by Francis Ray
“Then, Lydia, I’m sure you’ll excuse us and understand why I’m taking her to her room.” Daniel’s large hand on Madelyn’s shoulder, he urged her toward the elevator several feet away.
“But you were going out to lunch with us,” Lydia protested loudly.
“I already told you I had other plans,” Daniel replied, pushing the button for the elevator. “Give your father my best. We’ll talk later, Carlos.” The elevator pinged open, and Daniel hastened Madelyn in. The door closed on Lydia’s angry face. A silent Carlos stood by her side.
“Which floor?”
“I’m not staying here,” she confessed, pulling the jacket closer to her body. “I came in only to get out of the rain and dry off a little.”
Incredible black eyes studied her for a moment, then he turned toward the panel. A lean brown finger punched seventeen.
“What are you doing?” Madelyn exclaimed, her anxious gaze going from Daniel to the panel clicking off the floors.
“You may be out of that rain, but you have yet to achieve your second goal.” Folding his arms, he leaned against the highly polished paneled wall. “From your reaction downstairs and the way you’re clutching my coat, you now have a bigger problem.”
Madelyn glanced at a dangerously attractive Daniel Falcon, a certified stealer of women’s hearts and common sense, then away. “I’m not going to your hotel room.”
The elevator door slid open smoothly on seventeen. Madelyn remained unmoved.
Daniel pushed the button to keep the door open. “Whatever you’ve heard about me, did anyone ever say I took advantage of women?” he asked, his voice infinitely patient.
Her head came around to face him. “How do you know we haven’t met?”
“Some women you don’t forget.”
A tiny shiver of pleasure worked its way down her spine. She shifted uneasily under his intent regard. “The woman downstairs seemed upset.”
“Not my doing, I assure you. Now do we get off, or do we go back downstairs and I call you a cab?”
Nervously she chewed on her lower lip. “I don’t suppose I could keep your coat, could I?”
“You can keep the coat until you’re ready to give it up. I wouldn’t want you to think you needed rescuing from me as well,” he told her with the same patience he had displayed earlier.
It wasn’t fear she was feeling, but something totally different and new. Her problem. Her brothers trusted this man. He wasn’t about to try and take advantage of her or any other woman. He didn’t have to. Women fought for the chance to get his attention and be in his bed. The angry woman downstairs was a case in point.
Madelyn shivered again from the cold, from something she wasn’t ready to examine too closely. One thing she couldn’t ignore was the wet dress clinging to her body like a second skin.
Water ran in silent rivulets from her hair down the sides of her face. More water dripped from the hem of her dress to the carpeted floor. Irresistible she was not. She stepped off the elevator.
Lightly grasping her elbow through his coat, Daniel led her down the wide, carpeted hallway to his room. Opening the door with his plastic key, he stepped back.
Swallowing, Madelyn slowly entered. One step inside, she knew her room was nothing compared to Daniel’s suite. Her feet sank into lush white carpet. Chinese art graced the walls, and art deco pieces sat on the intricately carved entry table.
Wide-eyed, she stared up into Daniel’s bronzed face. “I can’t.”
Black brows drew together. “I thought we had settled that you were safe.”
She shook her head, then stopped and flushed again as water sprayed the front of his cream-colored shirt. “It’s not that. I’ll mess up the place.”
Relief washed over his handsome face. “I’ll leave a generous tip for the maid. Come on, let’s get you into something dry.”
Madelyn was so shocked by what he had said that she didn’t resist the strong hand propelling her past the spacious living room with a dining table seating eight into a bedroom that screamed luxury and comfort.
“There’s a bathrobe on the door. Do you want coffee, tea, or chocolate?”
Trembling fingers clutched his coat. “Chocolate.”
Nodding, he gently but firmly urged her inside the bathroom. “I think you’ll find everything you need.” Smiling, he closed the door.
For a long moment Madelyn simply stared at the door. Trusting Daniel was one thing—taking off her clothes in his bathroom was another. Swallowing nervously, she glanced around and gasped at her reflection in the immense mirror.
She had seen drowned rats who looked better. Rain had taken the curls from her hair, the light makeup from her face.
It didn’t take much to remember the well turned out and beautiful Lydia from downstairs and her elegance in a bright yellow silk sheath. Of the two of them, Madelyn had to admit the other woman would be chosen hands down. Daniel was only being nice. The same way he had been nice to her sister-in-law when she had needed rescuing.
Shannon had told Madelyn on more than one occasion how protective and solicitous of her Daniel had been when they first met. At the time Shannon had been in love with Madelyn’s stubborn, hardheaded brother, and he had been fighting it all the way.
Matt had tried to deny his feelings for Shannon, but that hadn’t stopped him from being intensely jealous of Daniel. After Matt came to his senses, he realized all Daniel had offered Shannon was friendship when she had needed it the most.
Madelyn knew when she fell in love, she’d be more like Kane. From the first moment her oldest brother had beheld Victoria, he’d known she would be important in his life. Their first kiss sealed their fate. Falling in love for Madelyn would be just as simple and satisfying.
A knock sounded on the bathroom door. “Someone’s here to pick up your things.”
“Just a minute,” she called. She was a grown woman, for goodness’ sake. Going back downstairs and waiting for a taxi, dripping water all the way, was idiotic when she didn’t have to. Daniel was an honorable man.
Taking off the coat, she reached for the elastic shoulders of the white dress. Quickly pulling her arms free, she pushed the clinging dress down over her legs and stepped out. Making sure she didn’t look in the mirror again, she pulled on the robe and tied it securely around her waist.
Cracking the door slightly, she held out the dress wrapped in a towel. Seeing his large hands close around the bundle almost had her snatching it back. Instead she closed the door. Some of her friends would laugh themselves silly if they knew how nervous she was.
Daniel wasn’t going to see any more of her now than he had before. In fact, he was going to see less. It was just the idea that he knew she was taking off her dress that had her so jittery.
Moments later another knock sounded on the door. “Was that all you wanted to send?”
A wave of heat swept from her breasts to her cheeks. “Yes,” she said crisply.
His answering chuckle was part teasing, part sinful, and wholly intriguing. “Just checking. Hurry up or your chocolate will be cold.”
The scoundrel! Madelyn thought, but she was smiling. She glanced into the mirror, and her heart sank. She looked like a lost waif, a very wet lost waif.
Why couldn’t she have met Daniel when she was dry and had a smidgen of makeup on? She might not want her name added to his long list of past lady friends, but that didn’t mean she didn’t want him to find her attractive.
Fat chance she had of that happening now. Taking a towel from the roll on the marbled vanity, she mopped up the water from the floor.
Chapter 2
She looked adorable standing in the door of his bedroom in the oversized white bathrobe. Adorable wasn’t a word Daniel equated with women in his life, but it seemed to fit the hesitant woman staring at him with huge chocolate eyes.
“I was beginning to think I’d have to drink all this chocolate by myself,” Daniel said, hoping to ease some of her obvious tension.
�
��I thought about letting you,” came the soft reply.
Daniel smiled. He had been doing that a lot since the woman now chewing on her bottom lip had literally fallen into his arms. “I’m glad you didn’t. Have a seat and I’ll pour.”
Clutching the neck of the robe, she crossed the room. Toenails painted a deep burgundy emerged from beneath the dragging hem with each step. Gracefully she sank into one of the four easy chairs positioned around the coffee table.
“Why don’t you put your feet up?” he asked her, pouring her chocolate and handing it to her.
“This is fine, thank you.” The cup and saucer rattled slightly in her hands. “How long will it be before my dress is ready?”
“Soon.” He took a seat next to her. Obviously she wasn’t used to sitting around in a robe in front of a man. On one hand he was pleased; on the other he was hoping to change that. “I told them to put a rush on it.”
A shy smile flickered across her beautiful face. “Thank you. You’ve been very kind.”
“I try to take care of things that are important to me.”
Her smile slipped a notch. “Octavia was certainly right about you being the silver-tongued devil.”
He jerked upright in his chair. “Octavia. Octavia Ralston, Matt Taggart’s housekeeper?”
“The one and only.”
“You aren’t one of her granddaughters or something, are you?” he asked. Please, don’t let her say yes, he thought fervently.
“No. Why?”
Relieved, he settled back in his chair. “Just checking. Is that who you heard about me from?”
For a few moments she stared into her cup, then lifted her head turbaned in a white bath towel. “Actually I’ve heard about you from a number of people.”
“Such as?” Daniel questioned, uneasiness creeping back over him.
“First from Shannon—then of course Matt had to put in his two cents’ worth. Kane said very little, but Victoria added a few points.” She sipped her chocolate. “Cleve was almost as closemouthed as Kane, but Octavia talked enough for all of them.”
“Who are you?”
“Can’t you guess?” she asked, setting her cup aside.
He studied her beautiful caramel-colored face again, the winged brows, the lush lashes, the supple lips, the sparkles in the deep eyes a man could get lost gazing into. More than that, he recalled what she had said. The Taggarts weren’t given to gossip; neither were Cleve or Octavia.
That left one damning and unwanted answer. “You can’t be Kane and Matt’s little sister.”
She grinned impishly at him. “And why not?”
“Because little sisters don’t look like you!” he said almost accusingly. The moment the words were out of his mouth, he thought of Dominique. His wandering younger sister created a minor stir wherever she went. Presently she was in Paris doing a photo shoot—only this time she was behind the camera instead of in front of it.
Daniel’s guest laughed, a full, throaty sound that delighted and annoyed him at the same time because he knew he wasn’t going to hear it while she was lying next to him in bed. “Oh, Daniel, I believe you’ve given me a compliment. But little sisters do grow up.”
His hot gaze raked her body again. He remembered the lushness of her breasts—the soft curves of her body that the wet, clinging dress made impossible to ignore—and silently groaned. That was putting it mildly.
She held out her hand. “Madelyn June Taggart.”
Daniel rose to take her small hand in his, noting the fine bone structure, the softness, the unexpected jolt of awareness. “I thought they said your name was Addie.”
Madelyn made a face. “As a child I had difficulty pronouncing my name and left off the M and the last syllable. I refused to answer to anything but the mangled form of my name, Addie. Since graduation from college, I’ve refused to answer to anything except my given name.”
A slight smile tilted the corner of his mouth. “Stubborn just like your brothers, huh?”
“I choose to see it as determined.”
His expression became grim. “When I asked Matt about you, he said they were still trying to get your teeth straight.”
Pulling her hand free, she showed him perfect white teeth.
Both hands on his hips, Daniel scowled. “He really had me going.”
“You and every male over the age of eighteen. What is it they say about rogues and rakes making poor husbands? They make even worse older brothers.” Wrinkling her nose, she pulled her feet under her.
Daniel saw a flash of smooth brown leg and seriously thought of giving Matt that broken nose they always joked about.
“He probably told you I was nearsighted, kept my head buried in a book, and was so shy I seldom went out in public.” Madelyn folded her arms. “Kane’s not as bad, but they’re both overprotective.”
Daniel finally reclaimed his seat. “That’s like saying a hurricane is a strong wind.”
“Matt doesn’t usually lay it on so thick. Your reputation must be worse than they let on or even Octavia suspects.”
The words were said teasingly, but from the way she looked at him, he suspected she was half convinced he couldn’t make a step without tripping over a woman. He usually didn’t care what people thought of him, but the woman across from him made him think differently.
“Since the only time I met Octavia was shortly before Matt and Shannon’s engagement, I don’t suppose what she had to say was too complimentary,” he explained.
Those perfect white teeth flashed. “Actually Octavia likes you. Matt likes you, too, as long as you’re not within a hundred miles of Shannon.”
“I never trespass. Matt should have remembered I have certain rules I live by. Rules I never break,” Daniel said. “You have chocolate on your upper lip.”
Madelyn ran a finger across the area, then flicked her tongue over her upper lip. “Did I get it?”
“Yes,” Daniel said, shifting restlessly in his chair. He had rules he lived by, and he had never been tempted to break them. Until now.
He was being tempted now to get up and taste the chocolate on her lips and go from there until he intimately knew the taste and shape of every inch of her body.
“You were dealing with the old Matt,” Madelyn told him. “Marriage agrees with him. I’ve never seen him happier.”
“I hope it lasts,” Daniel replied, glad they were on a subject guaranteed to cool down his blood.
Madelyn frowned. “Why shouldn’t it? They both love and respect each other very much.”
“Sometimes love isn’t enough,” he said.
Her frown deepened. “You can’t mean that?”
“I do.”
She shook her head. “If Matt could change, there’s hope for every man. He thought love and marriage wasn’t for him until he met and fell in love with Shannon.” She tilted her head and openly studied him. “The same thing will happen to you. You’ll probably fight harder than he did, but you’ll lose.”
He crossed his arms across his broad chest. “You sound like you’re looking forward to my downfall.”
She flushed and clasped her hands in her lap. “I-I simply meant I believe in love and think people are happier in love. Matt is proof that love can change anyone.”
“Has love changed you?” Daniel asked, unfolding his arms and leaning forward to hear her answer with more interest than he cared to admit.
Her head ducked. “I haven’t found him yet.”
“But you believe he’s out there?”
Her head lifted. Brown eyes met his with boundless assurance. “With all my heart.”
Somehow the idea of some faceless man waiting for Madelyn didn’t set well with Daniel. That man would have the right to slide the thick robe off and lay claim to her silken body.
But he could never be that man.
“You’re frowning. I’m sorry.” She shifted uneasily in her chair. “After all you’ve done for me, I didn’t mean to offend you.”
“You did
n’t.”
A knock sounded on the door. Grateful, he rose. It was past time to send Madelyn on her way before he did or said something they’d both regret. “It must be your dress.”
Instead of a bellhop, an enraged Lydia stood in the hallway. Without a word she brushed by him as if she had every right to do so. Tight-lipped and apologetic, Carlos slowly followed.
At another time Daniel would have put a stop to Lydia’s nonsense. Presently he needed a buffer.
“Do come in,” he drawled and closed the door.
“Just as I thought,” Lydia snapped. “Why isn’t she in her room?”
Large brown eyes sought Daniel’s. Madelyn’s delicate hand went to the collar of her robe. Daniel might need a buffer between him and Madelyn, but he’d be damned if he’d stand by and see her embarrassed.
“I wasn’t aware that either I or my guest had to give you an explanation for our actions.” Stepping around the other woman, he went to stand by Madelyn.
“How heroic, Daniel. Apparently you didn’t waste any time getting to know each other better,” Lydia said snidely, glaring at Madelyn.
“Not as much as we would have liked before you arrived,” Madelyn said, surprising herself by the loaded innuendo. Her hand left the collar of the robe to rest negligently in her lap.
Something about the haughty arrogance of the woman grated on Madelyn’s nerves. She didn’t dare let herself think it was because Lydia’s presence made Madelyn feel even more drab and unattractive in front of Daniel.
Daniel’s head jerked toward the breathy sound of Madelyn’s voice. He blinked in amazement, then grinned. Perhaps she wasn’t the innocent he thought. One thing he was sure of was that being around two strong-willed, no-crap-taking men had apparently rubbed off on their little sister.
Carlos stopped pretending to study the watercolor landscape and instead studied Madelyn.
Lydia’s scarlet lips clamped tightly at seeing both men’s attention shift to another woman. Perfectly manicured nails, the same bright red as her lips, flexed in agitation on the gold chain of her handbag.
“Daniel and I were just having some chocolate, would you like to join us?” Madelyn asked, uncurling from the chair and reaching for the pot.