The Tycoon's Defiant Southern Belle Page 0,14

allow her to continue seeing him. No, he definitely wasn’t one to share. Jade would be all his, he thought with determination.

She pulled back, stunned that he would interpret things that way. “More time? And more time…with you?” She swallowed the lump in her throat at the idea. “I don’t think we do.”

He put a hand to the small of her back and nodded his head. “It’s the only thing that makes sense. I’m a large man and a stranger. You’re used to smaller men and people you’ve known for most of your life. I can understand that. I’ll be here working on the consolidation of my businesses and making decisions about the house so we’ll have plenty of time to get to know each other.

Jade shivered at the idea. “We can’t….”

“You were going to show me what you’ve accomplished. I like the new tiles,” he said, referring to the tiles in the great room that were an almost exact match to the old ones.

Jade looked down and pride over her work welled up. She took him through, room by room and explained what each of the workers were doing, how they were researching the previous designs from various sources.

As Angelo walked beside Jade, he looked down at her, taking in her excitement over the project. He was impressed with all the work she’d done, what she was trying to accomplish but he was also equally impressed when she had to deviate from the old styles. Either for comfort or practicality, or even some sort of electrical or plumbing issue, Jade had managed to adjust the rooms so they would be more efficient and comfortable to use while still maintaining the integrity of the era.

The house actually looked worse now than it had when he’d originally bought the structure, but he could also see where the plans were going.

They’d come full circle and were now back in the kitchen when she he glanced down at her watch and gasped. “I have to go,” she said and started stuffing papers and plans into her large, leather bag that had been scattered over the plywood that was being used as kitchen counters until the granite arrived. Granite was being used instead of the previous tiles simply because it was a better material. According to Jade, food and germs built up in the grout between the tiles. So she’d selected granite instead since it would be easier to clean up.

“Have dinner with me tonight,” he said.

Her eyes flashed up to his face as shock and longing whipped through her at his invitation. But she pushed that feeling down and quickly shook her head. “I can’t do dinner tonight,” she countered. “I have plans.”

He raised an eyebrow. “With your boyfriend?” he asked.

Jade’s hand stopped stuffing papers and she bit her lip. “Yes. Dave is meeting me for dinner.”

“And you’re going to tell him that your relationship is over with him, right?”

Jade looked up at him, the worry in her eyes once again. “Angelo, you really terrify me. I don’t want to break up with Dave. I’m more…”

“Comfortable with him.” He moved closer, his hand reaching out and touching her cheek. “And is comfortable really what you want?”

Initially her head turned towards his touch and she briefly closed her eyes. But then she realized what she was doing and pulled away. Shaking her head, she grabbed her bag and slung it over her shoulder. “I have to go,” she said and hurried out of the house.

Chapter 4

Over the next week, Jade found herself in Angelo’s company almost constantly. She would have suspected that he’d planned it that way, but there was really no way she could blame him for several of the occurrences.

Thursday evening, she was sitting in an Italian restaurant with Dave, listening to him drone on about work, complaining about his boss or the new management that was put in place over the past few weeks. According to Dave, they were all idiots that were going to bring the company to bankruptcy.

She didn’t mention that she knew the man who had bought out his company. Nor did she tell him what she knew of Angelo’s business strategy, why he’d bought one company or another. She didn’t want to betray Angelo’s trust, thinking their dinner conversations had been private and she had no reason to betray that trust to Dave. But it became harder to be patient with his complaints, knowing why Angelo had done one thing that made sense, while listening to Dave