Howdy Reading Friends and Hart to Hart fans! :) This story takes us back to Jonathan and Jennifer's first meeting, and how their relationship might have progressed if the "Two Harts are Better Than One" episode hadn't ended at the marriage proposal on Tower Bridge.

Parts of this story will be M (or Mature) because of sexual content.

I hope you'll enjoy it and please, leave me your reactions. I love your comments and input and ideas! Readers reactions spur my imagination. ;)

Last but not least, thanks for reading!
adcgordon
#RediscoveringH2H

Two Harts – Missing Parts
Chapter 1

"Jonathan?" She hesitated until he gave her the slightest signal that he was listening to her. "Why me?"

The beautiful red-headed woman remembered asking her husband that line five years prior. She sat up slightly in the bed, adjusted her pillow and continued thinking about that particular conversation and all of the chaos that had led to it.

She laughed to herself, then stopped abruptly, remembering that a man, a friend of hers, had lost his life in the middle of her frantic fall into the world of love. Her casual, unintentional run-in with the infamous millionaire, Jonathan Hart, had turned into a life-changing event for both of them.

Five years later she looked at the dark-haired, gorgeous man sharing her bed and still wondered that same question – although he had answered it time, and time, and time again; more than satisfactorily.

All of the thoughts put together took her mind back to that magical two weeks. A portion had been spent in this very hotel suite; at least a few hours in this very bed; and portions of those hours still brought shivers through her entire body.

Jonathan pointed to the Tower Bridge as huge signs opened up to reveal his message. Jennifer had offered him two minutes of her time but was far more bothered by this man and anxious to catch her flight home.

But instead of rolling her eyes at his pitiful attempts at excuses she found herself staring at a marriage proposal. She tilted her head and read the signs again before glancing at Jonathan – the millionaire savior of Kingsford Motors whom she had fallen head over heels in love with but was damned if she'd admit that to him before this moment.

Her mind flew back over the past few days. In a matter of seconds she recalled trying every avenue she could imagine to get an interview with the self-made, internationally-known businessman. Her mind focused on just how handsome he really was when she accidentally sat down beside him in the hotel bar. She relived the moment he put his arms around her and they danced, spending the entire evening together without him even knowing her real name.

Then it skipped to a falsified news story, a murder, her identity revealed, and a police chase. That fiasco led to their first kiss and then her kidnapping. But Jonathan had rescued her…before having her arrested.

Her mind swam. Then she laughed. She turned around and looked at the boyish face of the man who was proposing to her and she giggled like a school girl.

To Jonathan's delight she smiled at him. "But I have an apartment in New York and you live in Los Angeles," she claimed as he stood waiting for her answer.

"I don't want your apartment, I want you," he stated plainly.

"But…all my clothes are in New York," she tried again.

"They have nice clothes in Los Angeles," he rebutted.

"What am I supposed to tell my father?" She sighed, smiled and waited for whatever answer might roll off his lips.

"Tell him… someone loves you, and you're getting married."

Jonathan's words reverberated in her ears. He was putting words into her mouth but for the life of her she couldn't think of any excuse to counteract what he was saying. So she had nervously bit on her bottom lip as she smiled at him and handed her airline ticket to the woman who was trying to sell them flowers.

And then he kissed her.

They rode around in the carriage with Max at the helm, somewhat, for the next hour as the reality began to sink in. Jonathan had wrapped his arms around her immediately in the soft leather seat and kissed her more than soundly as the equestrian hooves clacked along the British streets.

Jennifer noticed that his smile was as wide as hers. She also noted that he didn't want to let her go, even after asking her if she'd like some champagne. He almost begrudgingly lost contact with her for just a few moments as he reached into the picnic basket at their feet to retrieve the bottle and two glasses. As soon as he had a firm grasp on the Dom Perignon and handed the glasses to her, his arm was once again around her shoulders.

They sipped the sweet bubbles slowly without a lot of conversation. Jennifer smiled. She found herself very comfortable with this man that she had barely known for seven days. She let herself relax, letting her head fall against him and fully enjoying his strength surrounding her.

She recalled after their first evening out together that she had nearly ended up in his bed. Had he not fallen asleep from jetlag she wondered if they would've already reached that bit of marital bliss that she was suddenly craving, yet fearing.

Jennifer breathed in deeply for a moment and held the breath.

"Jonathan?" she pulled away from him ever so slightly and turned in the seat to look at him.

"Hmmm?" he wondered and put his hand against her back, trying to urge her to come back into his arms.

"You…" she thought about what she wanted to say, "You proposed to me. Marriage, I mean… You asked me to marry you. In front of all of London, England, practically… you proposed…to me."

The thoughtful yet scared look on her face worried Jonathan only slightly. He had been a man of means for many years. He had built himself up with confidence, business knowledge and know-how, truthfulness and trust. He tried not to take advantage of situations because of his wealth. He tried not to influence others' decisions unless he truly felt his ideas would better serve their purpose. He knew a few women had shared his bed due to his finances. And, at first meeting, he thought Louise Talbot might be another of those women – until her real name came to light - Jennifer Edwards.

"Yes," he responded with a smile and a tilt of his head, "I did. And you said 'yes', and we kissed on it. No going back now."

He leaned in to try and kiss her lips but a slight push from her hand to his chest stopped his effort.

His eyebrows creased with a true sense of worry creeping ever so slightly into his heart.

"I don't recall saying 'yes'," she answered, looking slightly away from him, hand still pressing against his heart. "You never gave me a chance to answer. You told me to tell my father that someone loved me and I'm getting married. But I don't believe I ever answered you."

"Jennifer…"

Finally she brought her eyes back to his body, looking at her hand on his chest, which she still didn't move. Jonathan reached out with his thumb and index finger, using them on her chin to coax her into meeting his eyes.

Her hazel eyes gave away the nervousness she was feeling in her heart. She could see the touch of hesitancy in his blue irises and gently sucked in a deep breath.

"Ask me again?" she spoke softly. "I mean, face to face, ask me, please?"

Jonathan smiled. Miss Jennifer Edwards, investigative reporter, hard core, get to the bottom of the story…most gorgeous woman he had ever met…was his. All he had to do was ask.

He smiled at her, his heart's deepest feelings showing only to her in that moment. And as Max pulled the carriage to the side of the street in front of The Ritz hotel, Jonathan did the one thing he could think of – he slid off the seat and onto one knee in front of Jennifer, Max and a few dozen people who were milling about the London street.

"Jennifer Edwards," he sighed almost nervously as she smiled down at him, "We've known each other almost a week now," they both chuckled at the thought. "But I'm sure, right here, right now, that I want to spend the rest of my life with you."

He reached for her hand, and smoothly caressed her fingers with his thumb. He watched their fingers intertwining for another second before looking back at her with a face more yearning and determined than he had shown any potential business partner.

"Please, will you marry me?"

Jennifer smiled widely. "You love me?"

Jonathan kept her hand in his and steadied himself against her knees. "From the moment we danced together and you put your head on my shoulder," he admitted.

"You thought my name was Louise Talbot," Jennifer remembered the moment.

"You're avoiding my question…" Jonathan led her mind back to the present. "Jennifer?"

"Yes?"

"Yes?" He squeezed her hand for good measure until he was sure their minds were in sync again.

"Yes." She gazed into his eyes and time stood still for those few seconds. She moved her hands to the back of his neck and gently ran her fingers through the bottom fringes of his well-groomed hair. "Yes, Jonathan Hart, I will marry you."

And when she instigated the kiss that practically knocked him over, Jonathan would've fallen to the other side of the earth if it meant staying attached to her lips.

Max helped the two of them out of the carriage and watched them walk into the hotel lobby hand in hand, blushing smiles on both their cheeks, practically screaming to anyone who might see them that they had just been making out because they were engaged to be married!

The older man shook his head at the teenage-esque couple as he handed the horses' reigns back to the stable-hand.

Jonathan was like a little brother to Max. For years he had watched the younger man work and strive to meet goal after goal. He had witnessed failures and watched Jonathan pull himself back up in order to start again and find success. Hart Industries was a conglomerate of companies that Jonathan Hart had forged. He had a personal hand in each one and knew his namesake company inside and out.

Women had been a sidebar for Jonathan. He had had girlfriends. Max knew of two women who had been particularly close to him, but Mr. Hart's heart had never leaped out of his chest for those ladies like it had for Miss Edwards.

Max thought perhaps Jonathan had hit his head when he took that unintentional dip in the Thames during the chaos that had been the couple's courtship. But the more he thought, the more he realized it was much deeper than that.

After just one week this woman had almost kept Mr. H. from a huge business deal. And more than once the millionaire had put his life on the line for her.

Max smiled to himself. She said 'yes'. He wasn't sure what exactly that meant for him. At the moment it didn't matter. He was witnessing a side of Jonathan Hart that he had never seen. It was a side that he hoped he could witness for many years to come.

"My clothes…" Jennifer had barely had a moment to breathe, let alone think, after Jonathan had unlocked the suite and the two had stepped inside the door.

Her jacket had been removed and casually tossed onto the couch. Her properly-tucked blouse was now halfway untucked with the top buttons hanging by proverbial threads thanks to less-than-nimble fingers nervously trying to push them through all-too-tiny buttonholes.

His overcoat was in the floor, suitcoat wadded up a couple of steps further into the room with his necktie now decorating a lamp on the side table. His shirt begged for more buttons to be undone.

The happy couple, however had gotten so lost in their kisses that neither could truly explain how they ended up, still-clothed, sitting on the couch enjoying the tastes of each other's skin joined by the leftover sweetness of the champagne.

Jennifer clung to the collar of his shirt when Jonathan had moved his sublime lips from her mouth to her cheekbone and then down to her neck. Jonathan had forced himself to stay conscious when her tongue had practically devoured his earlobe. Together their jagged breaths sounded like a marathon had just been finished.

His push to release just one more button on her top had prompted her thought about true reality.

"My clothes…"

"Are still on your body and I would like to remedy that situation right now," Jonathan strained to move his eyes from the skin of her chest that he was seeking to uncover, back to her bewildered look.

"No, Jonathan, seriously," Jennifer began without truly trying to stop him…yet, "my clothes… all the clothes I had with me in London, except what I'm wear'… what I was wearing…" she added with a sarcastic smirk, "are on their way back to New York."

"So?" Jonathan tried to ask the question honestly without success.

"So…" Jennifer took in a deep cleansing breath and pushed against his strong shoulders reluctantly. "I have nothing to change into. I have NO clothes to wear except these." She gestured to her half-dressed self.

Jonathan grinned. "I'm okay with that."

She tilted her still-coiffed head and blinked her eyes accusingly. "I'm not."

"Why not?" Jonathan leaned away from her, reaching a hand to rub on her shoulder. "Why exactly do you need more clothes than these for the next… let's say the next week?"

Jennifer's eyes widened and her mouth opened. "Jonathan! What? I can't be here another week! I have work to do. I'm supposed to be on a plane back to New York City right now. I have a deadline to make in two days. I need other clothes to wear on the plane. I need clothes to wear tonight… Tonight… Where… my apartment… I've already turned in my keys… where am I going to stay tonight?"

Jonathan did his best not to interrupt her thinking out loud. But obviously she wasn't thinking – at least not on the same lines as he. He waited for her to take a breath and then smiled.

"Jennifer, Darling," he started calmly and slowly. "You are going to be my wife. We are engaged. I asked you to marry me and you said 'yes'. Do you recall that conversation? Well, both of those conversations?"

"Yes, of course I do, but Jonathan that doesn't change the fact that my boss in New York will be looking for me. I'm supposed to call my father when I get back home… oh, my father…" She looked again at Jonathan's magnificent face and shook her head. "He is truly not going to believe this."

Jonathan smiled and scooted back to her side. He leaned against her and took her face into his hand. He pulled her lips toward him and then gently clasped both of his hands over her cheeks as he began to kiss her as passionately as he possibly could in their present setting.

She blinked her eyes, barely able to conceive of what he was doing other than giving her a pleasure in which she would happily drown. His lips worked magic against hers, so much so that she forgot whatever was worrying her and finally gave in, kissing him back, intently, like a loving wife would kiss her husband…she imagined.

When Jonathan took a moment to pull away, only millimeters from her lips, only to gather another breath before diving in once more, she sighed.

"What the hell, I'll just stay here tonight. Max'll probably see me naked."

Two Harts - Chapter 1 - Two Harts