Susan Mallery - Tempting

He took her hands in his, his blue eyes dark with confusion. "And I was fine with it. I said it didn't matter and it didn't. I loved you, Katherine. I still do."

"But you loved her, too."

"It's over."

Was it?

She pulled away and walked into the bedroom. The questions haunted her. Why had Mark really married her? He'd been ambitious and she'd been rich. Until she'd known about Marsha, she'd assumed he'd really missed her. Now she knew he'd easily moved on and had gotten involved with someone else in a matter of days. That simple fact changed everything.

What would have happened if Marsha hadn't ended things? Would Mark have been willing to come back to her, Katherine, then? She would never know.

He came up behind her and drew her against him. "I hate to see you hurting."

"I'm fine," she lied.

He turned her until she faced him, then put one hand on the back of her neck and kissed her.

She had a feeling he was trying to distract her. She willed herself to be strong, but it was impossible. She'd never been able to be strong where he was concerned. The second his mouth touched hers, all she wanted was to surrender. Wanting overwhelmed her and she gave herself over to the man and how he made her feel. The pain would still be there in the morning, but for now, this was enough.

***

Alex knew it was going to be a long day when the only nonlawyer in the meeting was his father.

Peter Aaron flipped through the folder in front of him. "We have some time before the charges are filed. If we talk to the D.A., we'll find out what they're planning."

"They're planning a circus," Mark grumbled. "This is all political. They want to hurt the campaign. The damn press."

"There are a lot of ways this can play out," Pete said. "We need a few details before we can come up with a game plan. The partners are very interested in the outcome of all of this.”

Alex kept his expression neutral and calm, but on the inside, he wanted to throw something. Or hit something, which is what had gotten him in trouble in the first place. He didn't usually have trouble controlling his temper, but when he'd decked the reporter, something inside him had snapped.

He hated all this. He hated that there was no good outcome for him, with the exception of the charges simply going away and that wasn't going to happen. However this fell, he was screwed.

Pete Aaron was a partner in Alex's law firm. He was working Alex's case for only one reason and that was Mark's bid for the presidency. If Mark was elected, then Alex would have a place at the White House and the firm would benefit. If Mark didn't run, or wasn't elected, Alex had a feeling he could kiss his corporate law career goodbye.

What frustrated him the most was that it didn't matter why he'd hit the guy. No one wanted to talk about an asshole using a kid to get private information. Oh, sure, it would come out at the trial, but now it was simply incidental.

The other two lawyers talked, with Mark adding a few comments but he, Alex, didn't listen. They were coming up with a plan and it would be his job to go along with it. After all, there was a presidency at stake.

He thought about the hurt in Bailey's eyes when she realized she'd done something wrong and knew that given the same set of circumstances, he would do it all again, regardless of the outcome.

He studied his father. Mark loved the political arena. If he won, they were all going to be in it for a long, long time.

Dani drove down a lengthy driveway, not sure what she would find at the other end. A mansion? A trailer? She smiled and then caught her breath when she made a turn and found herself in front of a large, two-story log home.

It was all wood and glass and shaped a little like a fairy-tale castle, which should have looked strange but instead made her feel as if she'd stumbled into someone's private architectural fantasy.

There were stone steps leading to a long porch that had both chairs and a swing. Old-growth trees soared toward the sky, while lush landscaping added to the dreamlike quality of the place.

Not exactly what she'd been expecting, she thought as she grabbed the bottle of wine she'd brought and got out of her car. But then she hadn't known what to expect when Alex had called and invited her over for dinner. At least the press had stopped following her a few days ago. She hadn't had to use James Bond driving to keep them at bay.

She walked up the stone steps. The door opened before she could knock and there was Alex. He looked good. She'd only ever seen him in suits, so the jeans and sweater came as a surprise. While she appreciated fine tailoring as much as the next woman, there was something to be said for a man who looked hot in jeans.

The worn denim emphasized narrow hips and long legs. He'd pushed the sweater sleeves up a little, leaving his wrists bare, which was oddly sexy. Funny how that had never turned her on before. Wrists weren't anything all that exciting, except on him. Or was it more about the man himself?

"Hey," he said as he motioned for her to step inside. "Thanks for coming."

"Thanks for asking me. An interesting invitation, if unexpected."

"I had a hell of a day," he said. "I needed to see a friendly face."

Simple words. Casual words, yet they hit her hard and fast, stealing her breath and leaving her weak at the knees.

She was the friendly face he wanted to see? Her? Not family or friends or that annoyingly beautiful ex-wife of his?

"Great place," she said. "Have you lived here long?"

"About five months. I bought it after the divorce was final. I wanted privacy and quiet. This has both."

"Plus it's a cool place to bring the ladles."

She was determined to keep things light. It was her only way to stay sane. An excellent plan that turned to dust the second Alex pulled her close and kissed her.

There was no warning, no niceties, no asking for permission. Just his mouth on hers in a kiss that took and offered all at the same time.

His breath was hot and faintly minty, his body hard in all the right places. He took the wine from her, set it on a table and nipped at her lower lip.

His hands were politely at her waist. As she leaned in to him, she wanted him touching her everywhere. She wanted to writhe and moan and be taken so hard that she didn't have to think. She only had to feel.

Apparently he couldn't read minds or he wasn't interested in her that way because he stepped back and smiled faintly.

"You look great," he said.

"Thanks." She'd come straight from work, but she was willing to accept the compliment.

"For the record, I don't bring ladies here, as you put it. Except for family, you're my first dinner guest."

Really? In five months there hadn't been anyone else?

A thrill swept through her before she reminded herself that just because he hadn't brought anyone here didn't mean he hadn't gone somewhere else to get naked. It was unlikely Alex had been celibate since his divorce.

"How'd you find this place?" she asked.

"I got lucky. My agent brought me to see it the day it went on the market. There was a bidding war and I won."

That's right. He was a Canfield. His financial resources weren't limited to his impressive lawyer salary.

He grabbed her hand and led her through the entry way into a large, open great room. There were walls of glass, with French doors leading to a covered patio about the size of her rental. To the right was a massive kitchen, to the left a big television and lots of electronic equipment-the kind designed to make a man very happy.

The room was decorated in earth tones, subdued but welcoming.

"Impressive," she said. "Did you do this all yourself?"

He chuckled as he set the wine on the granite counter. "You can't believe that. My mom helped, as did Julie. She's the next oldest in the family. She's a sophomore at UW, living on campus. She's studying psychology, but has a great eye for this kind of stuff."

"Which you don't?"

"I'm a guy."

He was, and an excellent representation of the entire gender.

She set her purse on a stool in front of the counter that separated the open kitchen from the living area in the great room. While he took care of the wine, she sniffed delicately.

"I'm not smelling any food," she teased. "Should I be worried that I'll starve?"

"It's here, in the refrigerator. All it requires is a little heating. Are you hungry or can you wait a little?"

She looked into his dark eyes. Food wasn't a problem. The thing she didn't want to wait for was him.

Danger, she told herself. Big, burly, sexy danger. Hadn't she learned her lesson? Was she one of those sad women destined to repeat the same mistakes over and over again when it came to men?

"I can wait," she told him. The longer, the better.

He handed her a glass of wine, then led her out onto the patio. The floor was some kind of stone… maybe slate. On one side was a steer-size grill, a built-in sink and under-the-counter refrigerator.

"You could throw a great party out here," she murmured as he turned on a propane heater and gestured to a wicker sofa lined in soft-looking cushions.

"That's the plan. When I get the time."

"Famous last words. You have to make the time. I know from personal experience."

He settled next to her, angling toward her. "Do you?”

"Not as much as I should. My excuse is that I'm in a new job and trying to learn as quickly as possible. Of course your excuse is that you're part of a national campaign. I guess you'd win that contest."

"It's crazy" he admitted. "Today I sat in on a meeting of lawyers all discussing how to handle the problem of me being charged with assaulting that damned reporter. I've never been the subject of a meeting before."