Full Bloom (10 page)

But her mother did not. "Emily?" This time Catherine Ravenscroft's voice was quite sharp. "Is someone there with you?"

Emily looked at Jacob, who was ignoring her in favor of sinking his strong teeth quite gently into her upper leg. He seemed to like the taste of her.

"Emily, I asked you a question. Is someone there with you?"

Emily began to grow annoyed with her mother's tactless line of inquiry. Her family recognized very few boundaries to Emily's privacy. Maybe it was time they learned a lesson. "Why do you ask?"

"Because you sound distracted." Catherine's voice tightened with sudden tension. "Emily, is there a man with you?"

"You can hardly expect me to discuss that sort of thing on the phone, Mom."

But Catherine had already leaped to her own conclusions. "It's not Damon Morrell, is it?" she demanded ominously. "Surely you've got more sense than to continue your involvement with him after what we told you about him."

"Not to worry, Mom," Emily said brightly. "I don't plan to marry Damon. That was the chief concern, wasn't it? That I would marry him?"

"My God, Emily," her mother gasped. "You can't mean to say you're having an affair with him? After learning what kind of man he really is?"

"Don't worry, I won't say I'm having an affair with Damon," Emily agreed in a soothing voice that only alarmed her mother all the more. Emily smiled grimly to herself. "I'll keep my mouth shut if you do."

Jacob's head came up abruptly, all the teasing passion gone from his eyes as he realized exactly who and what was being discussed. His hand tightened on Emily's ankle as he straightened and scowled down at her.

"Emily! You can't possibly have him there with you!" Catherine was stunned at the implications. "Have you no common sense at all?"

"Mother, I've decided I don't like discussing my private life with my family. They tend to interfere. I'm sure you'll understand if I prefer not to continue this conversation. Say hello to Dad and Drake for me. I'll see you at Dad's birthday party." Emily hung up the phone in the middle of her mother's shocked silence. She smiled brilliantly at Jacob, pleased with herself for having protected him and for having struck a blow for her own independence at the same time.

But Jacob paid no attention to her high-voltage smile. He turned away from her, tossed back the covers and climbed out of bed. He stood glaring down at her, oblivious of his own nudity. His whole bearing was one of masculine aggression.

Emily's smile faded into wariness as she looked up at him. "Jacob? What's wrong?"

"What the hell was that all about?" he said through gritted teeth.

"You must have heard. That was my mother."

"Don't play dumb. I'm aware it was your mother. I meant what was all that drivel about making her think Morrell was in your bed this morning?"

"Oh, that." Emily smiled with some satisfaction. "I get so tired of my family interfering in my life, Jacob. Once in a while I can't resist the urge to retaliate. Mother was demanding to know if I had actually had the nerve to go to bed with Damon after the family had gone out of its way to forbid any connection with him. I decided I'd taken enough orders from Ravenscrofts."

"So you let her think you were sleeping with Morrell?" Jacob's face was tight with his anger. "What kind of a game do you think you're playing?"

Emily scrunched back against the headboard, pulling the covers up to her chin. She was offended. "I didn't do it just because I was feeling vengeful. I also did it to protect you."

"You did it to protect
me
?" Jacob was clearly astounded. "Have you gone nuts? What the hell did you think you were protecting me from?"

"My family!"

Jacob swore and leaned down to cage her between his hands. His eyes were swirling with gray storm clouds. "Now you listen to me and you listen good, lady. I can take care of myself. The day I need protection from your family or anyone else, I will tell you. Until then, you will let me take care of myself. Understood?"

"But, Jacob…"

"Forget it. I don't want any arguments. The subject is closed. Which brings us to the second topic on the agenda."

"What's that?" Emily asked uneasily.

"I'll be damned if I'll have your family or anyone else thinking you're sleeping with Damon Morrell. You're sleeping with me and you'd better make sure anyone who has an interest in the matter knows the truth. I don't want any more misconceptions, misinformation or mistakes on that subject."

Emily chewed on her lower lip, troubled. "I understand what you're saying and it's very sweet of you to want to be up-front about… about our relationship, but I'm not so sure it's a good idea to shout it from the rooftops. Especially to my family. You know as well as I do they can be difficult."

"Let me worry about your family. You concentrate on making sure no one leaps to any more false conclusions. Is that clear?"

Emily was hurt. "Of course it's clear. It could hardly be anything else but clear with the way you're yelling at me."

"I never yell." Each word was taken out of deep freeze.

That much was true, she thought with a sigh. Jacob was not exactly yelling. His voice was low, controlled and very dangerous. The truth was, he might have been less intimidating if he was yelling.

"I realize that your ego was probably punctured somewhat by my letting my mother think Damon was here instead of you, but I really think it would be for the best if we kept our… our, uh, relationship private," Emily said earnestly.

"Private? As in secret? You expect me to skulk around in the middle of the night, hoping no one notices me leaving your bed?" he asked incredulously. "You think you can keep an affair secret for long?"

"Well, an affair is a private matter, isn't it?" Emily countered quickly. "Why should everyone else have to know what's going on between us?"

"Because I damned well want everyone else to know!" Jacob straightened away from the bed and stalked toward the bathroom. He turned on the threshold and shot her one last, quelling look. "You belong to me now and I don't care who knows it. If you think I'm going to let you play games, you're out of your mind."

Emily was tired of feeling pressured. "If I want to play games, I will. I'm tired of my family and you giving me orders and telling me how to conduct my life."

"Is that right?" Jacob shot back coolly.

"Yes, that's right." She lifted her chin.

Jacob studied her for a long moment, as if wondering just how far she could be pushed this morning. Then his gaze softened. He smiled faintly. "Poor Emily. You always seem to be on the receiving end, don't you?"

"The receiving end of orders and commands and instructions? Yes, I do. And I'm sick of it."

"I don't blame you," Jacob said with a surprising degree of gentle understanding in his voice. "You do always seem to be at the bottom of the Ravenscroft pecking order. I guess it was too much of a temptation to resist letting your mother leap to a conclusion that was bound to upset her, wasn't it?"

Emily shrugged, afraid to point out again that her actions had been motivated as much by wanting to protect him as by annoyance. Jacob didn't seem to want protection. He probably thought he didn't need it. He just did not seem to comprehend how her family would react if they thought he was having an affair with Emily. He ought to know better, she thought, given the fact that he had worked for Ravenscrofts for years. Jacob, of all people, should know how ruthless the members of her family could be when they felt obliged to protect the company or one of their own.

Jacob's gaze turned affectionate as he watched Emily sitting in the middle of the bed, her arms hugging her knees. He came back across the room and tipped up her chin with one finger. Then he leaned down and kissed her lightly.

"Hey," he said softly, "it's going to be all right. You and I are starting something very good. We don't have to keep it a secret."

"I don't know, Jacob…"

"I do," he assured her with the limitless confidence of a man who has always been strong enough to get what he wanted and keep it. "You and I are lovers now and I want everyone, including your family, to know it."

"You know they won't approve, Jacob," she warned quietly.

"Let me worry about that. As of now, there's to be no more skulking around or misleading information given out concerning your love life."

"What am I supposed to do?" Emily asked waspishly. "Pass out announcements that I am now having an affair with you?"

"I think we can be a little more subtle than that."

"How?"

"I'll take you to your father's birthday party," Jacob said thoughtfully. "That should be as good a way as any of letting your family know how things stand between us."

Emily's eyes widened in shock. "You call that subtle?"

"I call it effective." He patted her on the top of the head and turned once more toward the bathroom. "See you in a few minutes. By the way, I'd like my eggs sunny-side up this morning and whole wheat toast."

The pillow Emily flung after him was a second too late. It struck the closed bathroom door instead of Jacob's head. She heard his pleased chuckle on the other side of the wall and then the sound of the shower drowned out the masculine laughter.

Emily sat for a long moment, contemplating the new direction her life had just taken. All the fierce protective feelings she had been experiencing earlier came back stronger than ever. Jacob might think he was invulnerable, but she knew her family a lot better than he did.

She knew in her heart that it was going to be up to her to provide the real protection for their relationship. She started to think seriously about ways of accomplishing that goal.

Emily was still mulling over possible defenses later that morning as she fiddled with an experimental flower arrangement. This one involved some delicate freesia, a couple of irises and one magnificent lily.

"That's the ticket!" Diane exclaimed as she walked into the shop with the morning coffee. "A little more glitz and glamour. Now you're on the right track."

Emily gazed doubtfully down at her creation. "I don't know, Diane. It's too busy. It's not my style." She removed some of the freesia and instantly liked the new effect much better.

"I know, I know. You're the subtle type," Diane grumbled as she came around behind the counter. She peered at her friend. "Have an interesting evening?"

Emily looked up, startled by the unexpected question. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Diane smiled cagily. "Just a casual comment."

"Don't you dare ask about my love life."

"Why not?" Diane retorted innocently.

Emily grimaced. "Because at approximately 7:05 this morning my mother already did."

"What made her ask?"

"Guess," Emily said succinctly. She pulled out an iris, simplifying her creation further. Much better.

"Oh. So Mom called and realized you had a man with you at seven in the morning? Well, it was bound to happen sooner or later. Did you tell her who was with you?"

"No, I let her think it was Damon."

"Oh, Lord." Diane rolled her eyes ceilingward. "Does the hunk of granite know you fibbed about who was in bed with you?"

"Hunk of granite?"

"Sorry. That's how I think of Jacob Stone."

Emily sighed. "Yes, Jacob knows. He was furious."

"I'm not surprised."

"He doesn't seem to realize how upset my family will be if they find out I'm involved with him. I was only trying to protect him this morning when I allowed Mom to think Damon was there."

"I've got news for you, pal," Diane said darkly. "You don't protect a man like Jacob by pretending you're sleeping with someone else instead of him. Talk about stupid."

Emily spun around and folded her arms under her breasts. "All right, how do I go about protecting Jacob?"

"Not by substituting another man into the equation, that's for sure."

"What other approach is there?" Emily demanded, more of herself than of her friend. "I'm going to have to think of something and fast. Jacob is insisting on taking me to my father's birthday party on Thursday."

"He does believe in taking the bull by the horns, doesn't he?" Diane noted admiringly.

"Diane, this whole thing is going to explode on me. I know it is. I wanted a nice, quiet, private relationship with Jacob. But he won't allow it. He's too proud. Now I'm going to have to come up with a high-tech defense system in order to protect us."

"Any ideas?"

"Not yet," Emily admitted despairingly. "The only thing that ever really terrifies my family is a direct threat to Ravenscroft International. An attack from that direction is probably the only thing that would keep them in line, and how could I possibly threaten RI?"

"Beats me. Mind if I share that packet of sugar?"

Emily's fingers froze on the stem of the lily. The delicate stalk snapped in her hand. "Shares."

"What are you talking about?" Diane glanced at the broken flower.

"My shares in RI. They're mine, Diane."

"I know. So is the seat on the board of directors. What's that got to do with anything?"

Emily looked at her. "Theoretically I can do anything I want with those shares."

It was Diane's turn to stare as realization dawned. "Emily, you wouldn't dare use those shares to threaten your family."

"Why not?" Emily frowned, trying to think through the ramifications of such a daring plan.

"Are you kidding? From what you've told me about your family, I know enough to guess they would chew you up into little pieces if you tried a stunt like that. You'd never get away with it. They would never allow you to use those shares against them."

"They wouldn't have much choice in the matter." Emily spoke with sudden conviction. She yanked out the rest of the flowers in the arrangement and started from scratch, using a single crimson anthurium and three nearly bare branches.

"Emily, listen to me, this is crazy. You can't do it. You're not the type. Let Jacob handle your family."

"I can't take the risk," Emily said simply. "There's too much of a chance they'll find a way to drive him off. It's up to me to protect my relationship with Jacob."