Seduced by the Night (22 page)

'This is a surprise," she said instead. "I didn't expect you to be here."

"I couldn't let the biggest night of your life go by without doing something to celebrate." If his tone sounded artificial and patronizing, Bethany did her best to ignore it.

"That was very thoughtful of you," she replied. "What did you have in mind?"

"Knowing we couldn't go out, I thought we might have a little private celebration." He looked pointedly at Dirk, whose expression Bethany couldn't see.

"Don't leave the mansion," Dirk muttered to her before turning to
Lanie
. "Where's Mac?"

"He's in the study with Uncle Charles. I'll go with you."

The two walked off, leaving Bethany and Miles standing alone in the foyer.

"Do you want to go into the living room?" she asked him.

He smiled, putting his hand at her elbow, and steered her to the stairs. "No, I had something else in mind. Let's go to your room."

She mustered up a wan smile, wondering why she had a hard time feeling excited about spending time with Miles. After all, spending the rest of her life with him was what she wanted, wasn't it? Confused, she led him upstairs.

Once inside her room, she saw the ice bucket placed on the small corner table with the chilling bottle of champagne. While Bethany had never been a big drinker tonight was looking like the perfect time to start.

She crossed the room to her dresser and set down the orchids. A crystal vase sat beside the ice bucket, so Bethany busied herself with arranging the roses in the vase while Miles opened the champagne.

Her thoughts were a crazed whirlwind inside her head  as she tried to make sense of her emotions. Distantly, she heard the cork pop and Miles had to call her name twice to get her attention when he handed her a filled glass.

'To Van Home Technologies' leading biochemist."

As Bethany touched her glass to his, she couldn't help comparing his toast to Dirk's more personal one.

"Here you are, my dear. Here's the plaque you worked so hard to win."

He handed it to her and there was a sense of pride when she finally held it. There weren't many who earned the distinction and she would display it proudly in her office where she could see it every day. "T
hank
you for accepting this for me, Miles. I wish I could have been there."

"Oh, Bethany. You would have enjoyed it. Everyone who's anyone in the field was there… except the guest of honor." He gave her a sad smile. "I'm sorry. I don't mean to make it worse by telling you what you missed."

She shook her head. "That's okay. I want to hear all about it."

Bethany sipped her drink as Miles described the elaborate decorations at the reception hall and all the notable persons who attended, but as his voice droned on, she found her thoughts turning elsewhere.

Dirk had gone to such elaborate measures to make the evening nice for her. Miles, a man of means, had brought her a bottle of champagne and roses.

Her gaze wandered about the room, coming to rest on the orchid sitting on her dresser. Why hadn't Miles bought her orchids? She'd dated him for over a year and known him for five, yet he didn't know that orchids were her favorite flower.

Suddenly that one little detail became significant. Miles didn't know her at all and if she was honest with herself, she didn't know him either. The full weight of that realization hit her.

"I can't do this."

Miles, who'd been rattling on about the award ceremony, stopped and stared at her, clearly confused.

She searched his eyes, beseeching him to understand. "I'm sorry, Miles. I can't marry you."

"Of course you can," he assured her. "Your winning this award doesn't change anything."

She bowed her head. It wasn't going to be easy to explain. She set down her glass and pulled her engagement ring from her finger. "I'm sorry. I thought this would work but over the last several days I've come to realize that I don't really know you. And more important, while I like you a lot, I don't love you. People should marry for love, don't you think?" She held the ring out to him until he took it from her.

"It's just the stress of everything that's happened over the last couple of days," he said patiently. "It's bound to confuse you. If you need more time, we'll postpone the wedding, but please, Bethany, don't call it off."

"Miles, I'm sorry, but it would never work."

"It's him, isn't it?"

She didn't pretend to misunderstand. "In part. I do feel something for him. Something I shouldn't feel if I'm in love with you." She hated the hurt look that came into his eyes when he looked at her.

"I was afraid something like this might happen. It's one of the risks that comes with dating a woman so much younger than myself. I knew you hadn't been with a lot of  men when we first started dating, but I'd hoped I would be enough." When she would have interrupted, he took both her hands in his and looked deeply into her eyes. "I understand. You need to explore these feelings you have—you need to see what life can offer you. Afterward, maybe you'll discover that what you're really looking for is me—and I'll be waiting."

She started to shake her head and tell him that he was wrong, but she couldn't. She'd already hurt him enough. There was no reason to make it worse by robbing him of all hope.

Abruptly she stood up and crossed to her dresser. Inside the top drawer, she found the box the engagement ring had come in. She pulled it out and gave it to him, watching as he placed the ring back inside and snapped the lid shut. An uncomfortable silence fell between them and Bethany found herself staring at the roses.

"Are you going to make me take those back, too?" he asked softly.

She couldn't tell from his tone whether he was serious or not, but when she looked at him, he was smiling.

"No, I'd like to keep them, if you don't mind."

"I don't mind, but you might want to give them water before they wilt."

It was something that could wait, but she was afraid he'd think she didn't care about his gift if she didn't do it immediately, so she picked up the vase and carried it into the bathroom. When she walked back into the bedroom, Miles was standing by the dresser, waiting for her.

"I guess I should say good night."

"T
hank
you for—everything."

He started for the door, but stopped after taking a single step. "This is just personal, right? You're not breaking up with me professionally, too? You will continue your work at the lab?"

He caught her by surprise. She couldn't believe she'd forgotten about what it would be like to work for him now. "It might be uncomfortable for us both if I stayed," she began. "But I don't want to leave my job."

"Good, then don't." He smiled as he leaned over and kissed her cheek. "I'll see myself out."

Bethany stared at the door after he left, replaying their conversation over in her mind, amazed at how well Miles had taken the
breakup
.

Spying the nearly full bottle of champagne, she went over and refilled her glass. As she drank, she let her thoughts turn to Dirk. For some reason, she felt an inexplicable need to tell him that she was no longer engaged. Before she could talk herself out of it, she set down her glass and left the room.

Dirk's bedroom door wasn't far from hers and she encountered no one along the way. When she got there, she knocked once and waited. From inside came a muffled response. Unsure whether it was an invitation to come in or an order to leave, she tried the knob. It turned easily in her hand.

She poked her head into the room and spotted Dirk sitting on the bed, wearing only his jeans, unbuttoned at the waist, leaning against the headboard, a half-empty bottle of whiskey in his hand. He barely looked up when she walked in.

"What are you doing here?" he half snarled. "I thought you were with Van Home."

"He just left."

He stared straight ahead, letting the words sink in, then raised the bottle and took a drink. He swallowed, then rested his head back against the headboard and closed his eyes. "Go back to your room, Beth."

"I want to talk to you."

"Now's not a good time."

"Why?"

He gave her a disgusted look. "I'm busy." He raised the bottle and drank deeply.

She tried to ignore the way the muscles in his chest bulged when he lifted the bottle or the sight of his strong hands wrapped around the neck of it. "You're drunk." She heard the censure in her voice.

"God, I hope so." He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and stared at her with a focused intensity that told her he wasn't as drunk as she'd first thought. "What do you want?"

She hesitated. For a man who'd spent so much time flirting with her in the lab, now he seemed totally uninterested. She'd come here expecting… what? That he would seduce her? Carry through on all the suggestive promises he'd made.

The announcement she had planned to make died on her lips. How pathetic of her to have thought it would interest him. She looked for another excuse for her presence. "I wanted to t
hank
you again for the dinner and the flowers."

"You already did that."

"Well, I wanted to make sure you knew I meant it," she said, her frustration making her irritable.

"Go away, Beth."

"Why?"

He made a strangled sound in his voice. "Fine, stick around, but I won't be responsible for what happens." He made it sound like a thinly veiled threat.

"You won't hurt me." She said it softly and moved a little farther into the room, closer to the bed.

"What makes you so sure?" He lifted the bottle and took another swallow.

"I know you." She took another step forward, nervously brushing a strand of hair from her eyes. His eyes followed her motions and, curious, she lowered her hand to the base of her throat.

His eyes tracked her every move, almost scorching her with their intensity, giving her the courage to be daring. "I want to make love to you."

The bottle froze midway to his mouth. "Careful. My control right now is not what it should be. In fact," he growled, "it's not good at all."

"That's okay," she whispered, so nervous her knees began to shake. "You don't have to do a thing." She reached for the top button of her blouse and slowly undid it. His hungry gaze watched as she undid the next. And the next.

Too soon, she ran out of buttons. It was the moment of truth and she wasn't sure if she could continue—if she
should
continue, yet the way his eyes devoured her excited her as nothing else had.
He
excited her as no one else had.

She let the blouse slide off her shoulders until it slipped to the floor. She stood, now, before him in a bra that was more decoration than support. Her nipples hardened beneath his gaze and she wondered if she had the courage to undo the hooks at the back and continue her daring seduction.

"Bethany," he choked out in a harsh voice, "for God's sake, what are you doing?"

She spoke provocatively. "I'm trying to seduce you." She was at the edge of the bed now and was about to crawl onto the mattress when his next words stopped her cold.

"Seduce me?" he growled. "Why? The old man shoot his wad too soon? Did he leave you unsatisfied?"

His crude accusations stabbed her through the heart. "
Wh
-what?"

"I don't usually do sloppy seconds, but what the hell. Let's go." He set the bottle on the table beside him and reached for the zipper of his jeans, pulling it down.

Mortified, tears filling her eyes, she looked away, blindly backing off the bed.

"What's the matter?" he taunted. "You change your mind? Then go, but you'd better run—before I change my mind about letting you leave."

She picked her blouse up off the floor and, holding it to her, raced for the door.

She never heard him move, but felt the rush of air right before she slammed into his rock-solid body. His hands gripped her arms, holding her helpless before him.

Feeling the heat of his gaze, she dared to look into his face and saw his eyes glowing red.

'Too damn late."