The Courtship of Dani (7 page)
"And you're incredibly beautiful," he said in that soft, purring rasp that made her insides jump crazily.
"That has nothing to do with my job or how well I do it." Dani meant to sound severe, but her voice came out breathless and quavery. She stared at Jason's rugged face, her chest so tight she could barely breathe and wondered what was happening to her. No man had ever affected her this way.
"True." To her shock, Jason lifted his hand and ran the backs of his knuckles over her smooth cheek. Dani's heart jerked and took off like a rocket. "But it doesn't hurt, either," he added in a low murmur, staring fixedly at her mouth.
For a moment Dani was positive he was going to kiss her, and she waited breathlessly, too mesmerized to move. But finally he raised his eyes to hers and smiled. "Now, why don't I get out of your way and let you get settled. If you need them, the others are right across the hall in the conference room." Before she could gather her wits he turned and headed for his own office. Dani stared after him, feeling confused and unsettled, and before he reached the door she stopped him.
"Jason, is that really why you insisted that I run this project? Because you think I can do the job?" she asked bluntly.
He turned, and the look in his eyes was hot and blatantly sensual. The slow, suggestive smile that curved his mouth made Dani's breath catch. "Why, of course," he drawled. "Why else did you think?"
For a long time after the door closed behind him, Dani stood perfectly still, staring at it. The trouble was, she didn't know what to think. About Jason St. Clair. About herself. About anything. Jason's eyes and deep seductive voice told her one thing, but his words told her another.
Dani circled the desk and sat down in the leather chair. Leaning her head against the high back, she stared pensively at the ceiling, a slight frown between her arched brows. She had been so sure he had been about to kiss her. And yes, she admitted honestly, despite feeling foolish and a trifle uneasy, she had wanted him to kiss her. So what had stopped him?
Her breath came out in a gusty sigh and she shook her head. Maybe she had misinterpreted the situation. Maybe he hadn't wanted to kiss her at all. After all—what did she know?
For all her twenty-eight years, her high-powered degrees, her important job and her whiz-kid brain, Dani's experience where men were concerned was practically nil. During her schoolyears she had been too wrapped up in her studies to get involved with anyone. And in any case, the young men at the university had seemed so terribly immature—more like boys than men. In recent years she had gone out occasionally. Men were attracted to her physical appearance but once they got to know her, once they realized just how bright she was, most grew uncomfortable and nervous in her presence, and after one or two dates she never heard from them again. Except for Phil, she hadn't had a chance to know any man well enough for something serious to develop.
It had not bothered Dani. But then, she admitted to herself with her usual pitiless self-honesty, none of them had ever affected her the way Jason did. She had never experienced this kind of breathless excitement, this dizzying awareness, this indefinable yearning. For the first time in her life she was helplessly drawn to a man, physically, mentally and emotionally. And Dani wasn't at all sure she liked it.
Despite the exciting feelings he aroused in her, the thought of becoming involved with Jason made her uncomfortable and wary. In her experience, love, affection, even simple friendship, always carried a price. And some were just too high to pay.
Sitting forward, Dani pulled her briefcase across the desk, snapped it open and removed some forms and a pad and pencil. It's perfectly foolish to worry about a problem that may not even exist, she told herself stoutly as she rose and marched toward the door. You could be imagining it all. Some men just naturally flirt with every attractive woman they meet. It's an automatic reflex. It means nothing. He may not even be aware of it.
❧
The thought came back to haunt her time and again over the next few weeks, for to Dani's secret chagrin, it was soon apparent that whatever attraction Jason had felt for her—if, indeed, he had ever felt any-1—had fizzled practically overnight.
Once Dani and her crew got down to business, Jason's main and seemingly only concern was making the Stratter-Lite factory a profitable enterprise, and he worked with them tirelessly toward that end.
Before an analysis could be made or any changes recommended, Dani and her team first had to know the company's resources and liabilities and understand its method of operation. Dani and her people began the long, in-depth interviews that would give them the information they needed, starting with the top executives and working downward through the chain of command within the company in a reverse pyramidal pattern. Jason often sat in on the interviews, sometimes asking penetrating questions of his own and adding fresh insight to the overall picture that was emerging.
He made it a point to keep up with the progress on the project, and with their connecting offices, Dani saw him several times a day. Often Jason took Dani to lunch, and a few times she joined him and Arthur for a drink in Jason's office at the end of the day when everyone else had gone home. Occasionally Dani caught him watching her with that warm look in his eyes, but he never said or did anything that could be construed as remotely suggestive. He was polite and friendly but nothing more.
At first Dani didn't know whether to be hurt or relieved. But finally, chiding herself for being utterly foolish, she decided to put the whole thing out of her mind. After all, what were a few smoldering looks and an invitation to dinner? And in all honesty that was all that had ever passed between them.
Her heart still beat a little faster and that strange, tight achiness still gripped her insides whenever she was near Jason, but Dani told herself it meant nothing. It was just a physical attraction. Eventually it would pass.
When he flew to the east coast on business, three weeks after the project started, Dani ignored the empty feeling in her chest and concentrated even harder on her work.
"Burning the midnight oil again?" Arthur asked on Friday evening when he poked his head into her office to say goodnight. Since Jason's departure on Monday she had worked late every night, and Arthur had finally given up trying to talk her out of it.
Dani looked up and smiled. "Yes. I have a little more I want to get done before the weekend."
Arthur's gaze went to the window behind her desk. It was dark outside, and everyone else had left hours ago. "You want me to stay and wait for you? I hate to leave you here alone."
"No, no. You go ahead; I'll be fine. I'll only be a little longer. Besides, I'll be perfectly safe with a guard at the gate."
"Well, okay. If you say so," Arthur agreed reluctantly. "But I'll stop on my way out and tell Homer that you're still here. Good night, Dani. See you Monday." He lifted his hand in a farewell gesture, then he was gone.
Dani heard his footsteps recede down the hall, followed by the subdued rattle of the elevator doors, but by the time Arthur drove out the front gate she was once more immersed in the report that Bob Loman had turned in to her that afternoon.
She was still poring over it a half-hour later when a harsh male voice shattered her concentration and made her jump with fright.
"Well, well, well. If it isn't the beautiful and brilliant Ms. Edwards, still hard at it. What are you doing, Dani, trying to impress my old man with your devotion to duty?" Lewis drawled hatefully from the doorway. "It won't do you any good, you know. As much as he admires that king-size brain of yours, he's not about to turn the firm over to anyone outside the family." He flashed her a taunting smile that showed his perfect white teeth. "If you want the company, you have to take me with it."
Dani's heart had slowed to near its normal rate, and as she looked at Lewis, slouched indolently against the doorjamb, her mouth unconsciously took on a derisive curl. "What are you doing here, Lewis? How did you get in?"
"I told the guard that I work for Update," he said with a smirk.
But the goading look quickly faded to a sullen glower, his hazel eyes glinting with resentment beneath lowered brows. "My old man is mad as hell at, me right now and it's all your fault," he spat at her in a voice that was laced with bitterness, and for the first time Dani noticed that his speech was slurred. "Where the hell do you get off turning me down, Miss High and Mighty Edwards? You're nothing but a little nobody. The daughter of a plumber, for God's sake! You ought to be flattered that I'd even consider marrying you. Let me tell you, there are plenty of women who would jump at the chance."
Dani's eyes went over him in slow appraisal. He was leaning heavily against the doorjamb, one hand in his pocket, the other propped on his hip, thrusting back his suit coat. His tie was askew and his shirt was wrinkled and bloused out over his belt. There was a hectic flush to his skin and his face looked flaccid and droopy, the handsome features blurred and numbed by alcohol. Dani's mouth firmed and she sighed wearily. Lewis Manders was hard for her to take at anytime. Drunk, he was next to impossible.
Placing her palms flat on the desk, Dani stood slowly. "This is pointless, Lewis. Why don't you go home and sleep it off?"
"Oh, no. I'm not going anywhere just yet." He lurched away from the door and started for her, weaving slightly. "Not until I show you just what you're turning down."
"Don't be ridiculous. This is.. .Lewis! Will you stop it!" she cried when he rounded the desk and grabbed her upper arms, snatching her up against him. "Stop... oh, good grief! Lewis!"
His hands were hurting her and he reeked of whiskey. Dani turned her head from side to side, trying to evade his seeking mouth, but Lewis ignored her struggles. Finally Dani had had enough, and she kicked him. Hard.
Lewis yelped in pain. As he bent over, Dani stepped back and quickly put the chair between them. "Now, Lewis, this has gone far enough," she began warn-ingly, but the rest of the rebuke stuck in her throat when he straightened and she saw the look in his eyes.
"Lady, you got a lesson coming to you," he snarled, and Dani took another step backward.
Suddenly she was more frightened than she had ever been in her life.
❧
Someone is still here, Jason thought tiredly as he parked his Jaguar in the reserved slot and glanced up at the lighted window on the third floor. Then his face brightened as he realized a second later that the light was coming from the office next to his.
Dani
. The name whispered through his mind like the soft, sweet sighing of the wind, and immediately some of the tension left him. How many times these past five days had he thought of her? A hundred? Two hundred? A thousand? Probably. Maybe more. The truth was, she had never really been out of his thoughts.
She fascinated him. He'd never met anyone like Dani. She was heart-stoppingly beautiful, one of the smartest people he had ever known, and sexy as all hell. He wanted her. Sweet heaven, how he wanted her. Yet, there was more to it than that, and he knew it. Which, he admitted with a wry twist of his lips, was why he'd changed his tactics so abruptly.
Sighing deeply, Jason closed his eyes for a moment, remembering the way she had looked that first day in her office when he had touched her cheek.. .like a wide-eyed, trapped doe... so soft and vulnerable. And strangely innocent. She brought out every protective instinct he had. And some he hadn't known he even possessed, he admitted with a self-derisive snort.
His original plan for a quick seduction followed by a leisurely affair had been replaced with a more cautious approach. He wanted to give her time to get to know him. To feel comfortable with him. The last thing he wanted was to scare her away.
Or to hurt her
, a small voice deep inside whispered.
Tiredly Jason climbed from the car and slammed the door. With his eyes still fixed on the lighted window, he raked a hand through his thick shock of golden hair and slung his suit coat over his shoulder, holding it by one crooked finger as he started for the front entrance.
Inside, Jason punched the button for the elevator, but when the doors failed to open immediately he started up the carpeted stairs, impatiently taking them two at a time. Just as he rounded the landing between the second and third floors he heard Dani's voice. Her words were indistinguishable, but something in her tone make the hair on the back of his neck stand on end. Jason cleared the final flight of stairs in three giant leaps and sprinted down the hall, his heart pounding.
He came to a skidding halt in the open doorway of Dani's office just as she broke free of Lewis Manders's hold and scuttled back behind the desk chair. Jason stood there, his chest heaving, a burning rage welling up inside him as he took in the scene. Through the red mist of fury he heard Dani's warning, and Lewis's menacing reply, and when the man took a step toward her Jason's hard voice cracked out like a whip, halting him in his tracks.
"Touch her again, Manders, and you'll regret it for the rest of your days. I guarantee it."
Both Dani and Lewis jumped, their heads snapping around toward the sound.
"Jason!" Dani breathed his name with heartfelt relief, then slowly closed her eyes, her shoulders drooping as her fingers gripped the back of the chair even tighter for support.
Jason crossed the room in three long strides and slipped an arm around her waist. When she slumped against him he pulled her close, wrapping her tightly in his embrace. Over the top of Dani's head his dark eyes impaled Lewis.
"Get out, Manders, while you still can."
"This is none of your concern, St. Clair. This is between Dani and me. We—"
"I said out."
The curt command penetrated Lewis's alcohol clouded brain, and anger and uncertainty chased across his face. Then as his gaze slid over Dani, huddled in Jason's arms, a sneering grin curved his mouth. "Oh, I see. It's like that, is it?" he drawled nastily. "Little Dani has found herself a bigger catch."
"Manders—"
"All right, all right. I'm going." Spurred into action by the warning tone, Lewis started to move.
"And Lewis." Jason stopped him just as he reached the door. His gravelly voice was low and menacing... and deadly serious. "I'm warning you. If you ever touch Dani again, I'll take great pleasure in breaking every small, vital bone in your body."
