-bedroom house with a   big backyard, located in a quiet suburban neighborhood. That would have   been her idea of large after the small two-bedroom apartment she'd   shared with her mother.

She'd known the house was in Preston Hollow, one of the most elite   neighborhoods of Dallas. But this she could never have anticipated.

Wrought-iron gates caught between two large brick-and-stone posts swung   open as if by magic and the driver turned the car onto the cobblestone   drive leading up to the house. Colossal trees lined the drive,  partially  blocking the sun and lending a hushed, otherworldly feel to  the  grounds. And grounds was the only fitting term. Neatly manicured  grass  stretched away on both sides of the car all the way to the high  stone  wall surrounding Leo's house.

Her house. Their house.

The car halted in a semicircular crushed-stone driveway, and the hulking   residence immediately cast it in shadow. The manor sprawled across the   property, pointy rooflines dominating the brick-and-stone structure.   Four-no, five-chimneys stabbed toward the sky.

She should have asked for a picture before agreeing to handle a property this size. What was she doing here?

"What do you think?" Leo asked, but it was hardly a question she could answer honestly.

"It's very..." Gothic. "Nice."

She bit the inside of her lip. All of Elise's hard work would go up in   smoke if Dannie couldn't keep her smart-aleck gene under control. The   thought of Elise calmed her. They'd done exhaustive work together to   prep Dannie for this, with endless days of learning to set a table, to   make proper tea. Practicing how to sit, how to walk, how to introduce   people. In between, Elise had transformed Dannie's appearance into   something worthy of a magazine cover.