Kimberly Dean - Solace in Scandal

‘I found space in the living room of the lake house,’ she replied. She had to move the coffee table and she constantly bumped up against the sofa, but he didn’t need to know that.

Although, from the look on his face, he probably did. He owned that tiny bungalow.

His gaze narrowed and his lips flattened. Finally, he dropped his foot back to the ground and folded his arms over his chest. ‘It’s up to you.’

And with that she was summarily dismissed.

This time she knew it and she felt it.

She also felt a bit guilty, as if she’d hurt his feelings. Which was just silly and wrong on so many levels. What this man had done had hurt so many people. Yet Elena knew she’d dwell on it all night if she thought she’d been rude. She hadn’t been raised that way.

She took a step forward.

His concentration was on the laptop again, but she saw the muscles in his back stiffen. Those long, thick ropes of muscles … He knew she was still there.

‘However …’ she started.

He didn’t react, just stood there with his back turned.

It unsettled her. Should she continue? Just turn and go?

‘The library,’ she made herself say. She had Internet access, but, contrary to what some people believed, not everything could be found with a Google search.

She nearly jumped when he turned. She had his full attention. Only then did she realise she’d had it all along. The signs of fatigue were still on his face and his mussed hair made her fingers itch to smooth it into place, yet it always came back to his eyes. She couldn’t look away from them.

‘Leonard said you were going for your PhD.’

Her mouth went dry. They’d spoken about her? She nodded.

‘What subject?’ he asked.

She had to lick her lips to get them to function, and her stomach squeezed when his grey eyes sparked. ‘Ec … Economics.’

The expression that crossed his face was at once amused, ironic and resigned. ‘Of course it is.’

The knot in Elena’s belly turned fiery. ‘As it was before you and my father came clean about your Ponzi scheme.’

His jaw hardened, and the lines on his face deepened. The air between them pulsed and, for a moment, she thought she was going to see his anger flare to the surface again. She couldn’t have been more wrong. Ice was what she received instead. Cold, hard and unyielding. ‘I think everyone knows that I never came clean about that.’

She held his stare, refusing to back down. He had never admitted guilt, and it was something that galled most people. Yet there was something in his tone …

He said nothing more. He just stared at her, daring her to come at him again. She’d seen that look before as he’d done interviews. She recognised it from videotape of the prosecuting attorney questioning him. It made him look cocky, aggravating and sexy as hell.

But she wasn’t the one who was going to bring him down.

Better, more powerful people had tried and he’d come away with barely a slap on the wrist. Although … her gaze was drawn to the ottoman that sat a cockeyed angle.

‘Forget it,’ she said softly.

She turned towards the lake house, but was surprised when he took a step to follow her. It wasn’t a voluntary move, and they both knew it.

‘You can use the library,’ he said, his tone low and rough.

She looked at him through her lashes, but his gaze was on her body. Or, more precisely, on the way she’d wrapped the sweatshirt around herself. Hot embarrassment ran through her. He wasn’t the only one throwing off mixed signals.

‘But stay away from me.’

Her chin came up in surprise. Now that wasn’t a mixed message at all. It was a direct blow and it stung, but before she could say anything he turned, swept up his laptop and walked away.

* * *

The woman was a distraction.

Alex considered the implications as he did pull-ups in the gym in the basement of the manor. High-tech equipment surrounded him, but he’d learned that old-school still sometimes got the best results. Crossing his feet at the ankles, he kept his body still and made his arms lift his dead weight up and down. The burning became intense, but he kept going until the muscles wouldn’t respond any more. He dropped to the ground, flipped onto his back and started doing sit-ups.

She was an unwanted, uninvited distraction who apparently didn’t want to be here any more than he did.

He stopped for a moment on the upbeat with his elbows bumping against his knees.

No, that wasn’t all true. He wanted her like hell.

His teeth gritted as he started pumping out the reps again. She was beautiful. Heart-stoppingly so. When she’d come upon him down by the lake, he’d gotten his first up-close look at her. It had nearly made him swallow his tongue. She was tiny, but with curves in all the right places. Her hair was so long and silky, it made his fingers itch. But that face. Her skin was flawless and he couldn’t look away from her eyes. She had doe eyes. Deep, dark and captivating.

He could drown in those eyes.

Or he could drown her.

He didn’t need her here, not now and not like this. He needed this time alone. He couldn’t afford distractions, no matter how gorgeous or tempting.

But he couldn’t send her away. He might be a heartless son-of-a-bitch, but he wouldn’t feed her to the wolves. Not the kind that stood outside his door, anyway.

‘Shit,’ he muttered.

Collapsing back, he lay on the gym mat and stared at the fluorescent lighting. This was the first time he’d used the gym in ages. The rain this morning had forced him inside. A little drizzle wouldn’t have stopped him, but a constant downpour was another thing. He’d had his share of discomfort. The Precor and Cybex equipment was here for a reason.

He rolled his head and looked around the room. Full-length mirrors on the opposite wall showed his reflection. He’d put in a hard workout. His body felt like mush as he tried to catch his breath. His muscles were warm and his skin was damp with sweat. For a moment, he let his eyes close. Worn out, maybe he could relax.

He lasted for fifteen seconds. Twenty tops.

He heard every little pop and whir in the building. The last year and a half had honed his senses, and he was aware of everything that went on around him. Too aware. That made it all the more difficult to explain how she had snuck up on him yesterday in the garden – and she’d come up behind him. The last guy who’d made that mistake had ended up in the infirmary, yet she’d come upon him like a butterfly on the wind. He’d only known she was there when he’d sensed her watching him.

And felt the responding tightness in his groin.

With a surge of energy, Ax came to his feet. Grabbing his towel, he wiped his face and stalked off to the shower. The woman was like a wraith, so quiet as she floated about the grounds. She was ethereal as she took her morning walks in the mists along the waterfront … entrancing as she did yoga on the dock … but so sad, it made him ache.

He needed to get her out of his head. He needed to be sharp. He would be sharp.

But today, instead of feeling like a knife blade, he felt more like a hammer head.

The towel snapped against his back as he flung it over his shoulder. ‘Damn rain.’

It had him trapped him inside this house. It might have more rooms than he could count, but so had Otisville. He didn’t like being pinned down here by the media any more than his guest did. Wolfe Manor had its own special kind of demons, even for one of its own.

Especially for one of its own.

Something caught at his athletic shoe as he walked into the bathroom, and he looked down quickly. The thick rubber mat that covered the floor had flipped up at the corner. Demons, indeed. They were grabbing for him even now. Walking into the bathroom, he slammed the door shut behind him.