“Me? Oh, I’m the … vice president in charge of acquisitions. Yes, Tidewater International will be sure to do business with you in the future. Good-bye.”
Emma’s smug grin suddenly disappeared when a tall, ominous shadow fell across the desk.
“Well, Miss Vice President. Make any good deals lately?”
“The phone rang, and you weren’t here, so I answered it.”
“Thank you. I think.”
Emma started straightening the papers on the desk. “Money must grow on a tree in your backyard, Ben. You paid way too much for that sissified truck parked outside.”
Two hands, palms flat, settled on the papers she was straightening. “Did I?”
“Well, not now. I got you a thousand dollars off. Remember that when you write out the check.”
“I surely will, Miss Vice President. Take any other calls?”
Emma finally looked up into Ben’s laughing eyes. “Singapore called back, but I told them your girlfriend had just gone into labor with twins, and that her father was coming through the door with a shotgun. They said they’d call back.”
He was around the desk before she could scramble out from behind it. And before she could finish gasping, Emma was being lifted up and plopped down on the mahogany surface, scattering the papers—right along with her emotions. Muscular thighs spread her knees, and long arms wrapped around her as those laughing eyes suddenly changed.
It was a look Emma had seen before.
She tried to push him away. She knew it was impossible, but she didn’t want to ever let this man realize the power he was gaining over her.
“That was a very nasty thing to do, Emma Sands.”
“Will you have to turn all your big boats around in midocean now, Mr. Sinclair? Have you lost face with your Singapore clients?”
“Probably.”
“Will that bankrupt Tidewater International?”
“Probably.”
“So Michael won’t have a company to inherit?”
“There’s always Medicine Creek Camps.”
Emma nodded. “That’s true. It’s a good thing I haven’t sold it yet.”
“If I promise to finally kiss you, will you stop kneading my chest?”
“Oh! I’m so—” His lips stopped her from flirting any further.
Flirting! Was she flirting with Ben Sinclair? Had that voice really been hers?
She would love to analyze this side of herself, but she was being kissed senseless by a man who knew exactly what he was doing.
He was beginning to smell like the woods he was spending so much time in, Emma discovered as Ben’s tongue invaded her mouth. Thank God she was sitting on the desk; she could feel herself already turning into a blob of jelly. Her head spun. Her heart began to pound. And she had to move her hands away from his delightful chest and grab his shoulders so she could kiss him back.
He should come with a warning label.
“I want to make love to you.”
Emma blinked up at Ben. Had she said those words or had he?
“But I can wait. A little while.”
Emma sighed in relief. Of course he’d said them. If she had, Ben would have had her naked before she’d finished the sentence.
Now there was a thought. Why not just rip off her clothes and … and do it?
What was stopping her?
Maybe the bone-chilling fear that she would find herself in Kelly’s position two months from now? The terrible fear that she was no better than her sister?
Another abandonment would kill her.
Michael would be graduating in two months, then he would be leaving to start his own life. And Tidewater International was run by a man who would need a special woman by his side—one who was intelligent, cultured, and worldly. Knowing how to skin fish and track a deer were not skills Ben’s girlfriend would need to know.
A mighty sigh blew over her head and Emma realized she had wrapped her arms around Ben’s waist and was hugging him, her face buried in his chest. With the gentleness of a concerned man, he was hugging her back, his chin resting on her head.
“I’m either making you mad or sad every time I touch you, Emma Sands.”
“Dinner’s going to burn.”
He simply held her tighter. “It’s okay. Mike and Jasmine are seeing to dinner.”
“I still have to go.”
“In a minute. Let me just hold you.”
Said the spider to the fly. He was holding her close enough that Emma could still feel his desire.
She was so confused. Ben’s lust for her certainly seemed real, but how could a man feel concern for the woman who had kept his son a secret from him?
He wasn’t after her camps, or her skills as a guide. He had truly been angry that she’d placed herself in danger with the tree spikers. And he’d been determined she not go back out that night to retrieve the moose. And he would have killed Galen Simms had the jerk stayed around long enough.
Benjamin Sinclair wasn’t acting like he hated her.
Emma snuggled closer against him. This was nice. Never in her life had she leaned on anyone else for support, but she was so damn tired of trying to figure things out.
She sighed. “If Mike’s anything like you when there’s a female around, dinner will be burnt to a crisp. I’ve got to go.”
Ben finally stepped back and Emma regretted the sudden lack of contact. But she had to stop feeding her dream of happily ever after. She could enjoy what time she had left with Mikey and Ben; she only had to remember the joy was temporary. Two more months and it would end.
“Look at me, Em.”
She finally looked up.
“Try as I might, I can’t
