His Secret Temptation

by Cat Schield

  Or was Dane going to fill Caroline’s ears with negative stories about his younger brother’s antics? Try to convince her that Simon wasn’t the right man for her?

  He wanted to shove Caroline behind him and face off against his brother. To warn Dane to keep his opinions and hands to himself. What the hell was going on? Saving damsels was Dane’s job. Simon was the charmer. The one women couldn’t hope to hold on to long term.

  When had he and Dane switched roles? When had the scoundrel become the knight in shining armor?

  “I’m fine,” he snapped, pulling her into his space so they wouldn’t be overheard. Her soft ginger scent tickled his nose, reminding him how she looked sleeping in his bed. Her lean form sagged against his chest. Her lips parted in unconscious invitation. The chaos in his body intensified. “I just have one favor to ask.”

  “What?”

  Her whispered question shot through him like a bullet through glass, shattering his composure. An ache throbbed blow his belt. His escalating hunger for her combined with their hands-off agreement drove spikes of frustration into the most sensitive parts of his anatomy.

  “I’d really appreciate it if you could keep from falling in love with my brother while we’re here.”

  * * *

  Falling in love with his brother?

  What the heck was Simon talking about? Caroline started to peel herself off him, but found he’d snaked an arm around her waist, trapping her to his tense, rock-solid body. Her heart darted around in her chest, but not in fear, something a lot more unnerving. She liked being this close to him. Liked it way too much.

  “What makes you think I’d fall in love with your brother?” To her relief, her breathless state didn’t penetrate Simon’s irritation. “He has Francine.”

  “And they’re having problems. After I tell him what she’s been up to, he’ll probably break off the engagement and he’ll be free.”

  “And you think I’ll be standing by to pick up the pieces?”

  Caroline should have been angry with Simon for believing she was an opportunist, but the only emotion available to her came with molten gold pouring through her veins. His masculine scent and sexual magnetism set her senses ablaze.

  “Why not?” he demanded. “He’s rich. Passably good-looking.” His blue eyes held all the warmth of lapis. “And you’re both lawyers, or you will be soon enough. You’ll have lots in common.”

  Was he listening to himself? Caroline wasn’t sure if she was more angry with him for assuming she’d go after his brother, or herself for being delighted that it bothered him.

  “You’ve lost your mind,” she said, unsure which of them she referred to. “Your brother’s not interested in me.”

  Simon emitted a bitter snort. “I saw the way he was looking at you, holding your hand.”

  “He wanted to see my ring,” she protested. What had Simon seen in his brother’s manner that she’d missed?

  “He wanted more than that.”

  “M-more?” She sputtered to a stop. Where had Simon gotten that idea? Well sure, Dane had flirted with her, but charming women came as naturally to the Holcroft men as breathing. “Like what exactly?”

  Moving with deliberate intent, he slid his gaze from her eyes to her lips and swept lower. Men had checked her out like this before, but not once had she enjoyed it. Caroline stifled a groan at the plunge into desire. She’d never experienced anything like this crazy, dizzying hunger to press hard against Simon and let him do whatever he wanted with her body. Was this what her mother had warned her about? This hot, drugging slide into sensual abandonment?

  His broad chest beckoned. She balled her fingers into a fist to keep from running her fingers across his soft cotton sweater in search of his heartbeat. Would it be slow and measured, or racing the way hers was? She floated in the memory of the kiss they’d shared that morning. His lips, firm yet soft, tantalized her with a glimpse of passion.

  “You didn’t look as if you minded.”

  She was having a hard time capturing his meaning. “Minded what?”

  “That he was touching you.”

  A muscle in Simon’s jaw jumped as he glared at her. He looked like a jealous fiancé. But he wasn’t jealous. Or her fiancé.

  There was no way Simon was reacting to that innocent encounter on the sofa. Something older, more deeply buried in his psyche was causing him to behave irrationally.

  “You mean touching my hand when I was showing him the ring you bought me to seal our pretend engagement?” They were arguing as if they were a real couple instead of two people who had met three days ago.

  “You’re not the first woman I’ve dated that my brother’s been attracted to.”

  This was about Francine. Clarity dashed cold water on Caroline’s overheated emotions.

  “I’m not Francine,” she murmured, placing her palm on his cheek. Then even softer, “We’re not engaged, remember?”

  He blinked like a man coming awake from a trance. She sympathized. They were starting to believe their own lies. Yet every moment with Simon felt more real than the last. As for the way his nearness made her pulse race, she’d better be careful or she’d become lost in the same delusion that had just gripped him.

  He set her free and spun toward the kitchen. Noting the stiff set of his shoulders, she realized she’d said the wrong thing. She probably should have told him she wasn’t interested in his brother.

  “Simon…” What was she planning on saying to him? I’m not attracted to your brother because since waking in your bed, I’m obsessed with you?

  She pursued him to the kitchen, and found him standing with his hands braced on the counter, his gaze on the floor. Stepping to his side, she touched him on the shoulder. He gathered a deep breath and glanced her way.

  “What the hell just happened?” he asked, pushing away from the counter and taking her hands in his. His thumbs grazed her knuckles. Although he retained his tense frown, the intensity had leaked out of him.

  “I’m not sure.” The lingering confusion in his eyes made her long to wrap her arms around him. “Maybe a flashback to what happened between you and Francine.”

  “Yeah, that’s got to be it. Seeing you with Dane, all I could think was that I was going to lose you to him.” Seconds ticked by sluggishly as they stared at each other. Then a chuckle whooshed out of him. “You accused me of losing my mind. I think I did. Forgive me?”

  “Sure.”

  He pulled her into his arms. She felt his chin against the top of her head and wrapped her arms around his waist. Unlike a moment before, this was a platonic hug between friends. Silence stretched between them that Caroline didn’t know how to break.

  Simon was the first to speak. With one last squeeze, he said, “I guess I’d better get some wine open before my dad has a chance to poison anyone with his martinis.”

  “I’ll get the glasses,” Caroline said, all too aware of the hot color in her cheeks. She avoided looking Simon’s way as she entered the butler’s pantry and pulled out wineglasses.

  The fight and subsequent apology seemed to reset Simon’s good humor, but he remained glued to Caroline’s side until it was time for dinner. As they entered the large, formal dining room, his mother neatly separated them and put her on the opposite end of the table between Charles and Jerry.

  The brothers kept her entertained throughout the meal with stories of their misspent youth. She could easily see the similarities between the generations of Holcroft men and had little trouble picturing Dane and Simon’s children getting into mischief of their own.

  Intimidated to be seated between a judge and a retired district attorney, Caroline kept relatively quiet through the meal, answering only direct questions and volunteering little.

  Simon smiled encouragingly at her from down the table, where he was having a worse time, seated as he was between his mother and his aunt.

  After dinner, everyone except Dane and Harold adjourned to the library and sat down to what Caroline discovere
d was a Holcroft family tradition: Scrabble. Charles scattered the tiles across a table that comfortably seated six, and Caroline helped him turn them all face down. The board pivoted on a base, allowing the players to view it right side up when it was their turn.

  Caroline chose the highest numbered tile and started first. She didn’t have much to work with, and Simon smirked at her when she placed four tiles and spelled “bids.” His smugness worked to his disadvantage, however, because he drew mostly consonants and appeared to be a magnet for the letters X, Z and Q.

  The Scrabble authority turned out to be Aunt Delores. She outplayed them all by a hundred points each of the first two games. Caroline knew she could have done better if Simon had stopped stealing her vowels and leaving her with the hardest letters to place. She was giving him warning sidelong glares halfway through the third game, but he refused to stop cheating until she spelled “equalize” on a triple word score, pushing her total ahead of Delores for the first time.

  They all laughed at his dumbfounded expression, and Caroline forgot herself long enough to reach out and cradle his cheek in her palm. With his eyes shooting blue sparks, he caught her hand before she realized what she’d done. He turned his head and pressed a kiss on her palm, lightly nipping at the mound at the base of her thumb. The tender bite set off a chain reaction inside her, rippling sensation from her breasts to her loins, setting her alight. He acknowledged her response with a minute lift of his eyebrows. His lips curved in satisfaction when he released her. Caroline’s palm slipped away, but she couldn’t resist dragging her thumb across the corner of his mouth as her hand fell to her lap.

  When she turned back to the table, she found four pair of eyes watching them in various degrees of surprise and amusement. Whatever heat had built in her body with Simon’s kiss exploded out her cheeks.

  “One more game?” she inquired weakly, ignoring Simon’s smug expression and the way he laid one arm across the back of her chair in a proprietary manner.

  Suddenly everyone began yawning. Before Caroline could blink, Simon’s parents stood and began herding his aunt and uncle up to bed. Caroline rose as well, and Simon took her hand. They walked toward the foyer with the other couples, exchanged goodnights, and Caroline found herself alone with Simon as the grandfather clock in the hall chimed eleven.

  He still held her hand.

  Chapter Six

  They stared at each other for a long moment. Caroline knew what awaited them upstairs. Her mouth went dry as she contemplated what would it be like to stretch out in bed beside this man. To feel his weight settle over her, his hands and lips caress her skin, trailing fire.

  He would be both masterful and playful, encouraging her to explore him in turn. Long languid hours would be hers to discover every rise and fall of his powerful muscles. He would give her that time, but in the end he would resume control and skillfully wring every last moan from her before he took his own pleasure.

  “Feel like going for a walk?” His blunt question shattered the sensual fog she’d drifted in.

  Caroline gulped. “Sure.” Fresh air was exactly what she needed right now.

  “I’ll get our coats.”

  They left by the front door. Cool night air slapped her hot cheeks and she welcomed the chilly wake-up call. Mooning over whatever Simon would be like in bed was a huge error in judgment. So what if she’d never felt attracted to another man like this before. That didn’t mean surrendering to it made any sense and she’d promised her mother she’d prioritize her education above her love life.

  They strolled down the driveway and Caroline noticed what she’d missed on the drive up. A wrought-iron fence surrounded the Holcroft property, decorated with fresh evergreens, red bows and strings of white lights. She glanced back toward the house, seeing the electric candles softly glowing from each window and the twinkling white lights of the enormous Christmas tree in the front parlor.

  She sighed. “This is beautiful.”

  “Wait. There’s more.”

  Across the street was a park that Simon told her was called Forsyth Park. “Every year the city puts up a huge tree and decorates it with thousands of lights. I thought we could walk over and take a look.”

  Caroline slipped her hand into the crook of his arm and nodded. Together they walked in companionable silence through the fifty-degree evening. The mild weather had drawn others out. She saw couples, young and old, strolling together, enjoying the holiday atmosphere.

  “Tomorrow I’ll take you on a walk around the Historic District. There’s lots of great architecture and I’m an excellent tour guide.”

  She loved the idea of seeing Savannah through Simon’s eyes. The way he’d spoken of the city that night in Atlanta had made her eager to sample the magic for herself. “If it’s all right, I’d like to do a little Christmas shopping for your family as well.”

  “They’re not expecting anything from you.”

  “I know.” Caroline snuggled against his side. “But I’m enjoying the hospitality of their home and I’d like to get something for everyone. Please, Simon, let me do this.”

  “If it’s important to you, then that’s what we’ll do. We’ll have lunch and then you can shop to your heart’s content.”

  “Thank you.”

  They arrived at the tree and Caroline stared at it in awe. Although she’d seen little of the gracious city—except what she’d glimpsed from the car—she already felt a kinship with the soil. The stately live oaks and trailing Spanish moss filled the city square, creating an intimate setting that invited people to picnic and play. She was looking forward to tomorrow because she knew she would love walking the streets lined with historic mansions that dated back to the middle of the nineteenth century.

  Being focused on day-to-day survival, Caroline hadn’t pondered her future beyond graduation and taking the bar. But now, captured in Savannah’s spell, she started thinking seriously about starting her new life here.

  Still, once she and Simon broke off their “engagement” and disappointed his parents, would Savannah be big enough for her to go unnoticed?

  She shivered as a chill surrounded her heart. Simon’s arms came around her and pulled her against his strong body.

  “Cold?” he questioned, rubbing her back in an invigorating caress.

  His touch was more brotherly than lover-like, but that didn’t stop heat from blooming inside her.

  “Just a little.” Getting lost in his embrace was one part peaceful and three parts intoxicating. For that reason she stepped away and sunk her hands into her coat pockets. “Maybe I’ll warm up if we keep walking.”

  “Sure.”

  She ignored the question in his tone. He was probably wondering why she was acting so skittish when all he’d done was hug her.

  They struck off again, this time not touching. Caroline searched for words, but found her earlier fantasies about him had resurfaced and left her scrambling for a safe topic.

  Simon broke the silence first. “Look, I’m sorry about what happened earlier tonight. I shouldn’t have gone off on you like that.”

  “Don’t worry about it. Obviously you’ve suppressed the emotions about what happened between you, Dane and Francine. And since I’m the first girl you’ve brought home since it happened, it’s no wonder you jumped to the wrong conclusion.”

  “Is that what happened?” He gave her a lopsided smile. “That’s funny. I wasn’t thinking about Dane stealing Francine away.” His voice became a husky murmur that rasped along her nerve endings. “I was only worried about losing you.”

  He watched for her reaction in a way that stirred her appetite for another sample of his rousing kisses. Worse, in his eyes, she saw a corresponding hunger. She stared at the trees, the sidewalk, anything to escape the pull of his charisma.

  “Have you thought about what you’re going to tell your parents about why we broke up?” she asked, desperate to banish the warm fuzzy feeling sneaking through her.

  Reminding herself that she w
as participating in a pretend engagement didn’t bring her the relief she’d hoped for. In fact, it depressed her. She was already infatuated with Simon’s fun-loving family, and she hadn’t even met his sister yet. Not to mention how the man himself had trampled her common sense with his irresistible charm and wry humor.

  “Oh, I’m going to blame the whole thing on you,” he said, his eyes dancing with mischief.

  “And say what exactly?”

  “Well, usually when I break it off with someone, I say that things just didn’t work out between us.”

  “That’s pretty vague,” she retorted, her tone dry. “After meeting your mother, I can’t see her letting you get away without a better explanation.”

  “Which is when I pull out the excuse that the woman in question grew tired of all my traveling.”

  How many women had he used this excuse with? “Your mom would buy that since you’re gone a lot.” Caroline didn’t voice her doubts that no woman would let a catch like him slip through their fingers because he wasn’t in town as much as she’d like. “But since we’ve been dating for six months and are engaged, I think we would have dealt with that issue. Besides, I’m busy with school and work. You’re probably the one who’s unsatisfied with how little time we spend together.”

  His eyes narrowed. “That makes me sound needy. I assure you, I’ve never been that way in a relationship. Ever.” And why should he? Women probably threw themselves at him all the time, drawn by his irresistible charm to drop their panties at the first glimpse of his sexy grin.

  “But you’ve never been engaged before either.” For some reason she wanted to stand out from all the women he’d dated. To be the one clear image in the blur of faces and bodies that raced through his life. “Maybe with me, it’s different. Maybe with me you don’t mind feeling tied down. Or maybe you dump me because being in a committed relationship involves too much hard work.”