Would he want to have sex again after dinner? Blair sighed, hoping he hadn’t heard it. She was still sore from yesterday, but at the thought of his thick cock inside her again, her nipples tingled and her clit throbbed. Would Leo be there, too? They had said it would take time to work off what she’d done, giving her the impression they meant she’d be working off her debt with both of them.
“Thank you, Andras.”
He smiled at her, and Blair’s panties grew wet again. “What are you thanking me for?”
She held out the rose. “This. It’s beautiful.”
“So are you, Blair.”
Blair blinked a few times, trying to pretend she was Carole Lombard or Jean Harlow. What would they say right now? “You’re not so bad yourself, Andras.”
His grin forced her to bite back another moan. “I’m glad you think so.”
“Oh, I do. You and Leo both. You’re so handsome.” Blair swiped at the beads of sweat collecting along her hairline. Was this elevator ever going to stop?
“Here we are.” Andras opened the gate onto the second floor. He led her out a side door, onto a stone patio enclosed by tall bushes and flowering plants. Bees buzzed, and birds sang. Andras waved her into a wicker chair and took a seat in the other one, across the table from her.
“I love this time of year, don’t you?”
Blair nodded.
“This is one of my favorite places to come and sit. It’s very secluded, but still outdoors. Dinner will be here in a moment.” He glanced at the rose, still clutched in her hand. “We should put that in some water so it doesn’t wilt.” She handed him the rose. “I’ll be right back,” he said, rising.
He went back inside, and Blair looked around, wondering which part of the building they were in. She hadn’t had much spare time to go exploring, even though she was off one day a week and only worked a ten-hour day. She usually spent her day off in her room or walking around the lake.
There were three lakes on the property, but she liked the large one out front the best. There was a dirt trail around it that wound into the woods. Walking along it made her feel like she’d disappeared into another world. One where men like Frankie or Lenny didn’t exist.
She’d spent anxious minutes staring at the front of the building from across that lake the day she discovered this resort, debating whether to take a chance and go inside to ask for help. The idea of exploring the rest of the place had never occurred to her. It was enough they’d given her a job, clothes to wear, and a room to sleep in.
When Andras returned, two young men she recognized as staff followed him. One of them raised his eyebrows when he spotted her but said nothing. Blair averted her gaze and kept it trained on a beetle crawling across the flagstones. A vase like the one she’d broken that morning appeared in the center of the table. Not only her rose graced it, but someone had added baby’s breath and greens to the arrangement as well.
The men put china plates and silverware in front of her and Andras, left several covered dishes in the center of the table, and finished by placing a folded napkin in her lap. Andras thanked them then waited until they’d left before picking up a bottle of wine.
“I hope you like Cabernet Sauvignon.” He poured a glass for each of them then lifted his by the stem. “What shall we drink to?”
Blair raised her glass and stared into his eyes. The air had that odd charged feel again, which made no sense. It was a warm June night, the darkening sky was free of clouds, and barely a breeze blew. Was it coming from him? “Why am I here, Andras?”
He smiled indulgently. “Don’t try to convince me you’ve never been asked out to dinner, Blair.”
“All right. I won’t try.”
He frowned. “You haven’t? Are you serious?”
She nodded. The closest she’d ever come to having dinner with a boy was when Johnny Robards walked around the corner to the diner with her after school twice a week. Their encounters could hardly have been called dates. Most days Blair had to pay for her own burgers and colas. When she refused to have sex with Johnny while his parents went to New York for several weeks the summer after their junior year in high school, he threw her over for a girl named Nadine, who was more than willing to have sex with him while his parents were out of town.
“Well then, let’s drink to your first real dinner date.” He clinked his glass against hers, tasted the wine, then closed his eyes and made a soft sound in the back of his throat. The gesture was so seductive Blair was seized with a sudden urge to lunge across the table and devour his full lips.
She took a sip of wine. It was the most expensive tasting wine she’d ever had. Smooth and chilled perfectly, it slid down her throat and went straight to her head, enhancing the charge to the air and the erotic atmosphere.
“Do you like it?”
“It’s wonderful.”
“The food smells great. Are you hungry?”
“Yes.”
Andras lifted the lid off one of the tureens, and the musty smell of oysters filled the space between them. “Do you like oysters?”
“I’ve only had them once.”
“Here.” He lifted one and held it to her mouth. “We make them with garlic and butter.”
She sucked out the middle, moaning a little as the taste exploded in her mouth. “That’s amazing.”
“I thought you’d like them.”
“The food here is incredible, Andras.”
“It should be. We pay our chefs a lot of money to work up here away from the city.”
His half-grin was somehow sexier than any expression she’d seen on his face so far. Blair licked her fingers when she finished her oysters, and Andras laughed. “I love to watch a woman enjoying food.”
“That’s wrong, isn’t it?” The heat rushed up her face.
“Absolutely not, Blair. When you relax and enjoy yourself, it’s never wrong.”
She stared at his hands as he poured her a second glass of wine. Her mother had always said you could tell a lot about a person by their hands. Whether they worked hard, practiced good hygiene, or were healthy. Andras’s hands were clean, with long fingers and hardly any calluses. What would her mother have thought of him?
God help her. She was going to fall head over heels in love with this man. There was no way to avoid it. He was everything she’d ever imagined a real gentleman would be. She and her girlfriends would sit around when they were teens, musing about the things their future husband would do. Romantic and thoughtful things, gleaned from radio shows, books they sneaked away from their mothers or older sisters, and later from the movies.
What a mess. This man was her employer. Blair had no idea why he’d gone to so much trouble with this dinner, but surely it was only because he wanted to repeat yesterday. So why then had he bothered with a red rose, incredible food, and wine? It’s not like he or Leo had worked hard yesterday to seduce her. Blair’s memory of the moments leading up to Leo putting her over his knee and spanking her were still hazy, but she knew there hadn’t been wine or food involved.
“Blair, I owe you an apology.” Andras lifted the lid off another tureen, and the succulent smell of roasted vegetables and lamb filled the air. He spooned mint sauce onto her plate followed by the meat and vegetables.
“An apology? I don’t understand.” She drained her wine glass, immediately wishing she hadn’t. The dizziness passed in a few seconds, but Blair had trouble concentrating on Andras’s next words.
“Leo and I shouldn’t have allowed it to go so far yesterday.”
Blair lowered her gaze to the food, even though her appetite was now gone. Any second now he’d tell her it had all been a terrible mistake, and he’d beg her not to tell anyone what had happened. She’d been fantasizing about his thick cock inside her for nothing. It wasn’t going to happen again, with him or with Leo.
“We treated you like…we were terribly insensitive to everything you’ve been through, and I’m sorry.”
“You regret what you did.”
He shook his head and frowned. “No, not at all. But the way we handled it wasn’t fair to you.”
What the hell did that mean? “I don’t understand.”
Andras frowned. “Look, I have to be honest with you. Leo and I need time to sort out everything you told us yesterday. And Mrs. Stanton is still not convinced her necklace just disappeared overnight, and then mysteriously showed up the next day.”
Blair lowered her gaze to her plate. “Thank you for not telling her what I did.”
“If I’d done that we would have had to dismiss you. She’s a paying guest.”
And I’m just a chambermaid. “Of course,” she whispered.
“And then we wouldn’t be here, having this wonderful meal. I hope you like lamb.”
“I love it.” She forced herself to take a bite of meat. It was delicious, but right now it might as well have been cardboard. She was such a damn fool. The rose, the dinner, the secluded location…he’d done this to let her down easy, not to seduce her. She’d let her romantic thoughts get the better of her. Thank God he didn’t know what had been going on inside her head. He’d think her a silly schoolgirl.
Chapter Seven
“Tell me about your life before you came here, Blair.”
Andras’s words caught her off guard. Was he trying to get more information about her father? “You mean other than what I told you and Leo yesterday?” What exactly had she told them? The details no longer seemed as clear as they had this morning.
He paused in the middle of bringing food to his mouth, frowned, then put down the utensil. He leaned close, wafting peppermint toward Blair. She didn’t want to enjoy his scent or his eyes anymore. It was too painful now to remember his kisses and the feel of his shaft inside her.
“Blair, I’m sorry for what you’ve been through. If you need to talk about that we will. But what I’d really like to hear is what you did before all that. Tell me about your childhood.”
Was he serious? She searched his face, trying to figure out if he was teasing her, but all she saw in his beautiful blue eyes was sincerity. Blair was more confused than ever. What game was he playing? “Well, my best memories are from before my mother passed away. Things were different then, you understand. We went places, like the beach and the museums. And I had someone to talk to.”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t realize she had died.”
Blair flushed. “I guess you’ve figured out by now I lied to you and Leo that first day. My parents aren’t both dead.”
Andras placed a hand on her arm, and she jumped, spilling her food from the fork to the table. She grabbed her napkin to wipe it up, but he took it from her hand and placed it back on the table. “Blair, don’t worry about the story you told us, okay? You were scared and running. I understand why you lied.”
“Thank you.”
“Tell me about your mother.”
She looked into his eyes and blinked back tears. Did he treat all the female staff like this? No, that couldn’t be true. She would have heard something by now. Cindy and her friends were among the worst gossips Blair had ever known. If Andras seduced the staff then went to the trouble of having a romantic dinner made for them, word would have gone around.
“She died when I was ten. Cancer. It was so fast. It was like watching her shrink little by little each day. There was nothing the doctors could do. She refused to take any morphine the last week. She said she wanted to die with a clear head so she could take the memory of my face to heaven with her.”
Andras gently wiped away her tears before she realized she was crying. “I can’t imagine what that must have been like.” His voice was soft and tender.
“My father didn’t always work for Frankie. He couldn’t pay my mother’s medical bills, you see. He never made much money working in the factory to begin with, and well, Frankie stepped in. He knew my father through several business associates, as he called them, and he paid her bills. But then my father had to quit the factory and work for him.”
“How is it you were never forced into their dealings?”
“I stayed out of their way, and they didn’t bother me. Not until…” She searched Andras’s face again, wishing she had the courage to tell him everything. Was there really any reason not to trust him? Just because he didn’t want to make love to her again didn’t mean he didn’t care what happened to her. Unless he was faking all this, but Blair didn’t think he was. What would be the point?
“Until what?” he asked, stroking her arm. She wished he’d stop doing that. His touch sent jolts of electricity straight to her soaking-wet pussy. Didn’t he realize the effect he had on her? Why did he have to tease her so?
“There was this man—an associate of my father’s. Well, of Frankie’s, actually. But he started coming over to our house a lot once I turned eighteen.” Andras’s eyes grew dark, and a muscle twitched in his jaw. “His name was Lenny Wilson. The reason I became distracted in Mrs. Stanton’s room the other day is because she had a Tribune in there, and it had a front-page story about Lenny being found dead. They suspect Frankie or his men are behind it.”
“Go on.” Andras’s stroking stopped, but he held onto her arm. His touch was so warm and relaxing. Blair felt that odd slipping sensation again, like she wanted to tell him everything. How could a man command such power with only his eyes and the touch of his hand?
“Lenny was my father’s age. He always smelled like cabbage and rotting food. About six months ago my father told me I had to marry him.”
“What? Why?”
Blair lowered her gaze to the food on her plate. He’d gone to all this trouble, and she’d barely eaten anything. “Those news clippings you and Leo showed me have it backward. My father is the one who’s been stealing from Frankie. He’s been skimming money. He thought he was too smart to get caught. But one of Frankie’s goons—Tommy, I think his name is—found out. He threatened to tell Frankie if my father didn’t pay it all back, with interest.”
Andras leaned back in his chair and shook his head. “Let me guess. Lenny offered to pay off your father’s debt in exchange for his daughter.”
Blair nodded. The shame she now felt was worse than the earlier realization he and Leo regretted what they’d done with her and had no intentions of repeating it, despite what they’d said in Leo’s office.
“Blair, did he hurt you?”
“What? No. I mean, he never…you know.” She shuddered as the memories of Lenny’s unwanted attention forced their way back in. “He tried to kiss me and feel me up, that’s all.”
“That’s bad enough.”
“He was mostly talk.” She picked at a forkful of vegetables. “He would tell me all sorts of depraved things he intended to do once we were married. The night I found the jewelry, I was hiding in the alley because I was tired of him showing up where I worked to walk me home. I didn’t want to be alone with him anymore. I was sneaking through the back ways, trying to get home without him finding me.”
* * * *
Andras wished he’d never asked. Fresh guilt coursed through him with each new revelation. He had to tell all this to Leo. How could a man think of giving his own daughter to someone in exchange for his debt?
Blair had more inner strength than she realized. To have survived the death of her mother at such a young age and then grown up among bookies and triggermen was proof enough. But she’d also escaped it with her virtue intact, and what had he and Leo done? Taken it with as little regard as they’d take an extra piece of bread at dinner.
“You’re safe now, Blair. No one will find you here.” She picked at her food like a child might. “I wish you’d eat something.”
“I’m sorry. I guess I’m just not hungry anymore.”
He couldn’t blame her there. Talking about her father and Lenny Wilson wasn’t exactly the pleasant dinner conversation he’d had planned. “Don’t apologize. It’s my fault. I shouldn’t have asked about your childhood.”
“But how could you have known? I
’ve never even told my father all the things Lenny said or tried to do to me.”
Andras felt sick to his stomach as he imagined what Lenny had said to Blair. “Tell you what. I’ll have the staff clear the plates and food. Then we can take a walk in the moonlight.”
The smile that lit up her face sent his heart soaring. Trouble or not, he intended to enjoy the company of this beautiful woman tonight, the consequences be damned. He was going to make it up to her, even if that meant letting her get under his skin more than she already had. He owed her that much, at the very least.
The patio only took up a portion of the private courtyard, which was surrounded by a ten-foot-tall brick wall. He and the others had several of them built on the property when they renovated it, and they were for the exclusive use of the twelve owners. There was no view of the lakes from any of them, but they offered complete privacy and the advantage of being outdoors as well.
The moon was nearly full, and its brightness accentuated Blair’s honey-blonde hair. She’d pulled it back into a ponytail, and all Andras could think about was taking out the hair band and letting it spill over her delicate shoulders. Did she have any idea how delicious she looked?
He tucked her arm under his and led her away from the patio, along the flagstone walkway. “Tell me something else about yourself, Blair. Something not related to Frankie, Lenny, or your father.”
She gave him a shy smile. “I don’t know. There’s not much to tell, really.”
“You mentioned you worked in a bakery. Did you enjoy the work?”
“It was all right. I didn’t get to make anything. I took orders and rang up purchases.”
“No ambitions to attend university?”
She laughed. Not a derisive sound, but not exactly carefree either. “Me? My father wouldn’t even entertain the possibility. He said college wasn’t for the likes of me.”
Seducing the Chambermaid [Notorious Nephilim 2] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) Page 6
