by Debra Webb
When the guests were gone, they relocated to the library. James, the only butler she’d ever known and her new friend, had served tea. Seated at the magnificent desk that had belonged to her grandfather with Doug on one side and her grandmother on the other, Eddi signed document after document. Mr. Thurston briefly explained each. By the time they reached the final one, her hand had started to cramp.
“This one you will want to pay particular attention to, Miss Harper,” Thurston said with something like condescension in his tone.
The document pertained to a trust fund that provided a staggering annual sum for Eddi’s use. “What’s this?” She looked from the document to her grandmother. “This is too much money.” She shook her head. “I can’t accept this.”
Solange met her confusion with granitelike determination. “This money is yours. This and a great deal more. You will use it as you see fit.”
Eddi sighed wearily. This was simply too much. “I want to help my folks back home,” she confessed. “But this—” she stared at the figures once more “—this is a great deal more than what I need.”
“Please, Miss Harper,” Thurston urged with a roll of his eyes, “dispense with the theatrics and sign it.”
“Brandon,” Solange said sharply, “you have been my most trusted confidant for thirty years. I don’t want that to change, but your own theatrics today have given me pause.”
Eddi quickly signed the paper. “Here you go.” She passed it to the lawyer in hopes of drenching the fury that sounded ready to ignite in her grandmother’s tone. She didn’t want to be the cause of division or trouble of any sort.
“All right.” Thurston arranged the papers into a neat stack and transferred them to his briefcase. “I’ll file these as appropriate.” He beamed a smile at Solange that looked more than a little strained. “I’ll see all of you tomorrow evening at the gala.”
Solange held him in place with a mere look for several tension-filled beats before saying, “We’re not finished with this matter, Brandon. I will know the reason you chose to speak with the members of the board behind my back. Another time,” she added with a dismissive nod.
Mr. Thurston appeared a bit peaked when he left the study. Something else for Eddi to feel guilty about. The man was only trying to protect Solange’s best interests. Even though Eddi didn’t like him much, that’s what attorneys did, right?
“I don’t want to cause trouble,” Eddi said again, hoping to get the point across this time. “These people have been loyal to you all these years. They’re just worried that some stranger has shown up to throw a wrench in the works.”
Solange patted Eddi’s hand. “Don’t concern yourself with that nonsense, my dear. We all have our place in this life and lucky for me I’m the boss.” She smiled. “As you will be someday.”
Pushing numbly to her feet, Eddi stood next to Doug as her grandmother rose and left the room. For a woman of seventy-two, Solange D’Martine moved with a grace that was mastered by few. But did she really know what she was doing giving Eddi all this control? What did Eddi know about the jewelry industry? Nothing, except what little she’d absorbed during the past two days. She knew nothing. The board and CEO were right to be concerned. What if her grandmother suddenly died? How in the world would Eddi handle all this new responsibility?
“What have I done?”
The words were scarcely a whisper but Doug understood completely. He moved in closer and placed a reassuring hand on her arm. “You’ve done the right thing,” he consoled. “The only thing you could.”
Eddi shook her head, tears welling in her eyes, fear pumping through her veins. All of this suddenly felt wrong somehow. But she was committed. Had just signed her name to the whole kit and caboodle.
“I have to get out of here,” she murmured and swiped at a rebel tear that escaped her savage hold on her emotions. “I need to think. I can’t think here.”
Doug gifted her with one of those smiles that made her shiver all the way to her toes. “I know just the place to go.”
THE MUSIC THUMPED loudly, vibrating the very walls of the eclectic nightclub. Bodies gyrated on the dance floor to the fast, contemporary beat. Others, dressed in all styles of avant-garde apparel, clung to the long, sleek bar that curved its way around one side of the popular night spot. The Atlantic Connection had not changed in the least during Doug’s five-year hiatus from the social scene on the island.
The music was still loud, the patrons still enthusiastic and the ambience still conducive to intimacy and invisibility. The already dim lighting was further muted by the haze of smoke hugging the ceiling.
Eddi had discarded the sophisticated jacket, boldly choosing to wear only the coordinating silk camisole in the same navy as her well-fitting slacks. Doug would have forgone his own jacket were it not for the nine-millimeter he wore in the shoulder holster. An armed man was anything but inconspicuous.
He skipped the tables around the dance floor, deciding they lacked the privacy he needed for more than one reason. The bar was out of the question, just in case anyone he used to know still worked here. What they needed was a dark, tucked-away corner. After spotting the one unoccupied booth in the place, he ushered Eddi toward it. Close enough. Once seated he leaned down and asked, “What would you like to drink?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know. Wine? What would you suggest?”
He thought about that for a moment. It hadn’t occurred to him that she might be a virgin in more than one respect. He’d have to tread carefully here, getting a principal drunk was definitely not in his job description. However, this was her last night as a private citizen, in a manner of speaking, and he wanted to make it memorable. He wanted her to forget everything for just this one night. In truth, he would like a great deal more than that, but he would not overstep his bounds. He’d already made that mistake once. He refused to allow it to happen again.
“How about a cosmopolitan?” he suggested. It was more or less a ladies’ drink and quite agreeable with the palate even if one wasn’t accustomed to alcohol.
“Sounds okay to me.” The stress of the last few days lessened visibly as she took in the decadent, sexy atmosphere in one long sweep of her gaze. “I’ve never been to a nightclub before.”
He’d thought as much. “Do you dance?”
Color bloomed on her cheeks. “I don’t think so.”
Two cosmopolitans later and Eddi was ready for her first foray onto the floor. Despite the buzz the last drink had induced, she was still a little nervous. She didn’t have to say anything; Doug could read the hesitation in her eyes.
He pulled her into his arms and smiled. “We could always slow dance,” he offered.
She glanced around at the shimmying torsos. “I don’t think slow dancing really goes with this music.”
He tucked her arms around his neck, settled his on her hips and drew her nearer. “Then we’ll set a new trend.”
She giggled nervously, but didn’t resist. “Okay.”
Ignoring the loud music vibrating from the speakers, Doug set the rhythm, moving painstakingly slowly to a beat that came from within. She mimicked his every move with a naiveté and wonder that made his protective instincts surge more strongly than ever before.
The tempo eventually slowed as one song faded into another, this one a romantic tune that was all the rage on the airwaves and video scene. His own slow movements blended with the sensual beat, drawing out the languid motions until his body hardened with a tension that had nothing to do with the music and everything to do with the woman in his arms.
She looked up at him, her eyes liquid with heat and a need she couldn’t possibly fully understand. “Am I doing okay?” she asked tentatively.
He nodded, his gaze drawn to those lush lips. His mind instantly summoning the memory of her taste. She smiled and his heart skipped a beat.
“Thank you,” she murmured.
He inclined his head to the right and studied her a second or two. “For what?” Having
the foresight to choose a rental car versus being picked up by the D’Martine chauffeur when they arrived thus making this little escape possible? he wondered.
She shrugged lightly. “Oh, I don’t know. For being you? For not only keeping me safe but for keeping me straight—” Her eyes sparkled mischievously. “Discounting tonight, of course. You can’t imagine how important being able to trust you has been during this whole…ordeal.”
Guilt tapped at his conscience, but he exiled it. “I won’t let you down, Eddi. Whatever happens, you can count on me.”
She moistened her lips and then suddenly stopped moving. Doug stopped as well and waited for her to say whatever was on her mind.
“Remember when you said that I didn’t have to beg?”
He nodded, the move wooden with ambivalence. He’d only had one beer, but between her sweet body in his arms and the seductive environment, it wouldn’t take much more to push him over the edge.
“I’d like you to kiss me again.”
And just like that—he fell.
Chapter Eleven
“Maybe we should call it a night,” Doug suggested. A new kind of tension tightened inside him. Coming here had been an error in judgment. He’d wanted to take her away from all the stress and expectation of what was to come. Between the meeting with the board of directors and the signing session with Thurston, Eddi had been through too much and needed a break.
Damn, but that all sounded so gallant of him. But he’d been anything but gallant. He’d brought her to a place where he could ply her with drink and hold her in his arms. Because he was a selfish, thoughtless cad who lusted after her when she was her most vulnerable. Like right now.
Hurt and confusion clouded her expression. “But I don’t want to go back. I want to…” She looked deeply into his eyes, her own filled with yearning. “I want to be with you.”
With every fiber of his being he’d wanted to hear those words on a level that he only just recognized. He confessed now that he’d wanted her almost from the moment he saw her standing in the doorway of her mother’s living room. The overalls hadn’t put him off in the least. He’d been intrigued, only to later become captivated and then infatuated.
But that’s all this could be. He wouldn’t give himself credit for anything more, like true love. And anything less was simply unacceptable. Eddi deserved a great deal more.
“Come with me.” He took her by the hand and led her through the crowd still moving to the music. They needed privacy for this discussion, but not the kind of privacy that would allow the moment to escalate further out of control.
“Doug! Whoa! Man, is that you?”
A blast from the past slammed into Doug’s gut, drawing him to a startled halt.
“It is you!” A hand whopped him on the back. “Long time no see.”
Doug looked to his right and straight into the eyes of one of his old college roommates. A guy he’d partied with summer after summer in this very club. The magnitude of the mistake he’d made in coming here tonight struck him all over again with the impact of a physical blow. His hand tightened on Eddi’s. He didn’t want her to find out this way. Until now, who or what he’d been in the past hadn’t really been relevant, but suddenly it mattered a great deal.
“Hey, Carl.” Doug shook his old pal’s hand. “It has been a long time.”
Carl sized him up, then leaned slightly to the left to get a look at Eddi. “Edwinna, this is an old friend of mine, Carl Spokes,” Doug relented when Carl forced the issue by extending his hand in her direction.
“Nice to meet you, Carl.” Eddi smiled politely.
“Likewise,” Carl said with a lecherous leer.
Doug’s jaw clenched. He would not let things go down this way. Considering the guy’s escapades, Doug could just imagine what his old friend was thinking at the moment.
He leaned toward him. “Can we play catch-up later? I really have to go right now.” He gave Carl a knowing look. “If you know what I mean.”
“Yeah.” Carl glanced at Eddi. “Sure, man.” He stabbed an accusing finger at Doug. “But don’t shove off without dropping by to see me, buddy. I want to know where the hell you’ve been. You can’t just drop off the face of the planet like that—”
Doug gave him a two-fingered salute. “I’ll catch up with you in a day or two.” He dived into the crowd, dragging Eddi with him before Carl could say anything else. Well, plan A was out. Doug had considered taking Eddi to the smaller, quieter bar next door, but that was out of the question now. He couldn’t risk running into anyone else from his past.
He’d been an idiot once tonight. He wasn’t about to make the same mistake twice. He hadn’t expected to run into any of his old summer pals this late in the year, but that had been a serious lapse in judgment.
“I didn’t know you had friends here,” Eddi said as he ushered her into the car.
“Carl and I attended college together,” he told her without telling her anything at all and hopefully avoided answering the question altogether.
Doug backed out of the parking slot and pulled onto the street and decided that going back to the D’Martine residence was the proper thing to do.
“I don’t want to go back yet,” she said, clearly reading his mind. God, he hoped not.
He considered the possible options. There was a coffee shop on Circuit Avenue. He glanced at the digital clock on the dash. Too early for the party crowd to start filtering in. That would likely be the least troublesome alternative.
“There’s a place I know where we can talk.”
She sighed. He read the disappointment and hurt in the sound. “I guess that’s better than nothing.”
If she only knew how much more he wanted than merely to talk. His hesitation in acting on that desire was about more than his tardy sense of professionalism kicking in; he knew she was confused right now. She needed reassurances, and the attraction between them had been building to the breaking point. Giving in to the mutual need felt like the right thing to do. But he knew better. He was older and far more experienced than Eddi. He knew that sex was not the answer she sought.
Conversely, he was a man. Sex seemed like a perfect answer to him, but that was a physical, knee-jerk response. He had to consider the consequences and there would be plenty. Not only would he be failing where his assigned duties were concerned, he would be failing as a human being. Taking advantage of Eddi that way would be wrong. As confusing as his own feelings for her were concerned, he couldn’t muddy the waters any further. She drew him on more levels than anyone else ever had, but it could simply be his empathy for her circumstances or the intense sweetness she personified. There were far too many variables to make a sound call. For that reason, he had to prevent either of them from crossing that line.
Eddi would thank him for it later.
Even if she didn’t realize it now.
The coffee shop Doug selected as their next destination looked pretty much deserted at this hour of the evening. Eddi imagined that most of those at the local clubs would show up here after midnight since the place stayed open all night long. Back in Meadowbrook they didn’t have any places that stayed open twenty-four hours a day. But then, they didn’t have any nightclubs either. It was only a short drive from the cluster of nightspots they’d left behind, making this the logical place for relaxing after partying down. Inside, the aroma of coffee smelled heavenly. The variety of pastries displayed on white stoneware behind meticulously clean glass looked scrumptious.
“Would you like coffee? A pastry?”
Eddi thought about that a moment and instantly a plan came to her. “Decaf and one of those creamy-looking things there.” She pointed to the sticky, sweet roll, then smiled innocently. “I’ll get a table.”
He nodded, looking more than a little confused at her about-face. Well, he’d better get ready, she was only slowing down to gather her scattered courage.
Eddi surveyed the small café and selected the intimate horseshoe-shaped booth in the
very back of the seating area. There was a little more light than she would have preferred, but otherwise, the setting was perfect. Classic big-band music emanated softly from the overhead speakers. Old-fashioned bar stools with red vinyl seats lined the bar. Checkered tablecloths dressed the intimate tables for two and four. But the few booths were by far the most romantic. The curved shape itself invited closeness. And there was plenty of privacy since there wasn’t a soul on that side of the room.
Eddi scooted onto the worn soft seat and waited for Doug to find her. The look of surprise that claimed his handsome face when he noted that she had settled at the very back corner of the room made her smile. Just because he had all the experience and she had none didn’t mean he was going to win the game. She’d read enough romance novels and seen enough movies to know how to set up a seduction. Plus, she hadn’t been Most Valuable Player three years running back in high school for nothing.
Granted, she would need help—a lot of it—for the follow-through with this particular strategy, but she could definitely get the ball rolling.
When he’d settled in the booth she scooted around next to him, hip to hip, and then took a bite of the delicious pastry, putting on a show as she did. She licked her fingers, accompanying the deliberately slow, thorough act with satisfied sounds.
He watched. Swallowed hard, the play of tanned muscle along his throat momentarily distracting her. “Good?” The one word sounded strained, almost choked.
“Oh, yes.” She reached for another bite. “Incredible.” Her tongue darted out to swipe a bit of filling from her lower lip and she moaned.
Doug looked away, his hands wrapped around the stoneware mug as if it were a buoy in violent waters. So, he wasn’t so unaffected. Good. He’d almost hurt her feelings when he’d suggested they call it a night.
Now, to go in for the kill.
