SILENT DESIRES

He wasn’t expecting Neal to come up with such a ridiculous business proposal. Of course, he had rejected the offer, but he still wanted that business deal. And he needed to get Neal to drop the marriage idea. That was the reason why he was at the party actually.

It should come as no surprise. Neal Patchett was getting old, and it shouldn’t be too surprising that he would want his only child to get married. Dash just didn’t understand why Neal would pick him. He had met Tess just once, and while she had the innocence of an eighteen-year-old, she must be twenty six or twenty seven, having completed her degree at university three years ago.

He remembered attending a formal dinner to celebrate. It was at that dinner that he had seen Tess, and he hadn’t really spoken to her, apart from the time he had offered his congratulations to her and they had talked for like one minute. And that was why he couldn’t understand why Neal would want him to marry his daughter. There was no sort of relationship between them.

The dinner, like any other social gathering hosted by Neal Patchett, had turned into a business discussion and the guest of honor had disappeared long before the evening was over. He had thought at the time he might be the only person to have noticed. Certainly her father had not, nor had any of the other businessmen present remarked upon Tess’s absence. And today, it was the same -Tess wasn’t in the room.

He wondered if she knew about her father’s idea that they get married. How would she react? Would she agree to that sort of thing?

Dash turned away from the gossiping couple and stepped around a potted plant easily as tall as most men. Its bushy foliage obstructed his view of what was behind it, which was why he didn’t realize Tess Patchett was standing there in frozen mortification until he had all but stepped on her.

She gasped and moved backward, her corkscrew curls catching on the leaves behind her, their chestnut color a startling contrast to the plant’s bright green shrubbery. “Mr Black!”

He reached out to stop her from landing on her bottom in the big Chinese pot housing the plant.

Wide violet eyes blinked in an attempt to dispel suspicious moisture. “Oh, I’m sorry. How clumsy I am.” She said,

“Not at all, Miss Patchett.” Dash said. The skin beneath his fingers was soft and warm. “I am the one who must apologize. I walked without looking ahead of myself and am at your feet in regret for my precipitous behavior.”

As he had hoped it would, his overly formal, old-fashioned apology brought a small smile to tilt the generous lips that had a moment before been trembling.

“You are very kind, sir.” She said,This text is property of Nô/velD/rama.Org.

She was one of the few people who believed this to be so. He let go of her arms, finding it surprisingly difficult to make his fingers release their captive.

“And you are very lovely tonight.” Dash said

It had been the wrong thing to say. Her gaze flitted to the shrub and the still gossiping couple beyond, her expression turning pained. Their voices carried quite clearly, now discussing an adulterous affair between two of their acquaintances. No doubt Tess had heard their earlier words.

She affirmed his thoughts when she softly said, “Not lovely, I think, but hopelessly average,” telling him too that she knew he had heard the unflattering comments.

He did not like the sadness in her eyes and he once again took her arm, leading her toward the library. It was the one room unlikely to have a lot of guests milling about. “Come, Tess.”

He liked her name. It suited her.

She did not demur and she looked like a peaceful sort of person. They reached the library. He guided her inside, quickly ascertaining he had been right and no one else was present. He shut the door to keep it that way. She needed a few moments to collect herself.

Once again he was surprised by a desire to maintain his hold on her, but she tugged slightly on her arm and he released her. She faced him, her stature accentuated by her three-inch heels. She really did look lovely in her formal gown of deep purple. The bodice outlined small, but perfectly proportioned curves while the shimmery fabric of the full skirt floated around her ankles in a very feminine way. She was not ravishingly sexy like the women he dated, but pretty in a very innocent and startlingly tantalizing way.

“I don’t think he’s trying to buy me a husband, you know.” She tucked a reddish-brown curl behind her ear. “He’s tried to buy me pretty much everything else since his heart attack, but I think even father would draw the line at buying a husband.”

So she didn’t know then. He thought. He wouldn’t put anything past the man, but forbore saying so. “It is natural for him to want to buy you things.” he said instead.

She grimaced. “Yes, I suppose so, but in the past he’s always been impersonal with it.”

A husband would be a pretty personal purchase, Dash had to admit. “What do you mean, Miss Patchett?”

“Oh please, you must call me Tess. We’ve known each other for three years after all… Even if this is the first time we are actually having a conversation”

Has it been that long?

“Tess then.” He said. He smiled and watched in some fascination as her skin took on a distinctly rosy hue.

She averted her face, so she was looking at the overfull bookcase on her left.

“It’s been just me and dad since I was five.”

“I did not know this.” Dash said.

She nodded. “But I don’t think he noticed I even lived in his house except to instruct the servants to buy me what I needed, clothes when I grew out of them, books when I wanted them, an education, that sort of thing.”

It was as he had always surmised. Tess had been relegated to the background of Patchett’s life and she had known it.

“But just lately, he’s been buying things for me himself. My birthday was a month ago and he bought me a car.” She sounded shocked by the fact. “I mean he went to the car dealership and picked it out himself. The housekeeper told me.”