Thinking was the last thing he wanted to do,
but something about her love of these woods drew him in. They
walked in union deeper into the park at a slow, comfortable
pace.
She sat down on a wooden bench, slightly off
the main path. He sat beside her, completely at a loss for why she
had brought him there. Their earlier passion was put on pause. She
didn't say anything at first, so nor did he. For a man who
continually, almost compulsively, charged ahead, he was amazed by
the comfort he found in their shared silence and inactivity.
Despite the fact that they were both fully
dressed and separated by a few inches, he had never felt closer to
a woman. That this feeling of intimacy could come before sex scared
him. She was supposed to be a distraction; enjoyable but brief. She
wasn’t supposed to make him wonder how he was going return to his
normal life without her and if returning there was what he really
wanted to do at all.
In the shade of trees, he studied her content
profile. Her makeup had begun to smudge. The hard work of her
stylist was losing ground to her hair’s natural curl. She sensed
his scrutiny and peered back at him from beneath her naturally long
eyelashes. He’d never seen anyone more beautiful, but wasn’t the
type of man to spout flowery words. He settled for laying his hand
lightly over hers on the bench.
Their peace was broken by a wave of visitors
who passed through the forest at a breakneck speed, obviously
thinking like he had that this was the least impressive part of the
zoo. After the intrusion, Dominic was uncomfortable just sitting
there and mooning over Abby like a boy stricken with his first
crush.
He said, “I don't see any deer. What are we
doing here?”
"Waiting," she said. “The deer will
come.”
“Shouldn't you call them or something?”
Dominic asked.
Her warm brown eyes crinkled with amusement
as she smiled up at him. “They won't come if I call. That's what is
amazing about this place. You can't force a deer to come to you.
You can chase it, corner it, make all the threats you'd like, but a
deer won't come until it wants to.”
And then it dawned on him. “If this is your
attempt at an analogy between my sister and these timid creatures,
you obviously missed her claws.”
Abby opened the bag of kernels and threw some
on the ground around them. “I'm a good judge of people. Your sister
was scared.”
He scoffed at that. “Pissed is more like it.
Don't think you know her from one brief meeting. She's not a little
deer who is going to come running just because I toss some corn
down.”
“Why did you come back to Boston?”
Her question threw him. He'd come back
because Thomas had implied that his sister's welfare depended on
his presence at the reading. He'd thought that perhaps this time
she'd see reason and finally take his offer of money; therefore
escaping whatever web of control his father had spun.
Abby continued her cross examination. “You
said you don't care about the money, so you came back for your
sister.”
This woman saw too much.
“A lot of good that did,” he ground out. “Do
these deer throw the corn right back in your face as my darling
sister tosses any of my offers of assistance?”
Abby didn’t seem put off by his anger. “Maybe
you've never made her the right offer.”
Ha, if only that were true. “I’ve repeatedly
offered to help her financially. You heard her. She doesn't want
anything from me.”
“All I heard her say is that she didn't want
your money.”
“And that I'm a lousy brother.” Dominic added
with self-disgust.
“No, that may be what you heard, but that's
not what she was saying.” Abby’s confidence was grating.
“And after meeting her once, you know her so
well?”
“After a lifetime of being her brother, do
you know her at all?” she challenged. “I’m not saying I have all
the answers, but my sister and I had a similarly strained
relationship for years.”
Dominic remembered what he’d read in Abby’s
profile. She’d practically raised her sister. Their situations were
nothing alike. “You and your sister still live together. You seem
to be close. It’s not the same at all. I’ve haven’t had a real
conversation with my sister in years.”
Abby turned her hand under his to give him a
supportive squeeze. “Neither had I, until last night. Sure, we
lived together, but that just made it worse. I got to see up close
and everyday how distant we had become.”
“And all of that changed last night?” He
raised a doubting eyebrow.
Abby’s expression grew wistful. “We
reconnected. I’m not saying it’s perfect, but it’s better now – so
much better. You and your sister could find that, too. Nicole just
needs time and maybe a softening in your approach.”
A small doe came out of the tree line,
leading a tentative group of about six other deer. They watched
Abby and Dominic carefully as they nibbled on the furthest and
safest kernels.
One large buck stepped out of the group and
approached the seated pair. Abby reached into her bag and filled
her palm with his reward. The others became bolder and soon the
small bench was surrounded by hungry deer.
Abby poured some of the kernels into
Dominic's hand. He reached forward and was surprised by how softly
the fragile animals took the treat. He was further surprised by the
feeling of triumph he felt that they trusted him enough to bring
their young ones closer to the bench.
Abby looked on with a real expression of
pleasure.
He announced, “This changes nothing. You
heard my sister. She doesn’t want anything from me.”
Abby simply gave him more corn and said, “Who
are you trying to convince, me or you?”
The ring of Dominic's cell phone scattered a
few of the deer. It rang again, but he didn't reach for it.
Abby turned to him as the rings grew louder,
“Aren't you going to answer it?”
I should. Jake wouldn't call him again so
soon if it weren't an emergency. Dominic dug the phone of his front
pocket and flipped it open. “Corisi,” he said with all the
impatience he felt.
“We've got a problem,” Jake announced. “You
need to get back to New York ASAP.”
“That is a problem,” Dominic answered,
“because I have no intention of returning till next week.”
Jake was not deterred by his refusal. “I just
got off the phone with a contact we have within the Chinese
Promotion Investment Agency. He says you've offended the Minister
of Commerce. By missing his meeting, the Minister has lost face and
is doubting your guanxi.”
“My what?”
“Your personal relationship with him. Your
mutual trust. Whatever. I can't fix this without you. You're going
to have to drop whatever you're doing and fly to Beijing to meet
with him in person this week or the whole project is going to be
tabled.”
Beijing was the last place Dominic wanted to
be. He wasn’t ready to step back into his old life yet. He wanted a
few more days of simply being with Abby. No pressure. No
expectations. With her, he was rediscovering who he was beneath all
of his anger and ambition and he liked the man he saw reflected in
her eyes.
“This contract will benefit them as much as
it will us. What are they stalling for?” Dominic’s voice revealed
his growing frustration.
“We didn't take into account the level of
importance the Chinese place on personal relationships. They aren't
going to move forward until you go out there and talk to them. Our
contact says, unlike the impatient Americans -- they have all the
time in the world. We can't afford to have this project put on
hold. Our investors are already getting nervous.”
A group of children saw the deer that still
lingered around Dominic and Abby and came screaming toward
them.
“What is that noise, Dominic? Where the hell
are you?”
“At the zoo,” Dominic answered absently.
Jake grunted in agreement. “Sounds like one.
What are you, outside a toy store or something?”
“No, I'm actually at a zoo.” Abby shouldered
the blame with a shameless shrug and continued listening to his
side of the conversation with undisguised curiosity.
Jakes voice rose an octave. “A zoo as in with
real caged animals?”
“Are there any other kind?”
“Huh.” For a moment that stumped Jake.
Dominic could almost hear his thoughts, This is worse than I
thought. “Ok, then. Give the monkeys the rest of the peanuts and
head for the airport. Your plane is fueling up at Logan as we
speak.”
Dominic hadn’t become successful without
learning how to adapt quickly to changing situations. He turned to
his deer wise companion and asked, “Would you like to see
Beijing?”
Abby’s mouth dropped open. “You mean in
China? I don't have a passport.”
Dominic addressed Jake again while he stood,
pulling Abby up next to him. “I'll be flying out of Boston in a
little over an hour. Have a passport for Abigail Dartley waiting in
New York along with the paperwork I need. Have Duhamel fly back
before us and pack luggage for two. She'll know what I'm talking
about. We'll fuel up and fly over tonight.”
“You’re taking your housekeeper?” Jake asked
incredulously.
“Just do it.” Dominic clicked his phone shut.
He held onto Abby’s cold hand despite her attempts to tug it free.
Bringing her with him made sense and taking action made him feel
calmer, more in control of the situation.
Abby held her ground when he tried to pull
her with him along the path. She dug her heels in until he was
forced to turn around and look down at her.
She was one stubborn woman.
“I can't go to China. I have responsibilities
here. Lil is still sick...” Abby said in rushed tones.
Dominic brushed aside her concerns. “Duhamel
sent a nanny over to help her while you were out today. We'll just
hire her to stay.”
Simple enough.
He tried to guide her
forward, but she wasn’t budging.
“China? I can't just go there...with not even
a toothbrush,” Abby said. Her hand fluttered within his, giving him
the first indication that she wasn’t as confident as she
appeared.
"We'll buy everything you need. Now come on,”
he said in a voice that made most businessmen rush to action and
most women try to appease him.
She did neither.
"I can't..." she said again, undaunted by his
tone.
Now was not the time for her adorable
stubborn streak to rear its head. He’d already decided that he
wasn’t going to China without her. Still, outright ordering her had
not been effective so far. He was going to have to try something
else.
He reached for her, drawing her fully against
him. Desire quickly replaced resistance and proved to be an
effective bargaining tool. “I want you to come. You know you want
to come. Just this once, don’t play it safe.”
"China?" she asked weakly, as if she was
trying to remember the topic of their discussion.
Dominic swept down to taste the lips she’d
licked moist in anticipation. Her quickly indrawn breath brushed
her excited nipples against his chest. It was the best yes she
could have given him; leaving them both trembling with desire, and
him looking forward to the long flight ahead.
Chapter Nine
A few hours later Abby was seated on a long,
built-in plush couch that lined one side of the interior room of
Dominic's private plane. Despite the fact that she'd had time to
explore the whole thing a few times over during their flight from
Boston to New York, she was still in awe of the sheer size of it.
It was ultra modern with light green accent pillows and trim. There
were multiple bedrooms, an exercise room, a shower, a small movie
theatre and even a Jacuzzi. Why any plane would have such a tub was
beyond Abby, but if she'd doubted Dominic's wealth before, there
was no question of it now.
For a woman who had never flown before, this
was a surreal, knee knocking adventure. She would have liked to
share the experience with someone, but Dominic had been on the
phone for most of the flight, giving orders to employees on two
continents.
Abby had friends, but none who would believe
her if she tried to explain anything about the last two days. Only
Lil knew and she'd screamed with excitement at the news that Abby
was leaving the country with Dominic. Lil loved the nanny Mrs.
Duhamel had sent over and was thrilled that Abby was finally out
there living.
Abby wished she were as certain that she'd
made the right choice. It was one thing to spend the day with a man
she hardly knew, it was another to commit to an international
outing. She didn't know where they would be staying, who she would
meet while there, or when they would return.
She wanted to dig in her heels and demand the
information, but Dominic's entire staff was working in crisis mode.
Dominic himself was fielding questions that seemed to dwarf hers in
comparison.
Who could order a man to hang up on the
President of the United States to provide her with an itinerary of
their trip? Which Senator could she interrupt to ask about the
hotel they would be staying in?
During this short layover in New York,
Dominic was seated at a conference table reviewing the contents of
several folders with Jake, a man Dominic had quickly introduced
then ushered away from her.
She could hear parts of their conversation,
but not enough to make sense of their purpose for this emergency
flight to Beijing, other than that the officials would not
negotiate with anyone besides Dominic and the governments of both
countries were counting on him to remedy the situation.
Jake's pristine business suit and
conservative hairstyle made Dominic's casual attire and wind blown
appearance look a bit wild in contrast.
Abby stood to join Mrs. Duhamel when she
arrived, followed by a young man who was carrying several bags.
"I've stored the majority of the luggage below, but it's a long
trip, I thought you'd want some sleepwear, some toiletries for when
you shower, and a change of clothes for tomorrow. With the change
in time zones, you'll be arriving there about noontime, their
time."