The Tycoon's Rebel Bride (The Anetakis Tycoons #2)(42)



She nodded, not wanting to delve too deeply into Alannis. She was a subject better left alone.

The sparkle of the diamond in the sun drew her gaze back to the gorgeous ring adorning her finger. And then she allowed some of the joy to shine on her like the sun beaming through the window.

With a tentative smile, she looked back up at Theron. “You really want to marry me? Okay, scratch that. Bad question. I’m sure you don’t really want to marry me. But you don’t have to. Just so you know. I mean the whole idea of putting a ring on my finger just because I was a virgin and we didn’t use protection—well, it’s archaic. Nobody does that anymore. I mean even if I turned out pregnant, there’s nothing to say we’d have to be married—”

He silenced her with his mouth, pressing his lips to hers in a deep, lustful kiss. For several long seconds, all that she heard was the soft smooching sounds of their lips. She went positively boneless.

Finally he pulled away, his eyes glittering. He may not want to marry her, but she knew his eyes didn’t lie. He wanted her, and he definitely desired her. It was a start.

“Now if we’re through talking nonsense, let’s return to the hotel,” he said huskily.

He didn’t look any different. Isabella watched Theron from across the sitting room of her suite as he went through a myriad of phone calls. First he’d talked to the person she’d rented the apartment from. Then a few business calls had interceded. Now he was back to talking to God-knew-who about flights and planes, and she wasn’t sure what else. Her head was spinning.

Maybe she’d expected him to look…well, she didn’t know. Engaged? But then he’d been engaged for several days. Just not to her.

A knock at the door interrupted her moody dissertation on Theron’s phone calls. Reynolds, who had been going over plans with Theron, strode to the door and opened it.

Isabella couldn’t see who it was with the way Reynolds held the door, but a moment after opening it, he stepped back and glanced over at her.

“Sadie Tilton to see you.”

Isabella made a quick motion with her hand for him to let her in. Sadie popped her head around the door, her eyes filled with caution. They lightened as soon as she saw Isabella and she hurried over to where Isabella sat on the couch.

“What’s going on?” Sadie hissed. “You sounded so weird when you called.”

Isabella didn’t say anything but she raised her hand so that Sadie could see. A quick glance around her told her that Theron wasn’t paying either of them any attention, so involved was he on the phone.

“Oh my God!” Sadie exclaimed as she pounced on Isabella’s hand. “He proposed?”

“Shh, he’s on the phone,” Isabella murmured. “And yes, well, sorta. He didn’t exactly ask. He informed me we were getting married.”

Sadie frowned. “Are you happy about it?”

Isabella smiled. “I will be. He’s all I’ve ever wanted.”

“What did he say then? And what about Alannis?”

“Not much. Just that he’d taken my virginity, I could be pregnant and we needed to marry.”

Sadie winced. “Are you sure you want to marry a guy for those reasons? I mean what about love? Or at least a legitimate reason that doesn’t predate this century.”

Isabella looked at her friend and sighed. “I can’t very well make him fall in love with me if we aren’t together, Sadie. Yes, ideally he would love me now, and we’d marry for all the usual reasons, but I have to take what opportunities I’m given. He feels something for me. That much I know. Something that goes beyond simple lust. He just needs time. But if I don’t marry him, he’ll marry Alannis, and where does that get me?”

“You’re right, you’re right,” Sadie said in a low voice. “I was just hoping for something more. You’ve dreamed about this for so long. I wanted it to be perfect for you.”

Isabella squeezed Sadie’s hand. “It will be perfect. Maybe not yet, but it will be. The day he says I love you will make everything leading up to it worth it.”

Sadie smiled. “Now that that’s all settled, I have to say thank you. You didn’t have to do it, but at the same time, I’m so grateful.”

Isabella looked at her in puzzlement. “What on earth are you talking about?”

“The apartment, the rent, the account. You know, so I don’t have to go back to work at the club.”

Isabella shook her head.

Sadie frowned. “You didn’t arrange for my apartment to be paid up for the next year?”

“No-o-o….”

The both turned and looked at Theron at the same time.

“Then I don’t suppose you also arranged my meeting with Howard,” Sadie murmured.

“No, I had no idea,” Isabella said softly.

“You’ve got yourself a good man, Bella. Not that I’m fooling myself by thinking he did it for any other reason than he didn’t want you ever going into that place,” she said with a grin.

“He is a good man,” Isabella agreed as she stared across the room at Theron.

As if sensing her perusal, he lifted his gaze, the phone still held to his ear and looked back at her. His eyes smoldered with quiet intensity. Suddenly all Isabella wanted was for everyone to be gone from her room and for it to be only the two of them. In his arms, she could forget a lot. Including that she wasn’t the one he would have chosen as his wife.

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