Full Bloom

of me having turned into a woman with a sense of her own power," Emily remarked dryly.
    Jacob grinned. "I may have been a little hasty in congratulating you. Power is a dangerous thing in the hands of a woman. Women are so much more subtle than men. You can usually tell what a man will do with power, but you can't always be so certain about what a woman will do with it."
    "It will give you something to think about if you're ever in danger of getting bored with marriage."
    "I don't see boredom as a problem in this marriage," Jacob said with great depth of feeling.
    "Now, about the way you followed me downstairs this morning," Emily began again, not ready to be sidetracked.
    "As long as you're not going to let that subject drop, I'd like to point out a little detail you seem to have overlooked," Jacob said, self-righteousness in his eyes.
    "What detail?"
    "Emily, I came right down after you in the other elevator. I was only a minute or two behind you."
    "So?"
    "So I was there right from the beginning when you first encountered Morrell. I overheard you ask him what he was doing there, and I heard the whole conversation between the two of you right up to the point where you threw him."
    "It's called eavesdropping, Jacob."
    "It's called an incredible display of forbearance and patience on my part. You seem to be missing the main point here, Emily, and that was that I let you deal with Morrell on your own, right up to the moment where things turned violent. Hell, I hesitated so long that you were the one who rescued yourself. Don't I get any credit for that? I'm making progress, honey. Two weeks ago I would have been down on Morrell like a rock slide before you'd had a chance to do anything more than say hello."
    Emily stared at him. "You were there behind the wall, listening to everything?"
    "And gnawing on my knuckles."
    "And you didn't come charging around the corner like a bull moose until after things turned nasty," Emily said thoughtfully, thinking about it.
    "A bull moose?" Jacob looked offended.
    Emily ignored the hurt protest. Her eyes softened. "You know something, Jacob, there may be hope for you yet. It must have taken considerable willpower for you to hold back when you knew Damon was confronting me on the other side of that wall."
    "You'll never know how much willpower," he agreed a little grimly.
    Emily broke into a sunny smile. "I hadn't thought about it like that. You're right. You are making progress." Then she remembered something and became thoughtful. "You know, I hadn't realized that fall I gave Damon had shaken him up as much as it did until I saw him getting into the back of the police car. He could hardly walk."
    "You're a terror, my love," Jacob said smoothly. He patted his thigh. "Why don't you come over here and tell me just how well I'm doing as a husband who's learning to respect his wife's ability to take care of herself?" Jacob put down his Scotch and reached across the short distance that separated him from Emily. He took the wineglass from her and tugged her down onto his lap.
    Emily blinked suspiciously at him and then decided not to ask any more questions about Damon's condition that morning when he had been taken away by the police. Jacob's innocent expression did not deceive her. One couldn't tame a wolf completely. She would just have to be contented with a few behavior modifications.
    Emily smiled and went willingly to Jacob, her eyes warm and glowing as she nestled happily into his strength. "I love you, Jacob. Even if you are occasionally overbearing and heavy-handed and even if you do tend to be overprotective."
    "And I love you, sweetheart, even if you are occasionally reckless and a little naive and inclined to drive me crazy." He kissed her forehead.
    Emily reached up and framed his hard face between loving hands. She studied the tenderness in his eyes that was such a contrast to the rest of him. "I'm so glad the right time and place finally came for us," she whispered.
    "It wasn't exactly a matter of fate," Jacob said with a sexy grin. "We both made it happen. I came back looking for you, and you had the good sense to be waiting."
    Emily laughed up at him and pulled his face down so that she could kiss him. "From now on we will take very good care of each other, my love."
    ^