Chapter 196 Chapter 196
Chapter 196 Chapter 196
But when he captured her shoulders and drew her toward him, she responded, rising onto her tiptoes.
“You’re beautiful, Ms. Ferguson.”
From his lips, in that tone, she believed him.
The first brush of his lips across hers was gentler than she anticipated, the barest of whispers, and it made him irresistible.
With exquisite tenderness, restraining his power, he sought entrance to her mouth. He tasted of the smokiness of his earlier whiskey and something headier, of promise and mystery.
Because she rarely dated, she hadn’t been kissed often, and never like this.
As their tongues entwined and danced, her senses exploded with excitement. When he placed a palm on the small of her back and brought her against his masculine body—and arousal—every nerve ending came alive.
In his indomitable, ruthless way, he threatened to consume her.
Slowly, with seeming reluctance, he drew away.
“If I don’t stop now, I’ll have to take you up to my room.”
Her response to him—raw hunger and desire—left her shaken, and she shook her head.
“I…uhm…”
“Ready for that glass of champagne?”
Run. But her body refused to obey her mind’s instinct. It was as if shared intimacy had woven a spell around her. She didn’t want to end the enchantment.
“What can it hurt? Get to know each other a little better. Maybe it’ll make it easier for you to find me a wife.”
Because she was so discombobulated, she seized on that excuse.
He held her chair while she took a seat. The few other patrons who’d been down here headed toward the exit, leaving them alone in the warm night air, shadowed by the gentle lighting.
After sitting across from her, he poured the champagne into the glasses.
“Were you expecting company?”
“No. The glasses were stacked on top of each other, and I picked up both without thinking. It was a happy coincidence.”
She took a small sip. Wynter wasn’t sure if it was from her recent exercise or because of his presence, but the bubbles went straight to her head. Lucas Rutherford was more than just handsome. For the first time, she noticed the wariness that lay buried in the depths of his eyes. Perhaps that was a trick of the light or her imagination. But it intrigued her.
“Earlier you suggested I’d made up my mind about you.”
“Was I right?”
Maybe. His intense scrutiny made her shift. To cover her sudden nervousness, she cupped the glass between her hands.
“You’ve been married before.”
“Twice. And you?”
“Nice try. This is about you.”
He grinned, making him much more accessible and intriguing than she’d found him before.
“In the interest of fairness, I reserve the right to ask you one question before the night is through. Fair?”
She exhaled. And she would have never agreed if she wasn’t curious about what he wanted to know.
“One and no more.”
He nodded.
“Ask away.”
“What makes you think that third time would be a success?”
“Because my expectations are different.”
“In what way?”
Curious, she waited for him to continue.
“Soon after I finished grad school, I proposed to the woman I’d been dating for two years.” He moved his glass to the side. “We attended school together. But she had no real understanding of my financial circumstances.”
“In what way?”
“I refused to join the family business. Because of that, my father was unwilling to help fund my startup company. Priscilla believed we'd have a certain lifestyle. It didn't include an apartment and a shared, secondhand vehicle. It was one thing to live that way while we'd been in school, but not afterward.” He shrugged. “I got my business off the ground on a shoestring by raising funds from investors and friends.”
“Leverage.”
“Risky business, that.”
He tipped his head to the side to show he agreed with what she said.
“My first deal crashed and burned. It would have left us bankrupt if Priscilla hadn’t been supporting us. But it was never her intention to be the family breadwinner. And I don’t blame her. She had every right to demand that I would provide for her. After a few months of paying the bills, she’d had enough. I put a second deal together, and it was much more successful, but I was working sixteen hours a day, seven days a week. We never saw each other. I paid back every cent I owed her, and I didn’t contest the divorce when she asked for it.”
Doubts niggled at Wynter. Maybe she shouldn’t have asked. The more she knew about him, the more real he became, chipping away at the walls she’d already erected between them.
“And number two.”
For a moment he stared off into the distance.
“Ileana.”
Then he looked at her, and she read hurt and betrayal in his eyes.
“I loved her. The sentiment wasn’t returned, though she did everything in her power to cover that up.”
At the pain in his tone, Wynter recoiled.
“After the first lie came undone, a dozen more followed.”
“I’m…”
She wasn’t usually at a loss for words, but right now she didn’t know what to say.
“It had to be difficult.”
“Perhaps I could have gotten past some of them. But there was one I will never forgive.”
The air temperature seemed to have dropped fifty degrees.
“It’s made you cautious.”
An unfriendly smile toyed with his lips.
“Jaded? A bastard? Uncaring? An asshole?”
Since all of those thoughts had gone through her mind, she winced.
“Make no mistake.”
He leaned toward her.
“The things you’ve read about me? Every single thing is true. After I banished Ileana from my life, without a dime of my money, I threw myself into my work. And I used it as the playground to exorcise my demons.”
All of them? Or did the ghosts of some still haunt him?
“I want a child. That hasn’t changed. I’m also enough of a traditionalist to want a family and not a surrogate.”