“Jack?” she whispered, her eyes wide with both confusion and fear.
His mouth compressed into a line as he came to the point where he had to admit his deceit. He wasn’t proud of it, but he wouldn’t have changed anything. Being Jack had given him a taste of what Rachel was like as a woman versus what she would have shown him if she’d known who he was.
Bowing slightly, he mocked the names he’d been given as a child. “Emerson Jackson Watson, at your service. And you are Rachel Carson, my new intern. Let’s go.” He turned around without another word and walked out of her office. She blinked, trying to absorb what he’d just told her.
“Wait a minute,” she called out to him, uncaring that the rest of her co-workers were all watching avidly as he turned around, wanting to see this drama played out. “Are you telling me that you…?”
He stopped, bracing himself for the hurt in those lovely, green eyes. “I’m the man you’ve been trying to find for the past three weeks. So now that you have me, it’s up to you to take the internship or leave it. Either way, you have five minutes to grab your things and meet me downstairs or toss the opportunity to someone else. The choice is all yours.”
Without another word, he turned around and walked out of the building.
Rachel stood there, wondering what had just happened. The hurt that was starting to build up inside of her was almost debilitating. Jack and Emerson Watson were one and the same? That didn’t make any sense. Jack was a handyman. Emerson Watson was one of the wealthiest men in the world! What was going on?
Her manager stepped closer, his eyes moving between the now-closed elevator doors and her pale features. “Ms. Carson, you’re exceptional work over the past few weeks has provided you with a great deal of visibility. Hence your newest role as Mr. Watson’s intern,” he told her sternly. “You have been given an opportunity that people would literally kill for. What are you doing standing here staring at the empty hallway?” her boss asked, looking at her as if she’d lost her mind.
Rachel looked at her boss, her mind still in a quandary. But she quickly grabbed her purse and her computer, not even bothering to put it on suspend as she raced out of the office to find Jack. Or Emerson. Or whoever. She was so confused!
Emerson waited, glancing at his watch carefully. He wasn’t sure if he wanted Rachel to accept the internship or reject it. He had no idea if he’d have a better chance of keeping her either way.
But then his heart sank when she burst through the doors though. He’d hoped she’d turn him down, that she wouldn’t want to go through all of this. He’d shown her how nice life could be without the demented push of Wall Street, but apparently she needed convincing. Or he might actually lose her. He accepted that, if she liked the life, if she thrived in the world of the Manhattan financial district, then he never had her anyway. He stepped into the limousine, not even waiting for her to reach him. People who succeeded big in this business were not kind, they were not considerate. They were out for themselves. They played stupid power games to show their opponents that they were more important. He’d played all those games extremely well, never losing a battle. It was time to teach Rachel all of those subtle, and some not so subtle, tricks.
Rachel walked over to the limousine and peered inside. “Get in,” he snapped at her.
As soon as she was seated, the driver pulled away from the curb. “Where are we going?” she asked, still clutching her purse and laptop to her chest nervously. This wasn’t a man she recognized. He was still awesomely attractive, but in a completely different way.
He looked over at her, enjoying the lush beauty of the woman even as he acknowledged her growing fear. “My plane is standing by to take us to Manhattan. We have several meetings to attend this afternoon and a charity dinner tonight.”
“A charity dinner?” she asked weakly. “Why would we go to a charity dinner?” She’d been hoping to get him alone so she could figure out what was going on. “And why did you call yourself Emerson? Can you explain all of this to me?”
He turned ever so slightly, his eye glancing at her briefly before looking back out through the window. “Simply put, I am Emerson Jackson Watson. You went up to Maine three weekends ago to find me and you succeeded.”
Her heart was starting to hurt at his words. “You mean you tricked me?” She felt betrayed somehow.
He watched her carefully, seeing her confusion slowly turn to anger. She had to learn to hide her emotions, he thought. He didn’t want her hurt and letting someone else know that they’d scored. That knowledge would only reveal her weaknesses to her enemies. She’d have to toughen up. “I never lied to you, if that’s where your mind is going. I simply didn’t tell you the whole truth.”
“Isn’t that the same thing?” she demanded, becoming angry now. He’d played her for a fool! Even Molly had known what was going on…and all those people at the bar and around town! They all knew who Jack was. And what she’d been doing there. She’d been a complete fool! And he’d initiated every humiliating part of the process!
As all of those thoughts swirled around in her brain, her anger built up to monumental levels. All that time, all those special moments, he’d only been laughing at her, probably joking with his friends at the bar after she’d left, laughing about how gullible she was. “Damn you! You lied to me!”
He wasn’t going to let her get away with that one. He’d never lied. He might have not told her the whole truth, but he wasn’t going to apologize for what he’d done. In the end, hopefully she would understand. She was hurt now, but if he could show her…
He shook his head, refusing to let his mind go down that road. “No. I didn’t lie to you. And if you think an omission is a lie, then you’d better toughen up right now because where we’re going, omissions are a part of every conversation. Read between the lines, figure out what people aren’t telling you. Figure out the whole truth even when it isn’t written out for you in plain English.”
She wiggled uncomfortably in the plush, leather seat of the limousine, glaring right back at him. “Is that your first lesson?”
He looked down at her carefully, aware that her cheeks were flushed and she was fighting back tears. He refused to give in to those tears, to relent in any way. She had to go through this. She had to choose. Because he couldn’t go back to that life. And he desperately wanted her to come back to his. He wanted her in his life! He’d just have to show her how difficult the life was that she thought she wanted.