Emma told her everything pretty much, anyway. Starting out with what Deirdre already knew: that Jonas Bravo was a cold, distant man who could stand to open up a little. Emma went on to explain what Blythe"s will had asked of her and how she"d decided to honor the dying wish of her friend. She left out the part about how she and Jonas had gone at each other hot and heavy less than an hour ago, how if he hadn"t stopped it, they"d probably be rolling around naked on the floor of his study right about now.
"You"re right," said Deirdre when Emma was done. "This is seriously weird. Are you sure that you know what you"re doing?"
"Nope. But I"m doin" it anyway. She was my true friend, Deirdre. And I can"t turn away from what she has asked of me."
"I liked Blythe. A lot. But she was asking for trouble, in my humble opinion."
"I"m doin" it, Deirdre."
"All right. I hear you. I"ll watch the animals."
After she said goodbye to her friend, Emma tried to pack.
But what was there to pack, if they"d be back before bedtime? She ended up throwing a few things in her overnighter, tucking a couple of dresses into a garment bag and telling herself that it would be enough.
Once the packing was done, she took the Yorkies for a short walk, discovering as she stepped out into the night again that the rain had stopped. Finally, well after one in the morning, she brushed her teeth and washed her face and climbed into her white iron bed. The Yorkies cuddled in close and Festus curled up at her feet.
Of course, she couldn"t sleep. Her life had been turned upside down. She was marrying Jonas Bravo even if it wasn"t a real marriage.
And Jonas had kissed her.
Well, more than kissed her.
And she had not uttered one little syllable of protest.
Because she had liked it. She had liked it way, way too much.
In his bedroom at Angel"s Crest, Jonas wasn"t sleeping either. But not sleeping was nothing new to him. He had a slight problem with insomnia. So that night, after he"d made all the arrangements for the trip the next day, he lay in his big bed, with his hands laced behind his head. He stared into the darkness and he thought of how amusing Emma Hewitt had turned out to be. And now, for a time, he would be married to her.
Pleasantly aroused, he smiled into the darkness. He was in control of this little situation now.
And he intended to stay in control.
By the next morning, Emma had come to a few important conclusions. She had thoroughly evaluated her own actions of the night before. And she had decided that she was not very happy with herself or with Jonas Bravo.
Yes, all right. They were getting married. But only for Mandy"s sake, only in order that Emma could help Jonas to open up, to learn to trust the basic goodness in other people a little. There was nothing in Blythe"s will about the two of them crawling all over each other.
And to be tough and truthful, well, Jonas hadn"t done a thing that she hadn"t wanted him to do. She supposed she had to face the facts here. The Bravo Billionaire had gotten to her. She was only a human woman. It wasn"t easy to stand firm against all that testosterone, those big hard muscles and that steely will.
Plus, he knew how to kiss. Oh, did he ever know how to kiss...
No. Now, that was not good. She was not going to think about his kisses. She was going to keep foremost in her mind that her job in this marriage was to help him become the kind of man who would be a loving, giving guardian to Mandy. The torrid love affair angle was out.
She would not be sleeping in Jonas Bravo"s bed. And if he thought that she would, he was in for a surprise.
Emma had one white suit, and she wore it the next day to be married in. The suit fit nice and snug and the skirt was short and tight. Beneath the jacket, she wore a little nothing of a camisole and on her feet she wore T-strap dress sandals, with little gold buckles at the ankle and sleek three-inch heels.
Jonas arrived right on time, at ten on the nose. Emma had already taken the dogs and Festus to PetRitz and made sure Deirdre had her cell phone number in case some emergency cropped up.
Emma"s duplex was a reverse floor plan, with the garage in the front, the living area facing the back patio, and a long walkway down the side of the building leading up to the door. She loved the house, mostly because it belonged to her. She"d gotten a great deal on it just last year. But the inconvenient layout meant that she couldn"t watch for Jonas"s arrival without standing out in the driveway which, of course, she did not do.
She knew that he usually rode around in a long black limousine and she half expected him to send his driver in to fetch her. But when she answered the door, there he was, dressed so beautifully in a lightweight suit that had no doubt been made by hand for some incredible price.
"Ready?"
She met those midnight eyes. It was not easy. She felt ... embarra.s.sed, after the way she had behaved last night. Embarra.s.sed and way too attracted. He looked so good and solid and big. And he was staring at her like he wouldn"t mind taking right up where they"d left off, with her moaning his name and his hands where they shouldn"t be.
"Yes," she said, "I"m ready," at the same time ordering her silly heart to stop knocking like a sledgehammer inside her chest. She had her small suitcase, the garment bag and her purse right there by the door. She bent to pick them all up.
He took the suitcase and garment bag away from her. "I"m sure this will do for tonight," he said. "Tomorrow, we"ll have to see about moving whatever else you want to bring with you to Angel"s Crest."
She stopped halfway through the door. "I"m moving? To Angel"s Crest?"
He looked at her, a patient, level, very knowing look. "Emma. The terms of the will are that we have to live together. You remember that."
"Well, I know, but I-"
"By the way, where are the dogs?"
Emma hardly heard the question. She was too busy dealing with the idea that she"d have to move to Angel"s Crest not that his a.s.sumption about where they"d live had really surprised her. Naturally he"d take it for granted that they would live at his mansion. And it did make sense, she supposed. She could hardly expect the Bravo Billionaire and his little sister to move into her North Hollywood duplex with her could she?
But still, they should have discussed it last night. Heck. There were probably a lot of things they should have discussed last night. But instead, they"d started kissing and that been the end of all the things they should have done.
"Emma. The dogs?"
"Hmm? Oh. A friend is watching them. And Jonas, I think we have to talk a little about -"
"You"ll bring them with you, to Angel"s Crest. And that stray cat, I suppose. Even the d.a.m.n iguana is fine with me."
She just felt so ... agitated. And there was a yearning, inside her, to move closer to him, to put her hand on him, against his broad chest or on his shoulder, anywhere, she wasn"t particular. She just wanted to touch him, to feel the warmth of him against the palm of her hand.
What were they talking about?
Oh. The dogs and Festus and Homer. He"d said she could bring them all to Angel"s Crest. "Homer lives at PetRitz now. He has a nice big terrarium in the waiting room. Didn"t you notice it the other day when you were there?"
"Homer. That would be the iguana?"
"That"s right."
"I probably saw it. I saw several terrariums."
"Well, he was there."
He shrugged. "Bring the dogs and the cat, then and right now, lock the door and let"s go." "Yes," she said, wishing she didn"t feel so dizzy and distracted. "And wait a minute. How did you know about Homer and my cat?"
He just looked at her.
She figured it out. "Oh. Right. It"s all in my file, isn"t it?"
"Emma. We have to get going."
"All right. I know. I"ll just ... set the burglar alarm." She rarely set it, but since she wasn"t sure when she"d be back, she decided it might be a good idea this time. The control pad was right by the door. She stepped back inside and punched the combination to arm the thing. Then she locked the door and turned to Jonas, who was waiting, looking a little impatient, several steps down the walk.
"I"m coming, I"m coming..."
He strode off and she hurried to keep up.
The driver was standing by the side of the limo. He opened the door for them. Jonas handed over Emma"s suitcase and garment bag, and stepped aside so that she could get in first.
Emma flashed the driver a grin. "Thank you."
The driver tipped his hat. Emma slid across the soft leather seat to the far side. Jonas got in, too. The driver closed the door and then detoured around the back of the big car to stow Emma"s luggage in the trunk.
The driver had climbed in behind the wheel way up in front beyond the gla.s.s part.i.tion and started up the engine before it occurred to Emma that something very important was missing.
She turned to Jonas. "Where"s Mandy?"
He gave her a puzzled sort of frown. "At home where she belongs.""We"re stopping at the mansion then? To pick her up?"He looked at her as if she"d just suggested he blow up a bank. "No.""She"s not coming with us?""Of course she"s not.""Why not?"He let out a long, put-upon breath of air. "Emma, I have no intention of dragging my two-year-old sister to Vegas and back. It"s an insane suggestion. We"ll be home tonight. She won"t even know we were gone."
"That"s not the point."
"Of course it is."
"Will you kindly stop saying "of course," like something is right just because it"s what you think? We are doing this for her sake. And by golly, she is going to be there."
"She is two years old."
"Yes. She is. And she"s comin" with us."
"No, Emma. She"s not."
They glared at each other. The big car rolled away from the curb.
Emma said, "Stop the car."
Either the part.i.tion that separated the front seat from the back was soundproof, or the driver had ignored her. The car rolled on, down to the end of her cul de sac, around and back the other way.
Emma spoke directly to Jonas. "Stop the car. Now." His eyes shifted away, then back. The nerves-of-steel Bravo Billionaire had gotten the message. Emma Lynn Hewitt meant business.
"d.a.m.n it, Emma," he said in a voice right next door to a whisper. "I"ve made no arrangements in terms of security. It"s not safe."
Suddenly, she hurt for him, for what she knew he had suffered as such a young child for what he"d lost and what he couldn"t seem to help fearing he just might lose again.
She spoke gently. "It is safe. She"ll be with us. We"ll never let her out of our sight."
Jonas turned away.
The car had left Emma"s street behind. They were headed for the freeway. Emma said, "Tell the driver to pull over, Jonas. Tell him to do it now."
He looked at her again, a look as cold as a dead rattlesnake. He did not tell the driver to stop.
She hated to do it to him, to say the forbidden word. But at that point she didn"t see that she had much of a choice. "I would think, Jonas Bravo, that you of all people would never stoop to ... kidnapping."
Jonas said nothing. He kept on looking at her, his face expressionless.
Emma said it again. "Stop the car."
He pushed a b.u.t.ton built into the armrest on his right. "Larry. Pull over."
The car slid in near the curb and stopped.
Emma asked, "Has she been out of that mansion once since Blythe died?"
He took his sweet time replying. Finally, he said, "At this point in her life, everything my sister could possibly need is right there, at Angel"s Crest."
"So. She hasn"t left the mansion since Blythe pa.s.sed away."
He granted her the tiniest, most disinterested of shrugs.
She told him, "That little girl is not going to spend her whole life on a hill in Bel Air.
Starting today, she"s gettin" out now and then."
He muttered, very softly, "d.a.m.n you, Emma Hewitt."
And she laid it right out for him. "I"m sorry, but I am not going to budge on this one. We are driving back to Angel"s Crest now, and we are picking up that little girl. Because as far as I"m concerned, Jonas Bravo, if we don"t, we are lookin" at a deal-breaker here."
His eyebrows rose and he gave her another absolutely icy look. "Oh, are we?"
"That"s right. No Mandy, no marriage."
Chapter 8.
M andy babbled all the way to the airport and then conked out during the flight. The private jet, which was done up like somebody"s living room a living room with all the furniture bolted to the floor was pretty quiet after that.
The two bodyguards Jonas had insisted must go with them didn"t have a lot to say. And Mandy"s nanny, Claudia, was very sweet and very shy. She sat over in a corner, thumbing through a magazine, looking up and muttering something prayerful in Spanish every time the jet hit a little turbulence.