Chapter 7

Mik woke to the smell of coffee. She opened one eye. Where the hell was she? Then she remembered. On the sofa in the lake house. Naked and feeling wonderfully satisfied and a bit sensitive from a night of sex that surpassed anything she’d ever dreamed of.

She closed her eyes, stretched, and smiled. The smile disappeared as fast as it had come. What the hell was she doing? She’d been on the ranch for less than a month and was in bed with Jed? That wasn’t like her. Not at all. Not only had she broken all her own rules about moving too fast with men, but she’d also revealed her secret to him.

Panic flared. Her eyes flew open to see Jed standing beside the couch watching her. He sat down beside her holding a steaming cup of coffee. “Rise and shine, beauty. It’s almost dawn and we’ve got work to do.”

Just the act of looking at him had her better sense fleeing. She might have screwed up in the worst possible way, but the damage was done. There was no going back. Besides, she couldn’t look at him and want to turn back the clock.

“I don’t have a job. You fired me, remember?”

“Well, I’m rehiring you.” He set the cup on the coffee table and took her hands to pull her into a sitting position.

“Good morning,” he whispered and kissed her gently.

“Hmmm, yes it is.” She pulled him closer, wiggling onto her knees so she could climb onto his lap, straddling him.

He rewarded her with a sexy smile and tangled one hand in her hair to draw her face closer. “Troublemaker,” he murmured against her lips.

She slid her hand up between their lips. “Morning breath,” she said from behind her hand.

“Not here,” he replied with a grin, dipped her back and lowered his mouth to her breast.

Mik felt like her eyes were about to roll back in her head at the delicious sensations rioting through her body. Jed was either the most talented lover in history or their night of openness had given him intimate knowledge of how to play her body like a master.

Either way, it didn’t matter. She was enjoying the moment way too much to waste it with analyzing.

The persistent buzz of a cell phone filtered in as his mouth started a slow trek down her body. “Damn!” Jed paused and pulled his phone from its belt clip. “Yeah? Yeah, ten minutes.”

“We’re late for breakfast,” he announced.

Mik groaned and fell sideways on the sofa. “I guess this means morning sex is out.”

“Unfortunately. But hey, there’s always lunch break.”

Mik grinned at him, but a thought had her sobering. “Jed, this thing…us…I won’t let it be a problem. I mean, I don’t expect—“

“I know what you mean,” he interrupted. “Don’t worry about it, honey. If you’re half as good as Jake claims it’ll be fine.”

“Half as good?” She sat up, tossing her hair back over her shoulder. “Baby, I’m twice as good as he thinks.”

“Twice, eh?”

“You bet’cha.”

“Well in that case, I reckon you ought to be able to take at least an hour for lunch.”

She smiled and climbed off the couch. “You’ll have to talk to my boss about that.” She headed for the bathroom, looking over her shoulder as she reached the door. “I hear tell the man’s a real tight ass.”

Jed came off the couch after her and she squealed and dashed into the bathroom. In less than two minutes, they were in the shower, the water beating down on them as Mik’s legs wound around Jed’s lean waist, and all thoughts of breakfast were forgotten.

*****

Deidre drained the last of the apple martini and turned her attention back to the leather-bound photo album. This was a pictorial view of her life, at least that’s how she thought of it. She looked at it once or twice a year. Not to remind herself where she’d been or how far she’d come, but to judge whether she needed to have more cosmetic work done.

One thing Deidre hated was the idea of looking old. She would never let herself be like her mother. Even as a child, her mother had looked old. Old and worn. Faded blond hair with no discernable style, faded blue eyes and pale lashes that matched her faded clothes.

Deidre had sworn to herself almost the day she hit puberty that she would never end up like her mother—the ghost of a woman, someone that would never earn a second look.

That was one promise she’d kept.

She flipped through the album, stopping to look at a photo of herself taken when she was sixteen. Had she been able, her artfully arched eyebrows would have drawn together in a frown. Years of Botox had rendered that impossible. Yet it didn’t stop the narrowing of her eyes or the downturn of her newly plumped lips.

“Sixteen wasn’t a good year.” A soft voice sounded close to her right ear. Deidre turned her head to see the ghostly apparition of her ancestress Sara Whitestone, sitting beside her.

“Sixteen was a bitch,” she replied, turning her attention back to the photo. “That was the year I seduced the new doctor that arrived in town to set up practice.”

“Yes, an ill-fated plan,” Sara, replied.

“It should have worked. I had it all planned. I’d land the doctor, get him to marry me, have a nice house and expensive car.”

Sara chuckled softly. “Which goes to show that trapping a man requires much more than a bulging belly fat with child.”

“That bastard!” Deidre’s voice rose in anger that had never died. “He offered to help me terminate the pregnancy and said he had no intention of marrying a teenage girl. Particularly not one from the wrong side of the tracks.”

The memory had her hands tightening into fists and her breath coming faster. She had resisted the idea of abortion until she was too far along in the pregnancy to make that a viable option. She was certain the doctor would change his mind, realize he loved her, and take her as his wife.

“But it didn’t work out that way, did it?” Sara whispered. “He wanted only to be rid of you. Rather than let you parade around town with his bastard child as you threatened, he bought you off.”

The enraged hiss that emerged from Deidre’s lips brought only a smile to Sara’s face. Deidre hated the man. To this day, she would cheerfully cut out his heart and roast it if given the chance.

With what he had saved and what he could borrow, he set her up in a modest apartment in Atlanta, paid for her medical costs and gave her enough to live on for a year after the birth of the child.

For the remainder of the pregnancy Deidre clung to the fantasy that he would change his mind, realize what a mistake he’d made and come for her. That hadn’t happened.

She gave birth to a healthy daughter. Six months later, she was out of money and sick of tending to a baby. She called the doctor demanding more money and that he take the child.

He did provide her with more money but didn’t take the child. Instead, he arranged for a private adoption. That suited Deidre. By that time, she’d lost whatever affection she had for the doctor and already had her eye on someone new. The baby was a hindrance to her plans. Once freed of it she could set about trapping the new object of her affection. And this time she’d be much smarter.

“Madame?” Her butler interrupted her reverie. “A Mr. Raymond Franklin is here to see you. At your request, he insists.”

“Yes,” Deidre pulled her thoughts from the past, set aside the photo album and smoothed her silk crème skirt. “Show him in, Walden.”

“Yes, madam,”

“Will you stay for this meeting?” She asked her ghostly visitor.

“My dear, would I leave your side in such a crucial moment in our plan?”

“Then stay quiet. I don’t want him to know you’re here.”

“Quiet as a mouse,” Sara promised with a smile.

Deidre nodded and composed herself mentally. She was well aware that Dalton had hired Ray Franklin at her behest and planned to man the helm of the operation personally. But she never left anything to chance. She fully intended to deal personally with Franklin.

Besides, Dalton was a little viper, and she wouldn’t trust him as far as she could spit him. She knew he had his sights on usurping her position at Manning Enterprises. She’d be as stupid as he believed to be unaware of his ambition.

But it served her purpose for him to underestimate her. Because before the day was done, Mr. Franklin would have a new plan of operation. Bring down her step-son along with the Nash family. Take out all of her enemies in one fell swoop. Just like she and Sara had planned.