For the Love of Sami (15 page)

His voice lightened. "I think that would be great. I’d love to meet your friends—you know that."

Getting up from her chair, Sami walked around the table to Daniel and put her hands around his neck. Bending down, she gave him a kiss. "Thank you. You’ll like them."

His arms reached out to her waist and pulled her down to his lap. "If they’re friends of yours, I don’t see how I can help but like them." One of his hands reached out to play idly with a strand of her honey-gold hair. "Tell me, does this mean you’ve decided to let me into that part of your life that you keep shut off, at least a little?"

Her eyes became troubled. "You’ve been so patient with me, Daniel."

"Have I complained?"

"No. You’ve been wonderful."

"Then do something for me."

She couldn’t help it. Her voice turned cautious. "What?"

"Eat something for me."

Relief flooded through her at his simple request. Leaning back into the crook of his arm, she eyed his plate. "Okay. What have you got?"

"Some chicken." He picked up a bite-sized piece and put it against her parted lips. Slowly, he pushed the chicken into her mouth, until both the chicken and his thumb and forefinger were in her mouth. With her tongue, she flicked the piece out of his fingers, giving herself a brief taste of his fingers before she began chewing.

"Ummm. This is good. Did I have chicken on my plate?"

"Yes, you did." He chuckled. "How about some peas?"

"Are you going to feed them to me one at a time?"

"If you like. Open up," he directed, and popped a pea into her mouth.

"I think I can handle more than that."

"Okay." He scooped up a spoonful and offered it to her. "Now, when would you like to have this party?"

"As soon as possible. I think if I got the invitations out in the next day or two, we could set the date for the end of next week, don’t you?"

"Yes, that should give everyone enough notice, but you don’t have to send out invitations. I’ll have my secretary, Marie, do it, and she can see to everything else."

"I don’t mind."

"I know." His hand traveled to the heart he had bought her, which constantly hung around her neck. "But I’m so happy that you actually want to do something like this, I’d rather you let Marie take care of the details, so that you’ll be able to relax and enjoy it."

Her golden eyes softened. "Have I told you how wonderful I think you are?"

"Tell me again," he coaxed.

Sami took his glasses off and tossed them unconcernedly across the table, where they landed with a plunk in the footed sterling-silver bowl that contained the peas. "You’re wonderful."

She brushed her lips across his to the side of his mouth. There she placed a gentle little kiss before drifting back across his mouth to the other side, where she did the same thing. Then, light, soft touches of her lips were feathered over every pore of his face and neck, until he threaded his hands through her hair to hold her still, and he captured her mouth fully with his. An indescribable excitement cartwheeled through her at his urgency.

"I want to make love to you," Daniel muttered against her lips.

"Here? Now?"

"Why not?" he asked huskily as he lowered them both to the dining room floor.

"Why not?" she agreed quickly.

#

Mr. Bogart Caruthers, Jr., Sami’s lawyer, usually dignified and very much in control, paced agitatedly around her loft.

"Mr. Caruthers, please sit down." She waved a hand with amused tolerance toward a chair. "You’re going to wear yourself out."

"Samuelina, you don’t understand. I brought a fortune in jewels with me, and they have to be guarded."

"I do understand. Contrary to what a lot of people think, I’m really quite smart." Smart in some ways, she reflected, but really quite dumb in others. And just that quickly, her old fears suddenly threatened. She shouldn’t have asked Daniel for this party. She didn’t even know if she was going to have enough courage to go. "As for the jewelry, you did your job. You had armed guards with you all the way from Boston, and you delivered them safely to me. Your responsibility for the jewelry is over."

"Supposing we just put them in the bank until you’re ready to decide which pieces you want to wear?" he suggested hopefully.

"Nope." Sami shook her head. "I want them here with me. I haven’t seen any of the jewelry in years, and I need to refamiliarize myself with all the pieces."

"But the insurance company—"

"I can assure you and the insurance company that I live in a very safe neighborhood."

"Insurance companies aren’t that easily assured, Samuelina. I don’t know why you needed them all here so quickly, anyway. Maybe if you could have chosen one or two pieces to be brought—"

"I told you. I haven’t decided what dress I’m going to wear yet. Therefore, I don’t know which pieces of jewelry I’ll need. Who knows? I may decide to wear all of them."

Mr. Caruthers turned a horrified gaze on Sami. "You wouldn’t! No, no," he hastened to assure himself, "of course, you wouldn’t. It would be physically impossible."

She was rapidly becoming bored with this conversation. "Maybe."

"Do you have any idea what your jewelry is worth exactly?"

"Sure." Sami threw an uninterested look at the many and varied large velvet cases Mr. Caruthers stood by so protectively. "I read your reports. They’re very thorough."

"Then, you know—"

"Enough!" Sami held up one imperative hand. "If I can guarantee the jewelry’s safety, will you agree to dismiss those two guards you have outside my door and drop the subject?"

"Can you do that?"

Without answering him, Sami strode to the window and threw it open. Looking up and down the street for a minute, she finally saw who she was looking for. Leaning out of the window, she shouted, "Eugene! Can you tell Edward that I need to see him right away?" The burly bodyguard nodded once. "Thanks," Sami called, but she wasn’t sure whether he had heard her or not, because he had already started down the street.

A commotion at the door to her studio brought her head back inside the large room. "What in the world . . .?" Rapidly covering the distance to the door, she opened it to find Jerome in a heated argument with the two guards.

"What in the hell is going on, Sami? What have you done now that they have you under armed guard?"

"Very funny, Jerome." She grabbed his hand and pulled him in, then turned her attention to the two uniformed men outside her door. "Gentlemen, very shortly a Mr. Edward Thorsson and several of his men will be arriving. I strongly suggest that you allow them to enter."

Slamming the door, she turned to find Jerome standing with his hands on his hips, looking very concerned. "You’ve got Thorsson coming? Sami, what’s happened? What is all this about?"

"Jerome, you remember Mr. Caruthers, don’t you?"

Glancing over his shoulder, he said, "Oh, sure. I’m sorry, I didn’t see you."

Caruthers held out his hand. "Hello, Mailer."

Jerome shook his hand, then turned back to Sami. "Well?"

"It’s really very simple, nothing to get excited about at all."

Jerome looked up at the ceiling, seemingly seeking strength. "I hate it when you start out conversations like that."

"You see, Mr. Caruthers has kindly brought me my jewelry." She gestured toward the stacks of velvet boxes on a nearby table. "Since it’s all been locked up in a bank vault in Boston all these years, he’s a little worried about the safety of it."

"More than a little worried," Mr. Caruthers inserted. "Some of the pieces are rather famous."

Jerome looked at Sami. "Hence, the two guards outside your door?"

"Hence," Sami agreed. "But I can’t stand them out there. Those guns they carry make me very nervous."

"Thus, you called for Edward Thorsson."

"Right." She nodded. Thus."

Jerome’s mouth quirked into a wry grin. "Sami, don’t you think his men carry guns?"

"Well, if they do, at least they have the good manners not to carry them where they show. Plus, I know them. I don’t know those men out there."

Caruthers spoke up. "Who’s Edward Thorsson?"

"Don’t ask," Jerome advised.

There was a muffled sound outside the door, and then it opened. Edward Thorsson walked in, trailed by Eugene and two other men, whom Sami knew as Bruce and Rick.

"Edward"—she took his hand in hers—"thank you for coming so quickly."

"Eugene said you needed me."

"That’s right, I need a favor."

"It’s yours."

Still holding his hand, she led him over to a thoroughly bewildered Caruthers. "Edward, this is Mr. Bogart Caruthers. He’s a senior member of my Boston law firm. Mr. Caruthers, this is Edward Thorsson."

"How do you do?" Caruthers held out his hand, but when Edward didn’t reciprocate, he quickly withdrew it.

Edward fixed the man with a hard, dark stare. "Is he giving you problems, Sami?"

"No, no," she hurriedly assured him. "At least, not in the way you mean, but we do have a problem. At my request, Mr. Caruthers has brought all of my jewelry to me. Now he’s worried about its safety, and insists that I have those two guards guarding me and the jewelry at all times."

Without taking his eyes off of Caruthers, Edward asked her, "And you don’t want them?"

"They make me nervous. Having them there makes me feel like a prisoner in my own home. And they’re complete strangers."

"Sami doesn’t want the guards," Edward explained very softly to Caruthers.

"But the worth of her jewelry is almost incalculable. Most of them are museum quality." It was a mark of how upset Caruthers was that he had made such an indiscreet statement to a man he didn’t know. A man, if he but knew it, was reputedly one of the most dangerous men in the country. A man Sami could seemingly summon at her will. "She can’t just have all of them here in this warehouse without some form of security, and she refuses to put them into a bank."

Edward’s voice hardened. "Sami doesn’t need outside security. She’s completely safe, and all of her possessions are safe. There’s not a person in this country who would dare harm a hair on her head or take so much as a toothpick from her. Do I make myself clear?"

"But—’"

Edward made a slight motion, and instantly Rick and Eugene were on either side of Mr. Caruthers, grasping his arms.

"Why don’t you go back to the hotel and get some rest?" Sami proposed, in an attempt to soothe the alarmed expression off his face. "You’ve had a long trip. In a day or two we’ll get together and discuss that other business."

To give him credit, and Sami did, Caruthers maintained his dignity. "If you are quite sure you know what you’re doing, Samuelina."

"She is," Edward told him.

"I am. And take those two guards with you."

"They’re already gone," Edward said softly.

Shaking loose from the two men, Caruthers cast one last curious look at Edward Thorsson and left.

Sami turned to the man beside her and took his hand again. "Thank you, Edward. Those men outside my door were really upsetting me. Having them there, it reminded me of . . ." She repressed a shudder as her thoughts flew back to a closet in her house in Boston. A slight pressure on her hand brought her back, and she gratefully refocused on the hard man in front of her. "Well, never mind. Let’s just say I owe you."

"You owe nothing to nobody, Sami, and don’t ever forget it. Anything else you need?"

Sami shook her head, and then Edward bent over and kissed her on the cheek.

"One of us will be around if you need us. Okay?"

"Okay," she agreed.

Edward looked around the room and saw Jerome standing casually to one side. "Jerome," he said, to acknowledge the young man’s presence.

"Mr. Thorsson." Jerome inclined his head.

And then Edward and his men were gone, and there was silence in the big room.

Jerome cleared his throat. "I think I’ll be going, too."

"But why?"

"Sometimes a few minutes with you can seem like days with anyone else, my love. And by the way," he said over his shoulder as he opened the door, "that’s a wonderful teapot you’ve made."

"Teapot?" Sami frowned at the now-empty doorway and then looked back at the clay she had been working on. A teapot! Crossing her legs, she sank to the floor. With her hands supporting her chin, she stared in amazement at the clay shape on her work table. She had actually made a teapot!

#

The lights had been lowered in the den, and the fire crackled with a warming affability. Sami lay in Daniel’s arms, listening to the gentle fall of rain outside. Snuggling her face against the fine cloth of his shirt, she sighed in utter contentment.

Daniel pressed a kiss against her hair. "Marie says the R.S.V.P.’s are coming in fast and furious."

"Well, of course. What people in their right minds would turn down an invitation to a party at the Very Honorable Daniel Parker-St. James’s home?"

"Who indeed?" Daniel laughed good-humoredly.

"You’re going to love Jerome, by the way."

"Who’s Jerome?"

"Jerome is the man who will be bringing me."

"Bringing you!" He pushed her up so that he could see her face. "What do you mean, bringing you?"

"You know"—Sami tried to interpret for him—"bringing me."

"No one else is going to be escorting you," Daniel declared emphatically. "You will be here, in my home, with me, and you will stay with me all evening."

"Well, sure, once I get here. But I want what I wear to be a surprise for you."

"Sami, I don’t care what you wear. You could wear a gunny sack and you would still look beautiful. You could wear jeans and one of my shirts, like you have on now, and you would still outshine any other woman in the room."

"Still"—Sami sank back into his arms—"I want to surprise you, so I’ll get dressed at the warehouse."

For a minute, Daniel was quiet, and then he said, "Who’s Jerome?"

Sami heard the troubled tone of his voice and sought to ease his mind. "Jerome is a very dear friend of mine."

"Friend?"

"He’s like a brother to me. I’ve known him for years." Sami’s ear was against his chest, or she wouldn’t have realized that Daniel had been holding his breath. He let it out, and she went on. "He’ll be through with law school soon, and I think you should hire him for your firm."