Full Bloom (12 page)

"I'm not marrying him, Mother. Jacob made it clear a long time ago he's not interested in marriage. You don't have to worry about having him for a son-in-law, if that's what's troubling you."

She could not have made it any clearer that she was involved in an affair, Emily thought. But perhaps if she defused their fears of her marrying Jacob right at the beginning, she could gain an edge. As she scanned the faces of the other three, she realized they were not exactly reassured. In fact, they all appeared more concerned than ever.

"Emily," Catherine tried again, "Jacob has many fine qualities, but he's not exactly your type. It would be kinder not to encourage him."

"What is my type, Mother?"

Gifford frowned forbiddingly at his daughter's tone. "You know what your mother is trying to say. Jacob comes from an entirely different background than you do. He grew up the hard way and it shows. He's got some rough edges, and you'll never succeed in polishing him to the point where he'll fit into the sort of crowd we have here tonight."

"You've found some of his rough edges very useful in the past, haven't you?" Emily asked bluntly. "You've used them to cut a path for RI when more polite and civilized techniques didn't succeed in getting you what you want."

"A firm such as ours occasionally has need of the kind of talents Jacob has," Gifford admitted calmly. "That doesn't mean I want him sleeping with my daughter."

Catherine winced at the blunt words, but she nodded her head in agreement. "Jacob's simply not the right man for you, Emily. I suppose you think he's romantic or something, but the truth is you only got involved with him on the rebound. You were angry about the way we handled the Morrell situation, and when Jacob offered you an alternative, you apparently fell into his arms. I can understand how it happened. But your father and I have decided it would be best if you put a stop to your relationship with him. There's no future in it, and you'll only wind up getting hurt."

The study door opened on silent hinges just as Emily's mother finished speaking. Jacob stood on the threshold, assessing the small group with cold eyes. Then he folded his arms and leaned against the door-jamb. There was no doubt but that he had heard Catherine's last words. But he said nothing, merely waited for Emily to react to her mother's unsubtle command.

Emily felt a rush of glorious power pouring through her. This was the moment she had been waiting for, and it was satisfying that Jacob would be here to witness it. Too bad Grandmother Ravenscroft wasn't present. Emily had a hunch the old woman would have enjoyed herself. Emily faced her family triumphantly.

"I will say this one more time. My relationship with Jacob is my own business. I won't tolerate any more interference in my life from any of you. I have had enough."

Gifford and Catherine Ravenscroft scowled, first at Jacob and then at their daughter. Drake quietly sipped his whiskey and watched the small drama being played out in front of him as if he found the whole thing suddenly amusing.

It was Catherine who tried to take charge of the situation. "I think this can be discussed some other time. Gifford, we should get back to our guests." She rose to her feet.

Gifford moved to take her arm, his unreadable gaze sweeping over Jacob. "I think you're right, my dear. Emily, we'll talk later."

"No," said Emily. "We'll talk now. I have something to say. I will keep it short."

"It can wait, dear," her mother began warningly.

Emily ignored her. "You will all do me the courtesy of listening to what I have to say. As it concerns the future of Ravenscroft International, I'm sure you'll want to hear it."

Drake, Gifford and Catherine froze, their eyes suddenly riveted on Emily.

"Good," Emily said with satisfaction. "I finally have your attention. Nothing like mentioning RI to make sure everyone's listening to me."

"What are you talking about, Emily?" Drake asked coolly.

She braced herself, aware of Jacob watching her. This was the moment she had been preparing for all evening. She had to play this right if she was going to succeed in protecting him. "It's quite simple. I've decided I've had enough family interference in my life. I am demanding that all of you stay out of my way from here on out. To ensure some peace and quiet for myself, I am going to give you all an ultimatum."

"Emily, don't be ridiculous," Catherine said uneasily. She stopped talking, apparently unable to think of anything else to say. The men just stared at Emily.

Jacob was very still in the doorway. Emily could not begin to read his mood, but that did not seem terribly important at the moment. She was riding high on her own strength and independence. For the first time in her life she was about to use a Ravenscroft tactic.

"I know how you people work," Emily said, savoring the moment. "I've watched you for years and on occasion I've been the victim of some of your Machiavellian methods. I think I've finally learned some of the techniques. Pay attention because this is the bargain I'm going to make with you. I will give you my word of honor to let you continue voting my shares in RI as you see fit as long as you stay out of my life and as long as you leave Jacob alone."

"Dammit, Emily, what the hell are you saying?" Gifford snapped furiously. His expression was one of outrage and astonishment. He would have started toward his daughter, but his wife caught hold of his arm.

"You heard me," Emily stated firmly. "If any one of you tries to manipulate Jacob, if you try to interfere in my relationship with him, I will start looking for a buyer for my RI shares. I'm sure I could turn up several interested parties on short notice. Damon Morrell would no doubt be at the head of the line."

Drake was shaking his head ruefully. "Oh, Emily," he muttered.

"I can't believe I'm hearing this," Gifford thundered at his daughter. "You wouldn't dare do such a thing. Are you out of your mind, girl?"

"No, I'm finally taking charge of my own life." Emily walked across an Oriental carpet toward the door, her eyes fastened on Jacob's face. "It's about time, don't you think?"

"You can't mean that," Catherine whispered in a stricken voice.

Emily turned to glance at her mother. "Oh, but I do. If you try to use any means of coercing him, I swear I will sell my shares within twenty-four hours."

Her parents appeared frozen.

Drake watched his sister for a moment, and then his attention switched to Jacob's implacable expression. "Emily seems to have made her choice tonight. Treat her well, Stone, or I'll carve you up with a dull knife."

Jacob straightened away from the door and reached out to take Emily's arm. He looked at Drake. "I guess we all should have remembered that underneath the softness, she's still a Ravenscroft. I could have told you it was dangerous to push any Ravenscroft into a corner. Don't worry, Drake. She's in good hands."

Emily's pulse was racing with the adrenaline of victory as Jacob led her down the deserted hallway. Her step was light and full of energy. She almost laughed with exuberance.

"I did it," she sang out softly. "I did it. I stood up to them and made them all back off. It was even better this time than it was when I got my own loan for my shop because this time I used their own tactics. I finally beat them at their own game."

"You threw them for a loop, I'll give you that." Jacob piloted her toward the rear of the house. "I hope you enjoyed it."

"I did. Oh, Jacob, it was wonderful. It was a fantastic sensation. I should have started using those shares a long time ago to keep them out of my hair. I don't know why I didn't think of it before now. I feel like I'm finally free. I faced them down. I won.
I won
."

"You think so?" Jacob asked cryptically.

It finally dawned on Emily that he was not sharing her jubilation. She frowned slightly, forced to quicken her steps to keep up with him. He was pacing along the hall with the long, smooth stride of a leopard on the prowl. "Of course I did. You saw them. They were all dumbfounded by my threat. They care more about those shares than they do about anything else in the world."

"I think you underestimate your family, Emily."

They had reached a door that opened onto a back garden. Jacob turned the knob with a fiercely controlled movement and pulled Emily outside into the chilly, damp night. Emily finally became aware of her surroundings.

"What are we doing out here? Where are we going?"

"I'm taking you to a hotel near the airport where you can spend the night and tomorrow morning I'm putting you on a plane to Seattle."

"A hotel? But, Jacob, the evening isn't over. I don't want to leave just yet."

"I know. You want to hang around and enjoy your little victory, don't you? But I'm not in the mood to indulge you tonight, Emily. I've had enough Ravenscroft drama for one evening."

Emily was totally bewildered. "Jacob, I don't understand this. What's going on? Are you afraid to stay at the party? You don't have to worry about my family anymore. I've got them under control at last."

"I'm not worried about your family. I never was worried about them. I told you that several days ago." Jacob fished a set of keys out of his pocket as he led Emily down the path to where his car was parked.

"But, Jacob, you don't understand. My family would have made our lives hell. I had to make it clear to them that this time I would not tolerate any interference. I conducted that little scene in the study to protect you."

"The hell you did. You did it because you've been looking for a way to punish your family for the way they handled the situation between you and Damon Morrell. You've probably wanted to pay them back in their own coin for years because of what you call their interference in your life. Tonight you found a way, didn't you?"

Emily was truly alarmed. "Jacob, that's not how it was." He cut off the rest of her protest by the simple expedient of settling her in the car seat and closing the door.

"You used me," Jacob said quietly as he opened his own door and got behind the wheel. "You used me to retaliate against your family."

Emily stared at him, trying to read his mood in the hard lines of his face. It was slowly sinking in that Jacob was coldly furious.

"That's not true," she whispered.

"Sure it is." He started the engine and eased the car out of the driveway.
"You learned a lot from that assertiveness training, didn't you? Including strategy. As a Ravenscroft you're something of a late bloomer, but you finally showed you've got some of the family talent. You wanted a showdown and you created it. Those shares in RI constituted the weapon you'd been looking for. Protecting me was your excuse for using it."

"It wasn't an excuse! Jacob, I did it for you."

"Don't hand me that line. I don't recall asking for protection."

Emily was suddenly incensed. She had been through a lot this evening and to learn that Jacob did not appreciate anything she had done was too much. Didn't he realize the jeopardy they had been in? "Why don't you believe me when I tell you I did it for you? For years I've been expected to put up with all sorts of interference in my life on the grounds that people were just doing it for my own good. You yourself have fed me that line on more than one occasion. What's so illogical about my acting out of similar motives? What I just did, I did for your own good."

He shot her a swift, savage glance. It was a look that revealed far too much about his current mood. Emily remembered what Drake had said about Jacob's being potentially dangerous. She watched him, wide-eyed, and withdrew as far as she could into the corner of her seat.

"I know what was motivating you tonight, little witch. I should have guessed several days ago just why you surrendered to me so easily."

Emily gasped. "Don't you dare call my going to bed with you an act of surrender."

"You're right. It wasn't an act of sweet, feminine surrender at all, was it? It was a tactical move. I'll have to hand it to you, Emily. Up until that scene in the study I didn't realize what you had in mind. I knew you were tense and that you seemed to be nerving yourself up for something, but I thought you were just worried about what your family would think when they saw you with me."

"That was exactly what I was worried about."

He shook his head. "No. You were working yourself up for your big victory assault. You had decided you could use me as a means of demonstrating your independence to your family. You knew you couldn't use Morrell because doing so would have meant the risk of doing serious damage to RI and to your relatives. Morrell would have found a way to use you to wreck RI. Deep down, you're a Ravenscroft, too, and the last thing you would do is cause real irreparable harm to the company. But you figured it was safe to use me because fundamentally I'm loyal to the firm. You knew you could trust me to never actually try to take control of your chunk of RI. You could taunt your family with our affair and threaten to sell the shares if they didn't stay out of your life because you thought it was safe for you to use me. Unlike Morrell, I don't represent a real risk to RI."

Emily was appalled. Her whole world seemed to be turning upside down. She turned her head to gaze blindly out the window. "I can't believe you're interpreting things this way," she whispered dully. "I just can't believe it. I only did it to protect you."

"Whatever made you think I needed protection?" he asked coldly. "What the hell did you think your family could do to me?"

Emily hugged her arms around herself. She suddenly felt sick. "I thought my family might try to manipulate you. I wanted them to know they couldn't get away with it. I just went through the biggest showdown of my life with my family for your sake."

Jacob concentrated his attention on the traffic. "You went through that showdown because you've been looking for revenge. You've probably dreamed of it for years. You finally put nerve, opportunity and means together to get it. You should have seen the look on your face when you knew you had won."

Emily frantically tried one last time to explain. "I was happy because I thought I had just managed to protect you and our… our relationship."