His dark eyebrow raised in response. “I came to pick you up at the airport.”
“Well, that certainly compensates for not being present at our wedding ceremony.” My lips dripped with sarcasm.
“I had something important arise that I had to deal with personally.”
“So you sent an assistant in your place to pretend to be you in front of the celebrant?”
He gave me an odd look, like he was trying to decipher me. I imagined that it wasn’t often that he was met with such blatant disapproval. “My signature on the contracts are real, I can assure you.”
I almost snorted. “Will you be sending an assistant to perform in your place on our wedding night?”
His lip twitched. Now I’d really pissed him off. “That will not be happening,” he growled out between clenched teeth.
“Good to know that you will be present for some things.”
“I’m a very busy and important man,” he said as if he was telling me a truth, not bragging at all.
“And so humble, too.”
“I’m just telling you how it is.”
“I’m not surprised you think so. You seem to surround yourself with people who are all at your beck and call.”
His lip lifted into a scowl. “Do you even know how much that telephone call that I cut off for you was making me? Do you even realize how much my time is worth?”
“I’m sure you’re going to tell me,” I muttered.
His eyes flared. Before I could react, he reached across the divide with his long arms, grabbing me by the wrist. His grip was firm, on the verge of hurting me, but not quite. He yanked me across to where he was sitting. I landed, sprawled across his lap. I let out a yelp and stiffened.
He was close. He radiated heat even through his suit; I felt my own body growing hot. He smelled heavenly, of expensive cologne, fresh and clean like a sea breeze.
His lips brushed my cheek sending tingles down through my body. What the hell is this?
“Forty thousand a minute,” he said in a low voice, his deep tone vibrating through my cheekbone. “So the fact that I’ve taken time out of my evening to meet you at the airport and am choosing to sit here arguing with you, my dear wife, instead of on the phone with my CFO is a big fucking deal.”
Forty thousand dollars a minute.
I didn’t know what the equivalent was in yen so I had no idea what that meant.
He narrowed his eyes at me. “You don’t seem impressed.”
“Sorry, should I swoon or giggle insipidly at you?”
“I expected some sort of positive reaction, especially considering the conditions I pulled you out of.”
I stiffened. The conditions…? As if my family lived in squalor. Okay, we were poor, but there was nothing that we wanted for. “Typical western man,” I spat out, “you think money is the answer to all your problems.”
He leaned in closer. I could feel the heat of his breath on my ear. “Money is the answer to all problems. Your father’s problems were certainly solved with my money.”
I sucked in a breath. He knew about my father? Of course he did. He probably had me researched before he picked me out. “Well,” I said, “I hope you get your money’s worth.”
“I’m beginning to wonder about that,” he muttered under his breath. “I thought you Japanese girls were supposed to be demure or something.”
…you Japanese girls…
I should slap him.
But my stomach jumbled with fear, overriding my anger. I thought you Japanese girls were supposed to be demure or something.
I had almost given myself away. Mr. Blackwell thought he was getting a perfect little Japanese girl as a wife. Instead he got me. If I wasn’t careful, Mr. Blackwell would annul the marriage and take back the money meant for my father.
I couldn’t let that happen.
I forced myself to bow my head. “Mr. Blackwell, I do apologize. I didn’t sleep on the plane. I’m delirious. I don’t know what I’m saying.”
“Lying to me already, dear wife?” His voice was a mixture of amusement and suspicion.
I tensed. Finally, I had the sense to remain silent. I’d already pushed my luck tonight. I knew I wasn’t making a good impression on my new husband. I was surprised he didn’t throw me out of the moving car. Damned if I was going to let him get away with treating me like another one of his staff.
“What?” He shot me a smug look. “Nothing snarky to say back?”
I shook my head slightly, remembering myself. I was here to be his good wife. In exchange for the money my father needed for his experimental treatment.
I caught him studying my features, my eyes, my cheekbones and finally my lips. “As least you are beautiful to look at.”
I couldn’t believe it. “Well done.”
“For what?”
“You’ve managed to compliment me and insult me all in the same breath. You certainly are talented.”
His stare grew intense and heated. Something shivered down my spine. “In so many ways, wife, as I’m sure you’ll soon find out.” He grabbed my hips, tugging me closer. I gasped when the sensitive place between my legs pressed up against the hardness in his pants.
Oh. My. God.
Suddenly I was all too conscious of how I was sitting, straddling his strong thighs. Suddenly I was all too aware of how a man and a woman fitted. A liquid heat began to pool in my lower half.
His head dipped to my neck. He nipped at my ear, sending a rush trickling down my body. “I could take you right here in this limo.”
I flinched. He wouldn’t, would he? “B-But you won’t.”
“Won’t I?”
