Strictly Confidential Attraction

by Brenda Jackson

  The two men regarded each other as introductions were made and handshakes exchanged. “I don’t think we’ve ever met, since I was hired on here after you left Royal years ago,” Jimmy was saying. “You own the Hartman place, right?”

  Mark smiled. “Yes, that’s right.”

  “You have a mighty fine spread.”

  “Thanks. Is Nita around?”

  “Yeah, she’s out back near the stables with a few of the hands. I’ll be glad to take you to her,” Jimmy said. He then glanced over at Alli. “Are you coming, too, Ms. Lind?”

  Alli shook her head. “No, I think I’ll go inside and visit with Will and Jane. Is she in?”

  Jimmy chuckled. “Now you know Jane isn’t going anyplace,” he said of the Windcrofts’ housekeeper. “In fact, there’s a rumor floating around the farm that she’s baking a ton of pies today, so you came to visit right in time.”

  “That’s wonderful. I love Jane’s pies,” Alli said chuckling. She made a move to step past Mark and he reached out and touched her arm. Although she tried to remain unaffected, every part of her tingled from the contact.

  “I’ll see you again in a little while,” he said huskily, the depth of his gaze holding hers.

  She gave him a strained smile. “All right.” And then she quickly walked off toward the main house.

  When they reached the stables, Mark looked around. Several ranch hands were crowded around the training pen watching one of the hands break in a horse. The animal was a beauty. He was also mean and it was obvious that he intended to throw the rider. However, the rider was showing the animal that he wasn’t going anywhere. There was nothing like seeing man tame beast…or vice versa.

  Fascinated, Mark walked to the corral and joined the onlookers. Everyone was cheering the rider on and, from the way the man was handling the horse, it appeared he was definitely up to the challenge, even with the horse not making it easy for him bucking all over the place.

  The longer Mark watched, the more fascinated he became with the rider’s skills. Moments later when it became evident the cowboy was the victorious one, a loud cheer went up. “What a way to go, Nita!” the crowd called out.

  Mark blinked. “Nita?”

  He stared at the rider who was getting off the horse and, when her feet touched the ground, she pulled off her hat, spilling a mass of black hair that she’d tucked underneath. She smiled and waved to the crowd.

  “Damn.” That was the only word Mark could think to say at that moment. How could he have forgotten that Nita Windcroft could outrace, out rope and outride just about any male?

  He watched as the slim woman glanced his way after Jimmy said something to her. Without a hint of any smile on her face, she walked toward Mark. When she reached him, instinctively he held out his hand. She took it, although a deep, dark frown had settled on her face.

  She met his gaze. “Hi, Mark. It’s about time one of you guys decided to pay a visit.”

  Mark nodded. He knew she had expected them to drop everything and come running the first time she’d come to them claiming that the Devlins were causing mischief. “Any new developments, Nita?” he asked.

  She placed her hands on her hips and glared at him. “Like poisoned feed, broken fences, cut lines, spooked horses and threatening notes aren’t enough?”

  Mark sighed deeply. The Texas Cattleman Club had seen the so-called threatening notes and thought they were too vague to actually take seriously, and although Nita had disagreed, there was no evidence that indicated the Devlins were involved. “Have you received another threatening note?”

  “No.”

  “Then things have gotten back to calm around here?”

  Nita narrowed her eyes. “For now but I’m not going to hold my breath it will last.”

  Mark nodded. “I’d like to take a look around.”

  “That’s fine. I’m just glad to see you guys are finally taking me serious.”

  Mark sighed, choosing not to tell her it hadn’t been decided if they were taking her seriously or not. “It might be a good idea if we have a list of names of anyone and everyone you do business with. It could come in handy later.”

  Nita nodded. “All right. It will take me a few moments to print it off the computer.”

  After Nita left, Mark checked out the other areas of her property, looking for anything that could give him a hint of who might be responsible for the activities going on at her place.

  Mark had circled around the back of the stable when suddenly something lying on the ground near the barn caught his attention. He kneeled down for a closer look. Lying in the grass near a shrub was a syringe, the kind typically used in hospitals to give injections.

  He sighed deeply. It was probably the same kind, or pretty similar, to the one used to kill Jonathan Devlin.

  Six

  “I’m leaving for class now, Mark.”

  Mark glanced up from the printout of names he’d gotten from Nita Windcroft to Alli as she walked into the room. Ever since their talk earlier that day, things had been strained between them. They had barely said two words to each other on the ride back from the Windcroft farm.

  He glanced out the window. It was already dark and the thought of her going out alone at night bothered him. He remembered the incident with her car breaking down and stood to fish his car keys out of the pocket of his jeans. “Here, use my car.”

  Alli stared at the keys he held out to her. She then looked up with a puzzled expression on her face. “Why?”

  “Because I rarely drive it since I mostly use the truck and it’s in a lot better shape than yours.”

  Alli frowned. Well, of course his car was in better shape, for heaven’s sake. Her car was eight years old and his brand new Maxima probably hadn’t hit one hundred miles yet. Although what he said was true, she didn’t appreciate him pointing out that fact. “Thanks for the offer but I prefer driving my own car.”

  From the expression on his face, she could tell he didn’t like her response. “Why?” he asked.

  She managed a smile when she said, “Because I just do.”

  Immediately she could tell he liked that response even worse. He crossed his arms over his chest. “I prefer that you take mine.”

  Her frown deepened. “Again thanks for the offer, Mark, but I prefer driving my own car.”

  She watched as he took a deep breath and glared at her. “You need a new car.”

  Again what he said was true but she resented him telling her that. “I plan to get a new one this weekend when Jake has the time to go with me to the dealership.”

  His dark eyebrows arched. “Jake?”

  “Yes, Jake. Christine thought a man should go with me when I pick out a car since some salesmen have a tendency of taking advantage of female customers.” She turned to leave.

  “You could have asked me to go with you,” Mark snapped angrily.

  Alli stopped and turned around. She met his glare as calmly as she could and wondered just what his problem was. “No, I could not have asked you to go with me, Mark.”

  A confused look covered his face. “Why not?”

  “It would not have been ethical. Jake is a friend. You’re my employer. Good night.” She then paused long enough to bend down to give Erika a kiss on the cheek before walking out the room.

  With an agitation that he felt all the way down to his toes, Mark sat on the sofa across from the television as he flipped though several channels before muttering a curse and tossing the remote aside. He stood and began pacing the floor.

  It was one of those rare nights that Erika had fallen asleep early, and although there were a number of things he could be doing, he could barely concentrate.

  Alli had really ticked him off. The nerve of her asking Jake instead of him to go with her to pick out a car. Mark would have been glad to assist her in making a selection. Then for her to say she hadn’t asked since he was her employer really grated on his nerves.

  He was about to go into the kitchen for a beer wh
en he heard a knock at the door. He glanced at the clock on the wall. Alli’s class wouldn’t be over for another hour and she had her own key. Fear gripped his gut. Was someone at the door to tell him something had happened to her? Had her car broken down by the side of the road and…

  He inhaled deeply as he rushed to the window and looked out. He quickly let out a deep breath of relief when he saw it was Gavin’s SUV out front. He had totally forgotten that he had called Gavin earlier and asked him to stop by.

  He walked over to the door and opened it. “Evening, Sheriff.” Mark was tall but Gavin O’Neal was taller, which was something Mark couldn’t help but notice when the man walked into the house.

  “Mark. Sorry it took so long for me to get here but I had to transport a prisoner to Midland. You indicated when you called that you may have found something out at the Windcrofts’ place today.”

  “Yes,” Mark said as he crossed the room to retrieve the bag he had placed in his desk drawer. “Like I told you, it’s a syringe. I know syringes are used in the breeding of horses but this one is the kind used in hospitals for human injections.”

  Gavin took the clear plastic bag Mark handed him and studied the syringe inside of it. “Did you mention you had found this to Nita?”

  Mark shook his head. “No, I didn’t mention it to anyone. Luckily I was alone when I found it.”

  Gavin nodded. “Good. The last thing we need is word getting out and people speculating whether or not it’s connected to Jonathan’s murder since it’s all around town that he was killed with some sort of lethal injection. The lab is closed tonight but I’ll have it to them first thing in the morning. It shouldn’t take long for them to analyze it and get back to us. I hope to have their report at our club meeting on Wednesday night.”

  “Here’s a list of names of Nita’s entire clientele, which includes anyone using her breeding services, those she’s giving riding lessons to, as well as everyone who boards their horses in her stables.”

  Gavin let out a whistle as he accepted the pages from Mark. “It seems she does a lot of business.”

  “Yes, which is the main reason she wants us to do something to stop what’s going on. If word gets out that she’s being harassed, she can start losing business. People will be afraid to patronize her.”

  “You have a point there,” Gavin said, glancing down at his watch. “I hate to run but I need to get by the Royal Diner for a cup of coffee before they close.”

  Mark lifted an eyebrow knowing that a cup of coffee wasn’t the only interest Gavin had at the diner. He tried hiding his smile when he said, “You’re in luck, Sheriff. I just made a fresh pot and you’re welcome to a cup if you like.”

  Gavin shot him a quick apologetic look, and then said, “Ah, sorry, no offense, I’m sure your coffee is decent but I like the diner’s coffee better. Thanks for the offer though.” He quickly headed for the door.

  Mark chuckled as he locked the door behind Gavin, thinking that, whether or not Gavin realized it, he was definitely acting like a man smitten.

  Alli opened the door and breezed through it still feeling elated. She had gotten an A on her paper tonight and she was thrilled. Professor Jones was a stickler for grades and she was trying hard to make it through the end of the semester without getting on his bad side the way a lot of the other students were doing.

  Taking classes part-time was bad enough and she didn’t envy her sister one bit with her full load, which was one of the main reasons she didn’t want Kara to lose focus on her studies. The only good thing, Alli thought, about her own personal situation was that she could finally see a light at the end of the tunnel. Taking two classes for the next four semesters—even though it meant going to school year-round—and she could be graduating in December of next year.

  “You’re back.”

  Alli whirled around clutching her chest. Mark had practically scared the living daylights out of her. She watched as he straightened away from the wall and emerged out of the shadows to stand in front of her.

  She met his gaze as she forced her heartbeat back to normal. “Yes, I’m back.”

  She stared at him. He was wearing a pair of blue silk pajamas and a matching bathrobe. “I didn’t expect to see you,” she said quickly as she tried not to stare, but she’d always thought that blue was his color. “I thought you’d be in bed.”

  “I was but my throat got dry and I decided to get up for a glass of water.”

  “Oh.”

  “And how was class?”

  She wanted to say that her class was none of his business. But since Hartman’s Self-Defense Studio’s tuition-aid policy was paying a percentage of her college expenses, he did have a right to know how the investment was paying off. “Class was great tonight and I got an A on my paper,” she said excitedly.

  He smiled. “That’s great.”

  “Thanks.”

  “You, Erika and I will have to celebrate.”

  Alli lifted an eyebrow. “Celebrate?”

  “Yes. I think it’s something worth celebrating. It’s not easy to get an A on a paper in college these days.”

  “Yes, but—”

  “Then it’s settled. Erika and I usually eat at the Royal Diner on Friday evenings and we invite you to join us.”

  Alli stared down at the floor as she thought about his invitation. She looked up and met his gaze. Her mouth tightened briefly. “How does dinner with you and Erika fall under the category of an employer-employee relationship?”

  A smile touched the corners of Mark’s lips. “That’s easy enough to define,” he said simply. “I’ve hired you to take care of my niece and as her nanny you’ll be there enjoying a meal with us.” He held her gaze for a moment, then he asked, “Does that suit you?”

  Alli inhaled deeply. No, that didn’t suit her, not after he had made it absolutely clear that he wanted distance between them. Having dinner with him tomorrow night was not keeping distance. “If I remember correctly we agreed that I would have Friday and Saturday evenings off,” she said, reminding him of that fact.

  He slanted her a glance that looked as if he might argue the point. Then he said, “You’re right. I had forgotten about that. The three of us will have to celebrate some other time, perhaps.”

  “Perhaps. Now if you’ll excuse me, I want to check on Erika before I go to bed.”

  Without giving him a chance to say anything else, she quickly walked out of the room.

  Mark lay in bed and sucked in a sharp breath as soon as he heard the shower come on in the bedroom next to his. It didn’t take much to visualize Alli undressing—first, taking off the dress she had worn to school, followed by her slip, bra and panties. Then stepping beneath the pounding spray of warm water as it cascaded over her body, soaking her face and running rivulets down her neck to flow over her breasts.

  He further imagined that at some point she would grab hold of one of those bottles of shower gel that he had seen her unpack yesterday and dab an ample amount in the palms of her hands to rub generously over her body, starting with her flat stomach, then moving upward to her breasts, making circles around her nipples, coming back lower to massage her curves, before reaching down to her thighs and then the area between her legs and…

  He bolted up, unable to handle the vision any longer. Why couldn’t he follow her lead and accept what he himself had decreed regarding their relationship? Strictly professional. She had accepted his dictate and moved on. It seemed that he was the one who had issues. Such as with Jake going to the dealership with her to purchase a new car instead of Mark.

  He dropped back down in bed thinking, Fat chance of that happening! She was his employee. He was the one who had given her the bonus for the down payment on the car. If anyone deserved to be there when she purchased a new vehicle, it was him. Satisfied he had reached that conclusion, he decided he would contact Jake tomorrow…on behalf of his employee. And what was the problem if she considered him a friend as well? A lot of bosses had friendly yet professiona
l relationships with their staff.

  Mark lay down, wondering why that thought hadn’t occurred to him before. Probably because over the past two years he had been too busy fighting his attraction to her. What he should have been doing was getting to know her as a friend on a professional level. There was no law that said she couldn’t be his assistant as well as his friend. It would definitely relieve some of the tension he felt when they worked together, and it would contribute to a more comfortable environment regardless of whether it was at his home or at the studio.

  So, as far as he was concerned, there was no reason the two of them couldn’t get better acquainted while she was staying in his house, as long as they established boundaries. And the first thing he had to do was get rid of any and all lustful thoughts about Alli that were plaguing him.

  With that decision made, he felt a lot better and snuggled under the covers, pulling the pillow over his head. As sleep came down upon him, his earlier imaginings returned and invaded his unconscious mind.

  It was the vision of Alli in the shower.

  Alli stepped out of the shower and grabbed a towel to dry herself. She had been excited about her grade from Professor Jones until Mark had made the suggestion that she join him and Erika for dinner tomorrow night. There was no way she could do that and have people speculating that she had designs on her boss. She had loved him secretly for two years without anyone having a clue and she intended to keep things that way.

  She knew after what he’d said on their way over to the Windcrofts’ place that nothing would ever develop between them. He saw her as his employee and nothing more. At least she would have memories of the one and only time they’d kissed—how he’d held her in his arms, how his mouth had moved over hers and how her mouth had parted instinctively when he had inserted his tongue. And when he had deepened the kiss, taken her mouth with a skill and a mastery she hadn’t known existed, she had felt sensations and emotions unlike any she’d had before. And now, although she was still damp from her shower, she could feel heat flow through her belly and settle right smack between her thighs.