[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
.Leland was gratefulshe didn t appear to be upset.Hell, if he were her he d be freaking right about now. Oh! Lorileigh cast a long assessing look in his direction.What did she see? hewondered. Well, I have plenty of friends in Savannah! It wouldn t kill me to move there.That way I can be close when the children start coming. Excuse me? Toni looked at her like she just sprouted horns. What children? Yours and Leland s of course! Lorileigh laughed.Her laughter always reminded himof wind chimes, all light and airy.He would miss that laughter when Toni demolished her.Man, she had to go and mention kids.He was having a hard enough time just getting Toni toadmit he meant more to her than a good roll in the sack! Mother, I don t think- Oh, hush Leland Bartholomew Westmorland! I have eyes you know.I have waited foryears to see my son settle down! Did you really think I would give a damn what she lookedlike, or who she was?Now she was snapping.Her porcelain cheeks stained red in righteous anger.Well, shit,this was about to get ugly.His mother turned back to Toni, apparently dismissing himentirely. My dear, I did not have what one would call a  happy marriage.Leland s father was adear, but far from being madly in love with me.I made the mistake of thinking being theperfect society wife was what he wanted.I forgot to be his lover and his friend.So he wentelsewhere.I have learned the hard way, love is far more important than appearances.Andsweetie, let me tell you the fact you are here in this apartment tells me a hell of a lot about myson s feelings for you! I can see it in his eyes, honey.My son loves you.So I love you.I amnot about to lose my son over some antiquated notion of race.I am just glad he foundsomeone! The boy is not getting any younger!Leland had to sit down.He had known about his parent s marriage.He had knownabout his father s affairs.He never once suspected his mother knew, or even cared.Seemedthe grand dame was a heck of a lot deeper than he ever gave her credit for.Would wondersever cease? But now the ball was in Toni s court.Would she accept what his mother had said, orwould she fight it? Um, wow, Toni looked at Lorileigh for several long seconds.Her mouth opened,then closed, then opened again, but she didn t say anything.Leland could see those gearsworking at full speed in her head.What would she do? His damn hands were sweating, his heart pounding, he felt like hehad freaking asked her to marry him or something.In a way he had.He had known thisconfrontation was coming, he had just misread all the players.Except Annabelle of course,but shallow people were never hard to read. Mrs.Westmorland- Lori, please, his mother cut Toni off. Er, Lori, I won t lie, I like Lee a lot, Well Halleluiah Amen!  But I m not sure this isgoing to work out.I appreciate your blessing and all, but we have a lot to overcome.Of course it couldn t be that easy could it? Why she had to make everything so damncomplicated he didn t know.He felt bitterness threatening to choke him.Did he give up? Didhe let her just walk away? Of course, dear, Lorileigh was telling her. You will do what s best I m sure.Justknow love doesn t come around often.Grab the happiness you can.Life is hard enough tryingto muddle through on your own.The rest of his mother s visit went reasonable well.Both women more or less ignoredhim.He didn t mind.It gave him time to plan.Toni believed they were only good sexually.He had to prove to her it was more than that.He had tried being with her without having sexand that failed miserably.Common sense told him to let her go, but he couldn t do that.Hisheart knew what it wanted, what it needed, and no one but Toni would do.He was just goingto have to force the issue.He wasn t going to cut their little holiday short.He would spend every waking momentloving her like there was no tomorrow.But when it was time to go back to Brunswick, hewouldn t be joining her.He would send a junior executive down to finish the job.He had togive her time to miss him.Maybe, just maybe she would be a little more receptive tosomething more than a physical relationship.He just had to make damn sure he didn t wastethese two weeks.Let her think they were having a fling.He would stop pressing.In the meantime hewould be more than a friend.He intended on working his way into her very being slowly,methodically.By the end of these two weeks, he would know damn near all there was toknow about Antonia Bignon.And she would know everything there was to know about him.He would be her everything as much as he could be.Then he would let her miss him for awhile.It would work.It had to work.Leland was not prepared to give her up.It might nothave been love at first sight, more like uncontrollable lust at first sight, but he was sure as shitin love now.Thinking about a future without his petite little hell raiser made him sick to hisstomach.Everything about the woman made him hot and cold, as hard as steel and softer thana marshmallow.Her smile made his world brighter.Her laughter soothed his soul.How shemanaged to do it he didn t know, and didn t really care.The point was she did it for him.Shemade him feel like a real man, and that was a hell of a thing.Just in case, he would be making a call to Jimmy today.The man had been instrumentalgetting him to convince Toni to come to Atlanta in the first place.Jimmy was well and trulyan ally, one he intended to use to his fullest advantage.If the plan that had just blown up inhis face was any indication, he had better have a back up.While Toni was hopefully missing him, he would be busy transferring his business toBrunswick.He already knew without asking Toni that she would never move here.Hewouldn t even think about asking that of her.He could design buildings anywhere.Some ofhis junior executives would move with him, some would not.He could even possibly keep anoffice here in Atlanta.That way he wouldn t have to lay anyone off.If by chance Toni didfinally accept what they could be together, he would be ready [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]