Sighing, she pushed thoughts of her dreams out of the way as she searched out the bathroom. She didn’t have time for little things like that. She had to get moving, get back to her father. He was probably asking about her and she didn’t want to keep him waiting. She had to confess, Helen told herself. Oh, she’d told him the whole story yesterday just as soon as she’d arrived, crying out her grief and guilt at her behavior. But he’d been unconscious at the time, so that confession didn’t really count.
She stepped into the bathroom, glad that it was miraculously free. She wasn’t sure where he went, but suspected that he’d gone through the other door. Where that led to, she wasn’t going to find out.
The shower was heavenly. She couldn’t believe how nice the water was and how the heat melted some of the tension of the day before. She didn’t linger though. She was afraid to be away from her father for too long. She worried that she might miss something if she weren’t right by his side.
While she was showering, Alex must have gone to another bathroom because he was already showered and shaved by the time she stepped out of the bathroom, a fluffy white towel wrapped around his lean waist, showing off his washboard stomach and making her shiver with excitement.
Not the time, she told herself and looked away. “Um…where are my clothes?” she asked nervously, securing the large towel around her body as best she could. She’d love to have a robe, or even better, a very dowdy outfit right about now, especially when he turned to face her, seeing what she wasn’t wearing and his eyes flared. Helen could see the desire all the way across the room and hated the blush that stole up her neck and into her cheeks.
“They’re in the closet,” he said, pointing to another door, but said nothing about the fact that she was in his bedroom with only a towel wrapped around her.
Helen walked carefully over to the door, holding the towel in place. She was terrified that it would fall and reveal everything and she wasn’t able to walk around naked as casually as….Oh no! Alex just pulled off his towel and was following her into the closet.
“What are you doing?” she gasped, backing into the wall, her eyes slipped to his chest, and lower, but then she squeezed her eyes shut.
She heard Alex’s deep chuckle but didn’t dare open her eyes. “Helen, you’ve seen, and more importantly, felt, everything so I’m not sure why you’re being so shy now. You certainly weren’t shy the previous night.”
“No!” she gasped and turned around. “You don’t understand. My father’s in the hospital because of me. I did this to him!”
There was a long silence and Helen could feel his eyes on her. He didn’t touch her, but she knew that he was trying to work out what she’d just said. “What the hell are you talking about?” he demanded.
“My promise! Remember?” she implored. “I let him down and somehow he found out. I’ve obviously hurt him so deeply by what we did together that I shamed him and caused his heart attack.” Taking a deep breath, she shook her head and squared her shoulders with determination. “I can’t let him down again.”
Alex sighed and came closer, apparently unaware of his nakedness and the effect it was having on her. “Helen, listen carefully to me. Your father was in business and with that comes a lot of stress. Your father didn’t find out about our night together and he won’t, unless you tell him. That’s up to you.” He pulled her into his arms and held her gently, but wouldn’t let her have any space when she struggled against him. “Helen, you said you’d promised him that you wouldn’t have sex until you were married, right?”
Helen nodded, feeling her cheek brush against the hair against his chest and liking it, loving the way he smelled and the strong arms that held her, soothing her, one hand rubbing up and down her spine and slightly massaging her tense neck muscles. “Yes. He always said that he wanted me to be the kind of woman that men respected.”
“I respect you, Helen. And we’re getting married.” His tone would brook no argument, but that wasn’t unusual. He was used to setting down commands and having people following them instantly and without question.
All the tension was instantly back and her spine stiffened as her mind absorbed his words. When she finally understood, her brain shifting into high gear and comprehension filled in, she struggled against him, wanting to get away, to shove him farther from her and out of her reality. “No!” she said with a vengeance.
“Excuse me?” he asked, his voice calm and deadly. “We’re getting married, Helen. Just accept it.”
She sputtered at his audacity and shook her head, pulling down the first pair of jeans she encountered from a hanger. “I won’t! And there’s really nothing you can say that will make me marry you. The idea is ridiculous,” she snapped and stomped out of the closet, grabbing a white tee-shirt as she went.
Standing in the middle of the masculine bedroom, she was now stumped. She had outer clothes but Helen had no idea where his household staff had stored her underwear. She thought about putting on her jeans without underwear, but she just couldn’t do it.
Alec walked out, buttoning a pair of soft jeans himself, leaving the top button undone while he searched for a shirt. “That’s not fair,” she gasped, her eyes watching him as he casually walked out of the closet.
“I’m sorry?” he asked, stopping right in front of her and looking down into her troubled eyes. “I’m getting dressed, just as you are. What, in this particular instance is not fair except for the fact that you’re denying me my rights to marry you.”
Helen’s mouth fell open. “You’re rights?!” She couldn’t fathom what he was talking about. “What rights am I denying you?”
“You had sex with me two nights ago. That was implicit agreement that you would marry me,” he explained as if that were the most logical comment anyone had ever made.
“There were no assumptions made. Anything you assumed, you did on your own and I won’t be responsible for the warped way your mind works.”
He walked up to her and, with one hand, he snapped the towel out of her hands. “What…?” she gasped and tried to take a step back but he captured her with his strong hands. “You can’t…” she started to say but he stopped her completely by covering her mouth with his own, his tongue invading and forcing her to kiss him back. She resisted for maybe half a second before giving in to the desire to touch and feel and kiss and taste. There was no getting out of it, she wanted this man desperately.