Claiming Her Billion-Dollar Birthright (12 page)

“So you're just gonna walk away from everything you've ever known instead.”

“Rather than lose her? Yeah. In a heartbeat.”

Blake nodded and grinned at him. “I can see that. What you didn't think about is, the Jarrod family won't let you resign.”

“You can't stop me.”

“No, but I can hire you again the minute you quit,” Blake told him. “And when I do, there'll be no restrictions, Christian.”

“What are you saying?”

“I'm saying what everybody knows. Don Jarrod was a hard man. I'm not him. And neither are my brothers.” Blake laughed aloud. “God, Christian, Melissa would
kill us all if we let you leave over something like this.”

Christian shook his head as if he couldn't believe how this conversation was going. He'd been prepared to lose everything to keep Erica. Now it seemed he was going to have it all. If he could convince the woman he loved that he deserved her.

Slapping him on the shoulder, Blake said, “We'll write up a new contract between you and the Jarrod Resort whenever you're ready.”

“I don't know what to say.”

“I think that's a first,” Blake told him with a laugh. “So you and Erica, huh?” His eyes went cool and serious for a moment. “I've had my issues with the new sister, but bottom line here is, she
is
my sister. So just to put you on alert—if you're not actually planning to marry her—you won't have a job to worry about. None of us will stand by and let anybody hurt her.”

“I don't want to hurt her. I want to marry her. All I have to do is convince her to say yes.”

“Good luck, man.” Blake held out a hand toward him. “And welcome to the family.”

Christian shook his friend's hand and hoped to hell his talk with Erica would go as well.

 

By the time the Jarrod jet landed at the small strip in Aspen, Erica was a woman on a mission. She was focused. Determined. She had her plan on facing down Christian all worked out and was eager to get on with it.

But her lovely, well-thought-out plan dissolved as she disembarked from the plane and saw a car waiting for her. The driver, an older man with grizzled black-and-white hair, smiled as he held out an envelope.

Curious, Erica opened it while the driver stacked her luggage in the trunk of the car. The note inside was short and in Melissa's handwriting.
Get in the car and don't ask any questions.

A spurt of irritation briefly shot through Erica, because now she'd have to wait to take care of the most important confrontation in her life. But just as quickly, she let go of her disappointment and told herself that her conversation with a hardheaded man could wait a while longer. If Melissa had gone to this much trouble, she must need Erica for something.

“Okay, then,” she said, smiling at her driver, “guess we should get going.”

“Yes, ma'am.” He opened the car door, saw her settled, then climbed behind the wheel. In a few minutes they were on the road to the resort and Erica was wondering what Melissa was up to. She had called her sister to let her know that she was coming home, so if there had been something wrong, wouldn't Melissa have told her about it already? Home.

That word settled in her heart and she had to smile. Oddly enough, after only three short weeks at Jarrod Ridge, the place
had
become home to Erica. She wasn't the same person she'd been when she arrived. Now, she was officially an
ex
big-city girl. She'd officially quit
her job. Oh, she'd have to go back to San Francisco soon, to arrange for the sale of her condo and to have her furniture shipped west. But she'd take care of that and get back to Jarrod Ridge as quickly as possible.

This was where she belonged now.

Her gaze scanned the scenery as it passed in a green-brown blur, her mind racing, dragging up image after image of Christian. She worried over how their talk would go and told herself that no matter what else happened, she would at least have the satisfaction of knowing she'd told him how she felt. If he still chose to walk away from her—well, she'd just make his life a living hell until he changed his mind.

In no time at all, the car was pulling through the resort's front gate. But instead of heading toward the hotel entry, the driver drove off on what had to be a service road. She looked behind her as the Manor receded into the distance and was then swallowed up by the cloud of dust flying up from behind the wheels of the car.

“Just where are we going?” she asked, despite Melissa's note.

“Only a minute or two more, miss,” the man said.

The trees were thicker here, lining either side of the road like soldiers at parade rest. She didn't recognize this area and realized that there was still a lot of the resort for her to explore and come to know. But she hadn't planned on doing it right now.

Finally the car came to a stop on the rutted road. The
driver helped her out, pointed to the tree line on her left and said, “Just head right through there, miss.”

Before she could ask any questions, the driver had hopped back into the car and disappeared down the road. “Perfect. What is going on?”

She headed off to her left and cocked her head to listen when she heard a familiar roar of sound. It was the river. Her heart started pounding and a tiny curl of nerves unspooled in the pit of her stomach. Still, she walked on, until she rounded a bend and saw a blanket spread out under the trees. Her breath caught in her chest as she realized that the driver had brought her to Christian's spot alongside the river. Since they'd taken the back way in, she hadn't recognized the place until now.

On that blanket was a silver ice bucket holding what looked like a bottle of champagne, and a picnic basket, its lid partially opened to allow a baguette to spear up.

Erica took a deep breath and when Christian stepped out from behind a tree, she felt hope and confusion tangle inside her. When she could speak without her voice breaking, she asked, “What's this about, Christian?”

“I needed to talk to you and I thought the best place to do that was here. In our spot.”

Our spot. Not his.
Ours.
That brief flash of hope she'd experienced began to shine more brightly. But even as it did, she wondered if maybe he'd brought her here to tell her he'd never love her. Maybe he had chosen
this particular spot to soften the blow of goodbye. So before he could speak, she did. “I have a few things I want to say to you, too.”

He came toward her, stepping out of the dappled shade into the wash of golden sunlight. “First hear me out, Erica.”

“No.” She skipped back out of reach of him, because she knew if he touched her, the words would dry up in her mind and she'd forget everything but the feeling of having his hands on her again. “Let me say this. I've been rehearsing it all the way here and I need to get it out.”

“Okay, then. Tell me.”

Nodding, she pointed at the picnic he'd set up in the shade and said, “First, let me say if you've brought me here to tell me goodbye, you can forget it.”

“Goodbye?” Christian reached for her, but she moved back and away again, frustrating him beyond belief. “I'm not—”

“Because I'm not going anywhere,” she said, lifting her chin and glaring at him. “I'm going to be right here. Every day. You'll have to see me, work with me, talk with me. Every day. And every day I'm going to remind you of how good we are together. Of what we could have had together if only you'd made the right choice. And I'm going to keep on reminding you of that until I convince you that we should be together even if it takes me another twenty years.”

Tears were shining in her eyes and that alone tore at Christian's heart and soul. “Don't, Erica. Don't cry.”

“I'm not crying,” she argued. “I'm arguing, and arguing makes me emotional.”

“I can see that,” he said, smiling now because she still loved him. Still wanted him. He hadn't ruined everything after all. “Now, will you listen to me?”

She sniffed, cast a look at the champagne picnic, then turned back to him. “I suppose.”

“Good, because you're not going to have to remind me for twenty years. Not even for twenty minutes.”

“I'm not?”

He walked to her, closing the distance between them with three long steps. He looked down into her whiskey-colored eyes and saw everything he had ever wanted shining back at him. How could he have thought for even one minute that he would be willing to do without her? That he would be
able
to be without her?

Not a chance.

“I went to Blake while you were gone and I quit my job as family attorney.”

“What?” She pushed at him. “You can't do that! I won't let you give up everything you worked for just because Don Jarrod was a medieval warlord. And Blake shouldn't allow it, I'm going to—”

Christian laughed as she turned from teary to warrior in the blink of an eye. God, life with her was going to be fascinating. “You don't have to do anything. Blake refused to let me resign. Said he'd just hire me again without all the qualifiers his father insisted on.”

“So you're not leaving?”

“No.”

She watched him warily. “And you're not going to pull away from me again?”

“No.” He pulled her into his arms and held her tightly to him until he felt her return his embrace, her arms winding about his waist as she clung to him. Then his world righted and Christian knew everything was going to be all right. “I'm never letting you go again. I love you, Erica. Have from the moment I met you. When you left…”

He pulled back and stared down into her eyes. He lifted one hand to cup her cheek and then smoothed his fingers through her hair, loving the cool, slick slide of it against his skin. “When you left, you took my heart with you. I knew then that nothing I had, nothing I had worked for, was worth anything without you in my life.”

She sighed, and a soft, amazingly beautiful smile curved her mouth as she looked up at him. “Christian, I love you so much.”

“Thank God,” he muttered.

She laughed a little. “I thought for sure I'd have to argue for hours to convince you that you loved me.”

“No arguments necessary,” he said. Then he reached into his pocket, pulled out a small, dark red velvet box and opening it, held it out to her.

Sunlight danced off the enormous diamond and shone in her eyes as he watched her. He took the ring from the box and slid it onto her finger, all while she simply stared up at him, with a bemused smiled on her lovely face.

“I finally figured it out.”

“What?” she asked, glancing down at the beautiful promise glittering on her hand.

“That all I need is you. If I have you, I have everything. Without you, there's nothing.”

“Oh, Christian…” Tears fell, sliding along her cheeks, but her smile was as brilliant as the diamond on her finger.

“Marry me, Erica. Make a family with me.”

“Yes!” she shouted the single word, then laughed in delight. “Yes, I'll marry you and I swear, I will love you forever.”

He kissed her hard and fast, then drew back and grinned at her. Erica threw her arms around his neck and hung on for all she was worth as he swung her into a dizzying circle. The world rushed by, a blur of color and sound, but in the center of it all, they were together.

As they were meant to be.