Authors: Jayne Castle
"As it turned out," he went on more easily, watching with satisfaction as the color receded from her flushed cheeks, "your crime hadn't been that monumental."
"So you kindly decided to temper your retribution?" Janna managed to mock, privately convinced she'd had one heck of a narrow escape.
"I'm glad you appreciate how much I did temper it!"
"You could have fooled me! I'm going to have an awful time facing the people who were at that party Saturday night!" Janna's sense of humor warred with her remembered outrage.
"But you won't have to face them ever again, Janna," Adam pointed out deliberately.
"What are you talking about? I have to work with some of them and I see a lot of the others when they use the library."
Adam drew a determined-sounding breath. "Not any more," he corrected on a cooler note.
"Are you trying to tell me something?" Janna asked warily.
"I know the library is closed to the public this week, but are the administration offices open?"
Janna eyed him, wondering what he had in mind. "Well, yes. The Head Librarian and her assistant usually work during the vacation periods. Why?"
"Because we are going to drive back to La Paloma today so that you can turn in your resignation, that's why! Effective today." Adam looked as if he expected an argument and Janna didn't disappoint him.
"Today! Adam, I can't do that! Two weeks or a month's notice is expected. Besides, quitting one's job is a very final action! It would be better to wait and see...!" she began, flustered by the forbidding expression on Adam's face.
"Wait and see how you like living with me in San Jose? Sorry, Janna, there are no trial relationships being offered and I refuse to wait two weeks or a month to have you with me!" He sounded grim and adamant. Janna could almost visualize him negotiating a contract or business transaction. Once he had made up his mind he wouldn't give an inch!
"Adam, be reasonable," she tried again in what she hoped was a rational manner. "I'm a professional. My work is important to me and I..."
"You're going to be mine. Completely and totally mine. Starting tonight!" he informed her in clipped tones. "We're going back to La Paloma this afternoon and you're going to cut all your ties at to the college, your work, and your apartment. I'll arrange for movers to take care of the contents of your place sometime next week."
Janna stared at him. She had told herself almost from the first that Adam would be demanding and possessive of any woman who took the dangerous step of tying herself to him, but lately she had been thinking in terms of physical possession. It had been difficult enough adjusting to his terms of capitulation in that area until last night when nothing else had mattered anymore. Now she was finally having it brought home to her how far his dominance would extend in her life. She met his eyes searchingly, trying to see past the steel which colored them at the moment. Could it be that Adam was demanding so much because deep down he really wasn't all that certain of her? It was a striking thought.
"You want everything, don't you, Adam?" she asked softly, remaining very still in front of him.
"I have to have it all, little queen," he said, inclining his head in a small gesture of agreement. Such a fine, proud head, Janna thought inconsequentially. "With you," he went on slowly, "it has to be surrender. I told you that the night we had dinner in La Paloma. Remember?" He sounded so hard and tough Janna wanted to scream and yell in her frustration over his intransigence. But something stopped her. It wasn't simply the knowledge that he would probably win, it was her realization that he was so determined to win. Surely most men, even Adam, would not be so possessive and domineering with a woman they wanted only for an indefinite affair. Or would they ? Janna just didn't know and she had to take the next step in the dark, guided only by her feminine instinct.
Perhaps, she told herself on a rising tide of hope, Adam didn't understand that deep down he was in love with her, too! Then again, perhaps she was the one who didn't fully comprehend the situation. Adam might be like this with every woman who took his fancy. But Nat had said he was kind to his women! Janna stifled a sigh. It could be that other women received kindness from this man because they didn't fight him as much as she did.
"You said that with me surrender would be equivalent to love," Janna managed tightly.
"You are so proud, so fiesty and I want you to be so certain of how much you belong to me. I have to know and you have to understand that no matter how much you rebel or dig in your lovely heels, when I do call you to me, you will always come, regardless of how angry or upset with me you happen to be at the time."
"And making me quit my job on such short notice is a way of proving to both of us that you can command me?" janna whispered.
"One way," he agreed without any sign of embarrassment. So autocratic!
"Do you have any idea how incredibly un-modern you sound, Adam Halleck?" Janna demanded, her mouth curving gently into a slow smile. There wasn't any choice for her today. She had made her choice last night. She knew, deep in the feminine core of her, that she would continue to fight him from time to time but, ultimately, she was his and on the occasions when he chose to exercise his mastery over her she would have to acknowledge it.
"It's not a question of being old-fashioned or modern," Adam pointed out firmly. "It's only a matter of you being you and me being me. I think both of us would have been the same sort of people regardless of the age into which we had been born." His face softened a fraction as he held out his arms.
"Come here, Janna, and tell me you will do as I say."
Janna hesitated an instant, saw something which looked almost like a flash of pain in Adam's eyes and moved instantly, stepping into his arms and sliding her hands around his neck. The pain or uncertainty, whatever it had been, vanished from the greyish gaze as fast as it had come, leaving Janna unsure of what she had seen. But she knew she didn't want to see it return.
"I love you, Adam," she murmured, her head against his broad shoulder, enjoying the feel of his arms binding her to him. "I finally admitted it to myself yesterday and in a way you're right. It is a kind of surrender. I only know that where you're concerned I have no choice any more. I don't think I had much choice from the beginning!"
"Neither of us did," he whispered against her hair. "Tell me what I want to hear."
"I'll hand in my notice today." Janna lifted her head to meet his eyes briefly. "I only hope you're not going to want me to stop working completely! You won't mind if I look for another job in San Jose, will you?"
"If I said I wouldn't allow you to work again, what would you do?" he smiled challengingly.
Janna licked her lips quickly and then said very seriously. "I'd...I'd try to adjust..." She was interrupted by Adam's crack of laughter.
"So noble: Don't worry, little queen. I've worked too hard for too long not to understand how important having a job can be in a person's life. I wouldn't deny you that. You're free to find a position in San Jose if that's what you want. But I can't allow you to spend the next month working three hours' drive away from me! Nor am I going to commute by plane every day. I want you with me from now on. I almost ran off with you that night when I invited you to spend the weekend with me and you refused!"
"The night you walked me home from the library?"
"That's right. But I convinced myself you deserved a little more time to come to terms with the situation between us. Of course, Saturday morning I realized I didn't have to worry too much any more about the civilized approach!"
"Poor Adam!" Janna chuckled ruefully. "I wasn't aware of how much you restrained yourself!"
"Never more than last night," he put in with a distinct touch of pride, his arms tightening around her in a small hug. "I surprised myself more than you when I sent you off to bed after we'd gone as far as we had in front of the fireplace. I fully intended to make you mine last night, Janna. Tonight nothing will stop me."
"I didn't ask you to stop last night," she pointed out shyly, not lifting her head to look at him. The memory of how she had practically begged him to make love to her was still very vivid.
"I know, sweetheart," he replied, his voice deep and velvety. "But I wanted to be sure..."
"Sure that I really surrendered?" Janna could barely breathe the words.
"Sure that you really were in love with me," he elaborated gently. He shook his head. "But there couldn't be much doubt left in my mind after your antics last night and this morning! I didn't ask you to go through all that to prove your love! I would have been content just to be able to look into your eyes during breakfast and see the same look I had seen last night. Instead I was treated to that incredible bedroom scene and another, equally amazing skit this morning!"
"Well? What did you expect me to do last night?" Janna defended herself determinedly. "I knew Christy was going to try something. She told me quite plainly she had a...a plan. What I didn't give her credit for was having a backup plan, too!"
"Frank's arrival this morning as the outraged father?"
"Exactly. And don't tell me you could have handled both of them easily without my help! You persisted in thinking dear little Christy saw you as a father figure, of all things!"
"Don't remind me," he groaned. Then the highwayman's grin flashed into place across the hard features above her and the grey-green eyes darkened with a wickedly satisfied gleam as he held her slightly away from him.
"But it was worth it," he told her, "to see you behaving so fiercely possessive! My dragon queen in action!"
"Adam!" she protested, embarrassed. But he only laughed, spinning her around abruptly by the shoulders and giving her a push in the direction of the hall.
"Go and pack, little queen. We've got things to do today!"
Janna traveled a few feet, propelled by the casual power of his hands before she could stop and turn to face him.
"You're sure you want me to turn in my resignation and prepare to move to San Jose with you today? You don't want to...to perhaps wait a week or so and make certain..." Janna's voice trailed off weakly at the hardness which swirled deep in Adam's eyes.
"Do you?" he asked softly; too softly.
Janna took a deep breath, knowing she would do whatever she had to in order to hide the steel which surfaced so easily in this man. She much preferred the velvet...
"No. I'm ready, Adam," she said gently, truthfully. For another instant he faced her and then, apparently pleased with what he saw, he motioned her to hurry.
The trip back to La Paloma was a much more pleasant experience than the drive to Carmel had been, Janna reflected as they approached the outskirts of the college town. She was mildly tense at the prospect of facing her boss and handing in such short notice, but there wasn't any option. Adam wanted her, almost seemed to need the reassurance the action would provide and she couldn't deny him. It was a strange thing to be so much in a man's power, she though as Adam parked the big car in front of her apartment.
"You go and take care of your business at the library," he instructed, holding the door for her as she climbed out and stretched in reaction to the effects of a long drive. "I've got some business to attend. I'll meet you back here in about half an hour or forty-five minutes."
"Yes, Adam," she agreed, wondering what the rush was. He was probably anxious to get started back to San Jose and there was a lot to do here before they left. During the drive he explained he'd left one of his newer managers in charge until he could return and she had a hunch Adam was worrying slightly about the business. She should be flattered, Janna decided, that a man who clearly worked as hard as Adam did was willing to reorganize his schedule for the sole purpose of allowing himself time to pursue her!
She waved as he pulled away from the curb, curious about his 'business', in spite of herself. What did he have to do in La Paloma which couldn't be accomplished on her telephone? Perhaps see the movers and arrange for the packing and shipping of her goods.
Half an hour later, Janna emerged from the library's administrative offices, extremely grateful for the Head Librarian's understanding. It was true that the summer months were slow ones for the library and there would be plenty of time to find a replacement before the start of the busy fall term; nevertheless, no notice was still no notice! It would seem, Janna decided with a rueful shake of her head, that even in this enlightened and emancipated day, marriage was still considered an acceptable excuse for a woman to quit her job!
She was making her way across the quad, heading for the street which led to her apartment when she spotted Scott Barrett on the opposite sidewalk. Janna's first reaction was to avoid the man if possible. It might be cowardly, she told herself, but the memory of her undignified exit from the party Saturday night was still too fresh. Scott, however, made retreat an unworkable alternative. He caught her eye and deliberately crossed the pavement to confront her.
"Hello, Janna," he said coolly, coming to a halt in front of her. "I'm surprised to see you around so soon after your caveman friend carried you off into the night! Thought sure you'd be spending the week with him in his cave!"
Janna bit back a sharp retort, reminding herself that Scott had good reason to be angry with her. She had left him in an embarrassing situation that night and he, like any other man in similar circumstances, was not likely to forgive and forget. The fact that Janna might have been an innocent victim would never occur to him and, she admitted privately, how could she plead that what had happened wasn't her fault? She had known, hadn't she, that Adam would react strongly to her absence from the apartment when he arrived to pick her up that evening? She had guessed he wouldn't be able to find her but she should have known better, Janna thought with an inner smile. She wondered idly whether or not she'd have occasion to underestimate Adam in the future!