'Upstairs, Susannah,' he said quietly.
He didn't realize how important this was. He didn't understand that what happened next-or didn't happen-could put a shadow over everything. 'Mitch, we may have some difficulty adjusting to-'
'Now.'
She spun around and stalked away from him, marching toward the front staircase as if he held a gun at her back. Sometimes she hated engineers. She really did. Her shoes slapped on the carpeted treads. Since her fears weren't quantifiable, Mitch simply refused to recognize them. Everything had to be rational. The man didn't have one speck of intuitive power in his entire body.
She stomped into the bedroom and kicked off her heels. She could hear him behind her, moving at his customary unhurried pace, as if he were on his way to a staff meeting. As he came into the bedroom, she whirled around. 'If this is a disaster, don't you dare blame me!'
He stared down at the carpet and shook his head. 'I was going to try to be a nice guy about this, but I can see that's not going to work.' He lifted his head and glared at her. 'Get out of those clothes, Susannah.'
She was so tightly strung that her temper snapped. 'You go to hell!'
'That does it.' He reached for his necktie and yanked at the knot. 'I was going to be a nice guy. Not come on too strong. A little moonlight. A few roses.' He tossed his tie down on her pretty bedroom chair and threw his suit coat on top of it. Standing there in his shirt-sleeves, he splayed his hands on his hips and let his eyes roam over her as if she were a slave girl placed before him for his inspection. 'Apparently, I have to remind you that you've been bought and paid for.'
Her heart jumped into her throat. Oh, Lord, he was playing with her. The game wasn't over. A surge of love and desire rushed through her as she realized that he understood how she felt after all. Her tension dissolved. She lifted her chin and pursed her lips in disapproval. 'I was not bought.'
'Money exchanged hands,' he said flatly, stripping off his shirt. 'You were bought. Now get out of those clothes so I can get you warmed up.'
The man had no shame. She walked over to the bed and slid down on it. Then she drew her legs beneath her and gave him her most smoldering look. 'No need to warm up something that's already hot.'
For a moment she thought she had him.
He recovered quickly.
'Coming from you, that kind of comment doesn't surprise me at all.' His undershirt joined his shirt in a pile on the floor. She swallowed hard at the sight of his chest, already anticipating how it would feel beneath her hands. He kicked off his wing tips and removed his socks. 'You may fool other people, Susannah, but don't forget that I have three college degrees and I'm not so easily misled. Beneath that prim exterior of yours, you like it wild. And that's exactly how you're going to get it.' In one strong motion, he whipped his belt from the loops of his trousers and snapped it in the air. 'You're going to get it wild.'
Oh, Lord… And she had been afraid that he wouldn't be able to keep up with her.
'Get up on your knees and take that dress off right now,' he ordered.
Yes, sir. Oh, yes, my very dear sir. She scrambled to her knees and began working feverishly at her buttons. While she worked, he actually had the nerve to slide the length of the belt back and forth in his hand. The sparkle in his eyes almost ruined the effect, but it was still wonderfully menacing, and she was going to kill him if he laughed. Imagine being tied to this incredible man for the next forty years. Her lover, her friend, the other half of herself.
Still, she knew it wasn't good for him to get too full of himself-especially after everything she'd let him get away with these past few weeks. She had a little surprise in store for Mr. Macho. No stuffed shirt in a pinstriped suit was going to call her prim and get away with it.
Opening the last of the buttons, she stripped the dress over her head, revealing the deliciously naughty undergarments she had put on that morning in a fit of nervous anticipation-the soft peach demi-bra and panties, the matching garter belt and stockings.
Mitch's black leather belt fell to the carpet. 'That's more like it,' he said huskily. He didn't take his eyes off her as he pulled down his trousers.
Susannah swept her gaze along his muscular thighs and then burst out laughing. Mitch was wearing the tiniest pair of black zebra-striped briefs she had ever seen on a man.
She fell back into the pillows and hooted. 'How long have you been wearing underwear like that?'
'For a while.'
'Do you mean to tell me that during all those endless presentations we've sat through together, all those boring budget sessions, you've been wearing underwear like that?'
'I could ask the same question.' He lowered himself to the bed beside her and lightly snapped a peach-colored garter.
She wrapped her arms around his neck and slid her fingers into his hair, pulling him down beside her. 'Sometimes I don't wear anything at all,' she whispered.
He groaned and gathered her into his arms. His mouth opened over hers as he gave her a ferocious, demanding kiss. Before long, their naughty underwear dropped to the floor.
As they explored the secrets of each other's bodies, their skin grew sleek with sweat. But they had waited so long for this moment that neither wanted it to end too soon, and they prolonged it with gentle warfare.
'You'd better be good,' he growled.
'They don't come any better.'
'We'll see about that.'
Each fought for supremacy-first one rolled on top, and then the other. She bit his shoulder; he retaliated with a nip at the curve of her bottom. She entangled him in the covers and ran from the bedroom. He caught her on the stairs and tossed her over his shoulder to carry her back. Their behavior was disgraceful, woefully inappropriate for people in their positions, but no one was around to point that fact out to them.
He dumped her on the bed and sprawled on top of her, catching handfuls of her hair in his fists. She arched her back and penetrated his mouth with her tongue. His hands roamed her body and found its secrets.
When they could stand their fierce love play no longer, she opened her legs and he cradled himself between them. As he poised to enter her, she looked up at him with her soft eyes.
'This is forever, isn't it, Mitch?'
All the laughter, all the mischief faded. He gazed down at her kiss-bruised mouth, and his face was young and tender with the depth of his emotion. 'Oh, my love. My sweet, sweet love. This is till the end of the world.'
They weren't children. They had lived through other loves and other lives, and so they knew the gift of their joining was precious. He entered her aggressively, possessing her with the boldness of a man who could only find happiness with a woman of daring spirit. She accepted him fearlessly, filled with the wild joy of a soul that had found its mate. Their bodies fit together as if they had been designed on the day of their creation to make a perfect match. And when they cried out at the very end, they were still gazing into each other's eyes.
EPILOGUE
The Northern California weather was chill and crisp the January morning Susannah took her place as Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of Falcon Business Technologies. She wore her most conservative gray suit, her lowest black pumps, her simplest earrings. The only other piece of jewelry she permitted herself was the heavy gold wedding ring on her left hand. It was a beautiful piece of jewelry, but the number of large diamonds that sparkled in the band made it a bit flashy for FBT tastes.
A small group of men greeted her at the entrance of the Castle. 'Welcome to FBT, Mrs. Blaine.'
'Good to have you on board.'
'Wonderful to meet you, Mrs. Blaine.'
'Ms. Faulconer,' she said. 'But please call me Susannah.'
They beamed their pleasure at her-a dozen dark-suited executives who knew that her sister's proxy had given her control of the corporation's largest single block of stock. She searched their ranks for the sight of a female face,
