But maybe there was still a small piece of her that held hope of a “brighter tomorrow.” But with Blake eclipsing the sun from her life, that wasn’t likely. Maybe she just needed to accept that some people didn’t get the fairy tale they thought they deserved.
Yet Jewell knew deep down inside, and had known it even when in her darkest moments of despair, that life would change, that someday things would eventually even out and she’d have days of true happiness. Sometimes, though, that seemed a deluded fantasy.
What Jewell really didn’t understand at all was what he’d get out of marrying her. He could have anyone; he could be with the wealthiest of the wealthy, with landed aristocrats, and even with royalty. What in the world would ever make him even think of tying himself down with her? She was a nobody who could do nothing for him.
When she finally slipped on her shoes, she got ready to flee, but when she reached the front door, she found him standing there, his face a mask.
There was no way of escaping unless she suddenly developed some prize football prowess and could knock him on his ass and rush over his stunned body. That thought nearly made her smile — almost, but not quite.
“I need to go,” she said, standing far enough away that he couldn’t snake out his arms and grab her.
“You haven’t responded to my request yet, Jewell. You’re the one who wanted to talk, and when I did talk, you rushed off into another room for an hour and then you headed straight for the front door. To me, that’s not talking.” He had propped himself up against the door, and the doorknob was hidden behind him.
Taking a calming breath, Jewell looked at his nose, knowing better than to meet his eyes. “Yes, I wanted to talk. I was wrong. I…this…I can’t think,” she stammered, frustrated that she couldn’t find the words she wanted to find. “You already have me in your bed. I don’t understand why you want more than that. It doesn’t make sense, and my head is too muddled right now to try to make anything make sense, so I need to just be alone. Please.”
He didn’t move.
So much for attempting to reason with him, she thought bitterly. “Look, Blake, I’ll do anything to get my brother back, but that doesn’t mean you have to marry me to continue getting me in your bed. You paid for me, remember? Of course you do. You reminded me of it earlier in your inimitable way. Hell, I know that I wouldn’t quickly forget paying a quarter of a million dollars for someone or something. Ms. Beaumont was quite specific: I have to make you happy. But now…I just…I need to go right now.”
He still didn’t move, which made her even more nervous.
“Why don’t you want to marry me, Jewell?”
She stopped squirming and finally looked in his eyes, but as usual, his expression showed her nothing.
“Because even though I’ll probably never get married, the act of marriage still means something to me. It’s not a charade, and though a lot of people seem to see it as simply a virtually meaningless piece of paper legally binding two people until they tire of each other, I was taught that it’s more than that…”
“Our marriage will be real,” he told her calmly.
“There won’t be a marriage, Blake. I don’t know when or how you got this idea, but it’s not going to happen,” she said, her voice rising.
“I met with the judge, Jewell, and he told me that because you didn’t meet with the conditions the court set, you would have zero chance of getting your brother back unless you were married to a solid member of the community.”
What he said knocked her feet right out from under him. This was too close to what the attorney had said to her.
“I…I…How can they put that sort of condition on getting custody? It’s wrong,” she said, her head spinning.
“It is what it is, Jewell.” He was speaking so casually — as if he had conversations like this everyday.
“What’s in this for you?”
He looked at her intently and for several moments she didn’t know whether he was going to answer her or not. She remained silent, too, since she didn’t know what she could possibly say at this point.
Then when he finally opened his mouth, she wished he hadn’t.
“I’m working on a big deal with a company in a conservative country,” he said. “The owner doesn’t trust bachelors, thinking they are either gay or out to collect other men’s wives. So, you see, this works for both of us quite nicely.”
“Why me, though? Why on earth would you marry someone like me? I’m sure you could find a hundred other women — socially acceptable women — who wouldn’t hesitate to take your name, and you’d lock in this deal with no problem.”
“But I want you. And you need me. It’s that simple,” he said. “This way we both get something important to us, and you won’t have the constant urge to run and hide.”
“I could still run, even if we were married,” she pointed out.
“Not if we both have custody of Justin.”
“You actually think I would give up my rights to him as soon as I get them back?” she gasped.
“You won’t get them back without me, Jewell.”
This was what she’d been afraid of. If what he was saying about the judge was true, she had no hope without Blake. So, why even fight this anymore?
“What sort of man are you?”
“I’m the sort of man who knows what he wants and goes for it.”
“Well, you can’t own another person, Blake.”
“You’re very wrong there, Jewell. I can own you. I do own you,” he told her coldly, and the shiver that ran through her veins had nothing to do with the temperature of the room.
Her eyes narrowed and flashed danger. “I do so hate you,” she grated out.
“I don’t need love from you, Jewell. I need your compliance, and I need your body,” he said with an unreadable smirk. “And I’ll even give you a day or two to think about whether you’re willing to give those things to me.”
Gee, wasn’t he magnanimous!
“Do you really know what you’re trying to get yourself into? Do you know how much work caring for a child is, especially one who has been through the traumas that Justin has? You can’t do whatever you want whenever you want to if you have one living in your home. They are messy, they are demanding, and they are exhausting. Why don’t you give me back my brother, and then go and find some easy woman, one who is willing to bend all the rules for you? Why are you hell-bent on making a bad situation even worse?”