Sparring Partners (33 page)

She frowned. "Of course I trust you. I have
no clue what you're telling me, but I trust you with my life."

Henry shook his head, laughing without
mirth. "With your life, but not your heart?"

"I didn't say that, Henry."

He gave her a look that said that's exactly
what she said and she wasn't getting out of it that easily.

"I love you. Do you love me?"

Finn didn't need to think about the answer,
it hit her on the head halfway through the phallus. "Yes."

"Yes, what." He asked, apparently needing to
hear her say it.

"I love you, Henry. So much it hurts. I
don't sleep without you, and I've started working with clay."

This time he did smile at her and it was
like a ray of sunshine warming her, making her feel safe. "Marry
me."

"What?"

"Marry me."

"Why?"

He laughed. "I love you. You love me. I'm a
traditional kind of guy, where I come from that's reason
enough."

"I'm not traditional."

"I know. Marry me anyway. You don't have to
wear white."

"Couldn't we just live together?" Finn felt
numb. Whatever she'd expected, it wasn't a proposal.

"No."

"Why not?" Finn asked, affronted.

"And run the risk of you kicking me out
every time I piss you off, no way. I like it here. I love you. If
you want me, and my art worthy cock, you're going to have to make
an honest man out of me."

Finn hit him. Not hard, just enough to make
her point. "That's blackmail."

"That's a fact, Ms. Mohr. I'd say you've got
some deciding to do." Henry looked at his watch. "You've got about
five minutes."

"But I don't want to be married." Finn
blurted out.

Henry didn't seem to take offense. In fact,
now that she'd admitted she loved him, he seemed to be enjoying
himself immensely. Her? Not so much.

"That's the price you'll have to pay for
unlimited access to this body, and my unlimited attention to yours.
Call it the price of sin if that makes you feel any better." He
laced the word 'sin' with so much promise she wasn't sure if she
wanted to strangle him, jump him or hit him with her mallet after
she found it. Option two held the most appeal, but only because he
was grinning from ear to ear in that way he did before he licked
every part of her that required oral attention.

Ten minutes later they were married.

It was a non-traditional ceremony. Peter,
the painter and online minister, officiated. It was all legal,
witnessed, and recorded on video so Finn couldn't say it didn't
happen. Henry told her he wanted stills for his album as well. They
set up the photo shoot right next to Finn's nymph statue in the
front garden. Freya, Loki and all three deerhounds sat, observing
the ceremony, bearing silent witness and offering Finn moral
support. Henry didn't need any.

The groom wore an ear to ear grin, he just
couldn't seem to stop smiling. The bride, barefooted in clay
streaked overalls wore an expression best described as contentment
on her lovely face.

CHAPTER FORTY-THREE

Jordon was in the study with William and two
men Reed didn't know when she walked in, inadvertently inserting
herself into a business meeting, not realizing her mistake until it
was too late to exit gracefully. She crossed the room to Jordon,
noticing the tension in his stance, his formality, and the coolness
in his green-gold eyes that belonged to a harsher man than she
knew.

Reed stumbled, and her smile faltered, when
he turned that steel jawed countenance toward her. He frowned and
she didn't know if he was displeased with her dress, her inability
to keep her feet firmly under her, or both.

This was not the same man who told her he
loved her an hour ago. This wasn't the same man she could still
feel when she pressed her legs together. She wanted to shake him
and scream
'who are you and what have you done with my
husband'
, but the air was thick with tension and she was
suddenly unsure of where she stood.

Jordon set down his glass filled with a
small amount of what appeared to be untouched scotch or bourbon and
gestured for Reed to come to him. He even managed to muster a
polite smile, so tightly controlled and contrived it cut her like
Damascus steel, beautiful to look at and twice as deadly when
wielded by a master.

"Gentleman, may I introduce my lovely wife."
Jordon took Reed's hand and squeezed.
In warning?

William and a young blond-haired gentleman
were already standing. The third man, a distinguished looking
Japanese man about the same age as William, stood as she came
forward. William arrived at her side, surprising Reed with his
warm, ready smile.
What was going on here
?

He bent and kissed her cheek. "You look
particularly beautiful this evening, my dear." He said, pulling her
away from Jordon with a smoothness she'd only seen on CNN footage
of politicians with their handlers. Efficient. Effortless.
Effective.

Jordon didn't so much as blink as William
whisked her toward the other men with what seemed to be avuncular
pride.

"Peichin Takahara, may I introduce my niece
by marriage, Reed." He turned to Reed, "Reed, Mr. Takahara."

Reed held out her hand before she realized
her mistake. She'd been in the dojo long enough to know how to
execute a formal bow. She was really off her game tonight. She
pulled her hand back and managed a serviceable thirty-degree bow
from her hips. "Mr. Takahara."

He returned her gesture. "Mrs. Bennett."

"Actually, it's Ms. Mohr." She said,
remembering too late Thorson's advice when he delivered her
invitation about
Mrs. Bennett
having an easier time this
weekend than
Ms. Mohr
.

"Of course." He said, bowing again in that
very formal way that had Reed feeling about two feet tall. She
couldn't even look in Jordon's direction, she was afraid she'd
throw up.

William laughed easily. "My niece is a very
forward thinking woman, Peichin. It's good to have that kind of
spunk in the blood lines."

Reed stiffened, then forced herself to
relax. It wouldn't do her any good to break William's jaw before
dinner. That might actually be cause for a divorce or an annulment
in Japan, she'd have to Google it. William stopped in front of the
blond man with the kind eyes she'd seen as she entered the room. He
wasn't quite as tall or as broad as Jordon, but his eyes were more
welcoming.

"Reed, this is Jay Giles. He and Jordon are
responsible for parallel divisions of B.H. They're both after my
job."

Jay Giles took Reed's hand. "A pleasure
Ms. Mohr
." The emphasis he added to her name was subtle. The
twinkle in his eye as he said it was not. He was teasing her, and
she badly needed it given Jordon's defection to planet evil.

"Pleased to meet you Mr. Giles– please, call
me Reed."

"If you call me Jay." He brought her hand to
his lips and kissed it, his merry eyes glancing briefly to Jordon
to gauge his reaction.

"Jay it is." Reed smiled.

Jordon was at her side before Jay Giles let
go of her hand, leading her toward the door. "I'll show Reed where
the ladies are gathering." He said as he walked, holding her hand,
pulling her one step behind. It may have looked like a courteous
gesture to the men in the room, but it wasn't.

Not to be outdone, Reed smiled expansively
and said in her faux 'monarch of the realm' voice, "Forgive the
intrusion, gentlemen. I'll leave you to your business. See you at
dinner."

...

Jordon pulled Reed into the nearest room
down the hall after he counted to ten in Japanese, French, Latin
and just for kicks, Welsh. Welsh had taken him the longest to
learn, and it was the counting language he was most proud of. The
closest room when they stopped happened to be a bathroom. At least
it was unoccupied.

He guided Reed in and locked the door behind
them. Jordon had every intention of being calm and reasonable with
her. He'd had plenty of time to calm down as he yanked her down the
hallway.

"What the hell were you thinking?"

"I'm thinking I entered the Twilight Zone,
and you're Frankenstein's monster on crack." She shot back at him,
hands on the hips of that ridiculous dress she was wearing. He'd
get to that too, if she didn't give him a heart attack first.

"Do you know who that was in there?"

"The only creature I recognized as human in
there was Jay. The rest of you I'm not so sure about."

"B.H. has been wooing Peichin Takahara for
months. Giles and I have been trying to get his attention and buy
his company. Whichever one of us manages to do that will be the
next CEO of B.H." Jordon felt his blood pressure rise as his tone
got more controlled. He could feel each word being enunciated with
precision and couldn't ever remember being this damned mad.
Ever.

"And you just insulted him."

"I did no such thing."

"You corrected a man, arguably the most
powerful man on his island not in public office, who very few would
presume to correct, none of them women. Takahara is exceedingly
traditional and conservative. He's old school, and you just threw
all that in his face five seconds after meeting the man."

"First of all, I didn't know I was
interrupting a business meeting. Silly me, I thought when I was
invited to dinner and a reception in my honor, under the pretense
of getting to know your family, that that was actually the reason I
was asked to be here."

Jordon steeled his heart against the unshed
tears in Reed's eyes and the shake in her voice. She'd damn near
cost him his job, his life, his place in the world.
Fuck
.

"Second– "she held up her fingers just in
case he couldn't count to two"– I had no idea I was to play the
role of silent, dutiful wife to your caveman-samurai-asshole. You
could have told me."

"Third." She was hiccupping now. "How dare
you treat me like something you would scrape off your shoe. My name
is Reed Muse Mohr.
If
I choose to add Bennett after that,
it's
my
choice, not yours. I am not an appendage you can
dress up, show off, and stick back in the closet until the next
time you need to drag me out."

Reed was spitting fire at him now, which was
fine with him. He was mad as hell too, so mad, the accuracy of the
picture she painted of him missed the mark entirely.

"Fourth– we live in Wisconsin, not Japan.
I'm your wife, not some dip-shit call girl you prettied-up for
company. And...and...I don't like your tie. Or your shirt. Or your
shoes all that much...and that mean smile you're wearing
sucks."

She'd managed to shake out most of the pins
holding her unruly curls in place. Damn she was lovely spitting
fire at him. What the hell was he doing here – what was he doing to
her?

"Are you done?"

She thought about it for a second. Then
nodded. "Yes."

Jordon reached out and tucked one curl
behind her ear, then before she could protest, he pulled her to
him, holding her forehead to forehead. "I'm sorry. I should have
prepared you for this weekend, and unfortunately I don't have time
now."

Reed sniffled but didn't pull away.

"This weekend– this deal– it means
everything to me, Reed. This deal with Takahara is everything I've
spent the last eighteen years of my life working to accomplish.
It's who I am. I need you to help me make it happen. Can you do
that? Please, Reed. Can you suck up your pride and help make this
happen?"

Jordon felt her stiffen and then relax. He
knew what he was asking went against everything that made Reed,
Reed. He even felt a millisecond of guilt, until an image of
Peichin Takahara's offended smile, as he bowed to Reed, crushed his
reluctance to use her this way.

"Okay. I'll help you. But don't ask me to do
this again. I'm perfectly able to hold my own in any room, Jordon,
I just won't stand for you looking ashamed of me ever again."

Jordon stopped listening at 'okay', a lapse
in judgment he'd be punished for later.

"Now go. Change into that pale yellow dress
I picked out for you to wear. The one from Paris. There are
matching pumps in the garment bag."

Jordon didn't see Reed's dejection. His mind
was already back with the men in the study. Absently, he kissed the
top of her head as he pushed her out the bathroom door.

"I'll see you at dinner. Oh, and you might
want to do something with your hair." He said, straightening his
tie, not bothering to look back.

CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR

Jordon woke before dawn, as was his habit
before he moved to Potters Woods. It was as if some internal time
clock wouldn't let him sleep past four a.m. That wouldn't have been
an issue if he'd actually fallen asleep in his bed last night, but
he'd been up past two in William's study, pouring over earnings
statements and potential liabilities if B.H. were to acquire
Takahara's current holdings and his new concept for alternative
health facilities in the west.

Takahara had some good ideas, most of them
would turn a reasonable profit, but Jordon had some questions on
how they would best be implemented. Potters Woods had implemented
various programs to stimulate and foster the mind-body-spirit
approach to health care Takahara seemed to favor. If only Jordon
could wow him with how to integrate the two, he just might beat Jay
Giles to the punch, something he'd been savoring since William
brought Giles in. Giles really wasn't a bad guy. He made B.H. tons
of money since he started working there. Jordon begrudgingly
respected Giles's wit and his uncanny ability to spot a long-term
business winner.

What Jordon couldn't stomach was the
relentless competition. He used to thrive on that competition. Now,
it had him sleeping on William's desk while Giles slept soundly
with his perfectly attractive, perfectly behaved, always pleasant
wife.