The Tycoon's Tender Triumph (13 page)

After several hours
of working and tinkering
, she felt as if she’d made a great deal of progress.

Looking at her watch though, she noticed that she had to hurry if she
was
going to be ready for the evening.  She had to not only get her dress on and do something with her hair, but she also had to mentally brace herself for an evening with Sam.  She knew he was going to ask her questions and she wasn’t prepared to answer them. 

She showered and pulled on a cotton robe with little roses on the collar, feeling silly and young.  As she applied her makeup, she used a heavier hand than normal.  With curlers in her freshly blow dried hair and an eye brow curler, she wondered what Sam would think of her in this getup. 
He
would
probably
cringe and walk away, she thought with a smile. 

Blue eye liner,
black
mascara, soft, blue eye shadow, pink lipstick, concealer to hide the dark circles under her eyes and powder.  At least her face was ready.  Pulling the curlers out of her hair, she managed to twis
t the silky strands
up into a high crown on her head, looking at a picture of a magazine.  In the end, she thought she looked rather nice.  She might not be able to cook, but she was pretty darn good at styling her own hair. 

Pulling on the bright blue cocktail dress she’d never worn before, she felt pretty and sophisticated.  And more than ready to face Sam.

Or so she thought.  When the doorbell rang, her fingers immediately started shaking once again.  She hated that but it couldn’t be helped.  Picking up her black coat from
years gone by
, she hid her hands under th
e coat as she walked through the cozy, lived-in
family room
with the tattered but extremely comfortable furniture
to answer the door.

She hid her gasp as she took in Sam, in all his amazing glory as he stood there in a tuxedo and
a
dark
,
soft, cashmere coat.  He was stunning, she thought as he ducked to walk through the doorway, taking off his cowboy hat as he entered. 

“You look nice,” he said, his eyes traveling up and down her body.  “Very nice,” he repeated
,
“even though it’s not red
.
”
 
He stepped forward and took her coat, something Chloe wasn’t anticipating.  There was nothing she could do but give it to him so he could hold it for her as she slipped her arms through.  “Thanks.  You look rather dashing yourself,” she said breathily. 

“Let’s go,” he replied, a moment before his hands landed on her shoulders.  Her back was facing him or she would have seen it coming but as it was, she almost yelped when she felt his warm lips against the back of her neck.  “Sorry, couldn’t resist.  Too sexy,” he explained as he stepped back, then took her hand, placing it on the crook of his arm as he led her out the door. 

The evening turned out to be magical.  On the drive to the dinner
party
, Sam went out of his way to make her feel comfortable.  He asked her about her training regiment for the horses, gave her tips, told her about one of the guests that would most likely be at the dinner who would probably have some good ideas since he was a professional horse trainer as well, working for one of the other ranches. 
She asked him about the social issues that might come up at the dinner and his responses had her holding her sides with laughter when he gave her some insider information on some of the people there. 

She felt grateful that he seemed to be backing off of the sexual side of their relationship.

At the house, Sam came around to the side of the car to help her out but she was already standing beside the car.  That gave him an excuse to look her up and down one more time and all the sexual tension came right back. 

The hostess greeted Sam warmly and then turned to Chloe, greeting her with an effusive welcome as a servant took her coat.  Chloe wished she could have kept the coat because as soon as
it was gone, Sam
had more skin available to touch
since the dress was sleeveless with a low back
.  And
the dratted man
used every opportunity to
take advantage of the cut of the dress
. 

By the time dinner was served, Chloe was a nervous wreck and almost spilled her water when she tried to pick it up. 

Thankfully, Sam was seated at one end of the table and she was at the opposite, which gave her a little time to get herself back together.  She was also seated between two gentlemen who were very interesting and both had
great stories to tell about when they started their own businesses
.  She kept her eyes off of Sam for the whole meal and was very proud of herself for accomplishing that small miracle.  She told herself she was absolutely not going to look down the table and watch him be charming and entertaining to the beautifu
l women on either side of him and was grateful for the two men who were able to keep her occupied, even if her mind wandered to the opposite end of the table to wonder what Sam’s companions were discussing with him.  Would they both give him keys to their hotel rooms?  Or did they live around here?  And
did Sam already kno
w how to get to their houses? 

When the meal was over, she heard Sam excuse himself and thought she’d have several more minutes without his disturbing company.  She was wrong though.  He wasn’t just excusing himself, he was telling the hostess that they were leaving early.  In fact, he marched right down the length of the dining room, took her arm and pulled her out of the room and away from the other guests.

“What are you doing?” she whispered harshly as he dragged her down the hallway towards the front door. 

“Get our coats,” he snapped to one of the servants who
instantly
snapped to attention to retrieve the requested items. 

“Why are you being so rude?” she demanded, pulling her arm out of his grasp. 

“Why are you flirting with everyone around you?” he growled back, glaring down at her.

Chloe’s mouth fell open for a short moment before she snapped it closed.  “I wasn’t flirting with anyone!” 

“Except for the two men sitting next to you and the guy across the table.  Why don’t they count?”

Chloe was stunned.  “You thought I was flirting with them?  I was just having a conversation.  What’s wrong with that? 
I did exactly what you told me to do and ask them about how they started their businesses
!
  I didn’t learn a whole lot but it was amusing and interesting and I resent you implying I was doing anything inappropriate.
”

Sam took the coat the servant was carrying and wrapped it around Chloe’s shoulders before taking her hand and dragging her out the door.  Thankfully, the car was already waiting with the valet standing at the passenger side, obviously having been alerted of a departing guest by the very efficient staff.

Once they were inside the car, Sam turned to Chloe.  “From now on, you take advice only from me, understand?”

She couldn’t believe he was being so ridiculous.  “That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard.”

“And furthermore, when a man is giving out serious advice, he doesn’t look down your dress when you’re head is turned away!”  With that parting shot, he turned the key in the ignition and revved the engine, speeding away from the house as Chloe scrambled to latch her seatbelt. 

In the stony silence that followed his command, Chloe considered what he’d said.  Could the other two men have been looking down her dress?  She’d thought she’d caught one of them doing so but he’d had such an innocent look on his face, she had felt silly for even thinking it.  And they were both very nice gentlemen.  Or was she being naïve? 

“Were they really looking down my dress?” she whispered, feeling humiliated and duped by men she thought were being kind and considerate. 

“Yes!”

She considered that emphatic response and knew there was no reason for him to lie.  Looking down at her hands, she
thought about the evening.  The men had been so kind and considerate but looking back, she was probably duped.  “I guess you’re right,” she said softly and looked out the side window, turning her face away from him.

Sam was quiet for a long moment, trying to figure out what she was thinking.  She’d gone from defensive and angry to…sad?  It was hard to think of Chloe as sad.  She was too vital and too energized.  He’d never seen her this way.  Never even thought of her in this way.  She never let him get away with anything, was always in his face and challenging him.  It was one of the things that really turned him on about her.  But this…he wasn’t sure what to do when she was like this.

“Maybe they were genuinely trying to help,” he said, backing off his original jealous statement.  He knew they weren’t, but he wanted to give her something that would bring back the fight in her. 

Chloe sniffed.  “No they weren’t.  You were right.  They were just…jerks who were amusing themselves with me.”

Sam definitely didn’t like that comment.  “Chloe, I can guarantee that they might have been thinking something about you, but it definitely wasn’t amusement.”

“But they didn’t take my business comments seriously, did they?”

Sam sighed.  She had a point.  “No.  They probably didn’t.  And it’s my fault.”

That got her attention back to him.  “Why in the world would you say something like that?”

Sam concentrated on turning onto the highway for a moment, stalling.  He didn’t want to hurt her feelings, but he had suspected something like this might happen.  He had to be honest with her.  “Because you won’t let me invest in your business.
  Hell, you won’t even tell me what you’re planning to do, much less invest in it.
”

“What doe
s that have to do with anything?
  I would have thought that would mean more to investors.  It shows that I want to do this the right way and not rely on family friends.”

Sam shook his head.  “First of all, I’m not a family friend.”

“Of course you are.  You are
my father’s closest friend.”

“That’s right, and your father
is
my best friend.  But you’re going to be my lover.”

“I’m not!” she fired back, sitting up straighter in her seat. 

“You are,” he came back with absolute certainty.  “You’re afraid of me for some reason, or someone did something to you in the past, but we’ll work through that and we’ll be lovers.  Make no mistake about that.”

“Nothing happened to me in the past,” she lied, not wanting him to figure out that the reason she was against becoming his lover was because of the impact of
the other women he’d dated right after her
.  But as soon as she’d said it, she realized what it meant.  That she was actually afraid of him.  So in reality, both statements were true, and both had just landed her in a conversation she didn’t want to have.

And he picked up on it just as quickly, his mind working ten times faster than the average person’s.  “That means you’re afraid of me.   And I can fix that.”

She turned away at his calm assurance, wanting to break his confidence.  “What makes you so sure?”

“Because there have been times when you weren’t afraid of me.”

Chloe didn’t want to go there.  “What makes you think those
men’s
’ treatment of me was your fault?”

“Because you were with me and I haven’t invested in your business.  They don’t understand, and wouldn’t understand no matter how much explaining you
do.  If I’m not in it, but I’m close to you, then they see it as me not endorsing your business venture.  If I don’t endorse something, most people don’t trust it either.”

Chloe realized the truth of his comment.  It wasn’t bragging, it was just a calm statement of fact.  “So, when I attend these functions with you, they’re all going to treat me as a non-entity unless I let you invest.  Do I understand this correctly?”