Page 30 of Dangerous Temptation
Their gazes connected and, in that moment, something passed between them. Not trust, no, but something maybe closer to empathy. Worried about what that connection might be, Elena focused harder on the windows. The sun was setting, but there weren’t any golden flecks on the water. The sky had been overcast all day long, and the lake was just growing darker and more opaque.
‘Haunting, isn’t it?’ she remarked.
His ice clanked. ‘More than you know.’
‘What do you mean?’
He shrugged, his gaze snagging on the rough water. ‘This place is full of memories for me. They keep popping up when I least expect it.’
And not all of them were good. He was hard to read, practically detached, but she could feel how his mood changed. It was subtle, but she was beginning to notice the difference.
‘Did you grow up here?’
‘No, but my parents would send me here to spend the summers.’
‘With your grandfather?’
‘This is his house.’
The temperature in the place had just dropped ten degrees. Elena considered her host. She felt an icy rage every time she thought about Bartholomew Wolfe, but why would he? The answer dawned like a light bulb.
His grandfather had gotten away with it.
‘Why come here then?’ she asked. He’d spent the last eighteen months in prison. Why make this the first place he’d come when he’d regained his freedom?
‘The seclusion and the privacy. I’d have preferred to go to my apartment in Manhattan, but I knew this place would be more secure.’
More secure? Or would he have better access to what he and his co-conspirators had left behind?
He drew up his left leg and rested his ankle on his opposite knee. His foot bounced restlessly. ‘I’m sorry you got caught up in all the drama. The press tends to follow me wherever I go.’
So he’d known this would happen, while she’d been blindsided once again. The delicious wine turned a little bitter in her mouth. ‘You didn’t know I was here,’ she murmured.
‘No,’ he said softly. ‘I didn’t.’
They watched the water as it slapped against the side of the dock. It was like observing a silent movie, with action going on all around but no soundtrack.
‘Leonard said that the paparazzi harassed you, that it was the reason you came here.’
She ran her finger around the lip of her glass. Reporters and others had run her out of town on a rail, but he didn’t need to know that. The less he knew about the power he’d held over her life, the better. ‘I’d rather not talk about it.’
His foot stopped bouncing, and his gaze grabbed hers. ‘I’m happy to provide you refuge. You can stay as long as you want or need to.’
‘I got the impression that you didn’t like the intrusion on your property.’
‘I didn’t,’ he confessed. ‘I wasn’t happy when I discovered you were staying at the lake house, but yesterday I was glad you were here.’
Because of the door? Or because of the sex?
Elena took a gulp of her wine, the flavour returning full and strong. There was a huge pink elephant standing in the middle of the room and they were both ignoring it. They’d had sex. Quick, can’t-get-to-it-fast-enough sex. They both knew it. The cook and the butler had to know it. Yet nobody was acknowledging it.
The air in the open room became heavy. Pulsing. It sparked when his hand covered hers where she’d braced it against the sofa.
‘I’m beginning to think it would be nice not to be so alone.’
Her eyelids dipped. She’d had to be strong for so long. For a moment, the tiniest of seconds, she let herself sink into the feeling of kinship. The wine, the comfortable surroundings and especially the handsome man at her side tugged at her. The offer of protection was seductive.
His fingers laced with hers, and his palm encompassed the back of her hand. His touch was warm while her fingers were cold. Her fingers curled, digging into the soft leather.
