One side of the lobby opened onto the main dining room. On the other side was a large club room, featuring a high cathedral ceiling with exposed beams and a large fieldstone fireplace that took up half of one wall. There were several intimate seating areas, with overstuffed sofas and club chairs. White plantation shutters on the windows were opened during the day, revealing a stunning ocean view. The lobby walls were a soothing pale green, the club room and ceiling white. Sisal rugs dotted the warm distressed-wood floors, and brightly colored Persian runners and unique artwork added color and interest to the lobby.
“Thanks,” Kristy murmured proudly.
“You’ve turned it into a very peaceful place,” he continued admiringly.
She nodded. Appearing distracted, she shot a glance at her brother, who was standing behind the reservation counter, talking with the hospital by phone, and making notations on a paper in front of him. “I’ll walk you out,” she said.
Doing his best to hide his disappointment—Connor had hoped to spend more time with Kristy that evening—he moved ahead to open the heavy wooden lobby door.
They stepped out onto the wide piazza that faced the beach. When Ida had been alive, and running Paradise, the porch had been filled with nylon folding chairs. Now wooden rocking chairs, and potted plants and flowers scattered here and there, created a homey look.
“I’m really happy about what I’ve managed to accomplish here, although I have a lot more to do before any guests arrive. And I appreciate your congratulating me on the booking…” she paused to search his eyes “…although I can’t imagine that you really feel that way.”
Connor knew he shouldn’t have been happy for her. Any success she had on that score went counter to his business plans. But he was. Maybe because he knew how hard she had been working. And had seen how much revitalizing the old resort meant to her.
Nevertheless, he didn’t like what her assumption implied. He slid a steadying hand beneath her elbow as they walked down the steps to the sidewalk. Loving the way her bare skin felt beneath his palm, so silky and warm, he guided her around the side of the building, toward the parking lot. “You think I’m insincere?”
Kristy slid her hands in her pockets as they strolled, side by side, past the flowering bushes that lined the northern edge of the building. Tensing, she slanted him a brief, assessing glance. “What I think is it’s not in your best interests for me to make a success of this place on my own. Because then I’d have absolutely zero interest in selling out to you.”
They paused as they reached the front grill of his black Mercedes sedan. Connor found himself more reluctant than ever to leave her company as he turned to face her. He let his glance rove over her expressive features. She had been beautiful earlier—in work clothes. Now, in a white, V-necked knit top, knee-length navy shorts and sandals, with her dark, silky hair loose around her shoulders, she looked even more amazing. Connor didn’t know if it was the soft swell of her breasts, the indentation of her slender waist or her slim, sexy legs that put his hormones in over-drive whenever he was around her. All he knew for certain was that when he was with her, he was completely entranced by the feisty tilt of her chin and the intelligence and wit sparkling in her dark brown eyes. Without even trying, Kristy Neumeyer challenged him in a way no woman ever had. “You have zero interest in letting me buy you out now,” he pointed out dryly.
“Correct.” Kristy leaned against the grill of his car and lifted a skeptical brow. “So why are you here?”
“I was invited to dinner, if I recall.”
“And then dis-invited,” she reminded him archly.
Connor lounged against the front of the vehicle, as well. “My sister Daisy speaks so highly of you I figured I should get to know you, too.”
Kristy folded her arms in front of her and glared at him somewhat contentiously. “Um-hmm.”
Connor grinned as fire leaped in her pretty eyes. “Don’t believe me?” he teased.
“Right now,” Kristy sighed, whirling away from him, “I don’t know what to believe.”
Connor came up behind her. He put his hands on her shoulders and turned her around again. “Or whom to trust?”
She tilted her face up to his, admitting candidly, “Or whom to trust.”
An awkward silence fell between them.
Deciding trust would not come until it was earned, and that that would take time, Connor moved on to other pressing matters that needed her attention. “I hate to bring it up—” he inclined his head toward the tall palmetto tree they were standing next to “—but I noticed on the way in this evening that those trees lining the driveway and pathways aren’t looking too good.”
“I know.” Kristy glanced upward with a frown. The fan-shaped leaves at the very top should have been a healthy green. Instead, they seemed to be losing both color and luster, and the edges were tobacco-brown and curling. “I’ve called an arborist,” she said with a troubled sigh. “She’s coming out tomorrow to have a look.”
“It’d be a shame to lose them,” Connor stated gently. “It would cost a mint to have to replace them.”
When Kristy narrowed her eyes at him suspiciously, he lifted both hands in a gesture of surrender. “Hey, don’t shoot the messenger!”
“As long as that’s all you are,” Kristy allowed.
“I would never sabotage your lodge,” he declared.
She raked the toe of her sandal across the cement walk in front of her. “What about your partner?”
“Skip would never do anything like that, either,” Connor stated firmly. They didn’t have to. Not when they were ready, willing and able to pay top dollar for any property they were interested in acquiring and developing.
Another silence fell between them, even more potent and full of chemistry. Connor was just getting ready to say good-night and leave when he saw a flash of movement in the window behind Kristy. “Don’t look now,” he murmured.
“What?” Kristy’s chin angled up defiantly.
“We’re being observed,” he murmured. “By your brother.”
Kristy groaned and raked both hands through her hair. “I really wish he would mind his own business,” she muttered beneath her breath, still not looking at the window.
“Well, I can think of one way to make him turn away,” Connor said.
Aware that he had never wanted to possess a woman more than he did Kristy at that very moment, he put one arm around her waist and slid his right hand beneath her chin. He had the advantage when her lips parted in surprise. Knowing it wouldn’t last, he lowered his mouth to hers, and then did what he had wanted to do since the first moment he’d laid eyes on her.
Just as he’d expected, her lips were warm, enticingly feminine—and once again tightly closed. Aware of their audience, and his mission to rid them of it, he persisted anyway, letting her know he could be just as stubborn and reckless and impulsive as she was. He parted her lips with the pressure of his and his tongue swept inside, drawing in the taste of her, the softness. Kristy made a sound—half pleasure, half protest—low in her throat. Not one to be content doing anything halfway, he continued kissing her, long and hard and deep, stroking her tongue with his, tenderly coaxing a response from her even as he tasted the sweetness that was her, until she began to melt against him. The softness of her body giving new heat to his, he used the arm anchored about her waist to bring her closer yet, and show her what they could share, given half a chance. As their bodies fit together, softness to hardness, woman to man, Kristy trembled and uttered another breathy sigh. Her arms curled around his shoulders, and she began kissing him back every bit as passionately as he was kissing her. Satisfaction pouring through him, Connor swept a hand down her spine and continued caressing her, until their hearts were thudding rapidly and they were both completely caught up in the moment, yearning for more.
Which would have been fine, Connor noted, had they been anywhere else. But they weren’t. So at least for now… With a sigh of regret, he halted the tempestuous
kiss and lifted his head.
Taking a deep breath to steady herself, she looked into his eyes and demanded irritably, “What was that for?”
“Our audience,” Connor replied matter-of-factly. Keeping his arms around her, he glanced at the windows. “Yep. Just as I figured. Your brother’s gone.”
“Good.” Trembling all the harder, Kristy splayed both her hands across Connor’s chest. “Then you can stop kissing me,” she said.
She didn’t look or act as if she wanted him to stop kissing her, Connor noted. “I don’t think so,” he replied dryly.
Kristy blinked. “What?”
“The first kiss was to get rid of your pesky brother. This one,” he said, “is for me.”
Chapter Three
Kristy hadn’t been kissed in a long time, and she didn’t think she had ever been kissed quite like this. As if she was someone precious and rare, someone he couldn’t quite resist. And the truth was, as she surrendered to the strength and warmth of him, loving his taste and feel and scent, so dark and male and sexy, she was feeling just that. She wasn’t sure what it was about Connor Templeton. Whether his kiss was so searing and sensual it took her breath away and sent emotions swirling through her at breakneck speed. Or that he had persisted when others would have walked away, and that he seemed to see so much more in her than everyone else. All she knew for certain was that he had identified a need within her that even she hadn’t been aware of—the deep yearning need to be close to someone again, to feel wanted and respected and understood. She wanted to forget, just for a second, all the demands upon her. To ignore the unprecedented risks she was taking, and her worry over the future, and just live in the here and now. Not as someone’s mother or sister or daughter, but as a woman. A flesh-and-blood woman with passionate needs and desires.
But like it or not, Kristy thought, as Connor deepened the kiss even more and stroked his tongue intimately against hers, she was all those things. And as such was required to keep her wits about her even when that was the last thing she wanted to do. Because she had responsibilities that were not going to go away.
She laid a hand on his chest and broke off the wonderfully evocative kiss, as slowly as it had begun. “Well,” she said, reluctantly stepping back, and doing her best to behave as if he hadn’t just turned her whole world upside down—with just one kiss! She drew in a deep, stabilizing breath. “I guess you’ve proved your point.”
His brows knit together. “And what would that be?” he murmured just as softly.
Kristy’s pulse pounded when she realized he looked as if he still wanted to kiss her. Aware it was all she could do not to give in to impulse and let him take her in his arms again, she countered equably, “That I’m just as human as everyone else.” She turned her back to him and pretended to study the resort’s ailing palmetto trees.
Connor rested both hands on her shoulders. He ducked his head so his mouth was close to her ear. “Ah, but you’re not like everyone else, Kristy. If you were, I would have been able to say good-night without mixing business and pleasure.”
She turned to face him. “I take it that’s forbidden,” she said lightly.
He dropped his hands abruptly. “Oh, yeah. I don’t want the lines blurring between work and play.”
Then you’d better not kiss me again, Kristy thought.
“And acquiring my resort is still on your agenda.”
He shrugged his broad shoulders. “I’ve found there’s usually a way to make everyone happy in the end, if the lines of communication—and negotiation—are kept open.”
Which meant what? Kristy wondered, upset. Had his praise of her efforts to revitalize been disingenuous, after all? Or did he now have some other business scheme in mind? Something he thought she might actually cotton to?
Deciding she didn’t need—or want—to know, since she had no plans to sell Paradise Resort anyway, Kristy merely smiled. “I’ll keep that in mind,” she said dryly, walking away.
“I’ll see you tomorrow,” he promised.
Kristy didn’t reply, wave, or in any way acknowledge what he’d said. She just kept walking and let her actions speak volumes.
“WE’LL TRY AND STOP IN briefly on the way home to Raleigh,” Maude said as she and Kristy’s brother carried their suitcases out to the car the next morning.
“Sounds good,” Kristy said. Doug hadn’t mentioned seeing her kissing Connor the evening before, but she knew from the way he and her mother were looking at her that they were both aware she had made a misstep in judgment. And both were taking that as yet another sign that she was slowly but surely going off her rocker, in the wake of Lance’s death.
Kristy loved her family and didn’t want them worrying about her, but she didn’t want to be put in the position of defending her every action to them, either. Darn it all, she was an adult, with the freedom to venture out of her self-imposed little world whenever she wanted to, for whatever reason. Even if it was, as it had been last night when she was wrapped in Connor’s arms, an exceedingly foolish and impetuous one.
“Maybe then we can talk more about Connor Templeton’s offer to you,” Doug said soberly, appearing to believe that the sooner they got her out of South Carolina and back home to Chapel Hill, the better.
“I’ve made up my mind about that,” Kristy said firmly but pleasantly, as her brother opened the back of the station wagon. “I’m turning him down.”
Doug made a soft harrumph.
“I think you might want to talk to your father and his accountant about it before you make a definite decision,” Maude said.
No, Kristy thought, just as resolutely, she did not. Because they would look at the sum Connor and Skip Wakefield were offering her and realize that after she had paid off both the first and second mortgage on the resort, she would still have a good two million dollars to bank. Managed properly, she and the girls could live off the interest on that for years. And while it was a tempting thought, to know she would never have to worry about money again, Kristy knew it was also the easy way out. Plus she’d be guaranteeing the demise of the resort her aunt Ida had spent her life taking care of.
“Aunt Ida bequeathed Paradise Resort to me because she trusted me to take care of it and bring it back to its former glory.”
“Ida would also understand that you are waging a losing battle here,” Maude said gently.
Doug nodded. “You have to face it, Kristy. You can’t compete with the fancy places that have sprung up along the coast.”
“I don’t want to compete with the golf and tennis resorts,” Kristy retorted, beginning to be irked again at the lack of understanding and support she received from her family in this regard. “I want to offer a different kind of place for a different kind of vacation.” And if they didn’t understand that…
Maude and Doug sighed.
Deciding there was no use in rehashing the same old argument, or continuing to make her case that there was a place for many kinds of resorts along the South Carolina coast, Kristy glanced at her watch. “You’d better be hitting the road if you don’t want to get caught up in rush hour traffic.”
To her relief, Doug and Maude took the hint. They said their goodbyes, thanked her for the hospitality and drove off.
The twins, having “forgotten” about the math work sheets that were due that morning, were sitting at a table in the dining room, busily working the multiplication problems that had been assigned to them.
They finished about five minutes before the bus was due. Kristy made sure they went to the bathroom and had their lunches, then walked out to the end of the driveway to wait for their bus with them.
About the same time, Connor pulled into the drive. Kristy’s heart gave a little leap at the sight of him, even as she reminded herself sternly not to get caught in the unexpected chemistry between them. Or spend any time at all remembering the warmth of his arms or the heart-stopping nature of his kiss, or the fact that he had made her feel like a woman for the first time in a very lon
g time. Bottom line, he was here for one reason and one reason only—to buy her out. And, she reminded herself sternly, even when her body began to tingle as he got out of his Mercedes and strolled confidently toward her, holding her eyes all the while, she had to remember that. Because another kiss, another few hours of letting down her guard with him, was not something she could afford.
Not that Connor Templeton seemed to accept that fact, Kristy noted. As he deliberately closed the distance between them, he looked as if he was ready to pick up exactly where they had left off. With her wrapped in his strong arms, his lips fastened securely on hers…
Eyes twinkling, he leaned over to brush a light, careless kiss—a Southern-style greeting—against her cheek. “Morning.”
Only because the twins were there to witness her behavior did Kristy resist the urge to glower at him. As she sought to get a handle on her soaring emotions, she could feel the blood rushing to her face. Passing up the chance to lightly kiss his cheek, too, she forced a cheerful smile and stepped back a pace. “Good morning, Mr. Templeton.” She spoke as if he were a casual acquaintance she’d happened to see on the street.
And he wasn’t buying it for a second, Kristy noted.
He knew she was thinking about the way they had kissed last night, just as he was….
Unlike yesterday, however, this morning he was dressed in jeans that made the most of his tall, muscular frame, and a T-shirt that did similar things for his broad shoulders and flat abs. He had recently showered and shaved, and Kristy tried hard not to notice how good he looked and smelled so early in the morning.
“You gals off to school?” Connor asked the twins cheerfully.
Susie and Sally both nodded.
In the distance, they could hear the rumble of the school bus stopping and starting as it picked up children at various stops along Folly Beach Road. Abruptly, Susie elbowed Sally. Sally elbowed her back.
“What’s going on?” Kristy interjected. The twins had stubbornly insisted they hadn’t been fighting about anything in particular the previous afternoon when they got off the bus. Kristy had suspected the reverse was true, but unable to prompt them to confide in her any further, she had let it ride, figuring they could talk about the unprecedented catfight this afternoon.
Taking Over the Tycoon Page 4
