by Diana Palmer
He shrugged, jamming his hands deep into his pockets. He hadn’t realized until now how much he’d missed her. She was different now. More confident. Much less intimidated. He found himself attracted, more than ever. “I thought I might persuade you to come back.”
She shook her head. “Not a chance. Especially not as long as you’ve got Haralson on your staff.”
“What’s wrong with Haralson?” he asked defensively. “Everybody attacks him lately. First Nikki, now you!”
“We’re intuitive. You aren’t. He’ll drag you right down if you aren’t careful,” she said slowly. “You have no idea how much trouble you could be in because of him.”
“Because he knows how to take advantage of a weakness in my worst enemy?” he laughed. “For heaven’s sake, he’s a political advisor. He’s good at his job. Better at it than you were,” he added. “I’ve never had so much media attention.”
“You may get more than you want one day.”
“If it’s what I said about you, I’ve already apologized,” he said, eyeing her. “You’ve changed, haven’t you?” he asked suddenly. “You’re different, somehow.”
No doubt, she thought. Having responsibility and praise were new to her. Sam Hewett appreciated her abilities as Clay never had. As Cortez had said, she was only now fully utilizing her brain and her expensive college education.
“We all grow,” she said noncommittally.
“You’ve done some wonderful things for Hewett,” he tried again. “I” like your promotional ideas. They’re solid without being sensational.” He hesitated. “You could come back and we could try a few of them.”
She smiled at him. He sounded almost boyish. “How’s Bett?”
He grimaced, snapping his hands into his pockets. “She wants to get married,” he said roughly. “She was the one woman in the world whom I never expected to think of it.”
So Cortez had been right. Her heart sank. She would never have gotten Clay, not in a million years. Bett would always have the inside track.
Her face gave her thoughts away. Clayton winced as he looked at her. Derrie had loved him. Why hadn’t he realized it in time? Now he was tangled up with Bett and Derrie was lost to him. She wasn’t immune, but she was fighting the old attraction. As she grew in power and strength, she would meet other men. She would marry and have a family…
“I’ve been unfair to you in every way there is, haven’t I?” he asked quietly. His pale eyes searched hers. “I used you, took you for granted, finally threw you out of the office and my life. And do you know what, Derrie?” He laughed bitterly. “The girl I hired to replace you is afraid to open her mouth. She can type, but she can’t spell. She’s pretty and sweet. But she isn’t you.”
“Why don’t you let Bett run the office for you?” she asked dully. “She’d be a natural.”
“Bett doesn’t want to work for me. She wants to remain a lobbyist. She likes the money, you see. Even my salary can’t compare to what she makes.” He turned away to the window and stared out it. “She’s deciding where we’re going to live even now. What a girl.”
“I’m sorry if you aren’t happy,” Derrie said. “But it’s really none of my business.”
He turned, his face solemn. “It was once.”
“Those days are gone. I miss working for you, but I’m very challenged with Sam. He’s a good boss.” She forced a smile. “And we’re going to beat your socks off at the polls in November.”
His eyebrows levered up. “I’m no lost cause.”
“Keep Haralson on and I can guarantee that you will be.”
“He’s spending the weekend in Washington.”
He drew in a long, slow breath, and his eyes were hungry as they searched over her. “She tells me where she wants to go, what she wants to do. She even tells me what to do in bed.” He smiled sadly. “Did you ever wonder how it would feel to sleep with me?”
She wouldn’t blush. She wouldn’t! “Once or twice,” she confessed tautly.
His eyes narrowed and he smiled. “You’re blushing. You haven’t ever done it, have you?”
She hated that superior attitude, the way he was looking at her. “I dated a college boy in my senior year in high school,” she said curtly. “He was handsome and very persuasive, and I was stupid. I slept with him, one time, and that’s why I haven’t slept with anybody since,” she said, shocking him.
He moved closer, scowling. “Why?”
She shifted uneasily. She didn’t like remembering. “Because I didn’t want to. He parked the car and I thought we were just going to make out a little. But he pushed me down and before I even realized what was happening, he was…” She wrapped her arms tightly around her breasts. “I hated it! He was in a hurry and it hurt awfully. Then he said that if I didn’t like it, it was my own fault, because I’d led him on. All the girls did it, he said, so why should he have thought I was any different from them?”
He felt outraged. He’d never even suspected. He’d always thought that Derrie was a prude, that she never dated because she was afraid of being seduced. He hadn’t thought it would be a reason like this.
“You should have taken him to court,” he said curtly.
“What defense would I have used?” she asked bitterly. “I was in love with him, or so I thought. Everyone knew we were a couple. It would have been my word against his and he was captain of the football team and the eldest son of one of the most influential families in Charleston.”
“I begin to see the light.”
“I thought you might,” she replied. “They talk about equality and justice. Let me tell you, the wealthy people make the laws and decide who pays the penalties. If you don’t believe that, look at the inmates in any prison and see how many rich kids you find there.”
“Were there consequences?” he asked.
“Luckily, no,” she said heavily. “I didn’t get pregnant and I had myself tested for HIV twice, months apart. But it scared me to death. I never wanted to take the same chance twice.”
“You worked for me for six years,” he said. “Why didn’t you ever talk to me about it? It must have only just happened when I hired you, the first year I ran for the state legislature.”
“It had,” she said. “But I couldn’t even tell my parents. How could I have told you?”
“He should have been arrested,” he said angrily.
“Ironically, he died in an automobile accident the very next year,” she said, lifting her eyes to his. “I didn’t even cry when I heard. I guess I didn’t have any tears left.”
“Why should you?” His eyes slid down the caftan, lingering where her breasts thrust against it. Her silky hair flowed like waves of gold around her shoulders. She wasn’t a beautiful girl, but she was disturbingly attractive. She was sexy, he decided finally. He’d forced himself not to notice that before. He was involved with Bett, and he’d thought Derrie a virgin. But inside, he was churning, changing. He felt himself growing uncomfortable as the sensuality of her appearance worked on him.
“Derrie, do you know anything about Haralson?” he asked suddenly.
She moved away from him toward the kitchen. “Nothing that you won’t find out eventually,” she said, remembering her promise to Cortez to say nothing, even to Clay. Why she should trust a man she’d just met was strange, but she did. She knew somehow that he wasn’t going to do anything to hurt the Seymours. He had it in for Haralson, though, and Derrie wasn’t going to lift a finger to save that dirty dog.
He paused in the doorway, leaning against it while she put coffee on to brew. His face was troubled. “What you aren’t telling me could cost me the election.”
She turned. “Would that bother me, when I work for your closest competitor?” she asked mischievously.
He pursed his lips, smiling faintly. She was sexy when she smiled like that.
He shouldered away from the door and moved toward her, intent in his eyes.
“You stop right there,” she told him, wielding the s
coop she was using to put coffee into the filter basket. “I’m seeing someone else. He’s from Washington and he’s very handsome…”
He didn’t even slow down. She kept talking until he took the scoop and tossed it aside and suddenly pushed her back into the counter with the weight of his hips.
“Shut up…” he murmured against her mouth.
She stiffened at the unfamiliar contact with his aroused body. She hadn’t even known that he got aroused in the six years she’d worked for him, although it was certain that he did with Bett.
Bett. She had to remember Bett. She did try, but his hands were framing her face, his thumbs coaxing her lips apart so that his mouth could press between them. He smelled of spice and soap and he tasted of coffee. She could taste the woody tang of it on her tongue when his mouth began to open and she breathed him.
A sound passed her lips, but he ignored it. His mouth grew slowly more insistent until she stopped fighting the pleasure and gave in to it. He was warm and strong and he smelled good. She relaxed into his aroused body with a little sigh and felt his arms enfolding her.
Not until his long leg began to insinuate itself between hers through the caftan did her drowning mind come swimming back to reality.
“No,” she gasped under his mouth.
He lifted his head. His eyes were as turbulent as hers. He frowned slightly. His gaze fell to her mouth and further down. He eased her back so that he could see the stiff peaks of her breasts and their jerky, quick rise and fall. If he was aroused, so was she. He hadn’t lost her. He hadn’t!
His eyes lifted to hers. “Derrie,” he said huskily, savoring the sound of her name on his tongue.
“I won’t…sleep with you,” she choked.
He moved back, just a little, his eyes curious, puzzled. He smiled. “I know. But you want to,” he said, amazed.
“I’ve wanted to with a lot of men! It isn’t just you!”
He knew better. He smiled, a little sadly. “I’m getting married, you know,” he said wistfully. “And I’ve just realized that I don’t want to. The thought of a lifetime with Bett makes me want to throw the election and sail to Bermuda.”
“Sam Hewett and the rest of us would appreciate it,” she managed breathlessly.
He chuckled. He felt better and brighter than he had for a long time. And all because of Derrie!
He let her go with flattering reluctance. “You still taste like a virgin, despite that cowardly so-and-so back in high school,” he said quietly. “Suppose I give Bett the heave-ho and come back? What would you do?”
“Nothing until after the election,” she said abruptly, although she was bluffing and they both knew it. “I won’t fraternize with the enemy.”
He lifted an eyebrow. He was still tingling all over and finding it hard to breathe. “How about after the election?”
She folded her arms over her telltale breasts and laughed jerkily. “Well, we’ll see.”
He smiled wickedly. “That’s worth waiting for.” He turned toward the door, paused and turned back, surveying her. “I guess I’ve turned a blind eye to Haralson, just as Mosby has. It’s time we did something before it’s too late.”
“I can’t possibly agree with you, because I work for the opposition,” she stated.
“So I noticed.” He drawled it, his smile sensuous and teasing.
She flushed and glowered all at once.
He laughed at her bridled fury. “Pretty thing,” he murmured. “Now I know why the world went dark when you left.”
“Why?”
“I’ll tell you,” he promised, going out the door. He stuck his head back in. “After the election!”
Chapter Sixteen
Nikki avoided calling Kane all morning. She also avoided answering the telephone every time it rang. But that night it started and refused to stop. She put on the answering machine. That was worse.
“Answer me, Nikki,” Kane growled. “I know you’re there. What the hell is wrong with you? Have you had second thoughts? Changed your mind?”
She swallowed. In order to save Clay—and Kane—she was going to have to lie. There was no other way. The thought of those sleazy photographs in the tabloids made her sick. She couldn’t bear it.
She picked up the receiver and fought down nausea. “Kane, I have had second thoughts,” she said in a dull, defeated tone. “I’m sorry. I really can’t do this to Clayton.”
“Your brother has his own life to live,” he pointed out. “Nikki, we made love!”
“Yes. Th-thank you for the tutoring,” she stammered, clutching the receiver. “I’ll put it to good use.”
There was a shocked pause. The receiver slammed down in her face. So much, she thought, for victories.
Clayton noticed Nikki’s pallor, but he didn’t understand what had caused it. She was so secretive lately, so tense. And he had problems of his own. Derrie and Haralson came immediately to mind, although in different ways.
“Are you all right?” he asked.
“Sure. How was Derrie?” she returned.
He smiled with soft pleasure. “Delicious, thank you,” he murmured. “Odd that I never noticed her in six long years, isn’t it?”
Nikki brightened at the look on his face. “Yes, I always thought so,” she confessed.
“She’s full of surprises, our Derrie.” His smile faded and he began to look worried. “I wish I had time to explore them all. But there’s a campaign waiting to be won and a few problems to solve. I’m not going to marry Bett,” he said abruptly, facing his sister.
“Will wonders never cease?” Nikki sighed, smiling.
“I know, you never liked her.”
“I never trusted her,” came the dry reply. “Women can usually see through other women, Clay. She was never quite what she seemed, and it was pretty obvious to me that she liked what you were more than she liked who you were. As a congressman, you were of great value to her. If you’d lost the election, I’m afraid it would have been another story. She doesn’t look at you like a woman in love should look at a man.”
He searched her green eyes and realized abruptly what she meant. The way she’d been with Kane Lombard when they danced had been a revelation to him. Not since Mosby had Nikki looked like that. He felt rather sad that he’d been so adamant about keeping her apart from the industrialist. On the other hand, Lombard was a polluter and deserved everything he got. But there was still the problem of Haralson. He owed the man for his help; especially his help unmasking Lombard’s polluting of the natural environment. But Haralson was becoming a liability that he couldn’t afford. It was just a question of time before the man was going to cross the line and do something illegal.
His eyes narrowed. “I’ve had time to do some serious thinking about Haralson, especially since Derrie seems to agree with you. I’ve decided that you’re right. I’m going to send him back to Washington and get someone else to run my campaign.”
She brightened a little. “Oh, Clay. I’m so glad. You’re doing the right thing!”
“I suppose so. But he was a hell of a campaign coordinator. Who’s going to replace him?”
“Me.”
His eyebrows lifted and then he chuckled. “Yes! Why not? You’d be a natural!”
He wouldn’t have thought so even a week ago, but apparently the way he’d misjudged Derrie had turned his attitude around. Nikki knew that she could do a better job than Haralson, and in a less underhanded way.
Nikki watched him move toward the door. “Where are you going?”
“To give Haralson his walking papers, of course,” he returned. He grinned at her. “I’ll expect you at the office at eight sharp tomorrow morning, Miss Seymour. You are now a working stiff.”
“You can count on me,” she assured him.
She could only hope that with Haralson out of the picture, the threat of those photographs hanging over her might conveniently disappear.
Kane was half out of his mind over Nikki’s change of heart. He could hardly be
lieve that she cared so little for him. He’d been certain last night that she loved him.
But what if guilt was making her turn away from him? She was a virgin, and he hadn’t known. He’d backed her into a corner, all but forced her. Did she hate him? He had to know! But how was he going to find out?
Mrs. Yardley knocked on the door and peeked around it. “It’s Mr. Jurkins, sir,” she said. “He’d like a word with you, if it’s convenient.”
“It’s convenient,” he said dully. “Send him in.”
Will Jurkins was wearing a two-year-old suit with scuffed shoes. He looked the least prosperous of any employee Kane had. He stared at the other man for a long moment. If he’d suspected Jurkins of taking kickbacks to change solid waste companies, it was hardly evident.
“Yes, Jurkins? What can I do for you?” he asked with faint impatience.
“I keep hearing gossip,” the other man said slowly. He was twisting a paper clip in his nervous fingers. “I just would like to know if they plan to try to put you in jail over this, sir.”
“Bob Wilson says that it’s unlikely,” Kane replied. He perched himself on the edge of his desk. “Probably we’ll be fined. But that sewage leak didn’t do us any favors with the state and federal environmental people.”
“Yes, I know, and that’s my fault. That leak was a legitimate accident, Mr. Lombard,” Jurkins said earnestly. “I wouldn’t do anything illegal. I mean I wouldn’t have. I have a little girl, six years old,” he stammered. “She has leukemia. I can take her to St. Jude’s for treatment, you see, and it’s free. But there’s the medicine and she has to see doctors locally and the insurance I had at my old job ran out. She isn’t covered under the insurance here. It’s that preexisting conditions clause,” he added apologetically.
“I know about that,” Kane replied. “Almost thirty million Americans have no health insurance, you know, and people with preexisting conditions can’t get any, period. If we get a new administration in November, perhaps we’ll have a chance of changing all that.”
“I hope so, sir. But that wasn’t why I came.”
