The Billionaire's Convenient Bride: A BWWM Billionaire Love Story (18 page)

     “Oh, he’s tried, believe me. He has gone out of town a few times trying to find some way back to his old life, but you, my dear, have stolen his heart, and that’s a feat I never thought I’d see done. He hasn’t been able to be with any other women because he only has one woman on his mind and in his heart, and that is you. He thought that if he tried to take other women into his bed with him, he could push you out of his system, but all he did was make it worse on himself. I just wanted you to know, he loves you, Emmaline, and what you know about him isn’t the complete truth. He doesn’t always explain himself to everyone, and he didn’t want you to feel threatened or obligated or guilty in any way, so he never told you that he wasn’t able to be with other women. He never told you that he doesn’t want them because he loves you.” Nelson stood up and took Emmaline’s hands in his, lifted them to his lips and kissed them very lightly. “Now then, I’m off to take care of some things for Peter. He has a lot of changes going on right now. Please don’t mention our chat to anyone.” He smiled at her and she nodded.

     “If you want to go in, feel free,” he said, indicating the office, and then he turned and walked away.

     Emma stared after him in astonishment and felt warmth enter her heart and begin to seep throughout her whole body. She wondered in amazement at how she had not seen Peter loving her before. As she thought about it, she could look back over the weeks that had passed, even at the wedding when they spent their day together and when he kissed her at the altar; he had loved her even then and she hadn’t known it, but she could see it now as clear as day, and the knowledge of it wrapped itself around her heart and stayed there.

     It seemed that she had two men to talk to again that day, and she started with the one that would cause her the most sorrow first.

     Emmaline walked down the hall and knocked on Tristan’s door. “Tristan!” she called out to him.

     He opened the door and smiled at her, inviting her into his room. His suitcase was on the bed and he was filling it with everything he had. His blue eyes were bright and determined. She didn’t know how she was ever going to get through it, but she knew she had to.

     “Tristan, we need to talk,” she said gently. He stepped close to her and looked at her face as if he were trying to read beyond what she showed him at the surface.

     “What is it my love? What’s the matter?” he asked with concern.

     She turned from him and began to walk around the room, nearer to the window and she stood close to the wall and looked out of the glass into the grounds beyond the house. He walked up beside her and watched her carefully.

     She spoke in a soft and kind tone. “I need to tell you that things have changed, Tristan. I told you that I needed some time to think about everything; to think about us, to think about being with you, about making love with you, about marrying you, and now I’ve thought about it enough that I have answers for you. I know what I need and what I want.”

     He slid his arms around her from behind and leaned over her shoulder, kissing her neck. “That’s so good to hear. You want me to make love to you here and now, don’t you…” He kissed her neck again and moved his mouth up near her ear, whispering to her as his hand rose and cupped her breast and his fingers squeezed it firmly, “that’s what I want too, baby.”

     She pushed his hand down away from her and turned to face him. “No, Tristan, that’s not what I want at all.” She saw confusion in his eyes and face. “I came to tell you that you don’t need to come back here. I’m going to stay and I’m not going to divorce Peter. I’m going to finish out my three years with him because I want to be with him, Tristan.”

     Tristan blinked in surprise and sighed. “So you really aren’t going to live anywhere else. Alright, we will get a house here. It’s fine. You can move in with me as soon as your three years are up.” He pulled her into his arms and smiled down at her. “We can see each other in secret like we did at the cabin. No one will know, and then at the end of your time with him, you will divorce him and we can finally be married.” He leaned down to kiss her, but she turned away and stepped back out of his arms.

     “Tristan, I want to be here in this house with him as his wife. I care about him. I love him.” She said the words as kindly as she could, but she had to speak them to him nonetheless; he just couldn’t grasp what she was saying to him otherwise, because he was so set on having her for himself.

     He stared at her in disbelief and the expression on his face transformed from one of arousal to one of shock and denial. “What?” he asked almost in a whisper, his eyes searching her face for some clarification and meaning.

     She felt horrible about telling him the truth, but it had to be said. “I love him, Tristan, and I want to be with him, no matter how that has to be. He’s the right man for me and I didn’t know it before, but I have realized that and I know it now. I’m so sorry if you feel like I led you on, and I am sorry if you are hurt, because I never intended for that to happen, but I want you to know how things are and I wanted to be the one to tell you.” She reached for his hands but he took a step back from her and stared at her. “I care about you so much, but I can’t be with you because if I was it would be a lie. I’d be lying to both of us and I just can’t do that.”

    Tristan shook his head and then stepped forward and reached for her shoulders. “This can’t be! You and I were just talking about this in the drawing room! You are going to come away with me; you’re going to be my wife! I love you! Do you understand that? I love you!” He seemed to be pleading and arguing. His grip on her tightened and he pulled her to him, but Emmaline lifted his hands from her shoulders and walked away from him, going toward the door.

     “I’m so very sorry, Tristan,” she said, turning to look at him and crossing her arms in front of her. “I thought that you were my ideal mate; that you were the man I wanted to spend the rest of my life with, but I can see now that I was wrong. I know you’re hurt and I never wanted to hurt you. I’m sorry I couldn’t see it before, but Peter is right for me, and nothing will change that.”

     He looked furious and hurt. “I changed everything for you!” He raised his voice a little and glared at her with tears in his eyes. “I love you! You were going to be mine!”

     She shook her head. “I can’t be yours, Tristan. I am married to Peter and that’s how it will stay.” Then she turned and walked out of the room and closed the door behind her.

*

     She took a deep breath to steady her nerves and calm herself and then she went down the hall and walked into Peter’s office. He turned from the window overlooking the garden and pushed his hands down in his pockets with a sigh. His jacket was hanging on his chair, his shirt was unbuttoned halfway down his chest and his sleeves were rolled up just beneath his elbows. He looked to her as though he was going through a really hard time.

     She walked in quietly and sat at one of the chairs before his desk. “Rough day?” she asked, slipping her toe into the water to test the temperature.

     He nodded. “Yeah, it’s been a rough day. I have had a parting of the ways with Tristan. He has other goals in mind that don’t align with mine, so he will be going in another direction on his own. I think he plans on leaving tomorrow. I’m sorry about that; I know you care for him a great deal. I’m entirely responsible for it.”

     Emma watched him and waited as he rounded the desk and stood at the corner of it, looking down toward her. “I have a lot of changes to make for the business because of his departure.” He looked at her with a sad and tired expression on his face.

     “There are some changes that we need to make to, in light of the changes that he is making.” He continued with a serious sadness about him.

     “What are those?” she asked pensively.

     He looked down at his shoes and then into her eyes. “I’m going to grant you a divorce so that you can be free to make your own choices about the life that you want to live. You’ve done more for me than anyone else ever has and I want to give you your freedom. I’m having Nelson draw up the paperwork tomorrow, so that all we will have to do is sign it, and then you can go.” He turned away from her and walked to the window, looking out silently onto the garden again.

     “I’m going to give you the three million; you have more than earned it. There’s a good chance I’m going to be the next governor of this great state, and I owe every bit of that to you.” He spoke in a soft tone and it touched her heart. “I want you to take the money and your freedom and go be happy, doing whatever you want to do with… with whomever you want to do it with.” The sadness in his voice was profound and made her ache.

     Emmaline sat there looking at him and realized that he was making the changes in their agreement so that she could be happy and go with Tristan. It was the most selfless, generous, heartfelt thing that anyone had ever done for her and it made her heart ache and her eyes tear up. She rose up out of the chair and walked toward him, looking at the back of a beautiful swan who had been masquerading as an ugly duckling. It was then that she knew just how deeply she had fallen in love with him in her time with him and she knew without a doubt that her grandfather had been completely right about them. Everything about Peter had changed, right under her nose, and it was all because of her. She felt a deep and strong love that, like a river, sprang up suddenly in her heart and began to run wild for him; like it had been blocked off and the barrier had broken. She was amazed that she had not seen the obvious changes in him, but she was so glad she had discovered them before it was too late. She was so relieved that she had chosen not to be with Tristan.

     “Peter, you don’t have to give me the money or the divorce,” she said quietly.

     She reached up and touched his back and he looked down at his feet for a long moment and then looked back out the window, away from her. “I do, Emma, I have talked with Tristan, and I know how you both feel about each other. You love him and you want to be with him as his wife, so I do have to give you the divorce, and I want to give you the money. Like I said, you have most certainly earned it. Also, I have to apologize for what happened earlier. I’m so sorry that I kissed you again. I know we ruled out things like that and I had no business pushing myself on you the way I did. Please forgive me for that and know that I am sorry for it.”

     Emmaline kept her hand on his shoulder and looked up at the back of his head and spoke with a kind strong voice. “I’m not,” she said.

     He was still for a moment and then turned slowly to look at her. “What was that?” he asked in complete astonishment.

     She lifted her chin and looked at him. “I am not sorry you kissed me. It was one of the best kisses of my life. I’m so glad you did it, because I love you, Peter, and I hope you kiss me like that again all the time. I’m not going with Tristan when he leaves and if he comes back it will be in vain. I’m your wife, and I want to stay here with you, because I love you.”

     Peter could have been knocked over with a feather, he was in so much shock. “Can this be real?” he wondered out loud. She just grinned at him and took his hands into hers.

     “Emma,” he whispered her name and looked down into her face, “I love you, too. I never knew it could feel like this, and I have tried to get you out of my mind and out of my heart, but the more I try, the deeper you get into me. I need you, Emma. I need you like the air that I breathe, but I was ready to let you go to him and leave me, because I thought you needed him. I thought he would make you happy. There is nothing I want more than your happiness.” A tear rolled down his cheek and he wiped it away quickly, but he was never happier than he was at that moment looking at her as she stood there telling him she loved him.

     Emmaline lifted her face to his and, laying her hands on his chest, kissed Peter’s mouth for a long moment, and then stepped back to look at him. He stared at her for a long minute in utter surprise and then leaned over and swept her off of her feet and into his strong arms. She laughed joyfully and he turned his face to hers and kissed her in shock and complete happiness, and then he walked out of his office and carried her down the long hall to his bedroom, where he closed the door behind him with his foot and laid her on the bed. She looked up at him with excitement and rapture. She couldn’t believe it was happening, but it was, and her heart flooded beyond overflowing with all the joy in her.

     He leaned over her and looked deeply into her eyes. “Are you sure you want me rather than Tristan? I thought you were going to marry him.” He had to ask her, to be sure.

     She had never been surer of anything in her life. Emmaline lifted her hands up to his face and pulled it down to hers, pressing her lips to his smile and saying huskily, “I can’t marry him. I’m already married to the man I love.”

     Peter laughed lightly in amazement and then moved himself next to her on the huge bed. He gazed at her for a long minute, hardly daring to believe that they were laying there together, and then he leaned over and touched his lips to hers, kissing her deeply, and the fires that he had brought up in her ignited immediately as she realized that he really was going to make love with her then. He touched her face and her neck carefully and gently, tracing her features, caressing her skin and hair, and somehow he managed to hold himself back as he peeled her clothes off of her a piece at a time, as though he was unwrapping a precious and priceless gift. For the very first time in his life, Peter began to experience the wonder of making love rather than just having recreational sex with a meaningless partner or two. It was life changing for him.