Dynasties Collection

“Ah, God, I’ve made so many mistakes,” he muttered, his grip on her hands tightening. “But I swear they were made with the best of intentions. For years I was afraid that Don would try to take you from me, so I tried to keep an emotional distance from you. Fearing that if I did lose you, the pain would be too great to bear.” He sighed heavily. “Then the years passed and I kept you tucked away, out of the family business, to protect you from Don Jarrod.”

“What? That makes no sense.”

“It did to me. I was terrified that he’d come back, you see. Try to take you from me as he stole your mother. I couldn’t bear the thought of that.”

“Oh, Dad …”

He squeezed her hands. “Do you realize that’s the first time you’ve ever called me that? To you, I was always ‘Father,’ not ‘Dad.'”

Erica sighed and let go of the pain and misery she’d been carrying around for most of her life. Sad as it was, it was also sort of comforting to know that neither one of them had deliberately shunned the other. Mistakes had been made, true, but by both of them and for far too long.

Leaning into his warm embrace, she wrapped her arms around her father’s neck and let the tears flow. He patted her gently and whispered words of comfort that were too soft for her ears to catch—but her heart heard and slowly began to heal.

“Are you happy out there?”

Erica sat across from her father and smiled. It was the first time she could ever remember her father being concerned with her happiness. But then, there had been a lot of firsts today. She felt lighter, freer than she had in years. She’d accomplished so much in just leaving, taking her own life in her hands. She’d found who she was meant to be. She’d reconnected with the father who had loved and raised her. And she had found—and lost—Christian.

Her smile faded, but she forced it back into place. “I really am. I know it’s strange. I can hardly believe it myself, to tell you the truth. But it’s so gorgeous there, Dad.” Funny how easily that name spilled from her now that she knew her affection was welcome. “I don’t just mean the resort, but Colorado itself. It’s huge and open and so beautiful it’s almost hard to look at it. I hope one day you’ll come to visit me there.”

Clearly uncomfortable at the thought, he was quiet for a moment, his brow furrowed and his eyes narrowed. “I’ll come. Don Jarrod’s ghost won’t keep me away from my daughter, Erica. I’m not going to risk losing you again.”

Her heart opened even further as love swept in, chasing away years of regrets and misery. “You won’t lose me, Dad. You can’t. I love you.”

He reached across the table and took her hand in his for a quick squeeze. “Does my heart good to hear that, I don’t mind telling you. But the most important thing is you’re happy, right?”

“I was….” How to explain to him what a mess she’d made of everything? She couldn’t actually confess to her father that she’d seduced a man who didn’t want her, after all.

“What changed?”

She folded her linen napkin and set it on the table. Then sitting back in her chair, she said, “I fell in love.”

“And this makes you miserable?”

“No,” she said on a short laugh, “it made me happier than I’ve ever been before.”

“But …” Walter encouraged her to talk just by patiently waiting.

Smiling, she acknowledged, “You’ve still got the intimidation knack.”

“It’s a gift,” he said with a wink. “Now, tell me what’s wrong with this man that he doesn’t see what a wonderful girl you are.”

“There’s nothing wrong with him,” she said, Christian’s face rising up in her mind to taunt her. “He just doesn’t want me enough.”

“Well, why the hell not?”

“It’s complicated, Dad. I think he does care for me. But he won’t let himself.” Irritation spiked inside her and she had to take a deep breath just to calm herself. “So the question is, how am I supposed to live there and see him every day feeling the way I do?”

“What’s the alternative?” he asked briskly. “Run away? Hide? Pretend you don’t feel what you do?”

“I don’t know,” she whispered.

“Well, I do,” Walter said, standing to come around the table. He pulled her from her chair and stood her up in front of him. With the tips of his fingers, he tilted her chin up until she was looking directly into his eyes. “You’re a Prentice, Erica. And we don’t run. We don’t put our heads in the sand when things don’t go our way, either. If you love that dolt, then find a way to make him admit he loves you, too.”

Throwing her arms around his neck, she hugged him tightly and sighed when Walter’s arms came around her with a fierce embrace.

“I love you, Dad,” she whispered and his embrace tightened in response.

“I love you, too, little girl,” he whispered. “Guess you’ll be leaving right away?”

She pulled back and smiled up at him. “I really should. The gala opens next week and there are a million details to see to—not to mention the fact that there’s a certain man I have to see and talk to.”

“Do I get to know his name?”

“As soon as I straighten him out, I’ll introduce you,” she promised, then gave him an extra hug for good measure. Grabbing up her purse, she raced for the door, but stopped dead when her father called out her name.

“Yes?”

He wagged a finger at her. “Just don’t you forget who you are, little girl. You’re Erica Prentice. My daughter. And you can do anything you put your mind to.”

She grinned at him. “You’re damn right I can.”

Christian refused to live like this any longer. He hadn’t seen or spoken to Erica in days. For all he knew, she could have decided to forego her inheritance and move back to San Francisco. That thought drove spikes through his mind and heart. What if she didn’t return? What if she decided that staying at Jarrod Ridge would be too painful because he was an idiot?

His stomach felt like a ball of lead had settled in it, while at the same time, his chest felt hollowed out. He scrubbed both hands across his face and stood up. Turning, he faced the window and didn’t even see the spectacular view. Instead, he saw Erica as she’d been their last night together by the river.

Naked, open, holding her arms out to him, taking him into her body, her heart. He could see the warmth in her eyes and the soft smile wreathing her face. His insides twisted and his mouth dried up. He loved her. He loved Erica Prentice.

And he’d not only let her walk away, he’d been ass enough to ruin what had been the best damn night of his life. The question now was, was he going to let that mistake stand? Or was he going to do everything in his power to correct it?

“Screw this,” he said out loud to no one. He turned and looked around the interior of his office. The one he’d worked so hard for—and all he saw was emptiness. In his mind, his future stretched out in front of him and that, too, was empty.

Pointless.

What the hell good was the job of his dreams if the woman he needed wasn’t a part of his life?

Furious with himself for taking this long to realize what was the most important thing to him, Christian jumped up from the desk chair and marched out of the room. He needed to talk to the oldest Jarrod sibling and he knew exactly where to find him.

Twenty minutes later, he was searching for Blake Jarrod amid the throng of people wandering around the site for the gala. The man was out here somewhere directing the crews setting up. When he spotted him, Christian headed right at him.

“Christian,” the other man said with a nod of greeting. “What are you doing out here? Giving up law to come swing a hammer with us?”

“No,” he said, barely glancing at the crew. “Blake, I need to talk to you.”

“Sure,” he said, heading to a less crowded part of the lawn. He stopped and crossed his arms over his chest. “What’s this about, Christian?”

The only way to handle this was to jump right in.

“I’m resigning as family attorney as of today,” Christian said and felt a weight slide off his shoulders. Damn, it felt good to be a free man. He’d been living an indentured life and he hadn’t even realized it until just this instant.

All along, he had thought he was steering his own course. Plotting his own life and destiny. But in reality, Don Jarrod had still been in charge. Even from the grave. But not anymore. And never again.

“What?” Astonished, Blake reached out, grabbed Christian’s upper arm and dragged him a little farther away to make sure no one would overhear them. “You can’t resign. Are you nuts?”

“Not anymore,” he said, grinning. “And yeah, I can resign. Watch me.”

“We can’t run this place without you, Christian!”

“Not my problem as of today, Blake. Sorry, but this is how it has to be.”

“Sorry?” Blake threw his hands high and let them slap down against his thighs. “You’re sorry that you’re walking out just as we all get back and have to deal with mountains of crap?”

“You’ve got each other. You’ll do fine. This is your home, Blake.”

“It’s your home as much as it is ours.”

Christian looked around, letting his gaze scan the familiar grounds, the guests and the well-trained staff. True, this was his home. But it didn’t mean a damn to him without Erica. Decision made, he turned back to Blake.

“I’ll type up a formal letter and leave it with your assistant,” he said. “If you want, I can make some recommendations about who I think would work well here.”

“I don’t want your recommendations,” Blake muttered with a dark frown. “I want you here, doing your job. Like always.”

“Can’t do it, Blake,” Christian said. He wasn’t thinking about Blake. He was thinking about Erica. He had to tell Erica he loved her and that he was willing to risk everything in his life except her.

“You have to do it. We can’t afford to lose you.” Blake took a deep breath, bit back his frustration and demanded, “You’ve always been happy here, Christian. Where’s this coming from?”

“Things are different now.”

“Since when?” Blake’s eyes narrowed on him.

He hadn’t intended to say anything. But how could he not? Blake was a friend and the brother of the woman he loved. Why the hell should he hide his feelings now? He took a breath and plunged in.

“Since your sister.”

“Melissa?”

“No.” Christian laughed out loud at the stunned surprise on Blake’s face. Clearly he’d done a very good job of keeping his feelings to himself. “Erica.”

“Really?” Blake shook his head. “Huh. I didn’t have a clue.”

“Nobody does,” Christian told him. “That’s the point. I’ve been hiding how I feel about her because of my responsibilities here.”

“What?” Now Blake just looked confused. “Why would you do that?”

Christian sighed. “You know as well as I do how your father felt about what he called ‘fraternizing.'”

“Oh, for God’s sake—”

Christian kept going. “I get involved with your sister, I lose my position here and any shares I have in the company. The board of directors will take care of that at their next meeting.”

“So you’re just gonna walk away from everything you’ve ever known instead.”

“Rather than lose her? Yeah. In a heartbeat.”

Blake nodded and grinned at him. “I can see that. What you didn’t think about is, the Jarrod family won’t let you resign.”

“You can’t stop me.”

“No, but I can hire you again the minute you quit,” Blake told him. “And when I do, there’ll be no restrictions, Christian.”

“What are you saying?”

“I’m saying what everybody knows. Don Jarrod was a hard man. I’m not him. And neither are my brothers.” Blake laughed aloud. “God, Christian, Melissa would kill us all if we let you leave over something like this.”

Christian shook his head as if he couldn’t believe how this conversation was going. He’d been prepared to lose everything to keep Erica. Now it seemed he was going to have it all. If he could convince the woman he loved that he deserved her.

Slapping him on the shoulder, Blake said, “We’ll write up a new contract between you and the Jarrod Resort whenever you’re ready.”

“I don’t know what to say.”

“I think that’s a first,” Blake told him with a laugh. “So you and Erica, huh?” His eyes went cool and serious for a moment. “I’ve had my issues with the new sister, but bottom line here is, she is my sister. So just to put you on alert—if you’re not actually planning to marry her—you won’t have a job to worry about. None of us will stand by and let anybody hurt her.”

“I don’t want to hurt her. I want to marry her. All I have to do is convince her to say yes.”

“Good luck, man.” Blake held out a hand toward him. “And welcome to the family.”

Christian shook his friend’s hand and hoped to hell his talk with Erica would go as well.

By the time the Jarrod jet landed at the small strip in Aspen, Erica was a woman on a mission. She was focused. Determined. She had her plan on facing down Christian all worked out and was eager to get on with it.

But her lovely, well-thought-out plan dissolved as she disembarked from the plane and saw a car waiting for her. The driver, an older man with grizzled black-and-white hair, smiled as he held out an envelope.

Curious, Erica opened it while the driver stacked her luggage in the trunk of the car. The note inside was short and in Melissa’s handwriting. Get in the car and don’t ask any questions.

A spurt of irritation briefly shot through Erica, because now she’d have to wait to take care of the most important confrontation in her life. But just as quickly, she let go of her disappointment and told herself that her conversation with a hardheaded man could wait a while longer. If Melissa had gone to this much trouble, she must need Erica for something.

“Okay, then,” she said, smiling at her driver, “guess we should get going.”

“Yes, ma’am.” He opened the car door, saw her settled, then climbed behind the wheel. In a few minutes they were on the road to the resort and Erica was wondering what Melissa was up to. She had called her sister to let her know that she was coming home, so if there had been something wrong, wouldn’t Melissa have told her about it already?

Home.

That word settled in her heart and she had to smile. Oddly enough, after only three short weeks at Jarrod Ridge, the place had become home to Erica. She wasn’t the same person she’d been when she arrived. Now, she was officially an ex big-city girl. She’d officially quit her job. Oh, she’d have to go back to San Francisco soon, to arrange for the sale of her condo and to have her furniture shipped west. But she’d take care of that and get back to Jarrod Ridge as quickly as possible.

This was where she belonged now.

Her gaze scanned the scenery as it passed in a green-brown blur, her mind racing, dragging up image after image of Christian. She worried over how their talk would go and told herself that no matter what else happened, she would at least have the satisfaction of knowing she’d told him how she felt. If he still chose to walk away from her—well, she’d just make his life a living hell until he changed his mind.

In no time at all, the car was pulling through the resort’s front gate. But instead of heading toward the hotel entry, the driver drove off on what had to be a service road. She looked behind her as the Manor receded into the distance and was then swallowed up by the cloud of dust flying up from behind the wheels of the car.

“Just where are we going?” she asked, despite Melissa’s note.

“Only a minute or two more, miss,” the man said.

The trees were thicker here, lining either side of the road like soldiers at parade rest. She didn’t recognize this area and realized that there was still a lot of the resort for her to explore and come to know. But she hadn’t planned on doing it right now.

Finally the car came to a stop on the rutted road. The driver helped her out, pointed to the tree line on her left and said, “Just head right through there, miss.”

Before she could ask any questions, the driver had hopped back into the car and disappeared down the road. “Perfect. What is going on?”

She headed off to her left and cocked her head to listen when she heard a familiar roar of sound. It was the river. Her heart started pounding and a tiny curl of nerves unspooled in the pit of her stomach. Still, she walked on, until she rounded a bend and saw a blanket spread out under the trees. Her breath caught in her chest as she realized that the driver had brought her to Christian’s spot alongside the river. Since they’d taken the back way in, she hadn’t recognized the place until now.

On that blanket was a silver ice bucket holding what looked like a bottle of champagne, and a picnic basket, its lid partially opened to allow a baguette to spear up.

Erica took a deep breath and when Christian stepped out from behind a tree, she felt hope and confusion tangle inside her. When she could speak without her voice breaking, she asked, “What’s this about, Christian?”

“I needed to talk to you and I thought the best place to do that was here. In our spot.”

Our spot. Not his. Ours. That brief flash of hope she’d experienced began to shine more brightly. But even as it did, she wondered if maybe he’d brought her here to tell her he’d never love her. Maybe he had chosen this particular spot to soften the blow of goodbye. So before he could speak, she did. “I have a few things I want to say to you, too.”

He came toward her, stepping out of the dappled shade into the wash of golden sunlight. “First hear me out, Erica.”

“No.” She skipped back out of reach of him, because she knew if he touched her, the words would dry up in her mind and she’d forget everything but the feeling of having his hands on her again. “Let me say this. I’ve been rehearsing it all the way here and I need to get it out.”

“Okay, then. Tell me.”

Nodding, she pointed at the picnic he’d set up in the shade and said, “First, let me say if you’ve brought me here to tell me goodbye, you can forget it.”

“Goodbye?” Christian reached for her, but she moved back and away again, frustrating him beyond belief. “I’m not—”

“Because I’m not going anywhere,” she said, lifting her chin and glaring at him. “I’m going to be right here. Every day. You’ll have to see me, work with me, talk with me. Every day. And every day I’m going to remind you of how good we are together. Of what we could have had together if only you’d made the right choice. And I’m going to keep on reminding you of that until I convince you that we should be together even if it takes me another twenty years.”

Tears were shining in her eyes and that alone tore at Christian’s heart and soul. “Don’t, Erica. Don’t cry.”

“I’m not crying,” she argued. “I’m arguing, and arguing makes me emotional.”

“I can see that,” he said, smiling now because she still loved him. Still wanted him. He hadn’t ruined everything after all. “Now, will you listen to me?”

She sniffed, cast a look at the champagne picnic, then turned back to him. “I suppose.”

“Good, because you’re not going to have to remind me for twenty years. Not even for twenty minutes.”

“I’m not?”

He walked to her, closing the distance between them with three long steps. He looked down into her whiskey-colored eyes and saw everything he had ever wanted shining back at him. How could he have thought for even one minute that he would be willing to do without her? That he would be able to be without her?

Not a chance.

“I went to Blake while you were gone and I quit my job as family attorney.”

“What?” She pushed at him. “You can’t do that! I won’t let you give up everything you worked for just because Don Jarrod was a medieval warlord. And Blake shouldn’t allow it, I’m going to—”

Christian laughed as she turned from teary to warrior in the blink of an eye. God, life with her was going to be fascinating. “You don’t have to do anything. Blake refused to let me resign. Said he’d just hire me again without all the qualifiers his father insisted on.”

“So you’re not leaving?”

“No.”

She watched him warily. “And you’re not going to pull away from me again?”

“No.” He pulled her into his arms and held her tightly to him until he felt her return his embrace, her arms winding about his waist as she clung to him. Then his world righted and Christian knew everything was going to be all right. “I’m never letting you go again. I love you, Erica. Have from the moment I met you. When you left …”

He pulled back and stared down into her eyes. He lifted one hand to cup her cheek and then smoothed his fingers through her hair, loving the cool, slick slide of it against his skin. “When you left, you took my heart with you. I knew then that nothing I had, nothing I had worked for, was worth anything without you in my life.”

She sighed, and a soft, amazingly beautiful smile curved her mouth as she looked up at him. “Christian, I love you so much.”

“Thank God,” he muttered.

She laughed a little. “I thought for sure I’d have to argue for hours to convince you that you loved me.”

“No arguments necessary,” he said. Then he reached into his pocket, pulled out a small, dark red velvet box and opening it, held it out to her.

Sunlight danced off the enormous diamond and shone in her eyes as he watched her. He took the ring from the box and slid it onto her finger, all while she simply stared up at him, with a bemused smiled on her lovely face.

“I finally figured it out.”

“What?” she asked, glancing down at the beautiful promise glittering on her hand.

“That all I need is you. If I have you, I have everything. Without you, there’s nothing.”

“Oh, Christian …” Tears fell, sliding along her cheeks, but her smile was as brilliant as the diamond on her finger.

“Marry me, Erica. Make a family with me.”

“Yes!” she shouted the single word, then laughed in delight. “Yes, I’ll marry you and I swear, I will love you forever.”

He kissed her hard and fast, then drew back and grinned at her. Erica threw her arms around his neck and hung on for all she was worth as he swung her into a dizzying circle. The world rushed by, a blur of color and sound, but in the center of it all, they were together.

As they were meant to be.

* * * * *

Falling for His Proper Mistress

Tessa Radley

For my cousin Merope – the only person I know

who can find a restaurant where sinfully rich

chocolate cake is served first on the menu and

entrees appear on the dessert menu described as

something to fill the space left over!

One

Everything was running smoothly.

Well, almost everything, Guy Jarrod amended as he strode into the cobbled square that lay at the heart of Aspen’s famous Jarrod Ridge resort.

Erica Prentice, his newly discovered half sister, had sprung the unwelcome news on the family at breakfast this morning that Art Lloyd, one of the Food and Wine Gala speakers, had called yesterday to cancel his appearance because of a bad bout of influenza. Apart from the minor headache of finding someone to replace Art, the annual festival was on track and the tall, snowy-white marquees that lined the square on three sides hummed with activity.

If his old man had been here, even he would’ve admitted that the spectacle was impressive.

Heaviness pressed down on Guy’s heart. Don Jarrod, his father—and an Aspen legend—was gone. Forever. Yet Jarrod Ridge remained a monument to his father’s life’s work.

A large shadow floated over Guy. Squinting skyward, he saw awestruck faces peering down at him from baskets that hung below brightly hued balloons drifting lazily across the morning sky. Guy’s mood lifted and he raised a hand to wave before making for the nearest marquee that, even this early in the day, was already crowded.