Ruthless Temptation (5 page)

What
was his story? And what had changed from this morning, when he’d been ready to
toss her out of the building? She was as intrigued as she was confused. This
promised to be one of the most interesting evenings she’d ever had.

Chapter
Five

Madison
had never tasted steak cooked so well, or lobster this succulent. “You are one
lucky man,” she said, wiping butter off her chin with her napkin. “This is the
best meal I’ve ever had.”

“
I’m glad to hear that. Nick has been with me a long
time.”

“
Was he the man who came upstairs?”

“
Yes.”

She
glanced toward Nick as he came back into the dining room, carrying another
bottle of wine. “I brought the white, too, just in case.”

“
That’s a good idea. You can leave it. We’ll help
ourselves.”

Nick
left the room, and Madison asked how many other staff lived there.

“
I have a housekeeper who comes in twice a week, but
she doesn’t live here. Only Nick does.”

She
had no clue if Nick was listening, so she leaned closer to
Viggo
and lowered her voice. “Why does he wear livery? I haven’t seen anyone wear
that in real life like … ever.”

Viggo
smiled. “He likes it. Says it
makes him feel more professional.”

“
So you don’t make him wear it?”

“
No. Of course not.”

“
But you had no qualms telling me what I should wear
tonight.”

His
easy laugh was infectious. It was hard to stay angry at this man.

“
Only because I thought either of those colors would
look very pretty on you, but like I said before, I think you look adorable.”

“
Can we go back to talking about what I overheard?”

“
Absolutely.”

“
It sounds like you’ve changed your mind about telling
Ralph what I did.”

He
chewed the food in his mouth as he eyed her, and she had the sensation he was
carefully choosing his words. “Not exactly. It’s more like I’ve decided your
position at HCS is useful to me.”

“
What makes you think I’d help you spy on Ralph?”

“
Because you’re still not off the hook, Madison. What
makes you think you are?”

She
slammed down her fork. “
Viggo
, please stop playing
head games. What do you want from me? I’ve already said I made a mistake in
coming to your office. It was a stupid move. I had no clue what I’d overheard,
and I jumped to conclusions. I don’t know what else to say except I’m sorry.”

He
opened his mouth to speak, but she cut him off.

“
But if you think you can blackmail me by threatening
to have me fired, it won’t work. I’ve already told you to go ahead and tell
Ralph what I did. I’ll call his supervisor and come clean. I know that means
I’ll be fired, too, but I’m willing to let that happen.”

“
I don’t care if Ralph loses his job. He’s an
incompetent idiot, and I’m guessing you already know that.”

How
could he sit there, cool as a cucumber, stuffing his face with asparagus and
boiled potatoes, and talk like this? Did nothing affect this man?

“
You told me you wouldn’t let me lose my job. Was that
a lie?”

“
No. I meant that. You won’t lose your job, but I need
to know how he found out what you overheard.”

“
And you think I’m going to get that information for
you simply because you ask me to?”

He
nodded, then took a sip of the white wine Nick had brought in. “This is really
good. I think I like it better than the red. Try some.”

“
If you want to find out where he heard it, why can’t
you simply ask him yourself?”

“
If I ask him myself, he will also hear what you did
this morning.”

“
So much for not being sure you would tell him.”

“
You’ve forced my hand.”

“
You change your mind every second. Don’t you get dizzy
doing that?”

He
grinned, which really pissed her off. Nothing mattered to him.

“
If you tell Ralph, I’ll lose my job. Since you said
that wouldn’t happen, that now makes you a liar.”

A
muscle in his jaw twitched, and she knew she was pushing it, but she’d had just
about enough of Mr.
Viggo
Ingram and his inability to
give her a straight answer.

“
All right. Fair enough. You’re right. I’m sending you
mixed signals. Let me rephrase it. If you lose your job helping me, you won’t
be left without employment.”

“
Meaning what? You’ll find me another job?”

He
took another sip of wine. “This really is good. I wish you’d try some.”

“
Getting me drunk won’t convince me to spy on Ralph,
any more than it will convince me to sleep with you.”

As
soon as the words were out of her mouth, she wished she could take them back.
He hadn’t said shit about sex. Not overtly, anyway. She’d stepped into that
hornet’s nest all by herself, and he sure as hell didn’t miss it. The look he
gave her both took her breath away, and made her want to get the hell out of
his apartment before she did something really stupid.

“
Good to know, because I’m not in the habit of getting
women drunk so they’ll have sex with me.”

“
What did you mean by saying I won’t be left without
employment?”

Changing
the subject was her only defense right now.

“
You have an MBA in marketing, and I like your moxie. I
can always use talented people on my team who aren’t afraid to take chances.”

She
nearly choked on the sip of wine she’d finally taken. “You’re offering me a
job?”

“
I’m offering you a chance to help me.” He leaned forward,
his expression filled with passion. “To help all of us. I listened to a
heart-breaking story upstairs about a young woman who never should have had to
go through such tragedy. Your story isn’t unique, but what you did with your
life is. You probably don’t realize that.”

“
You mean because I went to work and earned a graduate
degree?”

“
Yes. Exactly. But it’s more than that. You didn’t let
your circumstances defeat you. Every week I interview people looking for jobs.
Some have impressive degrees, but most do not. The same things happened to all
of us when the world imploded, to use your phrase. The strong ones survived it
and made a life for themselves here.”

“
You mean like you and the other Weathermen.”

“
Not only us. Look what you’ve done. Can’t you see how
strong you are? You also have determination and self-motivation, two qualities
I need to see in a person before I consider them for any position in my
company.”

“That’s
what you took from my stunt this morning? Determination and self-motivation?”
She was genuinely surprised.

He
smiled and shook his head. “No. Not even close. I’m talking about what you did
with your life after moving underground.”

“
And now I’ve screwed that up by coming to your office
this morning.”

“
No, you haven’t. What you did this morning isn’t
fatal. You’ve admitted it wasn’t the best move, and you’ve apologized. I’m not
going to keep tossing it in your face. Let’s look at what you did another way.”

“
All right.”

“
You’ve worked at HCS a month and received no formal
training in investigations of any kind. My guess is that you spend most of your
time sending emails on Ralph’s behalf, and the rest of it picking up his dry
cleaning or getting him lunch.”

She
took another sip of wine.

“
I’ll take that as a sign I’ve envisioned your job
duties closely enough. Yet you overheard something that, coupled with an
article you read—”

“
It was more than that one article.”

He
raised his brows.

“
I’ve read everything out there on all of you. The
Weathermen, that is.”

“
That’s the point I’m trying to make, Madison. You took
all that information and instead of doing something really self-destructive,
like going to the media with your half-baked theories, you came straight to me.
You wanted answers. You needed to make sense of what you’d heard, but you also
needed to come to terms with your disillusionment. You thought your job at HCS
would be something very different than what it turned out to be. You thought
the people at HCS were different.”

He
was fascinating to watch right now. He had just reached into her soul and
plucked out the truth. No wonder women threw themselves at this man. He had
more charisma than any person she’d ever met.

“
You went about it the wrong way, but I admire the fact
that you tried in the first place.”

She
pushed around the food on her plate for a few moments, absorbing what he’d
said. She wasn’t going to be permanently disgraced, even if he did end up
telling Ralph what she’d done. That alone was enough to make her relax more
fully than she had all day. “So what happens now?”

He
speared a piece of steak with his fork. “Now, we finish this delicious dinner.
Afterward, we take our two bottles of wine in front of the fake fire, and
discuss our business arrangement.”

“
We have a business arrangement?”

There
was that damn sexy grin again. “We will before this evening is finished.”

She
had to ask, only so she knew his expectations. “Will this business arrangement
include sex?”

He
chuckled softly. “Do you want it to?”

Heat
rose to her face, but she doubted it was from the wine. “I’m asking what
your
expectations are.”

His
gaze cut to her sweater, where he stared at her boobs for far longer than was
necessary. If she hadn’t been so intrigued by him, the gesture would have
pissed her off royally. Finally, he looked her in the eyes again. The humor on
his face made her wary.

“
I don’t see how you can expect me to resist that
sweater. I’m only a man.”

“
I didn’t wear it to seduce you.”

“
Oh, I know you didn’t. You showed up here dressed like
this as a silent protest because I asked you to wear specific colors. But I’ll
bet your underwear matches, and I’m guessing it’s black.”

She
studied the last few pieces of asparagus on her plate only so she could take a
break from that penetrating gaze. “X-ray vision?”

His
hearty laugh sent shivers down her spine. “No, but that would be cool to have,
wouldn’t it?”

“
Very useful. Yes. For men, anyway.”

“
Oh, right. Like women wouldn’t use it, too.”

She
lifted her gaze to meet his. “Seen one penis, seen them all. But men act like
they’ve never seen boobs before every time they look at a woman.”

He
moved his index finger back and forth in straight lines. “It’s the trim. Draws
attention to them. Is that why you wore it?”

“
No
.” She told him the story of the
bee conversation and how she’d ended up with the sweater as a birthday present.

“
That’s cute. Honestly. I’m not joking around now.”

“
Thank you.” She finished her food and pushed her plate
away, then drained her wine glass. “You’re right. The white is better than the
red.”

He
rose and grabbed both bottles, plus his glass. “Let’s take this someplace more
comfortable so we can discuss business.”

Madison
followed him to the cozy living room he’d showed her earlier on the tour. An
electric fireplace gave off heat and the sound of crackling, complete with an
image of dancing flames and falling embers. They sat side by side on a deep
leather sofa in front of it.

“
Did you have a real fireplace in your home?” he asked.

“
No, but we went skiing many times at a place where the
lodge had one. I loved it. So many things are gone forever.”

“
Not forever. Not if I have anything to say about it.”

She
turned to face him, accepting a glass of white wine from him. “Do you have the
hackers? Please tell me. I won’t say a word to Ralph. He is an incompetent
idiot, just like you said.”

Viggo
smiled, and she noticed for the
first time how the gesture accentuated the tiny crow’s feet at the corners of
his eyes. They didn’t make him look old, only wise. He was the most handsome
man she’d ever seen in person.

“
I’m glad to hear you say that. For a few moments this
evening, I thought I might be wrong about him.”