The Tycoon's Proposition Read online

It was king-size with a Mondrian print-on-white quilt. Paintings and dark hand-carved wood furniture provided the contrast to white walls.

  When Ben emerged from the bathroom still dressed in the same clothes, she urged him to get on the bed where she’d propped some pillows. Without asking his permission, she removed his shoes and socks. A sigh slipped out of him, telling her she’d done the right thing.

  “Just rest. I’ll bring you something to eat.”

  As she hurried from the room to the elevator, she thought he might have called her name, but she kept on going. He needed food.

  It didn’t take long to carry the bags to the kitchen. She found it beyond the dining room, which adjoined the living room. Terri loved to cook and couldn’t have been happier to discover the modern kitchen was an absolute dream with every convenience.

  Broth might be all right for a drink, but her patient needed something more fortifying right now. She rummaged through the sacks until she found a can of beef stew whose contents she put in the blender. In a minute she poured the puree into a saucepan and warmed it on the stove.

  With some more poking around, she found a tray. Eventually she’d loaded it with the stew, a can of peach nectar which she’d opened, a glass of water and a bottle of painkillers.

  When she entered the bedroom, Ben’s eyes were closed. But he must have smelled the aroma because his lids flew open at her approach.

  “Let’s hope this will help your weakness. You should have stayed in the hospital another day you know.”

  “I had to get out of there.”

  She understood, but she didn’t tell him that.

  As soon as he sat up straight, she put the tray on his lap. “Do you need a painkiller?”

  He nodded.

  “I’ll open the bottle for you.”

  The second she put two pills on the tray, he popped them in his mouth and drank some water. Then he started in on the stew. She smiled to watch the way he practically gobbled it down.

  “Ah-h…you’ll never know,” he whispered when it had disappeared.

  “I’m glad you enjoyed it. There’s more if you want it.”

  He darted her a glance. “How about in a half hour?”

  “So it’s going to be like that is it?”

  His half smile turned her heart over. “I have a big appetite as you’re about to discover. While I drink this nectar, why don’t you bring me the blue folder on my desk.”

  Terri found it right away.

  “Pull up a chair next to the bed. There’s something I want to show you.” When she’d done his bidding, he handed her an elaborate brochure. “I could tell in the car you were dying to ask questions. This should answer some of them.”

  For the next twenty minutes she became fully engrossed in a description of the ship and its purpose.

  The Spirit of Atlantis is a literal floating city that will travel the globe for years to come. Besides offering an international consortium of businesses, conference rooms, manufacturing plants and warehouse storage, everything is free of income, sales and duty tax.

  Families will live in beautiful residential homes they own outright. Other amenities are satellite TV and telephones, schools, a library, a first-class hospital, fire department, police department, duty free shopping centers, supermarkets, banks, post office, restaurants, cafés, theatres, chapels, a concert hall, recreational and gym facilities with a track, swimming pools, tennis courts, a hand-ball court, beauty salons, a park, a florist, an airport and heliport to ferry passengers and guests to and from various coastal cities around the world.

  The concept was mind-boggling. Terri turned to the section that showed the layout of the ship. Further on she read about the golf cart type vehicles used by residents to get around if they didn’t want to walk everywhere.

  She finally put the brochure down. When she lifted her eyes, she discovered that the mastermind behind this phenomenal enterprise had been watching her reaction with great interest.

  “T-this is overwhelming,” she stammered, still trying to take it in. “How long was it your dream before you turned it into reality? No—” She jumped to her feet and took the tray from him. “Don’t answer that. Your throat needs more time to heal. I’m going to get settled in the other room, then I’ll be back to check on you.”

  “Terri?”

  “Yes?” she called to him from the doorway.

  “Thank you. Tomorrow I’ll take you to the place where the accident happened. I’m sorry that I didn’t feel up to it today.”

  A wave of guilt washed over her before she slipped away to do some housekeeping chores. Since he’d appeared at her hotel room door this morning, she’d all but forgotten about Richard, let alone the reason that had brought her to Ecuador in the first place.

  Ben clearly needed a lot of sleep because he didn’t waken until six that evening. Knowing a liquid diet wasn’t going to do it for him, she heated up the contents of some baby food for his dinner. Besides carrots and beans, she made mashed potatoes that would slither down his throat without effort.

  When she took him the tray, he wolfed everything down in record time. After two helpings of potatoes which he praised, plus three bowls of ice cream, each a different flavor, he declared he was full. She gave him two more pills and told him to go back to sleep.

  To her relief, the next time she peeked in on him, he was dead to the world. She supposed there was nothing like being home in your own bed. Careful not to make a sound, she put away the pajamas and robe she’d run through the washer and dryer. Worried that the room might be too cool, she covered him with the quilt and turned off his reading lamp.

  After cleaning up the kitchen, she switched off lights and headed for the guest bedroom. In case he needed something in the night she purposely kept both their doors open.

  Her shower felt good. When she’d prepared for bed, she wandered over to the window which gave out on a view of the coast in the far distance. She didn’t know what floor they were on, but they had to be high up.

  Normally you wouldn’t think of a shipyard as being beautiful. But because it was night, the place looked exactly like a port city whose twinkling lights glinted on the water.

  She rubbed her arms as if to remind herself she wasn’t dreaming. It didn’t seem possible she was on a floating city down in South America, getting ready to go to bed in a room next to a man who was neither her husband nor her fiancé.

  Her thoughts flicked to Richard. The idea of working on a ship like this must have thrilled him as nothing else could have done. He’d probably dropped whatever he was doing back in the States to be a part of it.

  Tomorrow Ben would supply the answers to questions about her ex-husband she hadn’t yet asked. Terri sensed there was an unfavorable story to be told. Too bad it wouldn’t come as any surprise to her.

  Expelling a deep sigh, she climbed into the queen-size bed. No sooner had she turned off her bedside light than the phone rang. Afraid it would waken Ben, she picked it up after the first ring and said hello.

  “Terri?” a familiar male voice said her name.

  “Parker?”

  “It’s nice to know you recognized me.” He was a determined soul.

  “If you were hoping to talk to your brother, he’s asleep in the next room. I don’t dare disturb him.”

  “I’m glad to hear that because it’s you I wanted to talk to.”

  “I was asleep, too,” she lied, not knowing how to put him off without hurting his feelings. But maybe it would have to come to that if he didn’t take the hint soon.

  “A word of advice. Don’t let him boss you around. Ben’s a notorious slave driver.”

  That made her mad. She sat up in the bed. “He should still be in the hospital.”

  “As you’ve found out, he lives by his own set of rules.”

  Yes. That’s why he’s such a remarkable man, her heart cried.

  “I appreciate your interest, Parker, but I have to hang up now.”

  “Why? Is he calling
for you again?”

  “As a matter of fact I am,” Ben whispered into the phone unexpectedly.

  Terri’s hand tightened on the receiver. Though she hated the fact that the call had disturbed her patient, she wasn’t sorry he’d broken in on a conversation that was going nowhere.

  “Goodbye, Parker,” she said.

  After hanging up the phone, she jumped out of bed and threw on a robe. Turning on the light in the hall, she made her way to Ben’s bedroom. Halfway across the floor she heard the phone ring again. That meant her host had brought an abrupt end to the conversation with his brother.

  “Do you want me to get it?”

  “Please.”

  She picked up the receiver, ready to do battle if Ben’s brother gave her any more trouble. “Parker? I’m sorry, but we can’t talk to you right now. Maybe tomorrow. All right?”

  “For your information, Mrs. Jeppson, this is Martha Shaw. I phoned the hospital and found out Ben had been released, so I’m assuming he’s well enough to talk to me. I can’t imagine what you’re doing there with him. Put him on the line please.”

  “Just a minute.”

  Sucking in her breath, Terri covered the mouthpiece, then turned to Ben who looked far too appealing lying there in the semidarkness. His gaze trapped hers.

  “Tell Martha I’m asleep.”

  Terri blinked. “How did you know it was she?”

  “The accident has given me psychic powers.”

  He might mock, but she wondered if he and the other woman weren’t in the middle of a lovers’ quarrel. “She cares for you very much. Is there some kind of message I could give her so she won’t stay upset?”

  “No.”

  Terri had been around Ben long enough to know he meant what he said.

  She lifted the receiver once more. “I’m afraid you’ll have to call back in the morning, Ms. Shaw.”

  “I’ll do better than that. Tell Ben I’ll see him tomorrow.” She banged down the receiver.

  Crushed to think she would probably never be alone with Ben again after the other woman arrived, Terri slowly put the phone back on the hook.

  “What happened to make you lose color like that?”

  “Did I?” she half gasped. “I guess it was because she sounded very hurt. She said you could expect to see her tomorrow.”

  Ben cursed under his breath.

  “I can understand her feelings. Ms. Shaw imagines I’m some kind of threat to her. Of course it’s perfectly ridiculous, but she doesn’t know that. Wouldn’t it have been better if you’d at least whispered you loved her?”

  The second the question came out of her mouth, she wished she hadn’t asked it. His relationship with Martha Shaw was none of her business. Judging by the strange expression marring his features, she’d angered him.

  Her deceased father used to tell her that her desire to fix every situation to make the world right was a wonderful character trait. But there were times it got her into trouble, so she had to be careful. Too bad she hadn’t followed his advice just now.

  “I’m sorry, Ben. Please forgive me for speaking out of turn. It’s one of my worst faults.”

  “At least you called me by my first name. I believe we’re making progress. Sit down on the chair, Terri. I want to talk to you.”

  She did his bidding, but she had a pit in her stomach.

  “Where did you get the insane idea I was in love with Martha Shaw?”

  His question filled her with so much joy, she could hardly concentrate on giving him an answer.

  “When Parker drove me to Richard’s apartment, her name came up in the conversation. I happened to make the comment that she was in love with you. Your brother asked me how I knew. I told him it was instinct. That’s when he went very quiet and changed the subject.”

  She played with the end of her belt. “I—I just assumed that you and Ms. Shaw were involved in some kind of romantic relationship. Especially as she kept calling you at the hospital. When you refused to talk to her, I thought maybe you were having an argument of some kind. I didn’t know…”

  She heard a weary sigh escape his throat.

  “Martha is Parker’s ex-wife.”

  “What?” Terri almost fell off the chair.

  “A long time ago she went to work as a secretary for my brother Creighton who now runs the oil company for Dad. On one of my trips home to Houston a few years ago, I happened to meet her and she made a play for me. Though she was attractive, I like to be the one who does the chasing and let her know I wasn’t interested.”

  Whoa.

  “The next thing I heard, Parker had fallen hard for her. I love my brother and didn’t want to see him get hurt. When he told me he’d proposed to her, I should have told him about Martha. Instead I warned him off the institution of marriage. That was my fatal mistake. He just laughed at me. “When his big day came, I made certain I had an emergency down here that prevented me from attending the wedding. It didn’t take long for him to realize what I’d already found out. Martha was too self-absorbed to love anyone but herself. According to Mom and Dad, he did a lot of soul searching before he asked her for a divorce.

  “The settlement was too generous of course. Even then she only agreed to give him his freedom as long as she could have her old job back with Creighton. My older brother didn’t want any part of it. But he finally caved in to help speed up Parker’s divorce with the proviso that Martha had to take back her maiden name.”

  After hearing Ben’s explanation, there was no doubt in Terri’s mind that Martha Shaw had fallen in love with the elusive bachelor of the Herrick family. Parker’s ex-wife had never gotten over Ben. Terri could understand that better than any woman.

  “I wish I’d known the truth before I blurted to your brother that I could tell she was in love with you. That must have hurt him terribly. I’m so sorry. What can I do?” she lamented.

  “Nothing. You had no way of knowing Martha’s history. I’m not so sure you didn’t do Parker a favor. Since the divorce he has blamed himself that the marriage didn’t work.”

  “So now he’s going to blame you?” she blurted in agony.

  “No, Terri. He knows my home has been here for the last eight years. If I don’t miss my guess, your innocent observation may have helped him to see that she was never committed to their marriage. It has probably removed a burden of guilt he should never have felt in the first place.’

  “I hope you’re right.” Her voice shook. Tears smarted her eyes. “How does she live with herself? Parker’s a wonderful person. It was so cruel to marry him, and utterly unfair to you.”

  “That’s all history. Right after the divorce, he flew down here and spent a month with me. We’re closer than ever.”

  “That will change if he finds out she’s coming to see you tomorrow.”

  “I hope she does.”

  “Why do you say that?”

  “Because she’ll be in for the biggest shock of her life. We’ll discuss it in the morning.”

  All this talk had worn him out. He wanted to go back to sleep. She got up from the chair.

  “Thank you for telling me the truth.”

  “You sound like it’s the end of the world. It isn’t. Just don’t get any ideas about consoling Parker.”

  “The thought never crossed my mind.”

  “Maybe not consciously. But two people who’ve both lost a spouse already have something in common. Let’s hope you’re not still blaming yourself for a marriage that wasn’t meant to be.”

  “I did at first,” she admitted. “But after a while, I realized Richard fought the chains of marriage. From the little I heard about his aunt and uncle, they were pretty rigid. His parents died in a small plane accident. He never remembered them, and always resented the fact that life wasn’t fair.

  “Instead of enjoying his freedom until his thirties, he turned right around and married me after they died. I represented another cage of sorts.”

  “He was too immature and possib
ly too self-absorbed to know he’d won the prize. The same could be said of Martha. She lost a man who’s one in a million.”

  “I agree.”

  Terri knew Ben meant Parker. But Terri also knew Martha could never see past Ben.

  “Now my brother thinks he’s in love again. You do have a quality that encourages a person to bare his soul. It’s no wonder he can’t leave you alone. I’m afraid drastic measures are called for.”

  She frowned. “What do you mean?”

  “As I said, we’ll discuss everything in the morning. Good night, Terri.”

  “Good night,” she whispered.

  When Terri looked up at the sky the next morning, thick cloud cover prevented any sunlight from breaking through. Ben had told her a storm was brewing. He suggested they go out to the accident site first thing, then come back for breakfast.

  They walked to the starboard side of the ship. Two seamen at the landing helped them with life preservers before offering Terri assistance into the tender. Ben followed with his usual deftness.

  He nodded to the seaman who started up the motor. Within seconds they sped away from the ship, then traveled parallel to it until they’d gone past the bow.

  By now they’d left the protection of the inlet where the wind had picked up. Terri clung to the side of the boat as large swells in the open sea caused the tender to lift, then drop. Another minute and Ben made a hand signal for the seaman to cut the motor. His eyes swerved to Terri’s.

  “This is the approximate spot where the accident occurred. I had hoped to explain everything while we were out here, but the sea is too rough. After we return to the ship, I’ll tell you the whole story.”

  Terri was glad he’d said that. Now that she’d seen the place where Richard had died, she wasn’t sorry to go back to the ship. The elements were growing fierce.

  “Thank you for showing me.”

  “It was the least I could do.” He gave a signal to the seaman to turn them around and head back. Their boat rolled with the swells, not reaching safety any too soon for Terri. In the short time they’d been out, the sky had darkened to pitch and the wind had whipped up whitecaps.

  The same two seamen relieved her of the preserver and helped her back into the ship. Ben wasn’t far behind. On their way to the private elevator she said, “I have an idea that will save your voice.