Wife in Public (12 page)

He didn’t love her as she loved him.

Their time was up and there was no point in any more talking, no point in staying another minute. She felt totally spent. It was an act of will to pick up her handbag and rise to her feet. A spurt of tears blurred her eyes as she looked at Jordan for the last time. She had to force her self to say the final words.

‘Goodbye. Don’t come after me, Jordan. It’s over.’

‘N
O!’

The shock of absolute finality from Ivy catapulted Jordan from the bench, the need to bar her exit from the pagoda slicing straight through the conflicts raging in his mind.

He couldn’t let her go.

That was the bottom line.

He stood in her way, hands held up in a commanding appeal to stop. She did, actually reeling back a step to keep distance between them, clutching her handbag as a defensive shield, her lovely green eyes awash with tears, drowning pools of despair begging him to let her pass without interference.

It screwed up his thoughts and emotions even further. He cared about this woman, didn’t want to give her pain, hated her distress. The urge to sweep her into his em brace and give her every physical comfort he could—kiss her tears away, cradle her head on his shoulder, stroke her hair—stormed through him. Only the absolute certainty in the saner part of his mind that it would be a mistake held him back. She would fight him, hate him for not respecting her decision.

He had to fight the decision, change it around. But what with? She had spoken the truth. All the weekends
with Ivy
had
been a getaway from his normal life. It had made them special.
She
had made them special. He hadn’t wanted anything she might not like to intrude on what they had together.

He’d deliberately spun that strategy out, using the cruise to keep it going, because he had expected their relationship to hit a snag somewhere along the line and come to an end. It was a perfectly rational expectation. He had actually anticipated his
real life
becoming one of the snags, not the omission of it.

‘I simply wanted you to be happy with me, Ivy,’ he explained. ‘Happy with where we were and what we were doing.’

‘Happy to be in your bed,’ she retorted fiercely, dashing the tears from her eyes, her chest heaving as she scooped in a deep breath and faced him with what she believed. ‘It’s just sex with you, isn’t it, Jordan? You’re not looking for a life partner. You certainly don’t see me as one. So why don’t you
simply
admit that and let me pass because we are not going anywhere any more.’

A life partner…

No, he hadn’t been looking for one, had been determined on not going down the marital road with all its pitfalls to suck a man down. Yet, might they not be avoid ed with a woman like Ivy?

Why not try it?

The thought zapped into Jordan’s mind and grew powerfully persuasive tentacles. Margaret approved of her. Having the two women in his household sharing an easy bond was a very positive plus. Besides, a marriage proposal was the strongest possible way of rebutting the reasons Ivy gave for walking away.

It proved he wanted a real relationship with her. He wouldn’t lose her today. That was certain. As for the fu
ture, if it didn’t work out, Ivy was not the kind of person who would milk him for all she could get. He was as sure of that as it was possible to be. Besides, right now he didn’t care if there was a price to be paid down the line. He wasn’t ready to let her go.

A public engagement would make the transition to sharing his world much easier. People would be currying favour from her, not wanting to upset her in any fashion. It gave her protection from the gossips, from the guys who might want to hit on her, and the mean-spirited women who might be jealous of her success with him.

Most critically, it bought more time.

‘You’re wrong, Ivy,’ he said, his conviction that this was the right move already cemented in his mind. ‘I was keeping you to myself because what we have together was and is the most important thing in my life and I want it to go on being the most important. I hadn’t planned to ask you at this point but I will because I believe we do and can have a great relationship, regardless of our different worlds.’

He saw the outright rejection of him begin to waver in her eyes, felt an exhilarating burst of adrenaline at the sure prospect of winning.
Seal the deal,
he told himself. Then he could take her in his arms and make her happy with him again.

‘Ask me what?’ Even her voice was furred with uncertainty.

‘To marry me.’

She looked totally stunned.

He spread his hands in open appeal as he nailed home what he was offering. ‘To become my wife, Ivy. To be my partner in life. To share everything, the good and the bad.’

He took a step towards her.

She didn’t move. Her eyes were glazed with shock.

‘To make a future together, have children,’ he went on, surprising himself with what was coming out of his mouth, but not caring, intent on pursuing the need to have this woman, moving closer, reaching out, curling his hands around her upper arms, his eyes boring a determined hole through her shock, to engage her mind, her heart with a completely different scenario to the one she had brought to him today.

‘Ivy, you’re the right woman for me,’ he pressed. ‘Don’t you see that? Don’t you
feel
it?’

She stared at him, her gaze swallowed up by deep green pools of vulnerability. He saw her struggling with the wish to believe. There was no resistant strength in her hands when he took her handbag and tossed it onto the bench, no resistance in her body as he drew it against his. He gently cupped her face, the fire in his belly blazing from his eyes.

‘I won’t ask you to give up your farm. I won’t demand that you do anything you don’t want to do. We’ll sort out how best to work our partnership as we go along, find a balance that we’re both comfortable with. We’ve been good at that so far, haven’t we?’

She was listening, still wary of believing but weighing up what he was saying, wanting it to be true.

He had to make it ring true.

‘And if you’re ready and willing to mix in with my usual social scene, we can start that this weekend,’ he went on, driven to rid her of all doubt. ‘I haven’t been hiding you in my closet, Ivy. I’ve been waiting for you to feel confident at my side, confident enough to take on anything with me because I’m your man. Not a playboy. Your man,’ he repeated emphatically.

Tears welled into her eyes again, but there was hope
shining through them, hope and something that twisted Jordan’s heart, making him want to wrap her tightly in his arms and hold her safe from the whole world and any hurt in it.

She lifted her arms and wound them around his neck. Her lips quivered invitingly. The tension inside him eased. He had won. She wanted him to kiss her and he did with a passion, determined on making her feel she was the right woman for him, the only woman. And the way she kissed him back made him feel it, too. Excitement sizzled through him, urging him to go further, take all he could of her, complete possession.

No. Better not to risk it. Not when she’d thought he on ly wanted her for sex. There had to be some talking first. Her body had always responded to him, but he had to be sure her mind was clear of all bad thoughts, clear on where they were now heading. She hadn’t agreed to it yet. Not verbally. Though one thing was certain. She was not about to leave him now.

He forced himself to check the desire that could so swift ly consume good intentions and slowly managed to control himself enough to murmur against her lips, ‘Say yes, Ivy. Say yes to us having a future together.’

‘Yes,’ she said on a sigh of surrender that was blissfully sweet to his ears.

She lifted her head back and gave him a tremulous smile. ‘I’m sorry I got it so wrong, Jordan.’

‘Not your fault.’ He stroked the lovely tilted corner of her mouth. ‘I did straighten Olivia out on how I felt about you. What we’ll do now is make it very public so there’ll be no mistake from anyone about where our relationship stands.’

‘Public?’ Heat rushed into her cheeks at the thought of being thrust into the kind of limelight that had never
shone on her life. ‘Jordan, are you sure about this? Maybe we should wait awhile.’

He shook his head. ‘Yes means yes, Ivy.’ He wanted to get her tied to him as irrevocably as he could at this point. If either of them had doubts about marriage later, they could back out of it then. ‘You planned on staying here tonight. Before you go home in the morning, I’ll take you shopping for an engagement ring.’ He grinned. ‘What would you like? A diamond? An emerald to match your eyes? A ruby? Sapphire?’

She burst into nervous laughter. ‘I haven’t thought about it, Jordan. This is so…so…not what I expected from you.’

‘You can look at the ring on your finger and know it’s real. What’s more, I’ll have an announcement of our engagement put in Saturday’s
Morning Herald
so everyone will know it’s real. And an engagement party. I’ll ask my mother to put one on.’

Plans were racing through his mind. He’d sweep Ivy along with him so fast, she wouldn’t have time to have second thoughts; he’d open the closet door with a vengeance, plunge her into the society circus with his ring to make her sparkle at his side, then straight off on the cruise where he could keep reminding her of how good they were together. No negative comeback from that course of action.

‘It will have to be this Saturday night because we leave for our cruise next Wednesday.’

She looked dazzled. ‘What has to be this Saturday night?’

‘Our engagement party. Come on, Ivy…’ He dropped his embrace to take her hand and draw her with him. ‘Let’s go up to the house and break the news to Margaret.
Ask her to cook us a celebration dinner. Call my mother. Call your mother.’

He grabbed her handbag and passed it to her, then saw the tray he’d set on the table. ‘Better take that with us. We can swap the bottle of wine for champagne. This is definitely the night for it.’

Champagne… Ivy felt as though she had imbibed a whole bottle of it already. Her head was fizzing from the sheer rush of Jordan’s proposals…marriage, children, introduction to his family and friends…all unimaginable an hour ago. He had suddenly presented her with a dream life and it didn’t feel quite real. Maybe they could make it real. Certainly he was brimming over with confidence, pouring out his vision of their future together as they walked up to the house.

The weird part was she had been about to walk out of his life because he had avoided making a public show of their relationship, and now she felt frightened of what that show might entail. Jordan was probably the most eligible bachelor in Australia. Another girlfriend was not big news, but the notorious billionaire playboy getting married would instantly beam a spotlight on the fiancée whom no one knew anything about. How was she going to handle it? This was a huge leap from her normal, quiet life.

She tried to calm her wildly skittering heart by telling herself Jordan would be at her side. He was used to handling everything, master of any situation. And being with the man she loved…wasn’t that what she most wanted? Nothing else should really matter.

It suddenly struck her that Jordan hadn’t spoken of loving her.

But he must.

Why ask her to marry him if he didn’t?

Besides, she hadn’t said it, either.

It didn’t really need to be put into words.

She followed him into the kitchen where he set the tray on the island bench and whipped the bottle of wine out of the ice bucket, brandishing it at Margaret who looked relieved to see them together. ‘This is not good enough for us tonight,’ he said with a happy grin. ‘Congratulations are in order, Margaret. Ivy has just agreed to marry me.’

Her mouth dropped open in surprise. She goggled at Jordan for a moment, then looked at Ivy as though wondering if she’d heard right.

‘It’s true,’ Ivy said with a wry little smile, thinking they were probably going to get this reaction from everyone. After all, she hadn’t expected it herself.

‘Oh!’ Margaret cried, suddenly clapping her hands in delight. ‘You’ve made a wonderful choice, Jordan! You’re the best, Ivy. The very best.’

‘Glad to have your approval,’ Jordan rolled out, clearly riding a high. ‘You have an hour to whip us up a splendid dinner. I’ll take this tray of titbits, minus the wine, into the lounge room and get a bottle of champagne from the bar there. Ivy and I have some calls to make.’

Margaret ignored him, walking over to Ivy, taking her hands and pressing them with pleasure. ‘I’ll do everything I can to see that you’re happy here, my dear.’

The kind acceptance and welcome from Jordan’s housekeeper brought a lump of emotional gratitude to Ivy’s throat. She could only manage a husky, ‘Thank you.’

‘Go on now. You’ll be fine,’ Margaret assured her.

The housekeeper’s confidence in her settled some of Ivy’s nerves, but the sense of being on a roller-coaster
ride persisted, especially as she listened to Jordan’s side of his conversation with his mother.

He’d poured them glasses of champagne, made a toast to a happy future together, saw her seated on a sofa, and was walking around the room as he talked, giving out a crackling energy that was not about to be dampened by anything.

‘Mum, I need you to do me a favour. I’ve just asked Ivy Thornton to marry me. She’s said yes. And I want you to throw us an engagement party this coming Saturday night.’

His vivid blue eyes sparkled wickedly as he listened to what was undoubtedly a tirade of disbelief at the other end of the line. ‘Mum, I’m thirty-six years old and in full possession of all my faculties. I do not need your stamp of approval on my bride-to-be.’ He grinned at Ivy. ‘I love everything about her, and you will, too. That’s all you have to know.’

Love…

Her love for him poured into a smile that beamed with happiness. It was okay to marry him. As long as they loved each other, they could make it work.

‘No, I don’t want to wait. We’re buying the ring tomorrow and we’re flying off to Europe next week. I know it’s short notice but I’m sure you and your personal assistant can make it happen. Get Olivia to help with the guest list. She owes me big-time.’

He grimaced at whatever his mother said next. Then his face set in a look of ruthless determination. ‘No. No meeting beforehand. I won’t have Ivy subjected to any uneasiness caused by you or Olivia, who did her worst today. We’ll turn up on Saturday night and I expect both of you to be very warm and welcoming. As you should be.’