Yvonne Lindsay - Seducing The Enemy

He suddenly slumped in his chair, his face gray. Anna rushed to his side.

“Are you all right? Do you need the doctor?”

Charles shook his head. “No, don’t fuss, Anna. I’m not sick. Not physically, anyway. It just isn’t right. I finally get Judd back and I lose Nicole.”

Anna fought the urge to tell him she’d tried to warn him that what he was doing would drive a wedge between himself and his daughter. She found consoling words instead to replace the ones that hung bitterly on the tip of her tongue.

“You haven’t lost her, she’ll be back before we know it, I’m sure.”

“In the meantime, you have us,” Judd commented. “And speaking of which, I think you should head home and rest and leave the running of the office to Anna and me. We can call you if anything arises that we can’t manage.”

Anna felt a burst of cold panic at the thought of her and Judd alone together in the office, but still, she found herself agreeing with him. Anything to see to Charles’s comfort. After the older man had been driven home by his new temporary P.A., Anna showed Judd into Nicole’s office. Charles had stipulated that he should work from there, and while a little voice inside of her had objected vociferously, she accepted the practicality of it. If Judd was to assume Nicole’s duties quickly, he needed information to be at his fingertips. Where better than in Nicole’s office?

It was lunchtime when he came out and over to Anna’s desk.

“I see Nicole had a trip planned to Nelson, leaving on Thursday. I thought Wilson Wines primarily imported from overseas markets.”

“We do, but Nicole campaigned to introduce several wines from New Zealand to our catalogue as well, with a view to distributing only to select wine sellers and collectors. She felt it was a strong counter to Jackson Importers’ ability to cut prices by dealing through the internet. This way we’d have top-quality wines but without the additional costs involved with importation.”

Judd nodded. “Makes good sense. So this project is still in its infancy?”

“Yes, she’s already visited a few North Island wineries. This week was to source specific wines from the top of the South Island.”

“You’ll need to change her tickets to my name and book a set for yourself, as well.”

“Me?”

A small frown creased between his eyebrows. “Why not?”

“I don’t usually do these trips. My role is more one of support here, at home.”

“I need you with me.”

“Surely you can—”

“Anna, you’re coming with me. We’re not departing until early evening on Thursday and will be returning to Auckland on Tuesday morning. The office can survive a few days without you.”

“But Charles—”

“Has a new P.A. now. Or had you forgotten that?”

Judd eyed Anna carefully. He hadn’t expected an opportunity to get her alone and to himself quite so quickly but he certainly wasn’t going to waste it. Getting her out from under his father’s roof and into his own bed had become a task he’d begun to relish. His sister’s display of pique had fallen right into his hands. He’d thank her for it one of these days. Probably right about the time he offered his controlling interest in Wilson Wines over to Nate Hunter.

After the weekend’s development, he’d shelved his original plans to hand over the company right away. Oh, he still intended to take Wilson Wines apart … but not quite yet. Charles was still reeling from Nicole’s actions, and Judd wanted him feeling secure and invulnerable again when Judd struck. Besides, seducing Charles’s mistress away from him would be a lot easier when she was forced to work right at his side.

For now, business was the least of his concerns. His sights were very firmly set on the woman in front of him. The woman whose scent, even now, tantalized him. Living under the same roof and not touching her—imagining her with his father—had been torture these past few days. He hadn’t seen any overt displays of affection between them, but she’d certainly been hovering over Charles nonstop. Judd also hadn’t forgotten her state of dishabille last Thursday evening when he’d caught her coming from the old man’s rooms.

Each time he’d had an opportunity, he’d cut her from Charles’s attention over the weekend, even going so far as to brush against her from time to time. He knew his touch unsettled her—the faint flush of color on her cheeks had been a dead giveaway—but she’d managed to gracefully extricate herself from each situation and create a distance between them that had left him frustrated both physically and mentally.

This trip to the South Island was a godsend. She would be his willing lover before they returned, and stage one of his decimation of the things his father loved would have begun.

By the time Thursday morning rolled around Judd felt as if every cell in his body was taut with anticipation over what this trip would bring. He’d done some more research and had personally contacted each of the wineries they were to visit to explain that he was coming in his sister’s stead. So far the reception had been promising, as had been the sample wines that Nicole had in her office that she’d received in advance of the trip. He could see why she’d chosen them. They had distinct appeal on many levels. His sister definitely had a strong talent for innovation and combined it with exemplary taste.

The business side of the trip aside, he was looking forward to the concentrated time alone with Anna Garrick. That she very clearly wasn’t only made the prospect more appealing and the challenge even more enticing. He still well remembered her response to his kiss that first night at The Masters’. Remembered the feel of her body, her full breasts, the soft curves of her body against his, the taste of her. Damn if he wasn’t getting hard just thinking about it.

He walked into the dining room at the house that already felt like home and saw Anna at the sideboard helping herself to cereal and milk.

“Good morning, all ready for the trip?” he asked.

She took her bowl over to the table and sat down before acknowledging his presence.

“Good morning,” she said, her voice a little husky as if she’d not long been awake.

The fresh scent of her and her immaculately applied makeup gave lie to the thought that she’d tumbled straight from bed. Add to that the fact that she was dressed smartly in a cream blouse neatly tucked into a pair of taupe-colored trousers that she’d cinched at the waist with a wide black belt, suggested she’d been up for some time. The blouse was made of some sheer floaty fabric that clung to her in all the right places. Beneath it he caught a hint of a lacy camisole. He was going to have to exhibit some control, he decided, if he wasn’t to walk around all morning in a state of constant arousal. But there was something so carnally alluring about her, he knew it would be easier said than done.

Anna pushed her cereal around in her bowl, clearly not finding the prospect of breakfast at all tempting. In the meantime, Judd helped himself to some fluffy scrambled eggs and a couple of strips of grilled bacon.

“Are you sure you really need me to come with you on this trip?” she blurted as he sat down and reached for the coffeepot on the table.

“I wouldn’t have said so if it wasn’t necessary.”

She sighed, the action making her breasts rise and fall beneath the gossamer-fine fabric and making his fingers itch to touch it and what lay beneath.

“I really don’t think I should be leaving Charles, what with Nicole gone, as well.”

Judd felt his resolve harden. “He’s an adult and quite capable of taking care of himself.”

“But he’ll be alone.”

“In a house filled with staff? I don’t think so. I’ve spoken with Mrs. Evans already. She’ll keep a close eye on him.”