by Lisa Jackson
Sheila knew that he was goading her, and although she was provoked at the thought, she replied in a calm voice that overshadowed his impertinent questions. “The winery employs a viticulturist for the vineyards. Dave Jansen is a respected viticulturist who grew up in the valley. His research has helped develop a stronger variety of grape, hardier for the cold weather. As for the actual fermentation and bottling, we employ an enologist who is more than capable—”
“Then what about the losses?” he demanded impatiently as he frowned into his drink. Why did he care? “Assuming that your father knew what he was doing, he made one helluva mess of it, according to the latest annual report.”
Sheila’s throat was hoarse and dry. The pent-up emotions she had kept hidden within her for the last month were about to explode, and she knew that if prodded any further, her restrained temper would be unleashed. She had expected a rough business meeting with a member of the Wilder family, but she was unprepared for this brutal inquisition from Noah and the way his overpowering masculinity was affecting her. She found it impossible to drag her eyes away from his face. “As I stated before…we’ve had a run of bad luck.”
“Bad luck? Is that what you call it?” Noah asked. He wondered why his words sounded so brittle in the warm den. “The tampered bottles found in Montana, and the expensive recall? The damaged crops last year because of the early snowfall? The ash and debris from the Mount Saint Helens’ eruption? And now the fire? From what I understand, the fire was set intentionally. Do you call that bad luck?” His eyes had darkened to the color of midnight as he calculated her reaction.
“What would you call it?” she challenged.
“Mismanagement!”
“Natural disasters!”
“Not the fire.”
For a moment there was a restless silence; Sheila felt the muscles in her jaw tightening. She made a vain effort to cool her rising temper. It was impossible. “What are you inferring?’ she demanded.
“That your father wasn’t exactly the businessman he should have been,” Noah snapped. He was angry at himself, at Ben and at Oliver Lindstrom. “I’m not just talking about the fire,” he amended when he noticed that the color had drained from her face. “That loan to him from Wilder Investments. What was it used for—improvements in the winery? I doubt it!”
Sheila felt the back of her neck become hot. How much did Noah know about her? Would she have to explain that most of the money her father had borrowed was given to her?
Noah’s tirade continued. “I don’t see how you can possibly expect to turn the business around, considering your lack of experience.” His fingers tightened around his glass.
Sheila’s thin patience snapped, and she rose, intending to leave. “Oh, I see,” she replied, sarcastically. “Cascade Valley doesn’t quite hold up to the sanctimonious standards of Wilder Investments. Is that what you mean?”
His eyes darkened before softening. Despite his foul mood a grim smile tugged at the corners of Noah’s mouth. “Touché, Miss Lindstrom,” he whispered.
Sheila was still prepared for verbal battle and was perplexed by the change in Noah’s attitude. His uncompromising gaze had yielded. When he smiled to display straight, white teeth and the hint of a dimple, the tension in the air disintegrated. Sheila became conscious of the softly pelting rain against the windowpanes and the heady scent of burning pitch. She felt her heart beating wildly in her chest, and she had the disturbing sensation that the enigmatic man watching her wistfully could read her mind. He wanted to touch her…breathe the scent of her hair…make her forget any other man in her life. He said nothing, but she read it in the power of his gaze. Was she as transparent as he?
Sheila felt an urgency to leave and a compulsion to stay. Why? And why did the needs of Cascade Valley seem so distant and vague? The closeness of the cozy room and the unspoken conversation began to possess her, and though she didn’t understand it, she knew that she had to leave. Noah Wilder was too powerful. When he took hold of her with his eyes, Sheila wanted never to be released. She reached for her purse. When she found her voice, it was ragged, torn with emotions she didn’t dare name. “Is…is it possible to meet with you next week?”
Noah’s eyes flicked to her purse, the pulse jumping in the hollow of her throat and finally to her face. “What’s wrong with right now?”
“I…have to get back…really.” Who was she trying to convince? “My daughter is waiting for me.” She started to turn toward the door in order to break the seductive power of his gaze.
“You have a daughter?” The smile left his face, and his dark brows blunted. “But I thought…” He left the sentence unfinished as he got out of the chair.
Sheila managed a thin smile. “You thought I wasn’t married? I’m not. The divorce was final over four years ago. I prefer to use my maiden name,” she explained stiffly. It was still difficult to talk about the divorce. Though she didn’t love Jeff, the divorce still bothered her.
“I didn’t mean to pry.” His sincerity moved her.
“I know. It’s all right.”
“I’m sorry if I brought up a sore subject.”
“Don’t worry about it. It was over long ago.”
The sound of tires screaming against wet pavement as a car came to a sudden halt cut off the rest of her explanation. Sheila was grateful for the intrusion; Noah was getting too close to her. The engine continued to grind for a moment and then faded into the distance. Noah was instantly alert. “Excuse me,” he muttered as he strode out of the room.
Sheila waited for just a minute and then followed the sound of Noah’s footsteps. She had to get out of the house, away from the magnetism of Noah Wilder. As she walked down the hallway, she heard the sound of the front door creaking open.
“Where the hell have you been?” Noah demanded. The worry in his voice thundered through the hallways. At the sound Sheila stopped dead in her tracks. Whoever he had been waiting for had finally arrived. If only she had managed to leave earlier. Why hadn’t she listened to her common sense and left Noah Wilder the moment she had met him? The last thing she wanted was to be caught up in a family argument.
There was a muted reply to Noah’s demand. Sheila couldn’t hear the words over the pounding of her heartbeat. She was trapped. She couldn’t intrude on a very personal confrontation. She had to find a way to escape.
Noah’s voice again echoed through the house. “I don’t want to hear any more of your pitiful excuses! Go upstairs and try to sleep it off. I’ll talk to you in the morning, and believe you me, there are going to be some changes in your behavior! This is the last time you stumble into this house drunk on your can, Sean!”
Sheila let out a sigh of relief. It was Noah’s son who had come home, not his wife. Why did she feel some consolation in that knowledge? Sheila retreated to the library, but Noah’s harsh words continued to ring in her ears. Why was Noah so angry with his son, and why did it matter to her? It was better not to know anything more about Noah Wilder and his family. It was too dangerous.
Once back in the den, Sheila fidgeted. She knew that Noah was returning, and the knowledge made her anxious. She didn’t want to see him again, not here in this room. It was too cozy and seemed seductively inviting. She needed to meet with him another time, in another place…somewhere safe.
She rushed through the room and paused at the French doors. She pushed down on the brass handle and escaped into the night. A sharp twinge of guilt told her she should make some excuse for leaving to Noah, but she didn’t know what she would say. It was easier to leave undetected. She couldn’t afford to get involved with Noah Wilder or any of his personal problems. Right now she was a business partner of Wilder Investments, nothing more.
Sheila shuddered as a blast of cold air greeted her. She had to squint in the darkness. Soft raindrops fell from the sky to run down her face as she attempted to get her bearings in the moonless night. “Damn,” she muttered under her breath when she realized that she hadn’t walked out of a bac
k entrance to the house as she had hoped but was standing on a spacious flagstone veranda overlooking the black waters of Lake Washington. She leaned over the railing to view the jagged cliff and saw that there was no way she could hope to scale its rocky surface. She couldn’t escape.
“Sheila!” Noah’s voice boomed in the night. It startled her, and she slipped on the wet flagstones. To regain her balance, she tightened her grip on the railing. “What the devil do you think you’re doing?” In three swift strides he was beside her. He grabbed her shoulders and yanked her away from the edge of the veranda.
Sheila froze in her embarrassment. How stupid she must look, trying to flee into the night. It seemed that her poise and common sense had left her when she had met Noah.
“I asked you a question—what were you doing out here?” Noah gave her shoulders a hard shake. His eyes were dark with rage and something else. Was it fear?
Sheila managed to find her voice, though most of her attention remained on the pressure of Noah’s fingers against her upper arms. “I was trying to leave,” she admitted.
“Why?”
“I didn’t want to hear your argument with your son.”
The grip on her shoulders relaxed, but his fingers lingered against her arms. “You would have had to have been deaf not to hear that argument. I’m just glad that you weren’t considering jumping from the deck.”
“What? Of course not. It must be over fifty feet straight down.”
“At least.”
“And you thought I might jump?” She was incredulous.
“I didn’t know what to think,” he conceded. “I don’t know you and I don’t really understand why you came out here or why you were leaning over the railing.” He seemed honestly perplexed.
“There’s nothing mysterious about it, I just wanted to leave. I was looking for a back exit.”
“Why were you in such a hurry?” He examined her more closely. It was hard to tell in the darkness, but he was sure that she was blushing. Why?
“I don’t feel comfortable here,” she admitted.
“Why not?”
Because of you. You’re not what I expected at all. I’m attracted to you and I can’t be! “I’ve invaded your privacy and I apologize for that. It was rude of me to come to your home uninvited.”
“But you didn’t know it was my home.”
“That doesn’t matter. I think it would be best if I were to leave. We can meet another time…in your office…or at the winery, if you prefer.” He was close to her. She could see the interest in his cool blue eyes, smell his heady male scent, feel an unspoken question hanging dangerously between them.
“I don’t know when I’ll have the time,” he hedged.
“Surely you can find an hour somewhere,” she coaxed. The tight feeling in her chest was returning.
“What’s wrong with now?”
“I told you…I don’t want to interfere in your private life.”
“I think it might be too late for that.”
Sheila swallowed, but the dryness in her throat remained. Noah looked into the farthest reaches of her eyes, as if he were searching for her soul. She felt strangely vulnerable and naked to his knowing gaze, but she didn’t shrink away from him. Instead she returned his unwavering stare. His fingers once again found her arms. She didn’t pull away, nor did she sway against him. Though she was drawn to his raw masculinity, she forced her body to remain rigid and aloof as his hands slid up her arms to rest at the base of her throat.
Raindrops moistened her cheeks as she lifted her face to meet his. She knew that he was going to kiss her and involuntarily her lips parted. His head lowered, and the pressure of his fingers against her throat moved in slow, seductive circles as his lips touched hers in a bittersweet kiss that asked questions she couldn’t hope to answer. She wasn’t conscious of accepting what he offered until she felt her arms circle his waist. It had been so long since she had wanted a man. Not since Jeff had she let a man close to her. Never had she felt so unguarded and passionate. Until now, when she stood in the early summer rain, kissing a man she couldn’t really trust. She felt a warm, traitorous glow begin to burn within her.
His hands shifted to the small of her back and pulled her against his hard, lean frame. She felt the rigid contours of his body, and the ache in hers began to spread. Lazily he brushed his lips over hers, and softly his tongue probed the warm recess of her mouth. All of her senses began to awaken and come alive. Feeling she had thought dead reappeared.
When he pulled away from her to look into her eyes, her rational thought came thundering back to her. She saw a smoldering passion in the smoky blue depths of his eyes, and she knew that her own eyes were inflamed with a desire that had no bounds.
“I’m sorry,” she swiftly apologized, trying to take a step backward. The hands on her waist held her firmly against him.
“For what?”
“Everything, I guess. I didn’t mean for things to get so out of hand.”
He cocked his head to one side in a pose of disbelief. “You must enjoy running out on me. Is that it? Are you just a tease?” Was he kidding? Couldn’t he feel her response?
“I meant that I hadn’t planned to become involved with you.”
“I know that.”
“Do you?”
“Of course. Neither of us planned any of this, but we can’t deny that we’re attracted to each other. We both felt it earlier in the study, and we’re feeling it now.” One of his fingers touched her swollen lips, challenging her to contradict him.
Her knees became weak as his head once again lowered and his lips, deliciously warm and sensitive, touched hers. She was drawn to him, but she fought the attraction. She pulled away. Her own lips were trembling and for an unguarded instant, fear lighted her eyes.
Noah was wary. “Is something wrong?”
She wanted to laugh at the absurdity of the situation. “Is anything wrong?” she echoed. “Are you kidding? How about everything? The winery is in a shambles, so I came to Seattle hoping that you would help me. Instead, I end up here looking for your father because I couldn’t get through to you. On top of that I stumble onto your argument with your son, and finally, I fall neatly into your arms.”
Noah put a finger to her lips to silence her. “Shhh. All right, so we’ve got a few problems.”
“A few?”
“What I’m trying to tell you is that sometimes it’s best to get away and escape from those problems. It gives one a better perspective.”
“You’re sure?”
“What I’m sure of is that I find you incredibly attractive.” Noah’s voice was soothing, and Sheila felt her body lean more closely to his.
“This won’t work, you know,” she whispered breathlessly.
“Don’t worry about tomorrow.”
“Someone has to.” Reluctantly she wrenched herself free of his arms and straightened her coat. “I came here to find your father because you refused to see me.”
“My mistake,” he conceded wryly.
She ignored his insinuation. “That’s the only reason I’m here. I didn’t intend to overhear your argument with your son, nor did I expect to get this close to you. I hope you understand.”
The smile that slid across his face was seductively charming. “I understand perfectly,” he responded gently, and Sheila felt herself becoming mesmerized all over again. He was powerful and yet kind, bold without being brash, strong but not unyielding—the kind of man Sheila had thought didn’t exist. Her attraction to him was compelling, but her feelings were precarious.
“I have to go.”
“Stay.”
“I can’t.”
“Because of your daughter?”
“She’s one reason,” Sheila lied. “There are others.”
His smile broadened, and she saw the flash of his white teeth. “Come on, let’s go inside. You’re getting soaked.”
“At least I’m wearing a coat,” she taunted, noticing the way his wet shirt
was molding to the muscular contours of his shoulders and chest.
“I didn’t expect you to run out into the rain.”
“It was a stupid thing to do,” she admitted. “It’s just that I didn’t want to intrude. I didn’t think you—”
“Have problems of my own?”
Embarrassment crept up her throat. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t worry about it. I should have been a little more discreet when Sean came home. I lost control when I saw him drunk again.” Noah wiped the rain from his forehead as if he were erasing an unpleasant thought. He touched her lightly on the elbow and guided her back into the house.
It was difficult for Noah to ignore any part of her; he couldn’t help but notice the quiet dignity with which she carried herself, the curve of her calf as she walked, or the shimmer of her chestnut hair, which had darkened into unruly curls in the rain.
“Thank you for seeing me,” she said softly. “I don’t suppose you would consider telling me how to reach your father?”
“I don’t think that would be wise.”
Sheila smiled sadly to herself. “Then I’ll be going. Thank you for your time.”
“You’re not really planning to drive back to the valley tonight?” he asked, studying the tired lines of her face. How far could he trust her? She seemed so open with him, and yet he felt as if she were hiding something, a secret she was afraid to share.
“No. I’ll drive back in the morning.”
He stood with his back to the fire, warming his palms on the rough stones. “But your daughter. I thought she was expecting you.”
“Not tonight. She’s probably having the time of her life. That grandmother of hers spoils her rotten.”
Noah rubbed his chin and his dark brows raised. “I didn’t realize your mother was still alive.”
A pensive expression clouded Sheila’s even features. “She’s not. Emily is staying with my ex-husband’s mother…. We’re still close.”