A HIGH STAKES SEDUCTION (20 page)

John trusted his gut. It had steered him right many times in the past, even when everyone else and basic common sense suggested otherwise. His gut told him that Constance was the woman he’d been waiting for all these years. He needed her in his life, in his arms, in his bed.

Now all he had to do was convince her. And that meant convincing her that his intentions had been honorable from the start of their affair.

He arrived at the Cleveland airport and met the courier with the ring in the arrivals terminal. The diamond solitaire was as simple and lovely as he’d hoped, and his nerves sizzled as he tucked it into his pants pocket. Then he rented a car and programmed the GPS to take him to the address he’d found on the internet.

Blood thundered in his veins as he pulled into the driveway of her parents’ modest house in a sleepy Cleveland neighborhood. She’d probably be freaked out that he’d stalked her online to find her address. If she wasn’t sufficiently alarmed just to see him here at all. Her car was already in the driveway, so she was here. And the large white van with a hardware store decal on the side must belong to her parents, who were probably home, too. He parked behind it.

He never got nervous going into all-or-nothing business meetings or negotiating million-dollar deals. Climbing the Allen family’s scuffed doorstep, however, he felt his nerves tingling. He pushed the bell and heard a chime sound on the other side of the door.

“Oh, goodness. Who can that be?” He could hear a woman’s stressed-sounding voice in the distance and could make out a person’s fast-approaching silhouette through the patterned glass oval in the door. He steadied himself as the door swung open and plastered on an encouraging smile. A small woman with a neat brown bob appeared in the doorway.

“Hello, you must be Mrs. Allen.” He extended his hand.

“Leave us alone,” the woman said, and then slammed the door in his face. Maybe she thought he was a reporter.

He rang the doorbell again. “I’m not a journalist,” he called. “Or a salesman.” He saw her blurry silhouette halt. “I’m a friend of Constance’s.”

He watched the woman turn and walk back through the glass. The door cracked open and a pair of very suspicious gray eyes peered at him. “Constance has been taken ill.”

“What?” He stepped forward, one hand on the door. “What’s wrong with her?”

“Who are you?” Constance’s mom was a little shorter than her daughter, and dressed in a plaid blouse and navy slacks.

“My name is John Fairweather.” He extended his hand again. “I’m pleased to meet you.” He quietly put one knee in front of the door in case she tried to slam it again. Not a moment too soon, because he soon felt the force of the door against his arm and leg.

“Get out of my doorway, you...you scum!”

John drew in a deep breath. “I think there’s a misunderstanding. Constance investigated my company, but it was my uncle’s records that she found wanting, not mine.”

The small woman stopped pushing on the door and came alarmingly close, her face crinkling with rage. “You seduced an innocent young girl,” she hissed. “You should be ashamed of yourself.”

He decided not to protest that Constance wasn’t that young or that innocent. “Your daughter is a very unique and special person, and I’m sure that much of the credit for that goes to you, Mrs. Allen. I admire her integrity and am proud to know her.”

“Well, she doesn’t want anything to do with you, that’s for sure. She’ll probably get fired now that ugly rumors are flying around.” At least she wasn’t trying to slam the door on him anymore. “What have you got to say for yourself about that?”

“Constance has nothing to hide. She did her job with thoroughness and even ruthlessness. I’m sure her employer will find no fault with her. May I see her, please?”

Was she really sick? She must be under a lot of stress. As John mulled it over, a timid-looking man with a receding hairline appeared at the end of the hallway. “What’s going on, dear?”

“This is John Fairweather, Brian.” She spoke very deliberately, without taking her eyes off him. John watched her husband put two and two together.

“You’re not welcome here, I’m afraid.” He glanced nervously at his wife. “You’d best go back to where you came from.”

“I’m in love with your daughter.” Desperation made him cut right to the point. He knew Constance must be in there somewhere. “Please, let me see her.”

He smiled, to hopefully seem less threatening, but he was serious about what he said next. “I’m not going to leave until I talk to her. I’ll camp out on your front lawn if necessary.” Since their front lawn was about as big as a king-size bed and had a fake fountain on it, he hoped it wouldn’t come to that.

Mrs. Allen glanced up and down the street. The sun was setting and so far the only people watching them were two kids on bikes. She narrowed her eyes and shot him a chilling look. “Perhaps you’d better come in.”

He tried not to beam with too much excitement as he stepped over the threshold into their narrow hallway.

“Constance, dear,” her father called up the stairs. “Could you come down, sweetheart?”

All eyes turned anxiously to the gloomy stairs. But no door opened. Listening hard, John could hear music playing up there. Impatience and excitement fired through him. “I think she’s got the radio on and can’t hear you. Would it be okay with you if I go knock on her door?”

Normally he’d have marched straight up, but since he intended for these people to be his future mother-and father-in-law, more delicate handling was called for.

The Allens looked at each other. Sarah had closed the door behind John to block out the prying eyes of neighbors. “I suppose so,” she muttered. “You can hardly make things worse than they already are.”

He bounded up the stairs, feeling his pants pocket on the way to check the ring was still there, and knocked on the door. A song by Adele was playing.

“I need some time alone, Mom.”

“It’s me. John.”

The music snapped off.

“What?”

The sweet sound of her voice made his heart swell, and his fingers reached for the door handle. But he hesitated. What if she wasn’t decent? He didn’t want to blow it.

“John Fairweather. I drove here to see you.”

The door flung open so fast he felt his hair shift in the breeze. She was dressed in striped pajama pants and a white T-shirt and looked as though she’d been crying. She also looked unbearably beautiful and fragile, and he wanted to take her in his arms.

“You’ve got quite a nerve.” She said it softly, as if she wasn’t really listening to herself. She studied his face, then he felt her take in the rest of his body before looking back into his eyes with a confused expression.

“That’s hardly news.” He felt a grin spreading across his face. “I missed you.”

“Did you tell Don about our affair?” Her gaze hardened. Pain hovered in her eyes.

“Never. He made it all up, in fact. I never told him anything about us. He was just mad—mostly at me because I fired him from his position.”

“But you didn’t deny it.”

“I can’t deny it. It’s the truth.” A smile tugged at the corner of his mouth, but he struggled to suppress it.

She frowned. “It’s a shame you didn’t get what you wanted, isn’t it?”

“What do you mean?”

“It’s a pity your plot to seduce me didn’t throw me off the course and make me leave. Or convince me to cover up the truth. I overheard your conversation with Don in the lobby.”

“There was never any kind of plot. Don suggested it, but I never had the slightest intention of following through.”

“You just kissed me on the first night you met me because I’m so unbelievably irresistible?” She cocked her head.

“Exactly.” The smile struggled over his mouth again.

“I’m not that dumb, John.”

“You’re not dumb at all. You’re sharp as a tack and that’s one of the many reasons I’m crazy about you.”

She frowned and looked confused. “Why are you here? I’m not going to deny the affair if that’s what you’re hoping. I’d rather lose my career than tell a lie that big.”

“I feel the same way.” He reached for the ring in his pocket. No use beating about the bush. When she saw it she’d know he was serious. “I realize we’ve only known each other a short time.” He pulled out the box and watched her brow furrow. “But there’s something between us, something different.” For once, he struggled for words. “I love you, Constance. I love you and I need you in my life. I’ve never met anyone like you before and I want to spend the rest of my days with you. Will you marry me?”

Eleven

C
onstance stared at John. It was hard enough to comprehend that he was here in her bedroom. She certainly didn’t believe that he’d just asked her to marry him.

“Aren’t you mad at me?” She’d pictured him cursing her and wishing she’d never been born. She knew the kind of scrutiny his casino and his whole tribe were under right now.

“For being honest and trustworthy? No way. I love you all the more for it.”

She blinked. He looked ridiculously handsome, with that wary expression on his face and the pale blue box open in his hand. And that sure was a beautiful ring.

“You can’t be serious. About marrying me, I mean.”

“Constance, you know me well enough to know that I wouldn’t joke about something like this. I love you, and I want you to be my wife.” Humor twinkled in his eyes, as usual. He was always so confident. He was sure she’d say yes.

Constance stared from his face to the ring and back. This was beyond anything she could imagine. She’d never thought for a minute that John would want to turn their affair into something permanent. She hadn’t allowed herself a dream that crazy. “You can’t be serious.”

“Are you okay in there, Constance?” She heard her father’s voice on the other side of the door, which John had closed behind him.

“Yes, Dad. I’m fine.”
At least I think I am. I’m not sure. I might be dreaming.

“You’re killing me, Constance. I’m in love with you.” John sank to one knee on the pale green carpet. “Please say you’ll marry me.”

Tears sprang to her eyes. She could hear the sincerity in his voice, feel it in the air between them. “Yes.” The word sounded so strange coming from her mouth. The whole situation was so surreal. But it was the only answer she could give.

He rose to his feet, dark eyes shining. “May I kiss you?”

She bit her lip, and glanced at the door. Both of her parents were probably standing outside. She looked back at John and his loving gaze melted her. “Okay.”

His lips covered hers and she lost herself in the kiss, holding him tight. Kissing him again was such a sweet relief after the lonely nights and anxious days since she’d left him. He wrapped his strong arms around her, holding her up as her already shaky knees threatened to give way.

“God, I missed you so much,” he breathed, pressing her against him when they finally broke for air. “I hate being without you. Will you come back with me right now?”

She bit her lip. “What about my job? They’re being really supportive. They don’t believe the allegations that I had an affair with you and I couldn’t bring myself to admit it. Now they’ll have good cause to fire me when they find out it’s true and I didn’t confess.”

He ran his thumb over her lip as his face creased into a grin. “I do like the way you take your responsibilities so seriously. It’s one of the many sexy things about you. They’re going to know for sure that we had an affair when you tell them you’re marrying me.”

“Yes, but I need to reassure them that it didn’t interfere with me fulfilling my professional responsibilities. What if they think you’re back here to curry favor in the hope that I can get the IRS off your back?” She was only half kidding.

“I don’t live my life worrying about what other people think.” Undeterred, he kissed her mouth softly. “I know that if I choose to do what’s right, I can hold my head high in front of anyone. Including your parents.” He glanced in the direction of the door with a wink. “Do you think we should go tell them?”

She nodded, apprehension zinging inside her. “I suppose there’s no way around that.”

He opened the door to find both of them standing in the hallway outside her bedroom.

“We overheard,” said her mother, with a dazed expression.

“Mom!”

“And we appreciate this young man having the honor and decency to make an honest woman of you.” Her mother looked right at John.

“You do?” John looked astonished.

Her father cleared his throat. “Under the circumstances I’m truly convinced that you love our daughter. I won’t say we approve of the business you’re in, but we have no intention but to wish you both the best.”

“You do?” It was Constance’s turn to express her shock and disbelief. “I’ll have to move to Massachusetts.” She figured she might as well lay it all out.

“And we hope that you’ll both move to Massachusetts with us,” John cut in. “You’ll find it’s a lovely place to live.”

“We do have a business to run here,” Sarah explained. “But I’m sure we’d be happy to come visit.”

Constance stared from one of her parents to the other, then back to John. Did he have magical powers of persuasion? The media had as much as accused him of that when he’d created a tribe out of a few family members and a multimillion-dollar company on a few weedy acres in the backwoods.

“I look forward to getting to know you both.” John shook their hands heartily. “Will you allow me to take you all out to dinner to celebrate?”

Her father still looked a bit stunned, but in a happy way. “We’d be delighted.”

* * *

After a congenial dinner at her parents’ favorite Italian restaurant, John and Constance drove to a nearby hotel. Once inside the room, with the door closed, they stopped and stared at each other. “Am I dreaming?” She stood about one foot from him, beside the bed, in the dimly lit room. “Because I have had strange and vivid dreams lately.”

“If you’re dreaming then I guess it means I’m in your dream.” He held her gaze. “Which is fine with me. As long as neither of us wakes up.” His lips curved into a mischievous half smile.

She felt her own now-familiar smile creep to her mouth in response. “I don’t think either of us is the type to sleepwalk through life, so I suspect we’re wide awake right now.”