Seduced by the Night

by Robin T. Popp

  “It’s a special night and so I wanted to get something equally special to celebrate.” His tone was very serious. “And knowing how fond you are of fondue”—he whipped off the cover—“I couldn’t do that again, sorry.”

  She clapped her hands together as she caught a whiff of grilled mesquite. “Burgers and fries!”

  “It’s not fancy,” he started to apologize.

  “It’s perfect. This is terrific, Dirk. Thank you so much.” She waited until he sat down and uncovered his food.

  He smiled. “Dig in.” Looking at everything, she saw that he’d even remembered to provide a linen napkin. Draping it across her lap, she picked up her sandwich.

  “Oh,” she said after swallowing her first bite. “I think I died and went to heaven. This is wonderful.” Suddenly she was so hungry, she could hardly stand it. She focused on eating, savoring each and every bite. Dirk must have been hungry, too, because neither spoke for the longest time.

  After a while, Dirk reached over and pulled out the bottle sitting in the ice bucket. Running his hand across the surface, he wiped off the excess moisture and then peeled the foil from around the top. Angling the bottle away from them, he popped the cork, preventing any of the contents from spilling.

  “Champagne?” He didn’t wait for her answer, but poured her a glass and held it out to her. When she’d taken it, he poured a glass for himself and then put the bottle back in the bucket. Turning to her, he held his glass aloft. “A toast—to you, Bethany. You are an amazing woman.”

  She smiled as they touched glasses and then took a tentative sip. Surprised at how good it tasted, she took another, larger swallow. When she felt Dirk watching her, she looked up but couldn’t read the expression on his face. “What?”

  “I’m impressed, that’s all.”

  The statement confused her even as it sent a tiny thrill through her. “Thank you.”

  “Your folks must be proud of you.”

  “Hmm, this is good,” she said around a mouthful of food, trying to change the subject.

  Dirk was too sharp for that. “You did tell your folks, didn’t you?”

  His direct gaze made her squirm in her seat. “No, I sort of—forgot.”

  “No, you didn’t. Why didn’t you tell them?”

  “My folks are divorced and all they ever do is bitch about one another. I don’t talk to them much anymore. Now my grandmother—she would have been thrilled.”

  “You were close to her?”

  “Yeah. She always had time for me and was constantly urging me to pursue my dreams.” The image of the well-loved face sprang to mind, followed quickly by the pain of losing the one memento she’d had of her grandmother—the small clown doll. It had still been in her purse when the vampires attacked and in their ransacking of the lab, they’d found her purse and taken it.

  She felt Dirk’s gaze on her and his sympathetic expression made her wonder if he’d had someone he’d been close to growing up. “What about you?” she asked, setting down her glass. “Are you close to your parents?”

  She knew the minute she saw his clouded expression that she’d said something wrong.

  “Not exactly,” he said, his tone void of emotion. “When I was five, my father shot himself.”

  “Oh, Dirk. That’s horrible. Why?” She immediately felt chagrined. “I’m sorry. That was rude. It’s none of my business.”

  He shrugged. “It was a long time ago. I guess he couldn’t handle the responsibilities of a job, marriage, and one small child.”

  “What about your mother?”

  His laugh held no humor. “There’s another winner. After my father’s death, she started drinking. Six months later, she died of alcohol poisoning.”

  Bethany couldn’t stop herself from reaching out and placing her hand on Dirk’s arm. She found his revelation shocking and her heart cried out for the small abandoned boy he had been; for the small lonely boy she sensed still lay deep inside him. “I’m so sorry.” She felt ungrateful for belittling her parents. Compared to his life, she’d been blessed.

  He raised his glass, effectively breaking her contact with him. “It was a harsh life lesson, but one I learned well.” He threw back the contents of his drink as if it were whiskey, not champagne, then lowered his empty glass to the table and stared off into the room, no doubt seeing a past she couldn’t. “After my mother died, I lived in a series of foster homes, never staying in one place for any length of time. I was angry with the world and no one seemed to know what to do with me.”

  “Didn’t you have any other family you could stay with?”

  “I used to long for a grandparent, or an aunt or uncle, to come for me, but if either of my parents had living relatives, they never stepped forward to claim me. After a few years, I gave up wishing for something that was never going to happen.”

  “That’s so sad.”

  “By the time I was eighteen, I had been in so much trouble with the law, it was just a matter of time before I ended up in jail.” A humorless laugh escaped him. “When the inevitable happened, the judge gave me a choice: jail or enlist. I chose the Navy and it was the best thing that ever happened to me.”

  At that moment, Bethany heard the distant drone of the buzzer in the lab, but she made no move to get up from the table.

  “Doesn’t that mean your tests are done?” Dirk asked.

  “Yes, but they can wait.” If there was anything else Dirk wanted to share with her, she wanted to be here for him. But he didn’t. Instead, he pushed away from the table and stood. “Come on. I’ll walk you to the lab, then I’ll come back and clean up while you finish.”

  She stood up as well. “Are you sure?”

  “Yeah.”

  She fought a rush of disappointment. Dirk had finally opened up to her and shared a side of him she doubted many others had seen. She hated to have that interrupted.

  They left the candles burning and as they walked, Dirk pulled out his cell phone and placed a call. After a moment, she heard him say, “We’re done. Thanks.”

  Bethany was amazed. He’d gone to so much trouble to make this night special for her. She tried to remember when anyone had done that much for her—without wanting something in return.

  When they reached the lab, Dirk did a quick check of the lab. “All clear. I’ll be back in a minute.”

  She nodded and then impulsively put a hand on his arm as she stood on tiptoe and kissed his cheek. “Thank you, Dirk, for making the evening so special.”

  He nodded his head once. “You’re welcome.” Then he turned and walked down the hall, leaving her to go back into the lab and finish her work.

  It was almost one in the morning when Dirk and Bethany returned to the mansion. She was feeling especially good. Not only had dinner with Dirk been special, but in rerunning an earlier test, she’d discovered an error that Stuart had made in recording the earlier results. Having the correct data shed new light on the project and she felt that, finally, she was close to being done with her analysis. Miles wouldn’t like her conclusions, but she’d deal with that later.

  Right now, though, she was tired and relaxing in the living room, talking with Dirk and the others, sounded good.

  “There you are,” Lanie greeted them with a smile when they walked through the door. “How was your evening?”

  Bethany smiled. “It was special.”

  Lanie seemed pleased. “I’m glad.” She glanced back to the living room. “You have a visitor.”

  “I do?”

  At that moment Miles walked out. In one hand he carried a bouquet of roses and in the other a plaque that had to be her award. “Bethany, my dear, I wish you could have been there.” He came up to her and kissed her cheek before holding out the roses. Then he seemed to notice the orchid she already held. A slight frown creased his brow and he shot an accusing glance at Dirk.

  Not wanting any trouble between the two, she balanced the orchid pot in one hand as she took the bouquet of roses from Miles. “Thank you,
Miles. They’re lovely.”

  Behind her, she heard Dirk mutter something. She couldn’t make out the words, but decided that might be for the best.

  “This is a surprise,” she said instead. “I didn’t expect you to be here.”

  “I couldn’t let the biggest night of your life go by without doing something to celebrate.” If his tone sounded artificial and patronizing, Bethany did her best to ignore it.

  “That was very thoughtful of you,” she replied. “What did you have in mind?”

  “Knowing we couldn’t go out, I thought we might have a little private celebration.” He looked pointedly at Dirk, whose expression Bethany couldn’t see.

  “Don’t leave the mansion,” Dirk muttered to her before turning to Lanie. “Where’s Mac?”

  “He’s in the study with Uncle Charles. I’ll go with you.”

  The two walked off, leaving Bethany and Miles standing alone in the foyer.

  “Do you want to go into the living room?” she asked him.

  He smiled, putting his hand at her elbow, and steered her to the stairs. “No, I had something else in mind. Let’s go to your room.”

  She mustered up a wan smile, wondering why she had a hard time feeling excited about spending time with Miles. After all, spending the rest of her life with him was what she wanted, wasn’t it? Confused, she led him upstairs.

  Once inside her room, she saw the ice bucket placed on the small corner table with the chilling bottle of champagne. While Bethany had never been a big drinker, tonight was looking like the perfect time to start.

  She crossed the room to her dresser and set down the orchids. A crystal vase sat beside the ice bucket, so Bethany busied herself with arranging the roses in the vase while Miles opened the champagne.

  Her thoughts were a crazed whirlwind inside her head as she tried to make sense of her emotions. Distantly, she heard the cork pop and Miles had to call her name twice to get her attention when he handed her a filled glass.

  “To Van Horne Technologies’ leading biochemist.”

  As Bethany touched her glass to his, she couldn’t help comparing his toast to Dirk’s more personal one.

  “Here you are, my dear. Here’s the plaque you worked so hard to win.”

  He handed it to her and there was a sense of pride when she finally held it. There weren’t many who earned the distinction and she would display it proudly in her office where she could see it every day. “Thank you for accepting this for me, Miles. I wish I could have been there.”

  “Oh, Bethany. You would have enjoyed it. Everyone who’s anyone in the field was there . . . except the guest of honor.” He gave her a sad smile. “I’m sorry. I don’t mean to make it worse by telling you what you missed.”

  She shook her head. “That’s okay. I want to hear all about it.”

  Bethany sipped her drink as Miles described the elaborate decorations at the reception hall and all the notable persons who attended, but as his voice droned on, she found her thoughts turning elsewhere.

  Dirk had gone to such elaborate measures to make the evening nice for her. Miles, a man of means, had brought her a bottle of champagne and roses.

  Her gaze wandered about the room, coming to rest on the orchid sitting on her dresser. Why hadn’t Miles bought her orchids? She’d dated him for over a year and known him for five, yet he didn’t know that orchids were her favorite flower.

  Suddenly that one little detail became significant. Miles didn’t know her at all and if she was honest with herself, she didn’t know him either. The full weight of that realization hit her.

  “I can’t do this.”

  Miles, who’d been rattling on about the award ceremony, stopped and stared at her, clearly confused.

  She searched his eyes, beseeching him to understand. “I’m sorry, Miles. I can’t marry you.”

  “Of course you can,” he assured her. “Your winning this award doesn’t change anything.”

  She bowed her head. It wasn’t going to be easy to explain. She set down her glass and pulled her engagement ring from her finger. “I’m sorry. I thought this would work but over the last several days I’ve come to realize that I don’t really know you. And more important, while I like you a lot, I don’t love you. People should marry for love, don’t you think?” She held the ring out to him until he took it from her.

  “It’s just the stress of everything that’s happened over the last couple of days,” he said patiently. “It’s bound to confuse you. If you need more time, we’ll postpone the wedding, but please, Bethany, don’t call it off.”

  “Miles, I’m sorry, but it would never work.”

  “It’s him, isn’t it?”

  She didn’t pretend to misunderstand. “In part. I do feel something for him. Something I shouldn’t feel if I’m in love with you.” She hated the hurt look that came into his eyes when he looked at her.

  “I was afraid something like this might happen. It’s one of the risks that comes with dating a woman so much younger than myself. I knew you hadn’t been with a lot of men when we first started dating, but I’d hoped I would be enough.” When she would have interrupted, he took both her hands in his and looked deeply into her eyes. “I understand. You need to explore these feelings you have—you need to see what life can offer you. Afterward, maybe you’ll discover that what you’re really looking for is me—and I’ll be waiting.”

  She started to shake her head and tell him that he was wrong, but she couldn’t. She’d already hurt him enough. There was no reason to make it worse by robbing him of all hope.

  Abruptly she stood up and crossed to her dresser. Inside the top drawer, she found the box the engagement ring had come in. She pulled it out and gave it to him, watching as he placed the ring back inside and snapped the lid shut. An uncomfortable silence fell between them and Bethany found herself staring at the roses.

  “Are you going to make me take those back, too?” he asked softly.

  She couldn’t tell from his tone whether he was serious or not, but when she looked at him, he was smiling.

  “No, I’d like to keep them, if you don’t mind.”

  “I don’t mind, but you might want to give them water before they wilt.”

  It was something that could wait, but she was afraid he’d think she didn’t care about his gift if she didn’t do it immediately, so she picked up the vase and carried it into the bathroom. When she walked back into the bedroom, Miles was standing by the dresser, waiting for her.

  “I guess I should say good night.”

  “Thank you for—everything.”

  He started for the door, but stopped after taking a single step. “This is just personal, right? You’re not breaking up with me professionally, too? You will continue your work at the lab?”

  He caught her by surprise. She couldn’t believe she’d forgotten about what it would be like to work for him now. “It might be uncomfortable for us both if I stayed,” she began. “But I don’t want to leave my job.”

  “Good, then don’t.” He smiled as he leaned over and kissed her cheek. “I’ll see myself out.”

  Bethany stared at the door after he left, replaying their conversation over in her mind, amazed at how well Miles had taken the breakup.

  Spying the nearly full bottle of champagne, she went over and refilled her glass. As she drank, she let her thoughts turn to Dirk. For some reason, she felt an inexplicable need to tell him that she was no longer engaged. Before she could talk herself out of it, she set down her glass and left the room.

  Dirk’s bedroom door wasn’t far from hers and she encountered no one along the way. When she got there, she knocked once and waited. From inside came a muffled response. Unsure whether it was an invitation to come in or an order to leave, she tried the knob. It turned easily in her hand.

  She poked her head into the room and spotted Dirk sitting on the bed, wearing only his jeans, unbuttoned at the waist, leaning against the headboard, a half-empty bottle of whiskey in his han
d. He barely looked up when she walked in.

  “What are you doing here?” he half snarled. “I thought you were with Van Horne.”

  “He just left.”

  He stared straight ahead, letting the words sink in, then raised the bottle and took a drink. He swallowed, then rested his head back against the headboard and closed his eyes. “Go back to your room, Beth.”

  “I want to talk to you.”

  “Now’s not a good time.”

  “Why?”

  He gave her a disgusted look. “I’m busy.” He raised the bottle and drank deeply.

  She tried to ignore the way the muscles in his chest bulged when he lifted the bottle or the sight of his strong hands wrapped around the neck of it. “You’re drunk.” She heard the censure in her voice.

  “God, I hope so.” He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and stared at her with a focused intensity that told her he wasn’t as drunk as she’d first thought. “What do you want?”

  She hesitated. For a man who’d spent so much time flirting with her in the lab, now he seemed totally uninterested. She’d come here expecting . . . what? That he would seduce her? Carry through on all the suggestive promises he’d made.

  The announcement she had planned to make died on her lips. How pathetic of her to have thought it would interest him. She looked for another excuse for her presence. “I wanted to thank you again for the dinner and the flowers.”

  “You already did that.”

  “Well, I wanted to make sure you knew I meant it,” she said, her frustration making her irritable.

  “Go away, Beth.”

  “Why?”

  He made a strangled sound in his voice. “Fine, stick around, but I won’t be responsible for what happens.” He made it sound like a thinly veiled threat.

  “You won’t hurt me.” She said it softly and moved a little farther into the room, closer to the bed.

  “What makes you so sure?” He lifted the bottle and took another swallow.