The Billionaire's Convenient Bride: A BWWM Billionaire Love Story (16 page)

     “I want you to know something,” he said softly. “I don’t care how long it takes, I will wait for you to be free to be with me. I know he has his campaign and you have to be part of that, and part of his public image, and I know that it may take the whole three years of your contract with him, but I will wait no matter how long it is.”

     Emmaline felt her heart being tugged as she gazed up at him. “I don’t feel like I could ask you to do that for me, it seems like such a big sacrifice. If you do wait, then I would be so happy about it, but if you find someone else in the meantime, don’t let go of a chance for love because I’m tied up in this deal with Peter.”

     He lifted his hand to her face and caressed her cheek, looking deeply into her eyes. “I couldn’t find love with anyone else, because I’ve already found it with you,” he whispered. Tristan pressed his lips to hers and kissed her softly, the warm touch of his lips was tender and sweet. She closed her eyes and kissed him back, enjoying the closeness of him and savoring the pleasant moment in his arms. His fingers moved over the skin of her cheek and down the side of her neck to her collar, as his kiss deepened. The butterflies in her began to dance, as they always did when he touched her, and she wondered at the difference between his touch and Peter’s.

     Tristan slowly slid his fingertips from her neck downward into the narrow space between her breasts, touching her with a feather soft lightness. She gasped and drew in her breath as he began to open the buttons beneath his fingers. Emmaline felt a lightness in her as he moved his lips over her skin from her mouth down her throat to the high swell of her breasts. As his mouth and tongue moved over her flesh, the difference in feeling between his affections and Peter’s grew like a chasm, widening more the further that Tristan went with Emmaline. His hands firm on her body, his mouth warm and hungry on her skin, and his arms around her felt good, but it was nothing at all compared to the flames of desire and need that Peter had created in her. It confused her, and she felt torn between the man who seemed so perfect for her, her ideal mate, and the man whom she was contracted to in marriage, but who did not want her or any other woman to tie him down in a relationship for the rest of his life.

     Emmaline’s thoughts went to Peter and she realized that she was developing feelings for a man who would not be satisfied with one woman; a man who did not want anything more from her than for her to pose as his wife. He didn’t even want her in his bed, and yet she had begun to care about him in a way that she never had thought she would. She had begun to think of him in ways that made her breathless and warm, and she knew that she must never allow those feelings to grow. He was her employer, and that was all. He was her partner in a business scheme to improve his reputation, and that was all. He would never be a lover, and he would never fall in love with her alone, and for those reasons, she focused herself on Tristan at that moment, and knew that he should be the one to whom she committed her heart.

     He lifted his face from the upper curve of her breast and looked at her with eyes heavy with desire. “Emma,” he whispered with thick breath, “stay here with me tonight, please.”

     She considered it and wasn’t sure what answer to give him, but she knew that she had to drive her heart toward him, and let Peter go from it altogether, and she thought that there must be no better way to do that than to make love with Tristan.

     Emmaline lifted her lips to his and kissed him for a long moment. “Yes,” she said, opening her eyes and looking up at him. He broke into a wide and relieved grin, almost laughing a little, and hugged her tightly to him.

     “You are the most incredible woman! I have never wanted anyone the way that I want you.” he kissed her in happiness, then scooping her up into his arms, he walked her into the bedroom and laid her on the bed, laying himself beside her.

     Emmaline looked at him and curled her arms around his neck, leaning to kiss him. He kissed her in return and as they kissed, his fingers moved to the buttons he had not yet reached in the material over her chest. He opened them one by one, slowly and seductively, and as each one exposed more of her skin, he pulled the material aside and covered the revealed swell of her breasts with his tongue and lips.

     She felt a bit shy and nervous as he pulled her bra away from her breasts and closed his mouth over her stiffening nipples. Tristan sucked at her, flicking his tongue over her and teasing her, until her eager nipples were rock hard and anxious for his mouth. He moaned in pleasure and moved himself above her, resting his body over hers as he kissed and sucked at her breasts. The moment he laid on her, she could feel his erection, stiff and beckoning as it pressed against her. He moved his hand from her full dark breast to the hem of her skirt and slid his fingers up her thigh as he kissed her mouth and sucked on her lips and tongue. The lightness she had felt began to turn like a kaleidoscope and she moaned softly as his fingertips reached the soft silkiness of her panties. He slipped his fingertips beneath the material and began to massage her slowly and gently as his mouth moved from her lips to her nipples and then drifted back again. His touch was warm and gentle and as he manipulated her body, she began to feel a dull ache that grew stronger as the pressure of his fingers increased and he slid them inside of her, making her moan and gasp. Her back arched as he began to move his fingers more swiftly and deftly within her, and as she lifted her body in pleasure, guided by the touch of his strong fingers, her breasts rose to his mouth and he nibbled and bit at her gently, making her cry out in orgasm, which made him more anxious for her, and he massaged his fingers around her and inside of her even more urgently until she clung to him and came again. The pleasure was exciting, but try as she might, she could not seem to get Peter out of her mind, and as Tristan pulled her panties off of her and moved himself in between her legs, pressing his clothed arousal against her body, she could not feel the rage of passion that she had experienced in her husband’s arms, and it worried her that her feelings for Tristan might not be as strong as she thought they were.

     He kissed her mouth hungrily, pushing and rubbing his erection against her in solid need, and as he did so, she knew that the feelings moving through her for him were not much more than lukewarm, and she stopped him.

     “Tristan,” she said in a quiet voice, “we need to wait for this. It doesn’t feel right.”

     He raised himself up on his arms and looked at her face. “What is it? What’s wrong?” he asked. It was clear to her that he had no misgivings about making love with her and that the hesitation was fully on her side.

     She felt so sorry stopping them in their endeavor to be together, but she knew it was the best thing to do. “I think I just need some time. It feels like this is happening too soon.”

     He moved off of her and laid beside her. “Then we will wait. We have all the time in the world to wait and love each other when it is right for both of us.”

     She buttoned her top back up and leaned over to kiss him. “Thank you,” she said and he kissed her back.

     “I am glad to wait for you.” he said with a smile and touched her cheek. They rose up off of the bed and he drove her back to the house.

     Emmaline didn’t see Peter that night, and later the next morning, she didn’t see Tristan until she was in the garden reading and he came to her and sat with her on the swing.

     “Good morning, beautiful lady.” He hugged her close to him, kissing her lips softly.

     “Hello, Tristan,” she said with a smile.

     “I thought a lot last night about what happened between us, and I want to talk with you about something that you may not realize. I know I haven’t made it clear to you, and I want you to understand it fully.” He pulled her up off of the swing and wrapped his arms around her waist, holding her close and looking into her face.

     Neither of them noticed that Peter had been walking toward them and when he heard them, he stepped behind a tall bush and watched them through it as they talked. His heart clenched when he saw Tristan holding Emmaline so close to him, but he said nothing.

     “I love you, Emmaline, and as soon as I can, I want to marry you. The minute you are divorced from Peter, I want to make you my wife and spend the rest of our days together loving you with all of my heart.” He dropped down to one knee and she stared at him, her eyes wide and her heart pounding.

     Peter couldn’t breathe or move. It felt like his whole world might just implode at any moment and there was nothing he could do to stop it. He had asked them to wait to date each other until after the results of the election so that he could have some time to figure out how to tell Emmaline that he loved her, but now it looked as though things had moved much further between the two of them than he had ever realized and it cut him to his core. He wished that he could reach through the bush and stop them both from making another move toward becoming a couple, but he knew he had no place doing it.

     “Emma, please say that you will marry me and make me the happiest man in the world.” He gazed up at her with hopeful longing and she wavered slightly as the shock of what he was doing and saying washed over her.

     “Are you saying this because of what happened last night in bed?” she asked.

     Peter closed his eyes in pain for a moment, and visions of her laying nude in Tristan’s arms sliced through his mind and ripped at his heart. So they had already made love, he thought, and for the first time in his life, his heart knew what it felt like to break for love.

     “No, I’m saying this because I want you to be my wife, and I want you to know that every day between now and whenever that happens will be one day too many for me. I would make you my wife right now if I could, Emma. I have never wanted anyone like I want you, and you need to know that. Please say you will marry me when you and Peter are divorced. Please promise you will be mine forever.” Tristan kissed her hand and waited anxiously for her response.

     She looked down at him and tried to find an answer. She tried to reason it out in her head and heart and all she could find was struggle. She pulled him to his feet and leaned up to kiss him, feeling like she could at least soften her answer to him with tenderness and love before she spoke.

     Peter watched his wife and the woman he loved kissing his business partner and he knew that she was going to tell him yes. He knew that Tristan was what she wanted. She had even asked him if she could be with Tristan. He couldn’t stand to be there any longer and watch her as she promised herself to another man. It would rip his heart right in half to hear her say those words to Tristan.

     He turned and walked away quickly, heading toward the house as Emmaline stopped kissing Tristan. “I can’t give you an answer today. I’m so sorry, but I need some time to think about what I’m going to do. I have to talk to Peter about it. I need to talk with my grandfather about it. This isn’t as easy as I wish that it was, and you have said that you would wait for me. Is that still true? Could you please wait for me to give you an answer to that question after I talk with Peter and my grandfather?”

     Tristan nodded and pulled her into his strong embrace. “Yes, my dear. I will give you all the time you need. If you would like me to talk with your grandfather as well, I will. I would like his permission to marry you.” He kissed her sweetly, and then let her go with a smile.

     He walked back to the house and she sat on the swing and lowered her face into her hands. She had no idea how she was going to come up with an answer for him, but she did know that the two men she needed to talk to would give her some good direction at least.

     Peter watched her from his office window as she leaned back and moved the swing back and forth, her hand raised to her mouth in deep thought while she gazed into the distance. He was furious. His heartache had become a rush of anger at the turn of events. He was angry at himself for having been so stupid as to have needed to marry her in the first place, he was angry at Tristan for going after her once he had stolen her heart, he was angry with her for loving Tristan and wanting to be with him, and he was angry at them both for making love, but more than all of that, he was angry with himself for falling in love with her. He paced in his office, looking out of the window at her on the swing in the garden. He had a political career now because of her, and he didn’t know if he could win without her, or if he did win, how he would manage running the governor’s office alone without her support. He realized that she would be leaving and he hated to think of how empty the house would be without her, how he wouldn’t be able to see her or talk to her, how she wouldn’t be just down the hall any longer, or in the kitchen or garden. The house and his life would be so horribly empty without her.

     He stopped his pacing and gazed at her. She was so serenely beautiful and she didn’t even know it. He realized then that he had once truly believed that his life had been so full and so carefree, and that what he had thought was a happy and complete life was really a shell with no meaning in it whatsoever. It was when she had come into his world and changed it so tremendously that he suddenly had meaning to his existence. He had substance and happiness, he had desire and a fire for her and for life. It wasn’t until he had her with him that he found true purpose to his existence, and now it was going to end, and he would be able to live as he had before if he wanted to. But he knew that he could never go back to that, that he could never live as he had, using women and playing with them like they were toys for his amusement. He could not go back to drinking and carousing and living without doing any real good. Even if she left and he won the election, he would still have the remnants of a life that he could devote to others.