A Touch of Persuasion

by Janice Maynard

  She nodded slowly. “I get it, Kieran.” He watched her frown as she rolled the last word on her tongue. “I was a temporary girlfriend. Too bad I was so naive. I didn’t realize for a few weeks that I had been dumped. I kept making excuses for you, believing—despite the evidence to the contrary— that we shared something special.”

  “We did, damn it.”

  “But not special enough for you to pick up the phone and make a call. And you had to know I was back home in California. Yet you didn’t even bother. I should thank you, really. That experience taught me a lot. I grew up fast. You were a horny young man. I was easy pickings. So if that’s all, I’m out of here. I absolve you of any guilt.”

  Fortunately for Kieran, the arrival of dinner halted Olivia’s headlong progress to the door. She was forced to cool her heels while the waiter rolled a small table in front of the picture window and smiled as Kieran tipped him generously. When the man departed, the amazing smells wafting from the collection of covered dishes won Olivia over, despite Kieran’s botched attempts to deal with their past.

  Neither of them spoke a word for fifteen minutes as they devoured grilled swordfish with mango salsa and spinach salad.

  Kieran realized he’d gotten off track. They were supposed to be talking about why Olivia had hidden the existence of his daughter. Instead, Kieran had ended up in a defensive position. Time for a new game plan.

  He ate a couple of bites of melon sorbet, wiped his mouth with a snowy linen napkin and leaned back in his chair. “I may have been a jerk,” he said bluntly, “but that doesn’t explain why you never told me I had a daughter. Your turn in the hot seat, Olivia.”

  Three

  Olivia choked on a sliced almond and had to wash it down with a long gulp of water. The Wolff family was far more powerful than even Olivia’s world-famous parents. If the truth came out, she knew the Wolff patriarchs might help Kieran take Cammie. And she couldn’t allow that. “You don’t have a daughter,” she said calmly, her voice hoarse from coughing. Hearing Kieran’s explanation of why he had left England so suddenly had done nothing to alleviate her fears. “I do.”

  Kieran scowled. Any attempts he might have made to appease her were derailed by his obvious dislike of having his wishes thwarted. “I’ll lock you in here with me if I have to,” he said, daring her to challenge his ability to do so.

  “And how would that solve anything?”

  Suddenly her cell phone rang. With a wince for the unfortunate timing, she stood up. “Excuse me. I need to take this.”

  Kieran made no move to give her privacy, so she turned her back on him and moved to the far side of the room. Tapping the screen of her phone to answer, she smiled. “Hey, sweetheart. Are you in New York?”

  The brief conversation ended with Olivia’s mother on the other end promising to make Cammie sleep on the flight over to Paris. Olivia’s daughter had flown internationally several times, but she wasn’t so blasé about jet travel that she would simply nod off. Olivia had packed several of the child’s bedtime books in her carry-on, hoping that a semifamiliar routine would do the trick.

  When Olivia hung up and turned around, Kieran was scowling. “I thought you said she was in Europe.”

  She shrugged. “That’s their ultimate destination.”

  “So this morning when I came to your house, where was she?”

  “At the neighbor’s.”

  “Damn you, Olivia.”

  It was her turn to frown in exasperation. “What would you have done if I had told you, Kieran? Made a dramatic run through the yard calling her name? My daughter is now traveling with her grandparents. That’s all you need to know.”

  “When will they be back?”

  “A week…ten days… My mother isn’t crazy about abiding by schedules.”

  His scowl blackened. “Tell me she’s my daughter.”

  Her stomach flipped once, hard, but she held on to her composure by a thread. “Go to hell.”

  Abruptly he shoved back his chair and went to the mini bar to pour himself a Scotch, downing the contents with one quick toss of his head. His throat was tanned like the rest of him, and the tantalizing glimpse of his chest at the opening of his shirt struck Olivia as unbearably erotic.

  Sensing her own foray into the quicksand of nostalgia, she attacked. “If you want to have children someday, you should probably work on those alcoholic tendencies.”

  “I’m not an alcoholic, though God knows you could drive a man to drink.” He ran a hand through his hair, rumpling it into disarray. She saw for the first time that he was exhausted, probably running on nothing but adrenaline.

  “You don’t even own a house,” she blurted out.

  Confusion etched his face. “Excuse me?”

  “A house,” she reiterated. “Most people who want a family start with a house and a white picket fence. All you do is travel the globe. What are you afraid of? Getting stuck in one place for too long?”

  Her random shot hit its mark.

  “Maybe,” he muttered, his expression bleak. “My brothers have been begging me to come home for a long time now. But I’m not sure I know how.”

  “Then I think you should leave,” she said calmly. “Get back on a plane and go save the world. No one needs you here.”

  “You didn’t used to be so callous.” His expression was sober. Regretful. And his cat eyes watched her every move as if he were stalking prey.

  “I’m simply being realistic. Even if I had given birth to a child that was yours, what makes you think you have what it takes to be a father? Parenting is about being present. That’s not really your forte, now is it?”

  She heard the cruel words tumbling from her lips and couldn’t stop them. If she could drive him away in anger, he would go and leave Olivia to raise her daughter in peace.

  “I’m here now,” he said quietly, his control making her ashamed of her outburst. “Cammie is my daughter, I want to get to know her.”

  Olivia’s heart stopped. Hearing him say her daughter’s name did something odd to her heart. “How exactly do you mean that?”

  “Let me stay here with you for a little while.”

  “Absolutely not.” She shivered, imagining his big body in her guest bed…a few feet down the hall from hers.

  “Then I want the two of you to come to Wolff Mountain with me for the summer and meet my family. This afternoon I talked to the CEO of my foundation, Bridge to the Future. He’s lining up people to take my place until early September.”

  “Thank you for the invitation,” she said politely. “But we can’t. Perhaps some other time.” When hell freezes over. If she let Cammie go anywhere near the Wolff family compound, Olivia stood a chance of never seeing her daughter again. Kieran’s relatives made up a tight familial unit, and if they got wind that another wolf had been born into the pack, Olivia feared that her status as Cammie’s mother would carry little weight.

  He shoved his hands in his pockets. “At the risk of sounding like one of your father’s action hero characters, I’m warning you. We can do this the easy way or the hard way. I can get a court order for a DNA sample.”

  Olivia shivered inwardly as she felt her options narrowing. She could buy some time by stonewalling, but ultimately, the Wolff would prevail. “My daughter and I have lives, Kieran. It’s unrealistic of you to expect us to visit strangers for no other reason than your sudden odd conviction that you are a daddy.”

  “Your work is portable. Cammie doesn’t start school until the fall. I’ll make a deal with you. I won’t claim her as mine.... I won’t even tell my family what I know to be true. But in exchange, you agree to let me see her as much as possible in the next few weeks.”

  “She’s not yours.” The words were beginning to sound weak, even to her ears.

  He came toward her. The silent intensity of his stare was hypnotic. When they were almost touching, chest to chest, he put his hands on her shoulders, the warmth of his touch searing her skin even through a layer of fabric. “D
on’t be afraid of me, Olivia.”

  His mouth moved over hers, light as a whisper, teasing, coaxing. The fact that her knees lost their starch should have made her angry, but there was no room for negative emotion in that moment. For no other reason than pleasure, her lips moved under his. Seeking. Responding.

  He made an inarticulate murmur that encompassed surprise and masculine satisfaction. Then the kiss deepened.

  His leg moved between her thighs as he drew her closer. “You haven’t changed,” he said roughly. “I’ve dreamed about you over the years. On nights when I couldn’t sleep. And remembered you just like this. God, you’re sweet.”

  She felt the press of his heavy erection against her belly, and everything inside her went liquid with drugged delight. How long had it been? How long? No longer a responsible mother, she was once again a giddy young woman, desperate for her lover’s touch.

  Unbidden, the memories came flooding back....

  “You’re a virgin?”

  Kevin’s shock worried her. Surely he wouldn’t abandon her now. Not when they were naked and tangled in her bed. “Does it matter? I want this, Kevin. I really do. I want you.”

  He sat up beside her, magnificently nude, his expression troubled. “I haven’t ever done it with a virgin. You’re twenty-two, Olivia. For God’s sake. I had no idea.”

  With a confidence that surprised her, she laid a hand on his hard, hairy thigh, her fingertips almost brushing his thick penis. “I told you I had led a sheltered life. Why do you think I wanted to cross an ocean to finish my schooling? I’m tired of living in a cocoon. Make love to me, Kevin. Please.”

  His hunger, coupled with her entreaty, defeated him. Groaning like a man tormented on a rack, he moved between her legs once more, his erect shaft nudging eagerly at her entrance. Braced on his forearms, he leaned down to kiss her…hard. “I know I’ll hurt you. I’m sorry.”

  “No apology needed,” she whispered, sensing the momentous turning point in her life. “I need this. I need you.”

  He pushed forward an inch, and she braced instinctively against the sharp sting of pain.

  “Easy,” he whispered, his beautiful eyes alight with tenderness. “Relax, Olivia.”

  She tried to do as he asked, but he was fully aroused, and she was so tight. His whole big body trembled violently, and she wanted to cry at the beauty of it. Another inch. Another gasped cry to be swallowed up in his wild kiss.

  She felt torn asunder, violated, but in the best possible way. Never again would her body be hers. Kevin claimed it, claimed her.

  When he was fully seated, tears rolled silently down her cheeks, wetting her hair, sliding into her ears.

  He rested his forehead on hers. “Was it that bad?” he asked, clearly striving for humor, but unable to hide his distress over what had transpired.

  “Try moving,” she said breathlessly. “I think I can handle it.”

  “Holy hell.” His discomfiture almost elicited a giggle, but when he followed her naive suggestion, humor fled. Slowly, inexorably, her untried body learned his rhythm. Deep inside her a tiny flame flickered to life.

  She moaned, arching her back and driving him deeper on a down thrust. It was easier now, and far more exciting. Her long legs wrapped around his waist. Skin damp with exertion, they devoured each other, desperately trying to get closer still.

  Kevin went rigid and cursed, closing his eyes and groaning as he climaxed inside her. She was taking the pill, and he had been tested recently, so no condom came between them.

  As he slumped on top of her, she wrinkled her nose in disappointment. She had been so close to something spectacular. But the feeling faded. Taking its place was a warmth and satisfaction that she had been able to give him pleasure.

  He rolled to his side. “Did you come?”

  She nibbled her lip. Would it hurt to lie? It wasn’t a habit she wanted to start. “Not exactly. But I know it takes practice. Don’t worry about it…really.”

  He chuckled, yawning and stretching. “For a novice, you’re pretty damned wonderful. Hold still, baby, and let’s finish this.”

  Without ceremony, he put his hand between her legs and touched her. She flinched, still not quite comfortable with this level of intimacy, and also feeling tender and sore. His fingers were gentle, finding a certain spot and rubbing lightly. Her hips came off the bed.

  “Um, Kevin?”

  “What, honey?”

  “You don’t have to do this. To tell you the truth, I’m feeling sort of embarrassed.”

  “Why?” The strum of his fingers picked up tempo.

  “Well, you’re…um…finished, and it’s a little weird now.” Her voice caught in her throat. “That’s enough. I feel good. Really.”

  He entered her with two fingers and bit the side of her neck. “How about now?”

  Her shriek could have peeled paint off the walls, but she was too far gone to care. The attention she gave herself now and again when the lights were out barely held a candle to this maelstrom. Kevin gave no quarter, stroking her firmly until her orgasm crested, exploded and winnowed away, leaving her spent in his arms.

  She cried again.

  He made fun of her with gentle humor.

  Then they turned out the lights and spent their first night together, wrapped in each other’s arms.

  Kieran cupped her breast with his hand, and just like that, Olivia was fully in the present. What shocked her back to reality was the incredible realization that she was a hairsbreadth away from letting him have her again. No protest. No discussion. Simply mindless pleasure.

  And while that may have been okay six years ago, now she had a daughter to think about. Sexual reminiscing with Kieran Wolff was not only self-destructive and stupid, but also detrimental to her role as a parent.

  “Enough,” she said hoarsely, tearing herself from his embrace and warding him off with a hand when he would have dragged her back for another kiss. “I mean it,” she said. “We’re not doing this. You can’t seduce me into agreeing to your terms.”

  “Give us both more credit than that, Olivia. What happened just now proves that we’ve always had chemistry…and still do.”

  “If you’re expecting to pick up where we left off, you’re destined for disappointment.”

  “Is that so? From what I could tell, what just happened was a two-way street.”

  “It’s late,” she said abruptly. “I have to go.”

  He crossed his arms over his chest and leaned a hip against the back of the sofa, his eyes narrowed. From the look of him, no one would guess that sixty seconds ago he’d been kissing her senseless. “You can’t run from me, Olivia. Closing your eyes and thinking about Kansas is a child’s game. I want some answers.”

  Her phone chimed to signal a text, and she pulled it from her pocket, glancing at it automatically. Her mother’s words chilled her blood.

  Kieran touched her shoulder as she sank to a seat. “What is it? What’s wrong?”

  “The flight was delayed. My mother has a stalker fan, and he showed up at the airport.”

  He squatted beside her, his mere presence lending comfort. “What happened?”

  “When he tried to burst through a checkpoint, calling her name, TSA arrested him.”

  He frowned. “I don’t like the thought of Cammie being exposed to something like that.”

  “First of all, my parents take security very seriously, and second of all, this is none of your business. I’m her mother. It’s up to me to keep her safe.”

  From his vantage point crouched at her side, their gazes collided. “You don’t have to do this alone anymore,” he said quietly, the words like a vow. “Any child with my blood running in her veins has the protection of the entire Wolff clan at her back.”

  She swallowed hard, near tears, missing her daughter and feeling out of her depth. “A child is not a belonging. She’s her own person. Even if she is only five.”

  “You think I don’t know that? I was a year younger than she i
s now when my mother was killed.” He sprang to his feet, pacing once more. “My brother Gareth was the only one of us really old enough to understand and remember the details, but I lived it, and those terrible days are buried somewhere in my psyche…the confusion, the loneliness, the knowledge that my world was never going to be the same. No child should lose a parent, Olivia, even if she thinks she has only one.”

  Guilt reached inside her chest and squeezed hard. Kieran Wolff had hurt her badly. Did she have the right to make her daughter vulnerable to his undeniable charm? Conversely, was she wrong to deny her child a father, even an absentee one? The same questions had haunted her for half a decade.

  Her head ached. “We’ll visit for a long weekend,” she said, her voice tight. “As soon as Cammie gets back from Europe. But that’s all it will be. All it will ever be. And if you break your word to me, I’ll take her away and never speak to you again.”

  His lips quirked in a half smile. “Mama Bear protecting her cub. I like seeing you in this maternal role, Olivia. It suits you.”

  She gathered her purse and the light sweater she’d brought with her. “No one and nothing in this world means more to me than Cammie. And you’d do well to remember that. Good night, Kieran. Pleasant dreams.”

  He followed her to the door, having the temerity to press another hard kiss to her lips before allowing her to leave. “I’ll dream,” he said, brushing her cheek with the back of a hand. “But I have a feeling that pleasant won’t be the right word for it.”

  Four

  Kieran had never liked waiting. The ten days that elapsed between his confrontation with Olivia and her arrival at Wolff Mountain were interminable. Every moment of every day he imagined a dozen excuses she could make to keep from showing up.

  As an adolescent he’d imagined the walls of the monstrous house closing in on him, as if he were trapped in a castle dungeon. Even now, his homecoming was tainted with confusion. Mostly he felt the agitation of being stuck in one place. He liked the freedom of the open road.