The Billionaire's Runaway Bride (3 page)

Sophie watched Jocelyn leave then turned back to face Evelyn. She knew it wouldn’t be as easy to get rid of this one.

“Don’t even try to start in on that evil attitude with me, Sophie. I’m older and deserve more respect than what you have recently been handing out. So just drop the attitude and get over here to let me help you choose something presentable.”

Sophie was terrified, wondering if Evelyn would start the old tirades and accusations her father used to dole out. If she did, Sophie might not be able to stand tall but she was going to try. “Evelyn, I neither asked for nor need your assistance. I am a grown woman, fully capable of directing my own movements and making my own choices.”

“That’s debatable,” Evelyn said but she carefully put the dress back in the closet where it had been hanging originally. Then she slowly walked across the room to face Sophie. “You know, you really should have stayed gone. Things have changed around here. For the better. Jocelyn is just about to win a proposal out of Jason so you’d better face the facts. Your days here are numbered.” Evelyn’s face recognized the direct hit to Sophie’s floundering self-esteem and drove the bullet home. “You didn’t know? Of course, dear. Jason and Jocelyn have been quite a hit while you’ve been out of the picture.” She looked speculatively at Sophie for a long moment. “Maybe that’s why Jason retrieved you,” she thought out loud. “So he could officially get rid of you. Interesting,” she said, her long, manicured finger tapping against her upper lip.

Sophie was hurt but tried to hide it. She hated the idea of Jason falling in love with the cold, calculating Jocelyn who only wanted the prestige of Jason’s name and wealth. Jocelyn would never feel anything for Jason and, despite the fact that she hated him, she didn’t think he deserved Jocelyn’s mercenary affections. Letting Evelyn know how she felt would be emotional suicide though. She raised her chin slightly and turned away from the older woman’s intent stare, hoping Evelyn didn’t see through the bravado. “Since I filed for divorce a month ago, you might get your wish sooner, rather than later,” Sophie said and turned her back on Evelyn’s triumphant expression.

Evelyn let out a gasp of delight. “You did?” she exclaimed, her eyes wide with surprise. The surprise melted into victory within moments and she pulled herself together, breathing a heavy sigh of relief. “Well, that makes this whole mess much better. No wonder you’re back. You just want to clean things out.” Evelyn dusted off her hands as if she had something filthy on them instead of just the slight amount of dust that could have accumulated in such a short period of time. Turning to Sophie, she smiled brightly. “I’ll leave you to your work, then.”

Sophie waited until the woman was out of the room before carefully closing the doors. When she had complete privacy, only then did she rush over to the bed and fall onto the satin covers, letting the tears fall without trying to stop them. It would have been a futile effort anyway. She was too angry and frustrated to have her newfound freedom taken away yet again.

This was the second time Jason had done this to her, she thought. Both times, he’d cornered her with his overwhelming presence and charm and she’d fallen for it. How could she be so weak? The first time had been a few days before their wedding. Jason had taken her to one of the bridal boutiques to help her find a dress. She’d been gently touching the soft, beautiful fabric when she turned to find him looking at her oddly.

She asked him at that point why he was marrying her. He walked over to her and simply said, “Because it makes perfect sense.” It hadn’t been what she’d wanted to hear at the time, but she was too overcome by feelings when he bent down to kiss her passionately, right in the middle of the store, leaving her flustered and forgetting what she’d been asking herself.

Of course, this time was slightly different. She hadn’t asked and he hadn’t kissed her senseless when the question of their marriage came up. This time, he’d simply ordered her into the car. And here she was. This time though, she was overcome with anger instead of desire.

Sophie pulled herself up to a sitting position, hating herself for giving in to the tears. At least they were tears of frustration instead of the tears she’d shed because of sadness, loneliness and a fear that Jason would never love her the way she loved him.

Looking around, her eyes touched on the ornate clock sitting on her bedside table. She realized that she had to hurry downstairs for her talk with Jason but then recognized what she was doing and slowed down. She was not going to rush simply because that man, no matter how gorgeous and sexy he was, was waiting on her. He could simply wait. She was not a servant; she was his wife, albeit an unwilling one.

She looked around at the silver and blue room that was the height of fashion and elegance and hated it. After living on her own, she realized that she liked warm greens and yellows rather than this elegant, coldness. And she hated satin. She slid off the bed and onto the floor, despising the fabric as much for its impracticality as much as for the discomfort it caused when she slid all over the bed.

Picking up the dress Jocelyn had dropped on the floor, she hung it back up in the closet. None of her clothes were very nice, she remembered. Her father had never allowed her to wear bright colors so almost every piece was in black, gray or tan. She picked up a tan jumper and matched it with a white turtleneck shirt, wishing she could just pull on a comfortable pair of jeans instead.

After dressing, she looked at her image in the full length mirror and groaned. She was back to being woodwork, she thought. The shirt covered her neck and the tan jumper, although made of the best wool fabric money could buy, was as non-descript as it could possibly be and two sizes too large. That wasn’t because of her recent lack of food, she knew. It was simply because her father had never allowed her to buy anything that actually fit her. He thought she was trying to be promiscuous if she even suggested buying something that would fit correctly. Most of her clothes were so big that she’d have to roll up the sleeves to keep them out of the way. And she’d never even considered buying something that didn’t come down to at least her mid calves.

Sophie shook her head and accepted that this was the best that she could do under the circumstances. Her red hair was pulled back into a neat braid that she then pinned to the back of her head out of habit. Another trait from her father. He had hated it whenever he’d seen her with her titian hair hanging down her back. So she’d gotten into the habit of pinning it up before leaving her room each morning.

Putting the last pin into her hair, she shuddered, remembering her father’s painful words, “Red hair is the sign of the devil and I won’t have that in my household! You won’t be promiscuous, Sophie! I won’t allow it,” he’d yelled on several occasions.

She made her way back downstairs, grateful that she didn’t run into Evelyn or Jocelyn again. Both would just sneer at her appearance as they’d always done, then surreptitiously smooth their already perfect suit or dress more perfectly over their hips, pointing out to Sophie that she just didn’t have what it took to be fashionable.

Sophie walked into the library, expecting to find Jason there waiting for her. But she only found the butler adjusting the books on a shelf. “Higgins, excuse me. Could you tell me where Jason is?”

Higgins bowed slightly. “Of course, ma’am. He is in the solarium waiting for you,” he explained.

“Thank you,” she said and turned to the back of the house. She considered going through the servants hallways in an effort to avoid her stepmother and stepsister but then refused. It was something she’d done growing up with her father in the hopes that he wouldn’t see her and start in on some other perceived fault of hers. She wouldn’t do that anymore, she told herself.

Walking into the solarium, she looked around and spotted Jason immediately. He was standing next to a small grouping flowers, watching the door so he could see her immediately. “Nice of you to join me,” he said softly and waited for her to come fully into the room. “Would you like a cup of tea?” he asked. “Or perhaps some sherry?”

“No, thank you,” Sophie replied and went to stand on the opposite side of the garden. She could still easily see him but at least there were some obstacles in the way to fend off his tactics of intimidation.

Jason understood what she was doing and smiled slightly. “Afraid of me?” he asked, raising one eyebrow.

“Yes,” she stated but raised her chin up slightly in defiance of her own fear. “What do you want from me?” she asked, one hand reaching out absently to delicately touch a leaf.

Jason eyed her over the tops of the plants. “There are many things I want from you. Would you like me to start listing them?”

Sophie swallowed, terrified of the answer but needing to know what he expected regardless of his response. Forearmed is forewarned, she told herself. “Yes, please.”

“So polite,” he commented and started walking towards her. Sophie was so mesmerized by his eyes holding hers that she forgot to move away from him. “For one, I’d like you in my bed.”

She blinked at the blunt answer and suppressed the quiver in her mouth. “Impossible,” she stated emphatically.

Her response caused him to smile slightly. “Sophie, you should know by now that nothing is impossible for me,” he replied calmly, moving several steps closer. “Sometimes improbable, but never impossible. And we both know from past experience that the odds of you being in my bed tonight, with me, with your arms around me and both of us finding pleasure in each other’s bodies is not only possible, but probable.”

Sophie held her breath, wishing her body wouldn’t betray her like this. But already, she was feeling the magnetic pull as he came closer and closer to her. “No,” she whispered as much for herself as an answer to his comment. Could he hear her heartbeat race? She certainly hoped not.

Jason’s eyebrow went up again at her response. “As for that, we’ll test my theory later, won’t we?” Without waiting for an answer, he moved on to his next request. “I would also like you gracing my dinner table.”

This was safer ground and she took in a deep breath, glad that they were off of the dangerous topic of sexual relations. “Why?”

Her response actually stopped his forward momentum. “Why?” he asked, surprised at her question. “Why not? You are my wife.”

“Why don’t you find yourself a more willing wife? Jocelyn for example. I know for a fact that Jocelyn would love to be married to you.”

His face was emotionless as he replied, “But I already have a willing wife. Why would I want another one?”

“I’m not willing!” she asserted.

He glanced down at his watch, his face impassive as he noted the time and slipped his perfectly tailored shirt back. “As I mentioned before, we’ll test that out tonight. But as a matter of fact, I have to go. I’m sorry to leave you on your first day back but I had a call when you were upstairs and must head back to the office.”

“Why doesn’t that surprise me?”

He ignored her sarcasm this time. “But please be ready tonight at six thirty. We must go out. Dress up,” he said a moment before he reached the door. “And Sophie, don’t make me go searching for you again. You won’t like the consequences.”

Chapter 4

Sophie stared at his retreating back and fought back fresh tears. She hated him. She wished she didn’t but she knew that she really did.

She didn’t follow him but she wanted to yell back at him, demanding him to release her from this marriage but she knew him and he would just be amused at her tantrum.

She spent the rest of the afternoon in the garden, walking through the plants and surveying what the gardener had done in her absence. It was springtime and all the buds were just starting to open up from the ground. Sophie had always loved this time of the year. It had always given her promise of a new start, better possibilities. And it had also been easier to escape her father’s anger out here. The winters had been difficult since she might have been trapped inside for days when the weather was too cold to go out into. Those were miserable days and she shuddered at the memories of how terrifying her father could be at times.

At five o’clock, she sighed and went back inside, deciding it was time to start changing for the evening. She would have to give in to his demands for a while until she could convince him that both of them would be better off separated. She didn’t understand why he wanted her. It had been that way from the beginning, she thought as she showered and pulled on one of her black evening gowns.

As she pulled her hair back into a braid again, she wondered why Jason had been so insistent that afternoon at her father’s funeral when he’d asked her to dinner that evening. It had been a painfully cold morning and the minister’s voice had droned on and on. Sophie hadn’t minded though. All she’d felt was a mild sense of frustration as she anticipated her freedom. Perhaps her marriage was God’s vengeance on her for being happy to have escaped from her father’s constant anger through death. But there was no denying the feelings coursing through her that day. The actual funeral had been disturbing as she searched herself for some sign of sadness over the death of her father. The sun had been shining onto her hair but it never broke through the day to warm up the air.

The only moment that really got to her was when she noticed the minister’s nod which was her signal to take some dirt and throw it onto the slowly lowering coffin. At that point, she’d felt a pang of regret, of pain since she’d never been what her father had wanted her to be. She’d tried, so desperately hard. But it seemed the more she tried, the more he yelled.