Читать книгу Solace in Scandal - Kimberly Dean - Страница 6

‘I’m fine, Mom. Really.’ Elena stepped out of the lake house and tucked the key into her pocket. The ever-changing fall weather had swung around. The sky was a brilliant blue, although the temperature still had a bite to it. That slippery slope into autumn was getting steeper and steeper.

‘But you’re trapped there.’

‘On a gazillion acres of beautiful private property,’ she teased. Still, she gave a shudder to shake off the feeling of cabin fever. Her mother knew her too well. The fact that she couldn’t leave – not without serious repercussions – was straining her nerves. She looked over the trees and the rippling water. It was a beautiful trap, but a trap nonetheless.

‘Those darn bottom feeders,’ her mother muttered. ‘Please, honey. Just brazen through them and come out here to stay with me in San Diego.’

Elena sighed. ‘You know I can’t do that.’

She’d already tried running away once. The paparazzi had tracked her down here, although they didn’t know it. There was nothing that would keep them from finding her at her mother’s condo, and this place offered much more protection, unconventional as it was. Besides, a plane ticket would set her back financially and she couldn’t afford the time it would take to pack up and move across the country.

‘But you’re stuck there with that reprobate.’

The edge in her mother’s normally dulcet tone sounded harsh against Elena’s ear, and her gaze swept along the balcony of the manor. It was empty and she saw no movement behind the windows. The ‘reprobate’ must be out on one of his walks again.

‘He sticks to his house and I stay in mine.’

‘So you haven’t had to interact with him?’

Interact.

Well, that was a difficult word to define. The only time they’d spoken was the day they’d run into each other at the fishing spot, but there had been a lot more going on between them than words. Her fingers froze over the zipper she was toying with and she pulled her hand away as if she’d just touched fire. She needed to remember to drop the hoodie off with Leonard on her way back.

‘We’ve bumped into each other a few times.’ On the trails, but that was something her mother didn’t need to know. Alone in the remote, dense woods … away from any other human souls … It had happened twice more since that first encounter. Both times, that prickly awareness had returned.

Both times she’d scurried home to safety.

And hot, uncomfortable thoughts.

‘You’ve talked to him?’ Yvonne gasped. ‘What did he say to you?’

‘Nothing,’ Elena said quickly. She looked to the sky and sighed. She hadn’t wanted to worry her mom about this. ‘We don’t speak.’

No, they didn’t speak. They watched each other, sensed each other, and circled. ‘We don’t have anything to say to each other.’

‘You be careful of him. Elena, nobody knows the full story yet. Nobody knows what happened to his grandfather, and you’re there all alone with him.’

‘I’m not alone, I have Leonard.’

Yvonne let out a frustrated sound, but it cut off on a downward note. When Leonard had first made the offer of shelter, she’d encouraged it.

‘I spend all my time in the lake house,’ Elena said soothingly. ‘I’ve got a lot of work to do. Remember? My PhD is our goal.’

Her mother blew out a breath. ‘Fine, you’re right, but I don’t like it.’

‘Neither do I, but that can’t be helped right now.’

‘If your father had just –’

‘But he didn’t.’ He hadn’t ever lived up to their expectations, and they both knew it. They both fell quiet for a long moment.

‘We need to talk more about this, but I have to get to work. Thea didn’t tell me she was running short on pastry bags,’ her mom finally muttered. ‘You call me if you need anything.’

‘I will.’ There wasn’t anything her mother could do about the situation, the reporters or especially Alex Wolfe, but talking to her always made things better. ‘Have a good day.’

‘You, too, honey.’

‘Bye.’ Elena tucked the phone into her pocket and inhaled the fresh air. She’d been cooped up for so long she couldn’t stand it any more. She needed to move around. She had to think about things other than supply, demand, stock evaluation and market volatility. She loved her studies, but sometimes they sucked her under.

Instead of going round the lake, she headed up the garden path. It was quiet, pretty and ruthlessly manicured. She hadn’t seen her manor mate on this part of the grounds. He kept mainly to the lake and the untamed woods, sometimes exploring for hours. She’d started to keep track of him from the window in her office, when she managed to spot him. He was like his namesake in the way he moved around, silent and elusive.

The muscles in her thighs fired as she walked up the limestone steps on the steeper part of the hill. She was beginning to understand why he spent so much time outside. She’d only been sequestered in the lake house for a week. He’d been in prison for a year and a half. She couldn’t imagine what that would do to a person’s mind, especially a Type A, determined, forceful man like him.

Not that she was feeling sorry for him.

Her spine snapped straight when she realised where her thoughts were wandering. He had brought this punishment upon himself; he was the reason the reporters were here. She hadn’t done anything to deserve any of this.

But she had to find a way to deal with it.

The back of her fingers brushed against something soft. Looking down she saw a blood red rose. Opening her hand, she cupped the heavy blossom. It was full and lush. Her thumb brushed over a velvety petal. Beautiful, yet hearty. It was thriving, even with the erratic temperatures and cold dew. Something inside her softened.

‘A lesson in resiliency.’

Lifting her chin, she looked about. The fall garden was waning, but it was still a riot of colours and textures. The Wolfe Gardens could compete with any public garden that charged entry fees. Then again, their private benefactor probably spent more money on them, and the wear and tear was less.

She began travelling through the wandering maze, appreciating the discoveries at every turn. The gardens ran all the way up beside the manor. Beyond that, there was a sweeping, expansive lawn, but then the trees started up again. They were thick all the way up to the main road.

An idea started clicking inside her head. She hadn’t seen the reporters for herself. What if the situation wasn’t as bad as Leonard had made it seem?

She was deep in thought when she turned into the English tea garden. So deep, she nearly barrelled in on the one man she was trying to avoid.

The Wolfe was in the garden.

Her breath caught and she quickly hid behind a white pergola laced with vines and roses. What was he doing here? Was he following her? She bit her lip, considering what to do. By rights, she should turn around, go back down the hill and lock herself in the lake house.

But the road was in the other direction.

She peeked around the corner. He was still heading away from her. Unlike her, he was a true pacer. She watched the way he stalked down the little path, his broad shoulders narrowing to a taut waist and even nicer butt. Her tongue ran over her lips.

Oh, damn. He was wearing the jeans again.

She ducked back into hiding when he pivoted. For a brief moment, she saw a muscled chest and bulging biceps. Yet she’d also seen the mussed hair and the shadows underneath his eyes. Something had him worked up.

She heard a curious tapping noise. When she risked another peek, she found that he’d stopped at the table. For the first time, she became aware of the patio furniture that had been set up in the centre square. It was white wicker with deep green cushions. What caught her attention, though, was the computer sitting on the table.

She frowned. What was he doing? Reading news articles about himself? Getting caught up on The Wolfe Pack’s bottom line? Emailing cohorts who still agreed to associate with him?

She watched as he typed then pulled back to reference something. It looked like a grade-school notebook. For a moment, the red colour threw her. Even though he was dressed so casually, she would have expected his notebook to be leather-bound with a Mont Blanc pen within reach.

He followed along in the notebook, tracing a line, before looking back at his laptop. That, at the other end of the spectrum, was top grade. His fingers flew as he typed, but then he stood upright. Lacing his hands behind his neck, he stared at the screen. Finally, he swore and turned. His foot lashed out at an outdoor ottoman, and it went clattering along the flat stone patio before abruptly coming to a stop.

Elena jumped at the violence of the movement, but more so at the anger that lay underneath. It was gritty and fierce, palpable from where she stood. Almost immediately, though, it was tamped. With iron-like mettle, the man before her reined it all in. The anger sank back below the surface – or, more likely, was shoved. Standing with his fingers still wrapped together behind his neck, he let out another curse and looked towards the sky. The word was low and breathy, but it was enough to make her realise she needed to be moving along.

She headed into the garden maze, intending to take a path further away from the house.

‘I wouldn’t do that if I were you.’

She looked around quickly. Was there someone else around that she hadn’t seen?

He sighed. ‘Stay away from the front gate, Elena.’

That brought her straight upright. Her breath caught when she found him staring straight at her. His grey eyes were piercing and all too knowing.

How had he sensed her? More so, how had he figured out her plans? ‘I … I just thought I’d see if the reporters are still out there.’

‘Trust me. They’re dug in like ticks.’ His attention returned to his computer screen. ‘Ready to draw blood.’

Apparently they were talking now. Or were they?

He planted a foot on the chair in front of him and braced his forearm across his knee as he leaned forward. The position emphasised the long muscles in his back. Whatever he was working on had his attention more than she did.

Although he’d somehow spotted her when she’d made little to no noise.

She edged backwards. ‘I’ll stay hidden in the treeline.’

‘Did you watch TMZ last night? They were trying out a thermal camera.’ He tapped a few more keys on the keyboard. ‘They managed to spot one of the rabbits that run around the place.’

His gaze was on her again in that second. ‘My rabbit.’

She froze under his stare.

‘There’s no telling how rabid they’ll get if they spot a person.’ That grey gaze slowly trailed down her body. ‘Especially if it’s female.’

There it was again, the crackling in the air. Self-consciousness overcame Elena as she stood before him – or was that just awareness? Awareness of her body, acknowledgment of their differences, him male, her female? He missed nothing with that gaze, and she felt the way her breasts filled out her knit top. She sensed the lift in the heels of her boots and the resulting tilt of her hips. Even with the extra three inches, she barely came up to his chin.

The hoodie’s zipper bit into the palm of her hand.

His hoodie.

The one she was wearing and hadn’t returned.

Her immediate impulse was to give it back, but the bulkiness hid her shape. In that moment, she could no more take it off than she could walk down a stripper runway. ‘I suppose I shouldn’t do that then.’

‘Leonard will let you know when it’s clear.’

She nodded. All right. That sounded like a dismissal. It rubbed wrong, but this was his land. He hadn’t invited her here. ‘Thank you,’ she forced herself to say.

The sooner she got out of here, the better.

She turned on her heel, this time back towards the lake. His voice stopped her again.

‘You haven’t been doing yoga in the evenings.’

Oh, yes. He knew exactly what her body looked like underneath his fleece jacket.

Awareness ran like an electrical charge down her spine. When she looked over her shoulder, she found him still watching her. His pose was casual, still leaning over with one foot braced on the patio chair, but his eyes were alert. She might have been watching him on his walks through the woods, but he’d been watching her too.

Warmth unfurled inside her and began to circulate through her veins.

‘It’s getting too chilly.’

He waited for a long moment, almost as if he was debating what he’d say next. When he spoke, the offer surprised her.

‘You could use the gym in the main house, if you’d like.’

The main house. She’d made use of the library before he’d returned. There were some valuable resources there that rivalled those she’d found in the NYU library. Yet he was offering her more than that, and she wasn’t certain how to interpret it. She doubted he was the type for friendly gestures – although he’d been a renowned philanthropist before the scandal had broken. Or had that all been part of the illusion?

‘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.

He stripped as the water warmed. When he finally pulled the glass door shut behind him, the steam was already rising. Bracing his hands against the granite wall, he let the dual shower heads spray over him. He was pushing himself, he knew. That snake was still coiled inside his chest. He was doing his best to keep it contained, but she’d seen it lash out yesterday. He regretted that.

He bowed his head and the pulsating water beat against the back of his neck. He needed to get both of them out of here.

Those eyes.

They showed everything she was feeling – distrust, curiosity, anger, lust …

Ax felt himself stirring. His tired body was filling with another kind of energy, one that was immediate and gnawing. Hunger started seeping through his veins. His mouth watered and his fingertips ached. His senses heightened, and the images behind his closed eyelids became vivid. Below the belt, he was hard and aching. Damn near throbbing. When the tip of his erection bumped against his belly, he swore and slapped the slick wall.

‘Fuck.’

Standing upright, he reached for the soap. He’d had her pegged that first night. She was a temptress, a siren luring him in so she could bring him down.

That was not going to happen.

With their intertwined histories, they could destroy each other.

He soaped himself, shampooed and rinsed off. His body was one big ache, but he ignored it. Screw the rain, he needed to get out of this house.

He turned off the water so abruptly, the pipes shook. The bathroom was cloudy as he stepped out of the shower stall. He’d forgotten to turn on the fan. The mirror was fogged over and condensation covered the fixtures. He dried off the moisture, but it came back just as quickly. He wrapped a fresh towel around his waist and reached for the bathroom door to let in some fresh air.

It didn’t give.

His head came up. The tired muscles of his gut seized up as one, and he gave another tug on the door.

It held firm.

‘What the hell?’

Stepping closer, he looked to see if a lock had been flipped. There wasn’t even a mechanism. Wrapping his fist around the handle, he braced his other hand against the wall. He might be fresh from a workout, but he should still have enough strength to open a stinking door. With a sound close to a growl, he gave another yank.

This time the top corner bowed inward, but the bottom remained lodged. Something had the door jammed.

Ax felt his breaths go short and his chest tighten unbearably. The air wasn’t going past his throat and it felt like it was bulging. He yanked on the door again. Shoved it and pulled. It was like a bank vault.

The walls pressed in on him. He looked over the door, his thoughts pinging about as he tried to force his brain to work. Looking around, he realised he was in an interior room. No windows. No other route for escape.

The snake slithered. He jimmied the door and yanked it harder.

Nothing worked.

He was locked in. Trapped in the tiny space. Those demons he remembered were out and about, taunting him. He slapped the light switches, turning on the string of bulbs over the vanity, and switched the fan on high. The dampness in the air was making it hard to breathe. The moisture coated his vocal cords and clung to his exposed skin.

‘Hey!’ he yelled, banging his fist against the door. ‘Somebody!’

The big old house was silent.

Not wanting to, he turned off the fan so he could hear. The loss of the whirring noise left a gaping hole. He heard nothing. No water dripping, no gym equipment running, no footsteps, no voices in return.

He set up a staccato rhythm that had the door bouncing on its hinges. It set up a racket, but the door was immovable.

‘Can anyone hear me?’

He heard a noise now, but it was his heart pounding in his ears and his head. He was confined again. He slammed both fists against the heavy oak door, making contact all the way down his forearms to his elbows.

His control was crumbling.

And then the snake was loose.

‘Help! Get me out of here. Anyone. Hey. Let me out!’