Читать книгу More Than a Mistress - Leanne Banks - Страница 7

“No,” Sara said, softening the rejection with her most polite smile. “It’s nice of you to ask, but I really need to check on the appetizers.” She backed away, hoping she hadn’t offended the client, but something about the way the man looked at her made her uneasy. She shouldn’t have worn that red slip tonight.

Sara rolled her eyes. Paranoid! The man wasn’t Superman. It wasn’t as if he could see what kind of underwear she was wearing.

She checked the well-stocked linen-covered tables. Her boss, Carly Bradford, had pulled out all the stops and thrown a huge Christmas party aboard Matilda’s Dream, the riverboat Carly owned and hired out for parties. Travel agents, local business representatives and Carly’s seven brothers danced, dined, laughed and flirted on the three decorated decks. Not being one for social affairs, Sara had tried to beg off, but Carly was more than a boss. She was a friend, and she seemed determined to include Sara in every family event.

“You make a career of checking on the appetizers,” a deep male voice said from behind her.

Sara stiffened. Daniel Pendleton. Ever since she’d accidentally spilled soup in his lap six months ago, he’d made her feel about as desirable as coffee dregs. Daniel had burned his hands in a barn fire, and Carly had asked Sara to help take care of him. Daniel hadn’t been the least bit grateful. Their relationship was at best civil.

Sara took a calming breath and inhaled the faint scent of sandalwood and soap. She turned to face Daniel. “Carly’s busy keeping everyone entertained. I’m just trying to be useful.”

“Thought Carly said she wanted the staff to take the night off and act like guests.” He gestured toward a waiter outfitted in black. “She even got a temp agency to provide waitstaff.” His mouth tilted into a grin. “You’re supposed to be having fun.”

The white slash of his teeth disconcerted her.

“Wanna dance?”

Surprised at the invitation, Sara blinked, then automatically shook her head. “No,” she managed. “I—”

“Why?”

She stared into his trademark Pendleton violet eyes and drew a complete blank.

If a name had to be put after the word masculine in the dictionary, it would have to be Daniel Pendleton. He had broad shoulders, a flat belly and slim hips, all of which were shown off to perfection tonight in a well-tailored navy suit. His dark brown hair had just a hint of a wave, and the few lines on his forehead and around his eyes added maturity to a handsome face.

It was more than how he looked, though, she admitted. It was the quiet confidence he emanated. Everything about the way he walked and talked said, Don’t worry. I can take care of it. Sara had to take only a baby step farther in her mind to wonder how a man like Daniel took care of a woman.

No.

Daniel Pendleton was in the prime of his life, a good man, Sara reminded herself, and she was convinced that it was her curse to ruin good men.

She shrugged. “I just don’t think—”

“C’mon.” He took her hand, lacing his fingers through hers, and tugged. “It’s just a dance. I’m not gonna bite you.”

Before she knew it, one of his large hands wrapped around her waist, the other firmly held her hand, and Sara was fighting a topsy-turvy sensation while she stared at the knot in Daniel’s maroon club tie. She was suddenly acutely aware of her femininity in a way she hadn’t been in years.

And it felt entirely too good.

The texture of his hands lured her attention. A working-man’s hands. She’d always been held by men with smooth, white-collar hands. Daniel’s palms were callused, his fingers blunt, and Sara got the distinct impression that he was very selective about how he used his hands to convey strength and gentleness.

“What’s wrong with my hand?”

Sara jerked her gaze up to his. “Nothing.” Seeing the disbelief in his eyes, she searched for something to say. “It looks like it healed well.”

“Yeah.” He flexed his fingers around hers. “I lost my fingerprints in that fire, though. Now I could take up a life of crime and no one would be able to catch me.”

Sara shook her head. “They’d remember your eyes. Besides, you’re a good guy, the head of the clan, a pillar of the community. Your sense of integrity wouldn’t let you do anything too bad.”

His gaze held hers. “Even good men have their weaknesses, Sara.”

Her stomach took a dip. She didn’t expect this, not from Daniel.

He nudged her away from a couple who kept bumping into them. “Where did you spend Thanksgiving? Carly said she tried to rope you into coming to our celebration.”

Despite Carly’s repeated invitation, Sara drew the line at holiday get-togethers. Although she had a secret yearning to be part of a real family, she would have felt out of place. “Chattanooga.”

He nodded. “You used to live there?”

“Yes.” He seemed to be waiting for her to continue, so she reluctantly expounded. “I’ve helped serve food at the homeless shelter for the past three years. I guess it’s become a tradition.” Lord knew she didn’t have many other holiday traditions.

“Oh.”

Just a trace of skepticism oozed from that single word. Sara puzzled over his tone, searching his features…until she remembered what Daniel had said to her in that heated moment right before his soup had met his lap. A lick of anger spiked her pulse. “You don’t sound like you believe me.”

He hesitated, his brow furrowing. “Well, no…”

Sara could have kicked herself for allowing herself to get into this situation. She’d always made a point of avoiding Daniel. He thought she needed lessons in proper moral behavior. The crushing point of it was that there’d been a time when he wouldn’t have been far off the mark.

Not anymore, dammit!

Fighting a sudden deluge of emotions, Sara stiffened, and tightened her grip on his shoulder. “What did you expect? That I entertained a few University of Tennessee fraternity houses?”

He shook his head. “I never—”

“You might as well have. I know what you think of me, Daniel. You made it very clear. You said you thought I was leading your precious baby sister down the path to ruin.” Sara pulled her hands away from him. “If Carly coerced you into dancing with me, let me make myself clear. It isn’t necessary. I’d just as soon you keep your distance.”

Spinning away from him, Sara headed toward the galley. She’d just reached the hall when her hand was snagged, jerking her to a stop. She knew before turning who was in possession of her hand.

Daniel tugged her around. “Do you always jump to conclusions on the basis of one word?”

Sara pulled fruitlessly, glaring at him. “I know what you said about me being a bad influence.”

“That was a long time ago, and it caught me off guard when Carly sent you to help me with my lunch after I’d burned my hands.”

Not mollified, Sara pursed her lips. “You didn’t have to insult me.”

“You didn’t have to dump the soup in my lap either.”

Sara finally jerked her hand free. “I did not dump it in your lap. You were waving your arms like a madman.”

His eyes went dark, and the suggestion of a grin tugged at his mouth. “Guess being a madman should disqualify me from pillar-of-the-community status. So, how do you feel about having dinner with a fallen man?”

Sara blinked, feeling the currents between them shift yet again. “No,” she said instinctively. The word came easily to her. “You’re doing this because Carly put you up to it and—”

He pressed his index finger over her mouth, stopping her breath with that one touch. “Carly doesn’t have anything to do with this.” He paused only a second, his expression deadly serious. “I’m asking you for me.”

Sara’s stomach twisted into a knot, and she prayed for him to remove his finger.

He did, pulling his hand away, studying her. “What do you say?”

Sara barely held in a sigh of relief. “I say you’re crazy.”

Daniel frowned. Her response wasn’t what he’d hoped, but Daniel had always favored the direct approach. It was the same way he approached most things in life. Lengthy deliberation followed by swift action. “Sara—”

“Sara.” Carly’s voice rang out.

She began backing away. “It’s Carly. Gotta go.” She gave a too-cheery smile. “Goodbye.”

She was a vanishing blur of brown hair, black velvet and fast-moving shapely legs. At a much slower pace Daniel went back to the main deck, realizing there was quite a bit he didn’t know about Sara.

His brother Troy strolled up to him. “You ready to go?”

Daniel looked over the whole room, his gaze catching on the woman who’d occupied too much of his mind lately. Fresh determination surged through him. “Not yet. You might want to ride home with Jarod.” He filched a single red rose from one of the many bouquets around the room, still keeping her in his sight. “I’ll be late tonight.”

I shouldn’t have worn red.

Sara berated herself a dozen times as she pushed through the door of her two-bedroom home. On the way to her bedroom, she tossed her sensible black wool coat and leather purse onto the chintz floral sofa, kicked off her flat patent-leather shoes and started working on the zipper to her demure black velvet dress.

She shimmied out of the dress, threw it on the bed and pushed down her stockings and garter belt. Then she stood in her darkened bedroom wearing nothing but her sinful red silk slip.

She shouldn’t have worn red.

Men seemed to sense it. She was convinced they had some kind of sonar when it came to detecting her past. No matter how prim the outer layer was, they seemed to sense the sensual Sara underneath it all, the Sara who enjoyed all kinds of pleasures, from the sensation of velvet, silk, sun and water on her bare skin to the flavors of a succulent rare steak; fresh, yeasty bread; and strawberries dipped in rich, dark chocolate. The Sara who hid over a dozen bottles of perfume underneath her sink and had trouble deciding which to wear because she liked them all.

Sara pushed back the hair from her face in frustration. Even now, at the age of twenty-seven, she fought a constant battle with herself, torn somewhere between being the quiet, reserved woman who garnered the respect of the community and the sensual one she hid in the privacy of her home. The sensual one had been known to get her into trouble.

A stab of pain cut through her as she remembered the senator. He’d been such a nice, decent middle-aged man, but so lonely since his wife had been ill. Sara had been his receptionist. Her first job at eighteen, and she’d been thrilled and scared. It all began quite innocently with her working late nights, then having coffee with the senator and other staff at an all-night diner. He’d been like a father figure to her, and God knew she’d never had a father in her life.

When her apartment building had been destroyed in a fire, the senator found a place for her to live. It had been easier to say yes than no, easier to accept the affection she craved. He gave her a single red rose the day she moved in, and one yes led to another and another and…

One year later the press found out, and the nice senator blew his brains out.

Sara’s mind seemed bent on punishing her tonight. The thought of her deceased husband loomed over her like a dark shadow, and still more guilt flooded her. When he’d learned about her past, he’d hated her for it. When he’d died in an automobile accident, he was still hating her.

Sara shuddered at the memories. Sinking down on her bed, she wrapped her arms around herself. She didn’t want to turn on the light. She didn’t want to see herself in the mirror. She needed to let the guilt and shame pass.

It would have been comforting to have a man hold her during that painful moment. An image of Daniel Pendleton with the strong, gentle hands and broad shoulders seeped through her mind like mist.

Sara impatiently shook it off and rose from the bed to turn on the light. She was lifting the hem of her slip to strip it off when her doorbell rang. She glanced at her brass alarm clock and frowned. Twelve-thirty. Who in the world could it be at this hour?

Snatching the ankle-length kimono from the hook on the back of her closet door, she wrapped it around herself, marched to her front door and looked through the peephole.

Daniel Pendleton. Her heart gave a tiny, involuntary flutter.

She opened the door, saying the first thing that came to mind. “Is something wrong with Carly?”

“No.” Daniel looked into Sara’s wary eyes and immediately knew he’d have to temper the Romeo bit. She looked small and vulnerable and mussed in a thoroughly inviting way, but she also looked distrustful. He shoved the rosebud into his pocket and stepped through the doorway. “Mind if I come in?”

“Well—”

“I wanted to make sure you got home okay.” He paused, sweeping the living room with a curious glance. His first impressions were of femininity, comfort and privacy. Puffy curtains and pastel miniblinds covered the windows. On the mantel he noticed a lot of candles and a stuffed teddy bear wearing a floppy hat and lace dress. One end table held a bestselling novel, a few women’s magazines and a bottle of nail polish. An image flashed through his mind of Sara wearing the red silk slip as she painted her nails and blew them dry. He could almost feel the warmth of her breath, and just the thought of it made him tug at his starched collar.

Her coat and purse had been thrown carelessly on the floral sofa, which, in Daniel’s opinion, held too many little pillows and was too small for sleeping. But he could imagine ditching those little pillows, easing Sara into his lap and kissing her until they were both ready for bed.

He’d trade the lower forty for a peek at her bedroom.

“I’m fine,” Sara said.

His gaze automatically went to her. “And we never finished our conversation.”

Sara looked at him blankly.

Daniel’s mouth lifted in a slow grin. “Dinner.”

Uneasy, Sara picked up her coat and hung it in the closet, feeling Daniel’s gaze track her every movement. He seemed to take up an enormous amount of space in her house. “I think it would be best if we didn’t.”

“Why?”

She wished he hadn’t asked that. “Because you’re Carly’s brother and she’s my boss.”

Propping himself against the sofa, he crossed his arms over his chest. “So?”

“So it could get awkward.” She tried, surreptitiously, to kick her shoes under an end table. When Daniel’s gaze slid to her feet and seemed to settle on her red toenails, Sara felt terribly self-conscious. It was one of her little eccentricities. She painted her toenails bright, flashy colors while she kept her fingernails trimmed and painted them neutral colors. She cleared her throat, wishing for steel-toed boots.

He stood and walked closer to her, setting off all her warning bells and whistles.

“Does that mean you don’t want to?” he asked.

Sara swallowed. “I—” She searched for an honest but polite response and came up empty.

His eyes narrowed thoughtfully as if he truly wanted to understand. “You don’t like the way I look?”

She shook her head, wishing desperately that she wasn’t having this conversation. “No. That’s not—”

His gaze swept her from head to toe. “You’re not attracted to me?”

She felt her cheeks heat. “I didn’t say that.”

“You’re still missing your husband?” His voice held sympathy, but no pity.

He gave her the perfect excuse, and Sara almost took the easy way out. “I miss him.” She felt dishonest letting the statement sit between them. Sighing, she lifted her hand and briefly touched his arm. “But that’s not why I don’t go out.”

Daniel’s hand slid out and captured hers. “Then I don’t understand.”

Sara’s pulse jumped. A strong, solid male hand held hers, and the simple act short-circuited her brain. How could she explain that she had a unique ability to ruin good men? His thumb caressed her knuckles, and the gesture seemed more intimate than it should have. Was it the late hour or the man?

She took a deep breath. “I’m not very good at male-female relationships,” she admitted.

“Maybe you’re just out of practice,” he said, twining their fingers together one by one. His gaze hovered on her mouth, and Sara had the oddest sensation of being thoroughly kissed. She could almost feel his mouth, soft and mobile, on hers. He would slowly slide his tongue past her teeth and explore her vulnerable softness, then tease her into giving him what he wanted. Oh, yes, she’d bet Daniel Pendleton would know how to tease a woman.

She shook her head at the sudden heat rising in her body. She licked her burning lips and heard his quick intake of breath.

He squeezed her fingers, a silent reprimand for her involuntarily provocative gesture. His gaze rose to meet hers. “Practice makes perfect, Sara, and I think,” he said in a low, rough voice, looking at her through hooded violet eyes, “you should practice on me.”