A Not-So-Innocent Seduction. Janice Maynard

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СКАЧАТЬ you really have no choice?” It sounded like more than a rhetorical question.

      “No one dragged me back in chains, if that’s what you mean. But I felt the obligation of being the oldest. The others were still growing up. It was me or no one.”

      “I see.”

      His explanation seemed to bother her, though he couldn’t fathom why. “At the risk of sounding nosy, what did you study in college?”

      “I spent four semesters at Vassar. Decided I had no clue what I wanted to do with my life, so I dropped out and joined the Peace Corps.”

      “Are you serious?” More and more he got the impression that she was a throwback to the 1960s.

      “It was wonderful,” she said simply. “And eye-opening. I was young and naive and had no clue that extreme third-world poverty existed.”

      “Your parents were okay with you leaving school?”

      “I didn’t really ask them.”

      The more she revealed, the more he wanted to know. But she had accused him of interrogating her, and he had to respect her boundaries...not only because she was a guest in the hotel, but because it was the right thing to do.

      “Would you like another drink?” he asked.

      “A peach daiquiri would be nice.” Zoe cocked her head. “Why are you entertaining me?”

      He summoned a waiter and gave their order. When the young man disappeared, Liam met her gaze squarely. “Has it occurred to you that you may be entertaining me?”

      For the first time since they met in the lobby, he saw her flustered. Her cheeks flushed a rosy pink and she looked away for a moment. He used the opportunity to study her profile. The only thing marring a classically beautiful face was the thrust of a stubborn chin and the smallest of crooks in her nose.

      His scrutiny did not go unnoticed. Her hands fiddled with a fork as she faced him again. “Do I have food on my face?” she asked, the words acerbic.

      “Sorry. I was just wondering if you had ever broken your nose.”

      “That bad, huh?”

      “Not at all. But you have the features of a Greek goddess except for that tiny crooked place in your nose and the way you lead with your chin.”

      “I’m not sure that counts as a compliment.”

      “Merely trying to avoid social conventions.”

      Finally, he coaxed a smile from her. “Touché.”

      Their drinks arrived. Zoe sipped hers delicately, like a small child savoring an unaccustomed treat. He wanted to ask her flat out if she could afford a six-week stay at Silver Beeches, but of course, he couldn’t. Attending Vassar indicated a certain level of financial ease. Then again, she could have gone on a scholarship. The fact that he was so obsessed with her background gave him pause. Was his interest related to the hotel, or something more?

      A man could want a woman without knowing anything at all about her other than the way she walked and the scent of her perfume. Simple lust he understood. But this fixation on ferreting out Zoe’s secrets alarmed him. Whether she was an eccentric heiress or a working girl with only months to live or European royalty hiding out from the press, her story was hers to tell.

      Perhaps if he were patient, Zoe would open up to him. Two decades ago he had allowed infatuation to blind him to the truth about a woman. It had been a salutary lesson, and one he wouldn’t repeat. The fact that he was already so intrigued by Zoe meant he had to be very careful not to let his hormones overrule his common sense.

      * * *

      Zoe was having the most marvelous time. Dressed up for a change. Chatting with a suave, worldly, handsome man. Feeling like a desirable woman. All in all, quite an exceptional evening.

      Liam was fascinating. On the outside, the epitome of a sophisticated gentleman. But in his conversation and in his eyes, she caught glimpses of another man, another less polished persona.

      What did it say about her that she wanted to see more of the second?

      She savored the last bit of her drink, feeling the pleasant buzz in her limbs as the alcohol worked its way through her bloodstream. She was not much of a drinker and had little tolerance for strong spirits. The daiquiri had just enough of a punch to leave her relaxed and happy.

      Liam seemed in no hurry to end their encounter, so she lingered as well, even as the bar emptied slowly. It was fun to pick out the honeymooners, the anniversary couples. A few duos exhibited the marks of enjoying a clandestine affair.

      Watching people was a hobby of Zoe’s. She knew how to fade into the background, especially with her guitar around her neck.

      Over the years, her people skills had carried her far and had kept her out of harm’s way. A single woman on the road had to be smart and well prepared. Despite her current slenderness, she knew how to fell an assailant and how to disable an aggressor.

      Tonight, however, such skills would not be needed. Liam was not the kind of man who had to force himself on a woman. The intensity of his eyes made her shiver. They were technically the same color as hers. But in Liam’s case, the blue was the searing shade found in the heart of a flame.

      He had unbuttoned the top button of his shirt and loosened his tie. At the end of a long day, his jaw was shadowed. She imagined for a moment what he would look like in bed, ready for sleep after making love to a woman.

      Her thighs tightened and her belly quivered. Perhaps Bessie had been wrong. Perhaps Silver Glen, North Carolina, presented danger rather than a safe haven. Zoe rarely had difficulty guarding her heart. Her transient lifestyle kept relationships at bay.

      But then again, she had never met a man like Liam who appealed to her so immediately and so viscerally. Contentment ruled her days for the most part, even if loneliness had to be acknowledged and embraced.

      For Liam Kavanagh she was willing to change all that. She knew it in an instant. Perhaps she was even willing to blindly follow the demands of her body and give in to the sweet rush of arousal. Throwing herself into an impulsive affair was completely out of character. But her illness during the late winter had shaken her.

      Lying in a strange hospital in Albuquerque, New Mexico, near death at one point, she had hit rock bottom. No one knew where she was. There were no friends nearby to bring flowers and pop in for a visit. If she had slipped away into the great beyond, her passing would have sparked little more interest than a search for next of kin.

      Shame and distress made her tremble. She had been on the run for so long that she no longer knew how to relax and enjoy life. She told herself that her needs were few. That traveling light was a virtue. But at the end of the day, what did she have to show for her twenty-seven years on this earth?

      Contemplating change was difficult. And terrifying.

      Liam reached across the table and took one of her hands in his. “Are you okay, Zoe? You’ve gone pale as milk. And you’re shaking. It’s late. If you’ve been ill, perhaps you need to be in bed.”

      Was it her imagination, or СКАЧАТЬ