Yvonne Lindsay - Seducing The Enemy

“Well, it’s too late now. Hopefully we can sort things out at the office tomorrow, if she’s talking to me again by then. What did you come to see me for, anyway?”

“I wanted to make sure that you were okay. You looked upset at dinner.”

She looked at him in surprise. “Upset? In being loyal to Charles I betrayed my best friend since I was five years old. Of course I’m upset.”

“Why did you do it? Why does he have such an influence over you?” Judd persisted.

“You would never understand,” Anna said and started to close the door.

Judd put out a hand to halt its traverse across the plush carpet.

“Try me.”

“Look, it’s late. I don’t want to talk about this now. What’s done is done.” She stared pointedly at his hand and then back at his face. “Good night, Judd.”

He took the hint and removed his hand from the door.

“Sweet dreams, Anna.”

But he was talking to a plank of painted wood. So, he thought as he walked back to his room, she didn’t want to discuss her relationship with his father. How surprising, not. He was prepared to leave it—for now—but eventually he’d get the truth from her. In the meantime, he’d do his best to imprint his own influence. Whatever her feelings for Charles, the attraction between Anna and himself was mutual—her capitulation would be a sweet success.

The next morning, Anna waited patiently for Nicole to come into the office, but she didn’t show. Repeated calls to her cell phone resulted in no response. Charles hadn’t come into the office today, either, and according to the household staff, Judd had remained closeted with him back at the house. Anna didn’t like the way this was panning out.

She stifled a yawn and decided to take her morning break a little earlier than usual. Maybe a shot of caffeine would help her get through to lunchtime. In the staff lunch room she grabbed her favorite cup from the shelf and headed for the coffee machine. One of the office staff sat at the table, nursing her own cup of coffee and scanning her laptop screen. As Anna passed by she caught a glimpse of the page the girl was on and smiled. The anonymous celebrity-gossip column in the print and online newspaper usually made for a humorous read.

“Anything good in there today?” she asked, sitting down at the table with the other girl.

“The usual, mostly. Oh, wait. Look at this!”

She swiveled the computer around so they could both view the screen. Anna scanned the text, when her eyes were suddenly arrested by a name—Nicole Wilson. The comments about Nicole focused mostly on her being seen letting her hair down in one of the city’s bright spots the night before and, in particular, with a certain extremely eligible and wealthy Auckland businessman who was newly returned to town to take over control of a major company. While his name wasn’t mentioned, there was only one person that Anna knew fitted the carefully worded description. Nate Hunter. A photo accompanied the article. While her partner’s back was to the camera, there was no mistaking Nicole in fine form on the dance floor.

Somehow Anna managed to say the right things to the other girl and made her way back to her office, her rapidly cooling coffee clutched in her hand.

What on earth should she do? she wondered. She had to get a hold of Nicole and find out what she was up to—but how? She did a quick search online, and found the number for Jackson Importers. Maybe Nate Hunter might be able to shed some light on where Nicole was.

Five frustrating minutes of being stonewalled later, Anna replaced the receiver on her phone. Mr. Hunter was unavailable until further notice. What that meant, exactly, Anna had no idea, but she had the sinking feeling that wherever Nicole was, it was very possibly with him. And given her mood last night and her tendency to be outrageously impulsive, it didn’t augur well.

Darn Judd Wilson, she thought, and darn Charles, too. This was all their fault. Anna clenched her hands into fists and fought back the urge to scream. One by one she uncurled her fingers and released her fury on a pent-up breath, then reached for her phone and dialed Judd’s number. They needed to swing into damage control before all this blew up in their faces. He’d know what to do.

“It’s preposterous. What on earth is she thinking?”

Anna winced as Charles raged through the office on Monday afternoon after what had been an exceptionally stressful and long weekend waiting for his prodigal daughter to return home. She knew all the anger and tension couldn’t be good for him, but there was nothing she could do to calm him down when the bad news about Nicole kept pouring in. The latest update—that she’d turned up for work at the offices of Jackson Importers late that morning—had gone down like a lead balloon.

He continued his rant. “She isn’t thinking, that’s what. And she wonders why I gave the controlling interest in Wilson Wines to Judd.”

“She’s hurting, Charles. Give her time, she’ll come back.” Anna tried to soothe his anger but it was useless.

“Come back? I wouldn’t have her back. Not now that she’s working for that insufferable miscreant! I’ve a good mind to cut her out of my will completely after this.” Anna wanted to believe he was just blowing off steam, but she had a sinking feeling that he meant every word. Nothing made Charles angrier than what he perceived as disloyalty. No matter what excuse she offered, Anna was pretty sure that Charles wouldn’t be forgiving Nicole in a hurry.

“And what are we supposed to do in the meantime, hmm?” Charles continued. “We needed her here to help transition Judd into his duties. Now he’s dropped in at the deep end.”

“I’m sure I’ll cope.” Judd interrupted his father’s tirade. “I’m not completely unaware of how a business should be run nor am I unfamiliar with the wine industry.”

Anna looked at him and felt that familiar tug of attraction she’d fought all weekend to ignore. It was hard enough to resist him under normal circumstances, but over the past weekend, when Anna had felt that her whole world was collapsing around her, Judd had been a rock—stepping right in to make sure everything was taken care of. While Anna had been busy keeping Charles reined in and ensuring that his riled temper didn’t prevent him from keeping up with his medical treatments, Judd was the one who’d handled the reporters’ phone calls, coordinated with the company’s PR team and ensured that all Wilson Wines employees, particularly those who reported directly to Nicole, were reminded of the nondisclosure agreements they had signed.

He’d single-handedly kept the disaster from spiraling out of control. While Anna couldn’t help but be grateful to him, she was forced to admit to herself that it was entirely unfair how attractive he was when he was coolly, competently in charge.

Today he looked every inch the high-powered executive, wearing a navy suit and crisp white shirt with a patterned tie. He could have stepped off the pages of a men’s fashion magazine, and yet despite the polish, there was still that edge of visceral male that hovered about him.

“Anna?” Charles’s voice. “Are you paying attention?”

“S-sorry,” she stuttered. “I was woolgathering.”

Charles sighed heavily. “I need you to be on your game, young lady. Without Nicole here, I’m appointing you as Judd’s P.A. He’s going to need the support of someone who knows Wilson Wines from the ground up. You’re the only one I trust for that role.”

“His P.A.?” Her heart gave an uncomfortable lurch. “But what about you?”

“I’m sure you can draw on one of the girls from marketing to help me when I need it. That redhead who covers for you when you’re on holiday, she’ll do. It’s not as if I’m in here for full days, anyway … although I suppose that will have to change now Nicole’s gone.”