Mary Baxter - Sultry

He was too old for her, in years and in experience.

As far as the world was concerned, he’d lived a lifetime compared to her.

He had to stop thinking of her in such a personal way. More than that, he had to get her out of his place now, before he did something he would regret for a long time to come.

He didn’t want to lose his job. He liked working here. He had hoped to remain here as long as he wanted. When he got bored he would move on. That was the way he liked it—no ties that bound, no one to worry about but himself.

Until he’d seen Lindsay, that is.

He wanted her. No use denying that any longer. But he wanted a lot of things he couldn’t have. Lindsay was just another in a long list.

“Good dialog, provocative chapter endings that literally force a page turn, and a streamlined writing style…”

—Library Journal on One Summer Evening

www.mirabooks.co.uk

Special thanks to my friend Dr. Laura Horne

for coming to my rescue with her medical expertise.

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty-One

Chapter Twenty-Two

Chapter Twenty-Three

Chapter Twenty-Four

Chapter Twenty-Five

Chapter Twenty-Six

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Chapter Thirty

Chapter Thirty-One

Chapter Thirty-Two

Chapter Thirty-Three

Chapter Thirty-Four

Chapter Thirty-Five

Chapter Thirty-Six

Chapter Thirty-Seven

Chapter Thirty-Eight

Chapter Thirty-Nine

Chapter Forty

Summer 2000

“Okay, how badly is he really hurt?”

Lindsay Newman tried to keep the tremor out of her voice, but she couldn’t. Her father, a retired heart surgeon, had been injured in an automobile accident. She was afraid the truth concerning his condition had been kept from her.

“Like Tim told you on the phone, it’s not serious.” Peter Ballinger frowned, knitting his thick, dark brows together. “Cooper’s not serious. He’s going to be all right.”

Lindsay peered at her friend Peter long and hard, trying to pick up on any hint that he was lying to her. Her efforts proved futile. Underneath his bland but handsome facade, his conviction didn’t appear to waver. It was then that her insides seemed to turn loose. Before they had been tied in tiny knots. Now she could breathe and function like a human.

“Ah, here are your bags.”

Lindsay looked on as Peter motioned for a bellman to tackle the three pieces of large luggage, all the while continuing to breathe deeply. She couldn’t believe her trip to London with a couple of friends had ended on such a frantic note.

She had been gone almost four weeks when her brother Timothy called and told her about their father’s accident. She had taken the first plane out. Yet it seemed like an interminable amount of time had passed since she’d boarded that jet at Heathrow and arrived in Garnet, Mississippi.

It wouldn’t be long now before she actually saw for herself that Cooper was not in jeopardy; the limo was waiting to take them straight to the family estate.

“So were you having a good time?” Peter asked once the luggage was loaded and they were on their way.

Lindsay didn’t answer for a moment, still irritated at having seen Peter at the airport instead of her brother. However, she knew why Tim hadn’t come. A doctor himself, he was most likely by Cooper’s side, which was where he belonged.

Still, seeing Peter hadn’t been to her liking. Although he professed to love her, she knew better. He wanted her; she wouldn’t deny that—although she suspected it was the family money he wanted more.

Peter was from a family rich in lineage, but short on cash. She thought that a rather ironic situation, since he was a banker, banking being considered a “suitable” position for a Southern gentleman.

And Cooper was urging her to marry this stuffed shirt. She had met Peter at a charity function and ended up dancing with him several times. He’d asked her out the following week, and she’d gone.

Even though she saw him quite often after that, she never considered him anything other than a friend, someone to go out with, no strings attached. He’d been fun, harmless and at loose ends.

Peter, however, had other ideas, especially after he met Cooper. They formed an instant rapport, and Cooper saw him as the perfect match for his daughter.

From then on, Peter turned into a man with a mission, becoming more of an aggravation than an asset. Unfortunately, that hadn’t changed, and she was getting fed up.

“Lindsay?”

Shaking her head to clear it, she faced Peter once again and gave him an aloof smile. “Sorry, I’m having trouble concentrating.”

“I understand,” he said in his smooth voice. “Now that you’re back, what are your plans?”

“I think that should be obvious,” Lindsay said with a slight sting in her tone. “First of all, I’m going to see to Daddy.”

His perfectly shaped mouth stretched into a thin smile. “Of course.”

His words were not without their own sting, and she knew why. While Peter respected Cooper and saw him as an ally, he also resented her father because of her attachment to him.

“I gather you don’t want to talk about us.”

There is no us, she was tempted to say, but didn’t. “No, Peter, I don’t.”

“Dammit, when are you going to think of yourself? Do something for yourself?”

Lindsay’s irritation burgeoned into anger. Nonetheless, she managed to hang on to her control, though her voice was cold as icicles. “I’m happy with my life the way it is, thank you.”

Once she’d said that, Lindsay turned away, hoping he wouldn’t see the flush that covered her features, a tell-all that she hadn’t exactly told the truth. But the demons she was wrestling with weren’t any of his business.

Other than clenching his jaw a bit tighter, Peter showed no emotion. But he dropped the subject and didn’t try to break the silence that fell between them. Finally the driver braked the limo inside the gates of the mansion grounds.

For a second Lindsay didn’t move. It was good to be here. She loved this old home. Her gaze roamed over the huge flower garden set amidst the perfectly manicured grounds of this fine old Mississippi mansion, one that had been in the family for generations. However old it might be, it was in mint condition, having been refurbished and redecorated on several occasions.

One day this estate would be hers. Tim didn’t want it, she knew, having been given several acres of adjoining land where he and Eve had built a lovely home of their own.

“Thanks for meeting me,” Lindsay said, once they were standing outside the vehicle.

Peter nodded, then leaned and grazed her cheek with his lips. “Any time.”

Before Peter made it to his car, Lindsay was inside and dashing up the stairs.

“Lordy, child, is that you?”

Lindsay stopped for a second at the top of the circular stairway and whipped around. “Oh, hi, Dolly. I was wondering where you were.”

The housekeeper’s round face broke into a huge grin. “I was comin’ to the door as fast as I could get there. Only you were faster.” Dolly’s grin fled as she placed her hands on her equally rounded hips. “You don’t look so good. You’ve lost weight.”