“Good morning, Miss Ashton,” he said deferentially, recognizing her at once. He nodded politely to Tyler.
“Good morning, Randy,” she said, quickly reading his name tag.
“We’d like to go up on the platform, Randy,” Tyler said.
The young man cast a permission-seeking glance at Hailey. “It’s all right, Randy. This is Mr. Tyler Scott. He owns Serendipity.”
The boy’s face flooded with hot color. “Oh, yeah, sure. I … Sure,” he stammered. “It’s just you know, we’re not supposed to let anyone … I mean …”
“You did just fine,” Tyler assured him. “Now, may we go up? And please don’t let anyone else go up until we come down. We’re planning some innovations for next season.”
“Sure thing, Mr. Scott.”
Hailey knew she had been taken advantage of, but there wasn’t anything she could do about it without embarrassing herself, not to mention poor Randy. Docilely she preceded Tyler into the elevator.
“Any aversion to heights?” he asked as the elevator whisked them up.
“The only aversion I have is to overbearing men.”
“Then you couldn’t possibly be referring to me because I’m the epitome of charm.” He flashed her a devastating grin just as the doors to the elevator swished open. “Ladies first,” he said mockingly, bowing from the waist.
She stamped out ahead of him, only to be caught before she had taken more than three steps and pulled around to face him. “Okay, Hailey. This has gone far enough. What did you mean by that enigmatic question about baby-sitters last night before you so cowardly sneaked out?”
“I didn’t
sneak,”
she countered hotly. “And I’m not a coward.”
“No? I think using a child to wiggle out of a situation is cowardly.”
“Don’t talk to me about using people, Mr. Scott. I could take lessons from you.”
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”
“As if you didn’t know. Using compliments and kisses to get yourself a free baby-sitter.” There. She had said it. She raised her chin in triumph. Her victory was sweet and extremely short-lived. Tyler threw his head back and roared with laughter.
When it finally subsided, he looked down at her and said in a voice still rumbling with humor, “You have a very low opinion of yourself. A free baby-sitter? Is that what you thought I wanted you for?”
“Didn’t you?” she asked haughtily.
He shook his head and tightened his fingers around her shoulders. “No, Hailey. Why would I be concerned about paying a baby-sitter?”
“It’s not the money. It’s that Faith likes me. Your conscience doesn’t trouble you when you have to leave her, because you believe that I’ll be a substitute for you.”
“It’s true that I’m glad you two get along so well. I told you that you’re good for her and I meant it. If she despised you or vice versa, it would be harder for our relationship to flourish.”
“Our … ? We have no relationship. We won’t have one.”
“Why do you fight it, Hailey?” He shook his head affectionately. “At the risk of infuriating you further, I’ll tell you that I asked Harmon about you. Not in a way that would arouse his curiosity,” he hastened to add when he felt her back stiffening. “I wanted to know about the other men in your life. He told me there had been no small number of men in park-related jobs who had tried to thaw the cold hauteur of Miss Ashton, but as far as he knew, none had succeeded. Even Harmon, married as he is, got a wistful look on his face when he spoke of you.”
“Don’t be ridiculous.”
“You see? That’s what I’m talking about. Why is it ridiculous?”
“Because men don’t think of me that way. I’m not the type.”
He smiled tenderly. “Oh, you’re the type all right. Why can’t you believe that I want you for the woman you are without attaching some lurid motivation to it? First it was sexual harassment that might cost you your job. Now it’s using you to provide a companion for my daughter. What outrageous accusations, Hailey.”
He wrapped his arms around her and moved close, pressing her between the solid wall and his unyielding body. “The only thing I want to use you for is to slake this desire I have for you. And I want you to use me in the same way.”
For a second, she was caught up in the seductive power of his gray eyes. She wanted to believe him. The loneliness she had suffered last night had been almost too much to bear. While he’d been away, she had missed him. Even though they had battled every time they saw each other, she had missed not seeing him, not hearing his voice. She wanted him in her life, yet … She straightened and said firmly, “I’m still your employee.”
“Yes, you are. And you have the most beautiful breasts of anyone on the payroll.”
“What—”
“I was looking at them just this morning down the length of that conference table while someone was rattling on about something—the wardrobe department, I think. Anyway, I was thinking about how they look when we’re—”
“Tyler—”
“Kissing. They’re beautifully shaped. Full and round—”
“Tyler!”
“White and dusky—”
“Please,” she groaned.
“I’m going to keep talking like this until you kiss me. And when I touch them—”
She went up on tiptoes and pressed his lips with hers. He opened his mouth, sent his tongue on an erotic venture between her lips, and pulled her inexorably closer to his hard frame. He kissed her with a passion that, in his opinion, had been cruelly left unsatisfied the day before.
Hailey didn’t combat the need within her to kiss him back. She strained against him in a way that would have shocked her only weeks ago. Under the soothing strokes of his hands between her blazer and her blouse, she moved invitingly.
“We’ll continue this discussion after dinner at your house tonight,” Tyler said between the kisses he was showering on her mouth. “I’ll bring the steaks and wine. You provide everything else. Eight o’clock?”
“Yes,” she sighed, unable at that point to refuse him anything.
Trancelike, she rode down with him in the elevator. He tucked a telltale curl behind her ear seconds before the doors came open. Randy was waiting for them anxiously. “Everything okay up there?”
“Everything was perfect,” Tyler said, slanting a knowing glance at Hailey.
“Thanks,” Randy said as they walked away from him.
“I’m on my way to Sanders’s office, Miss Ashton, if you should need me,” Tyler said loud enough for Randy to hear.
“Thank you, Mr. Scott.”
He turned away, only to stop, snap his fingers, and call back to her. “Oh, Miss Ashton?”
“Yes?”
He came up to her, put his mouth directly next to her ear and whispered, “I meant what I said about your breasts.”
She found herself studying that part of her anatomy as she stepped out of the shower late that evening. Looking at her reflection in the full-length mirror on the back of her bathroom door, she decided that her shape wasn’t too bad for a woman her age. Her slimness, which she had cursed in adolescence, she now looked on as a blessing. Her slender figure took years off her age.
All day she had been in a state of anticipation, looking forward to her dinner with Tyler. He hadn’t quite convinced her that his motives for wanting to seduce her had nothing to do with either her work or his daughter. She smiled as she slipped into her underwear. Was it possible she was looking forward to more of his convincing?
Whether she was or not, she certainly had chosen a seductive outfit for their dinner, she thought as she stepped into black silk pants and pulled on an open-weave knit top. She knew she wore black well. It contrasted with her vibrant hair and fair complexion. Tonight she decided to forget her usual inhibitions and see what happened. She let her hair dry naturally and put large gold loops in her ears. Her fragrance was subtle but undeniably there. Beneath the revealing knit top, she wore a black, lace-trimmed camisole.
Not bad, she thought, eyeing herself critically in the mirror one more time. Certainly a departure from the prim and proper, competent, no-nonsense Miss Ashton.
But what would Tyler think of her? As she went through the house, checking last-minute details, she wondered at her rapid heartbeat and the catch in her throat each time she thought of the night to come. She hadn’t had all that much experience with men.
Could
she trust him to mean what he said? Did he find her beautiful? Desirable? Sexy?
The salad of three varieties of lettuce, black olives, cherry tomatoes, and artichoke hearts was chilling in the refrigerator. The foil-wrapped potatoes were baking in the oven while their trimmings of sour cream, chives, and bacon bits had already been arranged on a tray. Chocolate mousse was firming in par-fait glasses.
Everything was ready. Except for Hailey. She was a jumble of nerves. So much so that she jumped when she heard his car door slam and his quick tread on the decking.
Taking three deep breaths, and hoping that her hair wouldn’t riot out of control too soon, she went to let him in. The look on his face when she opened the door should have dispelled her qualms. His jaw dropped open and his eyes traveled her length several times before coming to rest on her face. He didn’t speak until each feature had been properly admired.
“You look ravishing. Come to think of it, that’s a terrific idea. Let’s skip dinner and I’ll ravish you right now.”
She laughed nervously and placed a hand at the base of her throat to still the palpitation there. “You’re dripping something.”
He looked down at the pan he was carrying in one hand. “Oops, sorry.” He pushed past her and went through the louvered doors into the kitchen. “I’ve had the chef at the hotel marinating these steaks for me all day.” He set the aluminum pan with its foil covering on the counter top and turned to her.
“Faith?” she asked softly.
“Isn’t coming. Tonight is strictly rated ‘adults only.’”
“Oh.” She was ashamed of feeling so glad that they would be alone.
His brows lowered over his sultry eyes. “Come here.” His voice was gentle—soft, but commanding.
As one hypnotized, Hailey walked to him. His hands stroked up the bare expanse of her arms, slipped under the sleeves of her top, and massaged her shoulders. “I like your hair that way,” he said.
“Give it about an hour. It’ll start going nineteen different directions. It’s wild.”
“I like savagery,” he teased. “I’m feeling dangerously primitive myself right now.” His voice was husky as he drew her closer. His hands moved to her back. Gifted fingers kneaded her spine. With the slightest pressure to the small of her back, he pulled her to him by slow degrees until their bodies met. She gasped as his virility seared like a brand through their clothes.
“See what you do to me?” He tilted his head downward and took her mouth under his.
Her mouth was a warm dark cave that his tongue explored with sensual leisure. It stroked the roof of her mouth, her teeth, the inside of her lips, until her breath was coming in short, light gasps. He was merciless, relentless. His hands slid under her hips, cradling them in his palms and bringing her against him.
A throbbing ache began to build deep inside her and she moved with him, knowing instinctively that he could relieve this wonderful ailment. Fitting herself more surely against him, she was awed at how perfectly the softness of her body cushioned the hardness of his.
He emitted a harsh cry as he tore his mouth from hers and buried his face in the hollow of her neck. His breathing was sporadic. “Hailey,” he said in a low groan. “If you keep that up we might just as well forget the steaks and the wine and whatever you’ve prepared.” His tongue flirted with the gold loop in her ear before his teeth captured her earlobe. His hands moved up from her waist and around her ribs to coast lightly over the sides of her breasts. “What do you say?”
It was hard to say anything. His mouth was working its magic on her ear. Her body was hot where it touched his. “I think,” she started in a gruff voice, then cleared her throat, and continued. “I think that we should behave in a civilized manner and have our dinner as planned.”
He sighed. Pulling away from her, he kissed her quickly on the mouth. “You’re right. Can you cook as well as you can kiss?”
She laughed and looked at him coyly. “I’ve never had anyone compare the skills.”
He swatted her bottom and said, “Well if your culinary talents come anywhere close to your … ah … other accomplishments, I’m in for a feast. I hope you didn’t bother preparing a dessert. I already know what I’m having.” His eyes toured her rapaciously.
“I left the wine in the car in an ice bucket. I’ll go get it while you turn on the broiler.”
He left her and for a moment she stood disoriented and trembling. When she tried to move, her legs felt wobbly—a side effect of the weakness his hands and mouth induced each time he touched her. She could feel the silly grin on her face, feel the joy bubbling inside her chest, feel the happiness welling up in her until it came out as a tuneless humming song while she lifted the juicy, dripping steaks onto the grill.
Tyler was feeling just as happy, she noted when she heard him laughing as he came through the front door. So hearty was his laugh that her curiosity was piqued, and she peered over the barroom door.
Her grin disappeared. Her bubble of happiness burst painfully. The song died on her lips.
The red-haired woman clinging to Tyler’s arm let her eyes dance around the room until she sighted Hailey. “Hello, big sister,” she called gaily.
“Hello, Ellen.”
W
hy in the world would you let a gorgeous hunk like this out of your sight for one second, Hailey? Even if he was fetching a bottle of very expensive and very good wine.” Ellen snuggled closer to Tyler and looked up at him beguilingly from under a veil of long, luxurious lashes.
“Maybe she doesn’t think I’m a gorgeous hunk,” Tyler said dryly. Hailey noted that he wasn’t averse to the way Ellen was clinging to him or to the generous breast that rubbed against his arm.
Ellen’s laugh was as light and musical as a tinkling bell. “Then I’d consider her demented.” Ellen detached herself, trailing her well-manicured nails down Tyler’s arm, and came toward Hailey. “Why are you hiding behind that door, Hailey? Haven’t you got a hug for your baby sister?”