Reckless Moon

by Doreen Owens Malek

  She realized that he was staring at her. “What?” she said, confused.

  “I said it’s almost four-thirty, and asked if you’d like to get a drink. I’m through for the day, and you should be too.”

  Beth picked up her purse, not answering.

  “Just a drink, Beth,” he said quietly. “That’s all.”

  Beth met his eyes. His were intent, measuring.

  “Okay,” she said, standing up.

  His lips twisted as he moved to walk out beside her. “Very gracious of you,” he commented dryly.

  Gloria looked up from her Dictaphone as they passed, and her glance took in the two of them heading for the door. “Going home?” she asked, in a mild tone that belied her tense posture.

  “Yes,” Bram replied shortly. “Take any messages for me and leave them on my desk. I’ll see you in the morning, Gloria.”

  Beth felt Gloria’s eyes burning into her back as they stepped onto the elevator. She wasn’t fooled by Gloria’s pleasant tone. The woman took a proprietary interest in her boss that had nothing to do with her secretarial duties.

  “There’s a place just across the street,” Bram said as they descended. “It’s quiet and caters to the rush hour crowd.”

  “Fine,” Beth answered, looking away from him.

  Bram sighed and ran a big hand through his thick hair. “Bethany, if you’re going to speak in monosyllables, we might as well call this off right now. I asked you to come with me because I wanted to talk to you, not myself.”

  Beth examined him with narrowed eyes. “Why?”

  He blinked. “Why?” he repeated.

  “Yes. Why did you want to talk to me?”

  He threw his hands out in exasperation. “Because I like you,” he said, shrugging slightly.

  Beth turned her head so he couldn’t see her silent struggle against the flood of emotion his words had released. He had an unerring knack for saying just the thing to disarm her.

  The elevator reached the ground floor and the doors slid open. Bram put his hand on Beth’s shoulder to guide her through the departing crowd and sent a river of sensation down her arm. She stiffened at his touch; he felt it and removed his hand.

  “Relax,” he said in her ear as he pushed the door open in front of them. Beth pressed her lips together. If only she could.

  They stepped out into a cool fall evening, freshened by a sunset breeze. Beth turned her face up to catch it, inhaling deeply.

  Bram pointed over her shoulder at the facade of a lounge on the other side of the road. “Come on,” he said, when the light changed. They jogged across the street together, weaving through the idling cars waiting for the light. When they entered the dim restaurant the hostess greeted Bram by name and led them to a booth in an alcove at the back.

  “What would you like?” he asked, as the waiter hovered in the background.

  Beth looked blank.

  “Still a heavy drinker, I see,” Bram said, smiling, and motioned to the hostess. He ordered a Scotch for himself and something with a foreign sounding name for Beth.

  “What’s that?” she asked suspiciously.

  “A liqueur, very mild. I think you’ll like it.” He grinned, his eyes dancing, tilting his head to one side. “Don’t you trust me?” he asked.

  “Not for a second,” Beth replied grimly, and he laughed.

  “Do you mind if I ask you a question?” he said suddenly, still smiling.

  “Go ahead. I don’t promise I’ll answer it.”

  He nodded. “Fair enough. Why did you decide to take me on as a client? I had the distinct impression you had almost made up your mind to turn me down.”

  “I need the money,” Beth said.

  He was silent a moment, and then snorted, taking a handful of peanuts from the wooden bowl on the table. “I guess that’s telling me. I was flattering myself that it had something to do with your inability to resist my fatal charm.”

  Beth clasped her fingers together on the tabletop. “Your charm is fatal enough, you don’t need me to tell you that,” she said softly.

  She heard his indrawn breath. “Bethany...” he began.

  Beth held up her hand. “No. Let me finish. You hurt me, Bram. You hurt me so much that I resolved to stay away from you and never give you the chance to do it again.”

  He listened, his eyes fixed on her face.

  “But practical considerations outweighed the emotional ones. Your account will be lucrative, and if I handle it well it’ll give me some needed publicity around town. I could use both the cash and the goodwill.”

  Bram nodded slowly. “I see. Oh, for the good old days when a woman told a man only what he wanted to hear.”

  “I think they went out with the hoop skirt,” Beth said.

  “I find myself longing for their return when I’m in your company,” Bram said dryly.

  Their drinks arrived, and Bram took a sip of his before he asked, “Why do you need money? I thought your father left everything to you and your sister.”

  “He left us the house, but everything else is tied up in trust until each of us reaches thirty. Marion will get her share next year, but I have to wait three more years. Right now I’m living in a mansion that I can barely afford to run.”

  Bram twirled the ice cubes in his glass. “Bethany, if you need a loan...”

  “No, thank you,” Beth said firmly, cutting him off. “I’ll earn my own way.”

  “I believe you will,” he replied quietly. “But the offer stands, if you ever want to take me up on it.”

  Beth picked up her drink and tasted it. The liquid, a dark rose-pink, was faintly sweet and flavored by the slice of lemon floating at the bottom of the glass. “It’s good,” she said.

  Bram inclined his head. “I’m glad you approve.”

  “You must be accustomed to selecting beverages for ladies,” she observed.

  “I’m accustomed to ordering for women,” Bram answered shortly. “I don’t know how many of them I would call ladies.”

  “How would you categorize Gloria?” Beth asked, and then could have bitten off her tongue. Why on earth did she say that?

  Bram took another swallow of his drink and thought a moment before he answered. “I’m surprised my attorney would be interested in my opinion on that subject.”

  “I shouldn’t have brought it up; it’s none of my business,” Beth said quickly.

  “What makes you think there’s anything between Gloria and me?” Bram inquired.

  “She practically threw herself in my path trying to keep me away from you this afternoon, and when she saw us leaving together she gave me the death ray,” Beth stated flatly. “I got the impression she thinks of you as her territory.”

  “And she views you as a potential poacher?” Bram asked.

  “She seems to. I hope she doesn’t adopt that attitude with every woman who comes to see you.”

  “Gloria takes her job very seriously,” Bram said evenly.

  “How nice for you,” Beth responded tightly.

  Bram gazed at her across the expanse of the polished table. “If I didn’t know better, I’d say you were jealous,” he murmured softly.

  Beth looked at him quickly, and then away. “I am,” she said. “I’m jealous of any woman you ever looked at, and I probably always will be.”

  Bram’s lips parted, and his fingers tightened around the glass he was holding. “Damn it, Beth. How the hell do you expect me to keep my distance when you say something like that to me?”

  “I expect you to keep your distance because we want different things from each other.”

  Bram’s dark eyes raked her, and she felt a finger of fire tracing her body. “You know what I want,” he said huskily.

  “Yes,” she whispered.

  “What do you want?” he asked in the same lazy, intimate tone.

  Beth reached across the table and placed her palm over his heart. “I want what’s in here,” she said quietly. “I want what you withhold from everybod
y. And until you’re willing to give it, I’m your lawyer, you’re my client, and that’s it.”

  Bram exhaled slowly as she withdrew her hand, and then drained the rest of the liquor in his glass. “Lady, you drive a hard bargain,” he said darkly.

  A waiter arrived and asked if they wanted a second round. Bram ordered another for himself after Beth shook her head to decline.

  “What happens if I don’t obey the ground rules?” Bram asked as soon as the man went back to the bar.

  “Don’t you intend to?” Beth responded.

  “I make no promises,” he said levelly, his eyes straying to her mouth.

  “Then I’ll have to be on my guard, won’t I?” Beth said.

  “You’re always on your guard,” Bram observed sarcastically.

  He sounded so genuinely annoyed that she had to smile.

  “What’s funny?” Bram asked.

  “You don’t like opposition, do you?” Beth asked.

  “Does anyone?”

  “I have a feeling that other people have a little more experience in dealing with it than you do. When somebody puts a roadblock in your path, you either crash through it or decide it isn’t worth the effort and walk away. You don’t go in much for negotiation.”

  “Which will it be with you?” he asked, his gaze penetrating.

  “I don’t know. It appears that with your father you just walked away.”

  Bram nodded as the waiter deposited another scotch in front of him, and then he downed half of it “There’s no other way to deal with Joshua. He’s too stubborn and opinionated for subtler tactics,” Bram said.

  “Sounds like somebody else I know,” Beth observed innocently.

  Bram ignored that “The old man actually did me a favor,” he went on, as if she hadn’t spoken. “I got a chance to get out and see the world, and acquired a finer education than he could have bought for me at an Ivy League school. I’ve often thought that I should thank him.”

  “Did you ever discuss it?” Beth persisted. “Did you ever talk to him about why you left?”

  Bram’s expression hardened. “We don’t talk about anything but the business. He prefers to leave the rest of it in the past, and frankly, so do I.”

  “But don’t you see that you’ll never be comfortable with each other until you settle your old differences? My father is dead, Bram, and believe me, I wish every day that I had tried to make peace with him. We just glossed over those old wounds and let them fester.”

  “You mean like the wound I inflicted when I seduced you in his den?” Bram asked.

  “You didn’t seduce me,” Beth answered in a low tone.

  “I would have,” Bram countered. “If your father hadn’t arrived when he did you would have lost your virginity to me that night.” He smiled sadly. “Instead I left you to a stranger’s hands.”

  No, you didn’t, Beth thought.

  “I hope the experience was good for you,” Bram added.

  Beth said nothing.

  “Many times I’ve wished that it had been me,” Bram concluded. “That is just one of a long line of my regrets, but I think it sits at the top of the list.”

  Beth realized that he had had two stiff drinks on what was probably an empty stomach. He was doubtless a little drunk; he didn’t open up easily, and he was revealing a little too much for total sobriety.

  “I think I’d better be going,” she said nervously. “It’s getting late.”

  He saluted her with a glass that contained only ice cubes. “Forgive me. I’m bringing up a sensitive subject. I don’t mean to drive you out the door.”

  “You’re not. I have to get home. Mindy’s husband is bringing over a potential client tonight, somebody in real estate who needs a lawyer to do closings and title searches, that sort of thing.”

  “Who?” Bram asked suspiciously.

  “Jason Raines. He and his brother own Raines Realty.”

  Bram nodded, grimacing. “I know him. He’s a stiff.”

  Beth sighed, exasperated. “I don’t care about his personality, Bram.”

  Bram’s brow furrowed. “I think I broke his nose in a fight once.”

  Beth groaned. “Wonderful. I’ll remember not to mention your name.”

  Bram snapped his fingers. “It wasn’t Jason, it was his brother Ronald. It doesn’t matter, they’re both blockheads.”

  “Nevertheless, I assume their money is green,” Beth said, standing up. “I’ll go over those papers tonight and call you in the morning.”

  Bram rose also. “I’ll walk you to your car.”

  “That isn’t necessary.”

  Bram deposited several bills on the table and took her arm. “Yes, it is. A woman was mugged not two blocks from here only last week.”

  “Bram, this is the Hartford business district, and it isn’t even dark yet.”

  “Are you going to argue with me about this now?” he asked, steering her through the door.

  “Okay, okay. The car is just around the corner.”

  When they reached the parking lot Beth paused beside her little green sports car and took her keys from her purse.

  “Thanks for escorting me to the door,” she said formally.

  “Thanks for taking my case,” Bram replied, extending his hand.

  When Beth reached out to shake it he held her fingers to his lips. Her eyes closed at the warm touch of his mouth, the bristling softness of his mustache. Then she straightened and pulled her hand away.

  “No fair,” she said in a soft, warning tone.

  “A minor infraction,” Bram pleaded.

  “I expect you to treat me as you would any other lawyer who worked for you. Would you have kissed Don Matheson’s hand?”

  Bram started to laugh. “Point taken,” he conceded. He stood back and folded his arms as she got into the car and started the engine. When she rolled down the window he leaned on the sill and looked in at her.

  “What was the name of that little dog you used to have?” he asked.

  Beth blinked, confused. “What?”

  “That little dog, you told me about him the night of your father’s party. He had a name like a prison, San Quentin or Leavenworth, something like that.”

  “Alcatraz,” Beth supplied, wondering what had uprooted that memory.

  “Right. Alcatraz. God, your face when you talked about him, so sad and so sweet. I wanted to kiss you until you couldn’t breathe.”

  Hit the road, Bethany, she instructed herself. Don’t stick around for any more of this, or all your resolutions are going to flow down the drain.

  “Bram,” she said firmly, “I really have to go. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.” She waited pointedly until he moved away from the window, and then rolled it up smartly. With a cheerful wave she drove away, feigning a nonchalance she didn’t feel.

  This was going to be awfully difficult. Just being with him was an endurance test. How could she hope to work with him on a business level and keep all of her turbulent feelings in check?

  One day at a time, she thought as she pulled out onto the highway that would take her back to Suffield. She would just have to deal with it one day at a time.

  CHAPTER 5

  Jason Raines was a stiff, or maybe it was just the contrast with Bram’s imposing presence that afternoon that made Jason seem that way. Beth was happy to leave him with Hal to discuss some political issue in which she had no interest. She wandered into the kitchen, where Mindy was trying to persuade Tracy to drink a glass of milk.

  “How did it go?” Mindy asked, looking up from her daughter.

  “Okay, I guess. He has a reasonable amount of work for me. The lawyer who used to handle his account moved to Florida. So it looks like I’m the choice to take over for him.”

  Mindy studied her. “You could seem a bit happier about it.”

  Beth shrugged. “I am happy about it. Just preoccupied.”

  “With Bram?”

  “What do you have, Melinda Sue? Radar?”

  Min
dy shook her head. “Twenty years experience dealing with you. You told him you’d represent him, didn’t you?”

  “Yes. I’m going to be up all night reading the mound of papers he gave me.”

  “But that isn’t what has you worried.”

  “Come on, Mindy, you know it isn’t. How am I going to work for him and not get involved with him?”

  “Search me. I’m glad it’s not my problem.”

  “You’re a great comfort, Mindy.”

  “Hey. I don’t know what to tell you. I don’t know how to handle him, I don’t even think it’s possible to handle him. Just do your job and hope for the best.”

  “What is the best? I tell myself I shouldn’t get involved with him, but when I’m with him I feel alive, and when I’m not with him I miss him so much.”

  “Sounds like love to me,” Mindy said.

  “It’s totally one-sided.”

  “I wouldn’t agree with that. He’s definitely interested.”

  “He’s interested in getting me into bed. That’s about it.”

  “Yeah, well, he’s famous in that department,” Mindy commented, tilting the glass she held so that another stream of milk ran down her daughter’s throat. Tracy swallowed obediently.

  Beth was instantly alert. “What have you heard?”

  Mindy shrugged. “That bombshell of a secretary who works for Curtis is apparently indulging in some extracurricular activity with her employer’s son.”

  “Tell me something I don’t know,” Beth responded gloomily.

  “You’ve met her?” Mindy asked.

  “Uh-huh. This afternoon at Bram’s office. If looks could kill, you’d be ordering flowers for my funeral right now.”

  “Maybe that’s a good sign. She must be worried. Also, I seem to remember something about a doctor at Johnson Memorial. She treated him for a sprained ankle after a softball game and wound up going out with him.”

  “That sounds like Bram,” Beth said, sighing. “He doesn’t believe in wasting any opportunities.”

  Mindy wiped Tracy’s chin thoughtfully. “And wasn’t Claire Breen telling me that she saw Bram with some brunette who works at one of the radio stations downtown? Yes, she said they were at a restaurant and he introduced her as the assistant station manager, something like that.”