Resisting The Tycoon's Seduction (The Berutelli Escape) (18 page)

In the past, s
he had tried very hard to love her father, but it was difficult when she completely disagreed with everything he stood for.  The man had built an empire on crime and brutality and the more she discovered about his business enterprises, the less she respected him. 

It wasn’t even that he brought the brutality home.  After her mother’s death
from cancer when she was two, she and her sister had basically been raised by nannies.  Her father was negligent at the best of times. 

But that man, with his tall, confident stride, his square
jawline and intelligent looking eyes, he’d been different!  Surely he couldn’t be…

She stopped commiserating her loss when she caught a movement out of the corner of her eye. 

Why were three of her father’s men walking towards the house?  And why the rush?

She stared at the door through which her father and the stranger had disappeared.  Something told her to go through that door, to stop…whatever was happening.  But one of her older cousin
s chose that moment to come over and tease her about school and she was distracted from what might be happening. 

Unlike her cousin though, she was only slightly distracted.  Looking around at the cluster of men surrounding the bar, she didn’t like the way they were all watching the door either.  It looked like several of them were expecting something dramatic to happen, something that might be hazardous to one’s health.  Specifically, the man’s health who had disappeared with her father. 

But they’d gone into her father’s office!  That was supposed to be the place he discussed business.  She was fairly certain her father didn’t condone violence so near to his house.  Sierra was under the impression that he maintained a distance from those kinds of activities, even if he might be the man who ordered the violence.

She kept her eye on the doorway to her father’s office, wondering if there was some way she could intervene.  Maybe if she just pretended to be a
ditzy female, stepped in with a silly question for her father, she might catch a glimpse of what was going on inside.  Perhaps she could stop anything that could be going wrong?  She’d never done something like that before, nor would her father even permit her in his office.  So if she were to do that, his wrath would come down hard on her head. 

As she contemplated the situation, she knew that she didn’t care what happened to herself.  The man that had been lured into her father’s office was innocent.  She had absolutely no way to know this, but she instinctively
knew it was the case.  Would her conscience allow her to ignore what might be happening simply because she was afraid of the repercussions? 

No.  She’d never forgive herself if she didn’t do something. 

She stood beside the pool, the heat of the sunshine beating down on her head, as she struggled to come up with a reasonable, or even an unreasonable excuse, for interrupting her father’s conference.  While she debated the issue, two more of her father’s men were started running to the door and Sierra didn’t like the looks of things.  The two men appeared worried, anxious even.  When these men were anxious, bullets started flying.  Their idea of diplomacy was to shoot all moving objects first and sort out the problem later.  Dead bodies were a hindrance, not a hazard. 

She tried to step in front of her father’s lieutenants, but he only stopped her with a hand held out in front of her.  She looked up at him, glaring out her anger.  “Jimmy, what’s going on?” she demanded. 

Jimmy was only about two inches taller than she was, but he had an evilness about his eyes that always made her nervous.  He had big, bulky shoulders and a belly that wasn’t as bad as some of the others hanging around the bar, but it definitely would benefit from some abdominal crunches. 

Jimmy shook his head.  “Nothing you need to worry yo
urself about, Sierra.   Just leave it be,” he replied firmly, standing directly in her path and looking as if he were going to stop her if she proceeded to interfere. 

Sierra peered around his shoulder, shivering when one of her father’s men came out of the house, dunking his hand into one of the ice buckets in which the beer was cooling.  That was the clincher, she thought.  There had obviously been violence and it was pretty harsh if the man’s hand was any indication.  These men prided themselves on dealing with inflicted pain by others but Tony, the man with his hand in the ice, was not amused by whatever had gone down in the office. 

When her father’s Lincoln pulled out of the garage, Sierra ignored Jimmy and spun around in the opposite direction.  As she rushed through the house, she grabbed her own purse and keys, hurrying out of the house, she raced as quickly as possible through to the garage.  She dove into her tiny car, praying she wasn’t too late to catch up with the big, black Lincoln.  She also fervently prayed that she hadn’t been wrong about the handsome stranger being in that car.  What if he were still back at the house?  What if he needed help and she was off chasing some car with just her father’s goons in it heading out for a beer run? 

As she zipped out of the garage, she spotted the big car turning the corner at the end of the street.  She didn’t have time to be indecisive.  She had to hurry if she
was going to catch up with them.  She zipped by several of her neighbors, earning a glare for her rude driving and pushed on ahead.  She finally caught up with them at the light over by the local grocery store but held back, afraid her father’s men might spot her if she got too close. 

Her eyes focused only on keeping up with the huge, black car.  She suspected that the stranger was inside of that car, and her heart and several pieces of evidence were telling her that something was very, very wrong. 

Fifteen minutes later, she stopped a block away from the black car in a relatively dingy section of old Chicago where the warehouses and older factory buildings were basically abandoned.  It was a section that several groups had tried to revitalize, but without much success.  When neither of her father’s men got out of the obtrusive vehicle, but a large form was pushed from the back seat, she gasped in horror. 

The black car pulled away with a harsh screeching of tires and Sierra moved cautiously forward, her heart racing with the fear of what she might find.

When she pulled up even with the alleyway, she struggled for breath, shocked by what she was seeing.  She jumped out of her car, barely remembering to put it in park in her rush to get to the wounded man lying on the gravel as if he were a piece of trash. 

She rushed over to the man, cradling his head in her lap and trying to shield his face from the harsh glare of the sun.  She heard him moan and rested her hand against his cheek.  “Please don’t die on me,” she begged to the large, inert form.  “You just have to be okay.  I’ll make this all okay, if you’ll just survive this horrible incident,” she whispered, unaware that she was actually sobbing out the words. 

With her cell phone in one hand, she hurried around the large, male form laying in the filth between the buildings.  She could barely dial nine-one-one because her hand was shaking so badly but finally she managed to get the numbers pressed.  As soon as the operator came online she said, “Please, I need an ambulance here as soon as possible.” 

Six years later…

Drake watched with fascination as the woman in the pencil skirt shifted to a different angel, her body bent over the architect’s drafting board and providing him with a very enticing view.  It wasn’t so much the woman’s concentration or the fact that she was humming softly to herself.  It was the way she was almost dancing with her sexy skirt pulled against her very cute, very round derriere, her long legs ending with pretty shoes that made her legs look even longer, showing off her slender, muscular calves.  Every few moments, her bottom would wiggle as she hit a high note on whatever song was going through her headphones. 

He tried to listen to the notes in order to decipher the song, but she only sang a few lines, then danced or wiggled again while the song continued in her head. 

He could tell that she had dark brown hair but, besides her great legs and adorable butt, there wasn’t anything else he could see of the woman.  Even her hair was pulled back into an elaborate twist on the back of her head.  It looked feminine and professional, but gave nothing away. 

He watched her, enjoying the view for several moments, only cringing a few times during her song when she really missed a note.  Her lack of ability to sing well didn’t diminish his capacity to enjoy the view.  It was just too interesting to tear his eyes away.

“Sorry about that,” Todd said, coming around the corner of the hallway, slightly out of breath as he hurried to catch up.  Zeke pushed away from the door frame, acting as if he hadn’t just been ogling one of his newest employees. 

Drake almost laughed when the woman in question jumped and spun around so she was now facing her visitors.  She was so startled, her hand jerked in the
air, causing her pen to flip from her hand, flying through the air and her arms flailing out in surprise and a vain attempt to intersect the tiny missile.  She quickly grabbed the edge of her work table to steady herself, but not in time.  Her feet tripped over each other and she had to reach out and grab the back of her office chair to steady herself. 

Drake stared, amazed that a woman as stunning and sexy as this actually existed. 
And that she was so amazingly clumsy.  She was…in a word, perfect.  Her blue eyes shimmered with embarrassment coloring her high cheekbones that quickly changed from creamy porcelain to a soft, becoming peach color. 

He almost groaned as he looked at her fully.  Her figure wasn’t just enticing from behind.  She had luscious breasts that pushed against the crisp, navy suit that tried valiantly to contain them as well as slender hips t
hat continued down to long, slender legs.  The entire package was impressive and immediately caused his mind to wander to completely inappropriate ideas. 

Todd went on as if nothing were happening,
entirely unaware of the electricity sparking between the two other people in the room.  “Have you had a chance to meet Sierra?  She’s one of the best architects I’ve ever had the pleasure of working with.  She’s creative, innovative and has great ideas on how to incorporate green concepts into structures without degrading quality or increasing price.”

Drake already knew all this, but he’d been expecting someone much older.  Sierra Colbert was one of those architects that was becoming well known for her work but there weren’t any pictures of her since she didn’t
use the conference or speaking circuit as so many others did to get their name into peoples’ minds. 

Who knew she was a knockout on top of a brilliant
architect? 

Drake nodded, indicating that he’d done his homework and was familiar with her ideas. 

Todd continued on, extolling Sierra’s previous designs and embarrassing her further.  “She’s done some great work lately.”  Turning to Sierra he said, “Can you show him the designs you did for that project over in Seattle for the Hutton Foundation?” Todd asked.

Sierra’s initial reaction had been surprise, immediately followed by recognition and then excitement.  Drake Hamilton was here?  He was okay and he looked fabulously vibrant!  The years had been good to him and he looked healthier now than he had that first day at her father’s pool party.  She couldn’t believe that she’d actually run into him again.

She’d followed his career over the past six years, impressed with his ability to grow his construction and real estate company into a global enterprise.  His services were asked for above all other construction firms because he was ethical, creative and almost always came in under budget. 

His company didn’t just build corporate headquarters around the globe.  This man created cities!  When he took on a project, there wasn’t just the main building.  He would design the whole area around the building, generating a community that would thrive even if the company went out of business.  It was a new concept in construction and real estate, one that had been impossible to conceive of ten years ago.  Drake’s business had pioneered the concept and she thought he was brilliant because of it. 

Then it occurred to her what was actually happening.  Drake was here?  He was here!  No!  He couldn’t be here!  The two of them were never supposed to meet.  Her excitement quickly diminished, swallowed up by the fear that he might recognize her.  And if he connected her with her father, that would be extremely bad! 

And then something completely different hit her.  She looked at the man
she’d known six years ago for less than a month, a month in which he had been completely incapacitated.  There was something about the way he was looking at her, something that made her feel…vulnerable?   So why was he looking at her like that?  It was almost as if he considered her to be his next meal. 

An instant tug of
awareness struck her but she brutally suppressed the sensation.  Drake Harrison was dangerous.  And she vowed to stay very far away from him. 

Todd had stopped speaking and the stranger was waiting to shake her hand. 

Realizing that the man was waiting for a response, she sputtered out a greeting as quickly as possible.  “It’s a pleasure to meet you,” she said, extending her hand. 

Drake looked at her soft, elegant hand and took it in his larger one, swallowing up her pale hand and feeling the shock as he looked into her pretty, blue eyes.  He felt her start to tremble and every instinct inside of him wanted to pull her into his arms and kiss her, tell her that everything was going to be okay and she didn’t need to be frightened of him.