“Will this be a long engagement?” Jack asked.

Bryce gave a wink. “Don’t think so. No need to wait, right, sweetheart?”

Julianna shook her head to clear it. “We haven’t discussed dates yet. Umm, thanks for stopping by, Jack. I think your companion is waiting for you.”

Jack nodded as if he had made his own important decision. “Yes, she is. Enjoy your night.”

He turned and strode away without a glance back. He whispered something to his date. Within minutes, he paid the bill and walked out with her hand in hand. The woman was laughing.

Julianna knew he would make love to her tonight. Enveloped by rage and betrayal, he’d feel there wasn’t another choice. He’d strip her naked and plunge inside of her and call someone else’s name.

“Interesting guy,” Bryce commented. “Seems like he knows you better than a contractor would. Did you ever date?”

Julianna told the truth. Her voice was whisper soft when she spoke. “No, we never dated.”

How about a walk by the marina?” Bryce asked. “We can discuss plans. We have some decisions to make.”

“Yes."

Her heart shattered piece by piece as she took her fiancé's hand and accompanied him out of the restaurant.

* * *

Jack sat in the darkened bedroom and waited.

Silence closed around him. He sank deep into the stillness and let his thoughts take control.

He’d underestimated his cousin’s thirst for power. Now Jack would pay for his mistake, and pay dearly. He’d met Angela on one of his jobs and immediately asked her out. After all, his purpose in Newport had been to find a wife. A wife who wanted him for the person he was, and not for the money she’d inherit. Angela was sweet and sexy. A lunch date had turned into dinner. He felt there was potential in the relationship, that it might go further, but most of the time he compared her to Julianna.

When he left the restaurant, he’d intended to sleep with Angela. She was willing and ready, but her body was long and thin and almost boyish. Her taste was a bit tangy rather than the smooth caramel sweetness of Julianna’s mouth. Everything felt wrong, so he’d claimed exhaustion and put her off for another evening.

His short, meaningless affair had wrecked him for anything else. And now Julianna was going to marry his cousin.

After Angela left, Jack made the necessary phone calls. He pulled rank and discovered Bryce had come to town shortly after Jack arrived. Seemed his private investigator had done his dirty work for him. Somehow, Bryce knew about his plan to disappear and find a wife. Of course, he couldn't know about the special clause in his father's will, or his cousin would have married immediately. No, he was playing a dangerous head game. Bryce liked to toy with his prey before moving in for the kill. He’d probably discovered Jack's interest in Julianna and intended to halt the relationship before it went any further. Not sure what the final goal was, but Jack needed to find out.

Fast.

He could have called out his cousin’s charade in the restaurant, in front of Julianna. Instead, he’d protected both their identities. It wasn’t the place or time to tell Julianna the truth. Did she think she loved Bryce? Or was she so intent on marrying for wealth, she’d chosen to ignore her heart?

Gut instinct told him there was a deeper connection between them than sex. He’d intercepted her shocked look when she spotted his companion. He watched the naked jealousy on her face, along with her struggle to contain her emotions. The woman was so skilled at grooming herself to hide any messy feelings that it took him a while to learn her expressions. But now he understood them. Hours in the bedroom and talking through the night had bonded them, and he knew her more intimately than anyone who might have come before him.

Bryce would want to sleep with her.

Sickness lurched in his gut. He couldn’t let that happen. Couldn’t let this marriage happen. He had one shot at changing her mind and convincing her to take a chance on her heart. For God’s sakes, she must have enough money from her parents’ estate. Why did she want more?

She needed to choose.

He’d fought his feelings, but he knew he’d made the right choice. If she did the same, he’d tell the truth. Then she’d have it all, and he'd finally know she loved him enough to take a chance on him.

He'd changed. He quoted poetry as he worked. He looked for her in the gardens and hoped she'd pass the window so he could steal a quick peek. Her image burned in his mind. Her eyes gleaming with desire when she glanced at him, humming under her breath as she did chores around the house, or bathed in sunlight while she sat in the gardens with a novel in her lap. He loved watching her hair fly wildly in the ocean breeze when they sailed, and her laugh of delight when they caught a dolphin dancing behind his ship.

He was in love with her.

The door opened. Footsteps led straight to the bedroom and paused in the doorway. He kept hidden in the shadows as her gaze probed the room and settled on his figure.

“I didn’t think you would show.”

Her voice tore at him, slightly ragged and confused. Dark tendrils of hair escaped her topknot and framed her face. She breathed in and out in a nervous rush, and her tongue licked her plump lower lip, then nibbled. The strapless white dress barely clung to her plump breasts, sliding low enough to give him a glimpse of a red nipple. He wondered if Bryce had kissed her goodnight and pulled down her top. Wondered if she let him slide his hand under the gauzy material and touch her through her panties.

Jack reached down deep to connect with the emotional part of him that wanted to sit down and tell her his feelings. The civilized, rational man who ran a shipping company and sailed boats and knew how to court women with politeness.

Instead, he felt an animal rage and possession shake through his body and tear at his muscles. A need to stake his claim one last time.

He crossed the room and stood before her. Her rich brown eyes widened as she recognized the danger and took a step back with sheer survival instinct. He caught her hard around the waist and pulled her in. His mouth stopped inches from hers and he spoke his words directly against her lips.

“Did you let him fuck you?”

She gasped. Temper replaced fear as she pushed his chest. “No!”

“Good. You belong to me.” His gazed raked her face. “Maybe you need a reminder.”

He kissed her. She opened to his savagery with her own crazed need, meeting every rough thrust of his tongue and giving back with all she had.

He dropped one hand to his belt buckle, deftly unbuttoned and unzipped his pants. His erection sprang out and he felt her shudder in his arms. He tore his mouth from hers, gripped the back of her neck, and forced her down on her knees. He used his other hand to rip the pins from her hair until the waves tumbled loose over her shoulders. She breathed hard and unevenly, and his cock felt the warm puffs of her breath against his straining erection.

“Suck me. And don’t stop unless I tell you to.”

He waited for the fight, but a mad glitter of lust lit her eyes, and with a low moan, she opened up her lips and took him in.

He murmured his approval and loosened his grip on the back of her neck. She needed no more urging—her mouth held the perfect suction as she wrapped him tight and sucked, her tongue swirling around the base and licking the tip as daintily as a kitten licks cream. To Jack, she reminded him more of a lioness than a kitten, her bold strokes and suction creating the perfect balance and slowly driving him out of his mind. He arched upward and gave her more. Her hand cupped his scrotum and lightly raked her nails along the underside, eliciting a moan from his lips. She pushed him toward the edge with every stroke and lick and bite until he exploded in her wet channel, crying out her name in the silent room as she accepted every drop of him.

Julianna released him and looked up. Her lips wet from his semen, her eyes unfocused and blurred with need. Jack scented her raw arousal and knew she was moments from orgasming herself.

“Keep licking me gently.”

She obeyed, caressing him with talented fingers and soft breaths as he grew hard again. When he was ready, he guided her off her knees and pointed to the bed.

“Lie down and spread your legs.”

She raised her knees and let him look at her. The bodice of the sundress had dipped to her belly and exposed her full naked breasts, already swollen and sensitive. Her skirt was hiked up above her legs, and her pussy spread open to his ravenous gaze. Wetness gleamed in the dim light. He moved to the bed and knelt between her open legs. His tongue flicked out to gently lick around her swollen clit, parting her labia and then stroking the surface with teasing strokes. She arched off the bed in response and cried out, looking for more, but he kept her there for long minutes, stretching out her pleasure until sensation was so intense it bordered on pain.

She begged and pleaded. Finally, he sucked on her engorged clit, the ripe flesh blossoming against his lips, her heady scent swamping his senses. She slid toward orgasm, the convulsions beginning, and he quickly removed his mouth and plunged deep inside her with his cock.

Julianna screamed and climaxed hard. He took all she had, every thrust a reminder her body and soul and mind belonged only to him. Her body embraced the knowledge and then she shuddered again, a flow of mini-orgasms that milked his cock and pushed him one final time to spurt inside of her.

The clock ticked as they lay together in a tangle of sheets. Her breathing slowed, and Jack rolled over to face her in the darkness. He reached deep inside himself for the strength to reveal his emotions, not knowing the outcome.

“Don’t marry him.”

Her hands cupped his face. He felt her fingers lightly touch his lips, trace the curve of his cheekbone, his jaw. Smooth out his brows. He watched as a mix of emotions flickered in her inky eyes.

“What have you done to me?” she whispered.

“I’m breaking our deal.” He placed a hard kiss on her lips. “I lied. I don’t want you to belong to me every night. I want days. Weekends. Holidays. I want it all.”

“Jack—”

“I love you.” His heart squeezed in fear and hope and astonishment at the truth. “I want you to marry me instead. I want to sail my boat with you and make love to you and listen to you quote poetry all day. Choose me.”

Despair leaked into her voice. “This was supposed to be about sex.”

“Yes. But it became more for me. Now I need to know if you feel the same.”

His gut told him she’d choose him. They understood and connected with each other on a basic scale he’d never discovered with another woman. He had to believe it was more than sex. He had to believe she’d choose him over the money. He felt as if his whole life had led up to this moment. Not only had he found a woman he loved, but by marrying her, he’d complete his destiny and finally claim the company and his heritage on his own terms.

“I love you, Jack.”

Triumph coursed through him. He reached for her, but she held out two hands in an effort to ward him off. He finally caught the sheen of tears in her eyes. The slight tremble of her lips. And he listened to her words while he felt his world slowly break apart around him.

“But I can’t marry you. I have to marry Bryce.”

A deep freeze settled over him. He studied her with a hard, assessing glare. “Is this about money?”

She flinched, but stayed her course. He gave her credit. She looked at him straight on and nodded. “I made my father a promise before he died. The Cliff House is the only family legacy left to us. We lost everything with the medical bills, upkeep, mortgage. The money’s all gone. My father asked me to do anything in my power to keep our home. I looked for loans from anyone. Time was running out and the house would have foreclosed. I can’t let that happen, Jack. Even if I have to marry for it.”

She took a deep ragged breath and sat up in the bed, the sheet tightly clutched to her breasts. “You made me fall in love with you. But if I don’t marry Bryce, I’ll break the only promise I ever made to my father. I can’t do it. So I can’t choose you.”

He let the words wash over him and permeate each layer of his body until they reached the beat of his heart. He felt as if something died deep inside. There was no happily ever after. Bad sometimes wins over good.