Full Bloom

room.
    Jacob set the luggage down and turned to her. "Put on your jacket and we'll go for a walk on the beach. I could use the exercise after that drive."
    "Please."
    He cocked a brow at her. "Please what?"
    "You're supposed to say please put on your jacket and then you're supposed to ask me if I would like a walk on the beach. You're not supposed to issue orders about it."
    "I get it. Not romantic, hmm?" But the hard line of his mouth had softened and his eyes were speculative.
    "It's not a question of romance. It's a question of good manners."
    "Someday I'd like to get my hands on whoever taught that class in assertiveness training you took. Okay, would you like to go for a walk on the beach?"
    "That sounds nice."
    "Then would you please put on your jacket?"
    "Sure," Emily said, giving him a saucy glare. She shrugged into her lined yellow windbreaker. "Ready when you are."
    "Such an accommodating woman." Jacob pulled on his slate-gray jacket and opened the door. "After you," he said with exaggerated politeness.
    Head high, Emily walked back out into the gray afternoon. Neither of them said a word until they had reached the water's edge and turned to walk along the packed sand. They paced side by side but they kept their hands stubbornly thrust into the pockets of their jackets. It was Jacob who spoke first.
    "All right," he said, "tell me why you don't want to marry me."
    "I never said I didn't want to marry you," Emily hedged.
    He ignored that. "Is it because I'm not an especially impressive specimen at the moment? I know that if you look at me objectively, you could find some faults."
    "For instance?" Emily challenged.
    He shrugged. "I'm not currently employed, for one thing."
    "True. But I could give you a job delivering flowers."
    Jacob smiled briefly. "You'd like being in a position to give me orders, wouldn't you?"
    "It's a tantalizing thought. Go on. What other faults do you have?"
    "You're really getting into this, aren't you? Well, let's see, I was involved in a very unpleasant divorce."
    "Not your fault," she told him magnanimously. "I remember Leanna. Nothing you did would have made her happy. Continue."
    "I don't share your social background." He looked out to sea.
    "I don't share it, either," Emily said with a grimace. "My social background, such as it is, is largely a product of my parents' imagination and wishful thinking."
    Jacob nodded, accepting that. "There's something else."
    "What?"
    "For a long time you've viewed me as the enemy. I was always on your family's side. It always seemed to be a case of you against us."
    "I'll grant you that point," she agreed with alacrity.
    Jacob came to an abrupt halt and reached out to stop her. His hand clamped around her arm. "Is that the main problem, Emily? You still see me as the enemy?"
    "I've never seen you as the enemy," she told him softly.
    "But I was always the bad guy. What was it you called me? The family's enforcer?"
    "Sometimes it seemed that way," she admitted.
    "Is that why you're trying to wriggle out of marrying me? Because of the role I played for RI?"
    "No." But she was beginning to get agitated. He was homing in on the truth. "Jacob, please, there's no point in this. Why don't we just enjoy what we have together for as long as we can?"
    "You owe me an explanation. Apparently I'm good enough to sleep with but not good enough to marry you."
    "That's not true!"
    "Then why won't you marry me?" he said through gritted teeth. His eyes were cold gray, bottomless pools. Then his eyes narrowed as he promptly jumped to a conclusion. "Dammit, Emily, you don't think I'm after those RI shares, do you?"
    "No!" She threw up her hands in genuine shock. "Of course not. I've never once thought you might be after a chunk of RI."
    Jacob's response was a wry smile. "Sometimes you are so sweet and trusting it scares the hell out of me. It's a possibility, you know."
    "That you're scheming to marry me for my shares? No, it's not. You'd never interfere with RI," she declared staunchly. "Even if you did, you'd never use me to do it."
    "Thank you for that much, at least. So what's the real reason?"
    She gave up trying to evade the question. He wanted an answer. She might as well spell it out for him. "Jacob, don't you see that the marriage wouldn't have a chance? It wouldn't last. We'll be lucky to get away with having an affair for a few weeks or months," she whispered miserably. "It's all we can hope for."
    "Why, dammit? I'll make you a good husband. I'll be