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Landon won't tell me where we are going, and we sit in silence as we drive. Landon isn't the kind of man who engages in small talk. He's not like James who had that ability to make anyone feel at ease regardless of your standing in his kingdom. Landon's every move is designed to do the opposite. He wants to intimidate you, to make sure you know your place. It both raises my hackles and attracts me all at once.
We drive out of the City and there's a part of me that wonders if I'm about to meet my imminent death off some remote road. We pull down a long private road and my worry intensifies. I sit up straighter in my seat, my eyes flickering towards the door wondering if I could open it and escape before we stop.
Landon gives an amused chuckle. "What's wrong with you?" he asks in a tone that tells me he knows exactly what I'm thinking.
"Want to tell me where we're going so I don't try to escape?" I ask him.
He laughs, and I can't help but smile at the sound. Every time he laughs it's like I startled the laugh out of him. It feels like an achievement every time it happens.
"Just be patient for a minute more. You've been doing such a good job of it," he tells me.
I shrug non-committedly, but don't make any sudden breaks for the door.
A few minutes later the car pulls up to large estate. It's dark and menacing, just like the man who is currently offering me his hand to help me out of the car.
I coolly examine the mansion as he helps me out. If he's trying to impress me with how wealthy he is, he's going to be sorely disappointed. I was once the lover of one of the wealthiest men in the world. I'm not easily impressed by wealth. It's power, not wealth that attracts me, and it's that trait that Landon has in his favor.
Landon surprises me when he bypasses the entrance of the grey-stoned manor, and leads me around it where I am delighted to discover that the manor features ocean front property.
We walk down a long private dock where a small yacht is waiting. There's another suited man waiting by the yacht, and two others following a few feet behind us. Landon ignores them all as he helps me onto the boat.
Black and grey seems to be Landon's color pallet of choice as the whole ship is adorned with the two colors. The ship is painted a glossy black and the gleaming wood floors are stained black as well. The decorations and furniture are all a mix of the two colors, and the suited men are easily able to blend into the interior as they board the ship after us.
I realize that my crimson dress is the only real color on the whole ship and I wonder if Landon planned that. Something tells me that he did.
Landon mutters something to one of the waitstaff who approaches us as soon as we get on board. He then takes my hand and leads me to a black leather couch where we sit and watch as the yacht leaves the shore.
"I find there are two types of people," he says in a serious, quiet voice as he looks out to the horizon. "Those who are afraid of the sea, and those who love the sea but respect its power. Which one are you, Juliet?"
The question catches me off guard although my answer comes to me quickly. My father instilled me with a healthy respect for the sea since his trade lived or died by her whimsies. The time I spent by the sea with James made me forever love her.
"The second," I reply, and the emotion that unintentionally bleeds into my answer makes him turn his gaze towards me where he studies me intently.
"So many secrets," he tells me. "I'm going to enjoy stripping you bare and discovering each and every one."
I have no doubt of Landon's ability to do just that. Whether he will believe any of my so-called secrets is another thing all together.
I find myself comparing Landon and James once again. Although I was nothing in society's eyes compared to James, I always felt like his partner. I have no doubt in my mind that if I had been allowed to stay with him, that he would have valued my insight, that I would have had more power as a woman than any queen up to that point. Landon's dominance on the other hand, gave me the urge to say, 'yes sir' and bow submissively at his feet. Landon may have not been a king, but he was the master of his domain and if I stayed on this course, he would be the master of me.
As much as I knew I should balk at that thought, there was a part of me that welcomed the chance for someone to take care of me and tell me what to do. This new world had been such a rude awakening. I often had felt so alone that the thought of someone making the decisions for me, of taking care of me...well frankly it sounded wonderful.
The waiter rouses me from my thoughts by bringing a tray filled with champagne. Landon hands me mine, and then we clink our glasses together in a toast.
"To you," he said, surprising me. "For filling my world with the first color that it's had in a very long time."
It's a sweet sentiment that doesn't seem to fit the gruff, powerful man sitting beside me. I take a long sip of my champagne, trying to quell my nerves.
The sunset paints the sky with a million glorious colors and I savor its beauty as we feast on perfectly cooked steak and lobster. From time to time, I notice the men in suits come by and hand Landon notes, or whisper things in his ears. He is quick to send them away despite the work that I know is building up.
"You don't get much time to relax, do you?" I finally ask him after I watch him crumple up yet another note that one of them has brought by.
"This is one of the only ways that I can relax, out here away from everything. My empire never sleeps."
I'm trying to drag up the courage to ask him about his work, I've read enough in the newspaper to know that it's going to be something unsavory, when he abruptly stands and holds out his hand to me.
"Dance with me?" he asks, although like everything he says it comes out more of a demand than it does a request.
I stand and smooth down my dress, and accept his hand. A record player begins to play some jazz song that I've never heard before, and he pulls me close as we begin to sway back and forth. He doesn't try and spin me in any of the complicated moves that are so popular nowadays. Instead he just holds me while we let the music and the salty sea breeze wash over us.
