Reckless Seduction. Gwynne Forster
“My, my, such humility. I have to get back to work now. Goodbye.” She hung up.
“Amy, come in and take a letter, please.” Amy’s pleasant smile disappeared abruptly as she walked into the office, and from her demeanor, Haley knew that Amy had detected her distress.
“This is to the Brayton-Rogers Foundation. The usual salutation. I am writing to request your support of educa…” She couldn’t stop the tremors in her voice. Horrified, Amy moved forward to comfort her, but embarrassed, Haley stepped away from the desk.
“Amy, please excuse me for a few minutes.”
“But, Haley—”
“I’ll be fine. Please, Amy.”
Amy left. Haley went into her private bathroom and calmed herself. She hadn’t wanted to hurt Jon, only to preserve her sanity. How must he feel? She had never hung up on anybody, not even people whom she disliked. Why had she reacted so harshly?
When she had regained composure, she acknowledged to herself that she should apologize to Jon. After looking through her personal address book, she dialed a number from it. Nels answered on the first ring.
“Haley here. Can you give me Jon’s telephone number?”
“Home or office?”
“Wherever he’s likely to be right now.”
He gave her both. “Haley, what is going on?”
She thought for a moment. “Nels, I really don’t know. Please be a friend, and don’t ask anything of me just now.”
“Alright, love, but be careful. He’s had a few serious wounds. Best of luck.”
I’ve had some bad scratches myself, she thought, as she dialed Jon’s number.
“Ecklund.” He couldn’t know that the sound of his voice disarmed her.
“Yes.” He spoke sharply.
“Jon, this is Haley.”
“Yes, Haley? I was leaving my office when the phone rang. What is it?”
“I’m extremely sorry about my rudeness.” She realized she sounded stiff and formal. “I…I just panicked. I’ve never done such a thing before.”
“Is the fact that you’ve given me this singular honor supposed to soothe my ego?” he asked, his tone as bitter as his words.
“Please don’t hold it against me.”
“What prompted it, Haley? Frankly, I was shocked.”
He wasn’t going to help, and she didn’t blame him. “I called because I would never deliberately attempt to hurt you. I confess that my reaction to you confuses me.”
“Why should you panic? Because you’re accustomed to being in control, and you’re not? Well, neither one of us is. Look, I’d settle for some honesty between us. You were honest when you danced with me that night at Nels’s party. But because I didn’t know where I was headed and showed it, I earned your displeasure and perhaps your distrust. I called you today to put it right. The ball is in your court now. I want to know you better, but crawling is not something that I do.”
“We could have dinner together tomorrow night.” Had she said that? She knew that she would regret it. She could never be indifferent to this man. And yet she could not—would not—open herself to the possibility of another demoralizing intimacy.
“What about that urgent proposal?”
“Dinner with you may be just what’s needed to expedite it,” she said, cryptically.
Jon pondered that for a bit.
“I’ll call for you at seven-thirty.” She hadn’t given him her address, but he’d get it just like she got his telephone number—from Nels.
He leaned forward, elbows on his desk, hands together and fingers spread pyramid fashion. Why had he agreed to that date? When he’d heard her voice, he’d felt a yearning for her that he hadn’t had for a woman in years. He’d been alone by choice for five years, forcing himself not to want, not to need. But she made him want, made him need, made him ache. He hungered for her. He’d suspected that her cool composure was a farce, a facade, a cover for the softness that she had unwittingly displayed in unguarded moments when they danced.
One thing was certain: Haley Feldon did not want to be soft or passionate. She was trying to project an image of being cool, tough and unattainable. He’d have dinner with her, yes, but he’d be damned if he was going to be sucked into a quicksand of emotion.
He closed his eyes, and the vision of her floated before him. He could see her doe-soft, beguiling brown eyes, and he shuddered. Hell, what he needed was fifty laps in his upstate pool.
“Ecklund, you’re losing it,” he said aloud. But his spirits buoyed for reasons that he didn’t bother to examine. He left his office whistling “If I Loved You.”
Chapter 2
Haley dressed in a strapless antique-gold silk dress that revealed just enough cleavage to make a man’s mouth water. She carried the matching jacket on her arm. Jon arrived precisely at seven-thirty, and when she opened the door, they stared at each other. He recovered first.
“Hello, Haley. You seem more beautiful tonight than ever.” He was not sure how she would react to his comment or what she wanted of him. But she had certainly dressed in a way that pleased him.
“Welcome to my home, Jon. You look wonderful,” she said, mostly because she was nervous. And so he did. He wore a tan summer suit, beige silk shirt, a burnt-orange-and-brown-striped tie and brown Gucci loafers. She’d never found blond men attractive, but this one was something special. He was the quintessential male—strong, sensual and controlled. Jon personified virility. And his mouth, with the full bottom lip, was his best feature.
“May I come in?”
She realized she’d been staring again.
“Oh, I’m sorry.” She stepped aside, and he walked in a few paces. Then without knowing that he would, he stopped in front of her, a breath away. She looked up at him, wide eyed and a little frightened.
Jon told himself to use some judgment and move away. But he hadn’t realized how badly he’d wanted to see her, to be with her, to hold her. He touched her cheek with his thumb. She didn’t move. He ran his thumb back and forth over her lower lip. She didn’t move. He pulled her into his arms, lowered his head and took her mouth. Was he dreaming or what? She had her arms around his neck, her fingers were in his hair and her lips were moving beneath his. He wanted more and asked for it, offering her his tongue. She parted her lips, pulled it into her mouth and gently sucked it.
Sensing that he was about to lose control altogether, abruptly he sought to break the kiss, not wanting to expose his need for her. He didn’t want her to feel the indisputable evidence of it. But she wouldn’t let him go, holding him to her until the shocking force of his physical desire against her belly restored her presence of mind. They broke apart. He braced both hands against the wall above her head, needing the support and simultaneously trapping her between him and the wall. From hooded eyes, he looked at a spot just over her shoulder. She drew a deep breath, preparing to speak, but he stopped her.
“Haley, don’t tell me that you don’t want to see me, that you don’t want to spend time with me. I don’t want to hear it.”
“Jon, I… I don’t know—”
He interrupted. “What don’t you know? Woman, you damned near devoured me just now. At least acknowledge that you want me just as much as I want you.”
“Yes,” she whispered.
“All right.” He touched her nose lightly with one finger and