Page 91 of The Acquisition

"You don't have a choice. I sent you divorce papers."

He grunted. "Yes, you did. I told you when we got married that I wasn't going to let you go."

"You're just being cruel. Let me go," I said as an embarrassing sob escaped me.

Instead of arguing with me he tossed me over his shoulder. "We're going to go have a talk."

THIRTY-FOUR

COLTER

Jana didn't fight me as I walked out of the club with her thrown over my shoulder. Sabrina nodded to me just before I left. I'd thank her later for letting me know where to find my missing wife.

I had landed in New York an hour before, but Jana wasn't at the hotel I'd tracked her down to. Curiosity and a bit of anger overwhelmed me when I learned she'd used the weeks we had been apart trying to track down the king of douches.

Desperation had me calling Caroline to get any information about her motives before I exploded. That's how I learned that while I was single handedly keeping the liquor industry afloat, Jana had been fighting against her scheming father.

Yet another thing I'd left her to deal with alone. It was no wonder she left me. I hadn't been a great husband to her. I told myself everything I did was for her. I married her so she could keep her inheritance, but it was all a lie. I married her because for the first time in decades I felt drawn to another woman. My fear of being alone drove me to lock her down before she could find another solution for her problems.

All of my actions had been selfish. Including retreating into myself when the guilt of being an absent father and letting go of Jenny rose up to choke me. I pushed her away when I should have held on tight. Now I had to hope I wasn't too late to win her back.

She had to listen to me first, and Jana was stubborn. Technically what I was doing was illegal. I was basically abducting my wife, but I needed her to at least listen to me.

If she still wanted to leave once I said my piece I'd let her go. Well, I'd try at least. My truth was my heart would never be free of Jana Easton.

Her shock wore off once I dumped her in the back seat of a limo. I preferred less ostentatious rides, but finding a car service that was available and willing to overlook me hauling a likely hostile woman to my private jet meant I couldn't complain about the type of car. I'd have to worry about the morality of this company later, because right now I appreciated their openness to letting cash skew their sense of right and wrong.

Jana lunged for the door as soon as I set her down. I slid in next to her, blocking her exit. She dove toward the other door.

I grabbed her ankle and yanked her back. "Where do you think you're going?"

She growled and kicked her free leg at me. In hindsight, laughing at her wasn't the best idea, but she reminded me of an angry kitten.

"You can't keep me here. As soon as we stop, I'm getting out."

There was a stubborn tilt to her chin. I forced down another laugh. Just being near her gave me a jolt of happiness I hadn't felt in weeks.

"Is that so?" I taunted her.

"Charles," I called up to the driver, "engage the child locks and close the privacy screen please."

"Of course, sir," he replied. The click of the locks was followed immediately by the swooshing of the screen sliding in to place.

Jana growled, and this time I did laugh.

"You're ridiculously cute when you're pissed off."

"Why are you doing this? You're the one who didn't want me around. I made it easier for you by leaving."

She believed that. There were many things I had to set her straight about; this was the most important. "Nothing about the last few weeks has been easy for me. I know this mess is all my fault. I pushed you away when I should have pulled you closer. Don't think I haven't been beating myself up over it since the moment I realized you were gone."

"You think any of this has been easy for me? I thought for a moment maybe we could be more than some scheme to keep my inheritance. Hell, I think I knew the whole time we didn't need to go to those lengths even, but it gave me an excuse to take a chance on us. You hurt me. Even through this mess, nothing my family has done has truly hurt because I'd given up on them long ago. I started to let you in, and you shoved me away."

I grabbed her without thinking. The need to comfort her was too strong. She surprised me by melting into my side. When she started to shake in my arms, my heart cracked.

I did this. I took the fragile trust she handed me and shattered it. She always expected me to leave her, and when she started to tentatively believe me when I said I wanted her, I told her she wasn't welcome, that she wasn't family.

I kissed the top of her head. "I'm going to make it up to you. Just don't run. Hear me out and then decide."

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