Seduction by Design (7 page)

“Doing what?”

“Clerical work.”

“Has she gone as far in her career as you have in yours?”

Hailey laughed softly. “I don’t mean to be unkind, but no, she hasn’t. She more than makes up for lack of brains, though. She’s very beautiful.”

“So you said before. ‘Ellen is the pretty one in my family.’ I’ll take issue with that later. What about your parents?”

“They’re not alive. I grew up in Knoxville. Both my parents became ill shortly after I graduated from college and began working as a service representative for the telephone company. I lived with them and took care of them. They died within months of each other. I sold the house, applied for the job at Serendipity, and here I am. Not very exciting.”

“You excite me.”

She had been staring pensively into space, but her eyes flew to his at his softly, seriously spoken words. The fire she saw smoldering in the gray depths gave credence to his statement.

“But to prove to you that I’m not the villain you’ve colored me to be, I’ll tell you more than you want to know about myself.”

He took a sip of coffee, asked the waiter to refill both their cups, glanced over his shoulder to see that Faith was safely engrossed in one of her games, and then spoke again.

“I led a very privileged youth. Prep school. Harvard business school. I was expected to marry well and I did. It would be difficult to determine who caused whom the most misery. Monica and I never had more than an affectionate tolerance for each other. After a year and a half, we were divorced.

“Faith was the only good thing to come out of the marriage. Since in those days it was rarely contested to whom the child should go, Monica reared our daughter. I devoted my life to building my father’s big conglomerate into a bigger one. When Monica was killed, Faith and I, who were only acquainted by short, hectic, weekend visits, were suddenly thrown together. We’re still feeling our way with each other.” He sighed heavily. “So there you have it—the life and loves of Tyler Scott.”

Hailey couldn’t feel sorry for someone who had grown up with every opportunity money can buy, yet hadn’t been happy even then. She asked the first question that came into her mind. “What was Monica like?”

“Physically? Blonde, beautiful.”

She suppressed a sharp stab of jealousy and asked, “Was she a good mother?”

“I can’t criticize her, because I played such an inactive role in Faith’s upbringing. She was as good a mother as an active tennis player, bridge player, social butterfly can be. I think Faith measured herself against her mother’s poise and found herself wanting. I doubt if Monica ever realized Faith’s inferiority complex or if she ever reassured her as you did tonight. Thank you for that.”

“I know how it hurts to feel unattractive.”

“Speaking from experience?”

“Yes. Compared to the way I was in my adolescence, Faith has the grace of a prima ballerina. Glasses, braces, red hair, tall, skinny. I was the perfect model for a ‘before’ picture in a complete make-over program.”

Tyler propped his elbows on the table and leaned across it to whisper confidentially, “Miss Ashton, have you looked in a mirror lately?”

The question and the intensity with which he had asked it puzzled her. Before she could decipher his meaning, Faith came bounding up to the table and exclaimed, “I’ve done Space Invaders, Frogger, and Pac Man. Will you come play with me now? Pl-eee-ze.”

“How could we refuse an invitation like that? Hailey, are you game?”

“Lead on,” she said, rising gracefully from her chair only to have Faith grab her by the hand and drag her toward the back room.

For the next half hour Tyler fed the game machines with quarters. The adults were chagrined that Faith was far more adept at playing than they, but they all enjoyed the laughing and shouting that went with plying their skills. When a group of teenage boys became rowdy and their language too explicit for Faith’s ears, Tyler quickly hustled them out, bribing his daughter with the promise of an ice cream cone.

“Do you know Sweethearts Ice Cream Parlor in the Village?” he asked Hailey.

“They have peaches ’n’ cream. That’s my favorite,” Faith piped up.

“Sure I know Sweethearts. But I’m in a rut. I can’t break myself of the chocolate-chip habit.”

They bantered jovially as they strolled the sidewalk, which was still thronged with tourists. The curio and souvenir shops were busy with shoppers. Children and adults alike indulged themselves with candy from the numerous candy kitchens, lemonade from sidewalk stands, or fresh donuts. For those in need of a rest, one of the larger souvenir shops had provided rocking chairs at the storefront. Shoppers could sit and enjoy the sights and sounds without exerting themselves.

Architecturally the Village mall resembled a Bavarian township. The shops were quaint and diverse, featuring everything from Waterford crystal to kosher dill pickles to unique Christmas ornaments.

At this time of evening, Sweethearts was a popular spot, and it took time to decide on a flavor from the large variety on the menu. Tyler, Hailey, and Faith were forced to stand in line. Normally Hailey enjoyed the ice cream parlor with its red-flocked wallpaper and collection of Coca-Cola memorabilia. But tonight she was suffering from an agony both rare and wonderful.

Since they had left the restaurant, Tyler had kept a possessive hand around the back of her neck. His touch was light, his fingers caressing, and she didn’t doubt for a moment that he knew about the warmth he was spreading through her.

Now, as they were standing in the waiting line and he was discussing the merits of plain vanilla with Faith, his hand slipped down the bare skin of her back. With his index finger he distractedly traced the eyelet border of her bodice from one side of her back to the other. A now familiar lethargy crept into her limbs and she felt herself relying on the support of his tall, strong body beside her.

His fingers curved around her throat and his thumb tilted her head back as he leaned over her. “What do
you
think?”

She couldn’t think at all. Her thoughts were all centered around him—how perfectly male he was, how she would love to touch his hair, how his brows were wiry, and how her fingers longed for the chance to smooth them. His slender nose and curving mouth were faintly reminiscent of ancient Greek sculpture.

She didn’t realize how vulnerable, how feminine, she looked as she gazed up at him. The ceiling fans circling lazily overhead gently disarranged the wisps of hair lying against her cheeks and forehead. Her throat was arched, the pulse beating in it visibly agitated. Her green eyes were filled with an unintentionally seductive appeal.

The relevance of his question eluded her, but she said, “I’ll stick to my chocolate chip.”

His eyes lowered significantly to her mouth, which was parted and tremulous as rapid little breaths escaped from it. “Can I taste it?”

He wasn’t referring to the ice cream, and they both knew it. The conversation—not to mention the situation—was getting out of hand. Hailey knew she was sinking into a pool of desire that would surely drown her if she didn’t save herself now. She eased away from his possessive touch.
“May
I taste it.”

Faith thought Hailey’s correcting her father, as he had corrected her, extremely funny, and she dissolved into a fit of giggles that outlasted the ice-cream cones.

“It’s home to bed for you, Faith, my girl,” Tyler said as he ushered them out of the Village and toward the parked Lincoln. Faith climbed into the backseat without being told to, taking it for granted that Hailey would ride in the front with Tyler. “I’m going to drop you off at the Glenstone, ask Harry to see you to the suite, and then I’ll take Hailey home.”

“Can … may I at least go swimming?”

“Not unless I’m there to watch you. Besides, the pool closes at ten. But we’ll go in the morning if you’re fast asleep when I get home.”

“Okay,” Faith grumbled. As Hailey turned around to commiserate, Faith was stifling a broad yawn. Tyler had seen it in the rear-view mirror and they smiled conspiratorially.

The night manager at the Glenstone promised to see Faith safely to the Scotts’ suite. The girl blew Hailey a kiss as she and Tyler left through the massive glass doors at the front of the hotel. Hailey threw her a kiss back.

“She’d deny she was sleepy to the bitter end,” Tyler said, chuckling as he engaged the gears of the car and steered it out onto the street.

“That’s a universal trait of all children.”

“Do you know much about children, Hailey?”

“No. I have only my childhood to base my theories on.”

“I’ll admit that I’ve never found a job harder than that of parenting. It baffles me.”

“In what respect?” she asked slowly. She’d never come right out and tell him that his own daughter was unsure of his love. A man of Tyler Scott’s pride couldn’t handle criticism like that. It would be better to let him talk and perhaps learn from him the areas where he was lacking in understanding.

He laughed mirthlessly at her question. “In just about every respect. I don’t think I appreciated the complexities of the female mind until I was forced to cope with an eleven-year-old girl.”

“Faith is trying just as hard to cope with herself. A girl her age doesn’t like herself very much. She wants to be a woman, but the idea frightens her. Her body is maturing at a rate that her psyche can’t keep up with.”

“Like getting stung on the breast by a bee and being too embarrassed to tell her father about it.”

Hailey smiled tenderly. “Yes. She’s extremely sensitive and reveals only a fraction of what she feels. More than anything, she wants you to be proud of her.”

He swung his head to her. “I
am
proud of her.”

Hailey was tempted to ask him if he had told Faith that but didn’t think it was her place to interfere. Instead, she said, “She’s a wonderful girl and promises to be a lovely young woman.”

He laughed. “And she finds you equally wonderful. Ever since you helped her yesterday, all I’ve heard is Hailey this and Hailey that.”

She laughed back. “All I hear about is you.”

“Oh no,” he groaned. “Has she told you about any of my bad habits?”

“Like what?”

“Like the blasphemous language I’m apt to use on the golf course.”

“How many times have you and Faith played golf together?”

He pulled the car to a stop in her driveway and grinned at her. “I see your point. She doesn’t know about that nasty habit. Maybe I’ll be able to hide the others from her.”

“What others?”

“No, no. I only divulge my bad habits one at a time.”

Their soft laughter filled the confines of the car, but it was shatteringly interrupted by a brilliant streak of lightning and a resultant clap of thunder. Almost instantly the windshield was peppered with raindrops.

“Whew,” Tyler said. “I guess this is what the heat and humidity have been building to.”

“I guess so,” Hailey murmured. Suddenly the atmosphere in the car was as electric as the storm outside. The air was too thick to breathe. The sudden flashes of lightning only punctuated the intervals of darkness. The small sounds inside the car were magnified in the silence following each crack of thunder.

Hailey’s heart was pounding with awareness of the man an arm’s-reach away. Intuitively, she knew he was just as aware of her. The awareness became suffocating, like a blanket that had been wrapped around them.

“Thank you for the evening,” Hailey said hastily and reached for the door handle.

His hand shot across the velour-covered seat with uncanny speed and startling accuracy to clamp her wrist. “I’ve never failed to escort a lady to her door, Miss Ashton. Particularly during a thunderstorm. Stay put.”

He was out of his door and opening hers before she could come to grips with the situation and formulate a plan of resistance in her mind. With the sure guidance of his hand on the small of her back, she ducked her head against the rain and ran for the protective covering over the redwood deck.

“My key …” She fumbled through the contents of her handbag, trying vainly to find the key. When at last her clumsy fingers closed around it she turned to Tyler and said, “Good night.”

A hasty retreat was too much to hope for. Before she could get the key in the lock, Tyler had managed to back her against the wall, cutting off any means of escape by planting his palms on either side of her head.

Her breath was short and shallow from her recent run and his nearness, but she tried to speak with strong conviction when she said, “Mr. Scott, we’ve already played this scene once today, and I’m growing tired of it. I told you then and I’ll tell you now—”

“Be quiet.”

He delayed no further, but claimed her mouth with his. What little restraint he had placed on himself in his office had diminished throughout the day until now it was nonexistent. No longer tentative, no longer hesitant, no longer patient, he countenanced no resistance.

His lips opened over hers and it became impossible for her to remain passive. Every cell in her body surged to life. Her skin tingled with a strange, new excitement as his hands settled on her arms and crept upward in a sensuous ascent. He caressed her shoulders before moving his hands again to form a cradle for her face.

Keeping her head immobile with the merest pressure of his palms, his mouth coaxed hers to participate. “Don’t hold anything back, Hailey,” he said against her lips.

Knowing she was out of her league, but wanting desperately to learn the game, she parted her lips and accepted the heat of his mouth.

His tongue became a torch that inflamed her. It dipped into her mouth, darting at will until she closed her lips around it, turning the tables and making him the prisoner.

His groan echoed the deep, rumbling thunder that bounced off the hillsides. He pulled his mouth free of hers only to explore the soft skin under her ear. Her hair spilled over his hands when his deft fingers released it from the combs that held it up.

“Hailey, Hailey,” he whispered urgently. “You still see yourself as that bespeckled, awkward, skinny teenager in braces, don’t you? Can’t you see what a desirable woman you are?”