by BETH KERY
“I tend to be kind of single-minded when it comes to Durand. Work consumes me. I’m not attentive enough to women’s needs.”
“Except the sexual variety?” she mused knowingly. She was sure Dylan had more than fulfilled his lover’s sexual needs.
“You might say I’m selfish.”
She peered up at him. “That’s funny. You never seem overly focused on Durand when we’re together.”
“That’s because I’m with you.”
Pleasure flooded her at his matter-of-fact reply.
“I am single-minded a good portion of the time, though. My focus has been called an obsession by a lot of people.”
“Why? Why are you so obsessed with Durand?”
“Presently? Mostly because the pride of knowing I’ve worked so hard for it, the pride of ownership.”
“And in the past?”
His smile turned grim. “In the past, I felt like I owed it to the Durands.”
“The original owners?”
He nodded. “Making Durand Enterprises one of the most successful companies in the world was my form of payback. Making it up to Alan and Lynn Durand.”
Her forehead bunched in consternation. “Why would you have to make something up to them?”
He didn’t reply for a moment, making Alice suspect he wouldn’t answer the personal question at all.
“I owed them a lot, for their kindness to me. And I made a mistake once. I lost something of theirs.”
“Did they forgive you?” Alice whispered. Something sharp pulled in her chest when she saw the shadow of anguish on his face freeze into impassivity.
“I’d like to think so.”
Her mouth quivered as she looked up at him. There was so much about him she didn’t understand.
“Dylan … what happened on April eighteenth?” she asked.
He started at her question. She felt it in the slight tensing of his muscles because she was touching him. She’d caught him off guard.
“What?”
“You mentioned the first night you brought me here that you hadn’t been with a woman since April eighteenth. You said that exact date, like it was meaningful. Was it?”
He surprised her by closing his eyes for a brief moment. For some reason, her heart squeezed a little in anguish. For a split second, he looked like he carried the weight of the world on his shoulders.
“Yeah. Very,” he said after a moment. “Something happened on that day that sort of monopolized all my energy. Come on, and I’ll show you the clothes.”
He grabbed her hand, and the moment vanished. Alice was left wondering if it had ever been there at all.
HE hadn’t just bought her a dress. Not by a long shot.
Alice watched in wide-eyed amazement as he brought several bags out of his enormous walk-in closet. She sat on the edge of the bed and he piled them around her. Inside one bag, she found a pair of sophisticated black pumps, in another a sleek zippered bag filled with personal hygiene items.
“I thought you might like to keep a few things up here at the house,” he said when she held up a toothbrush with a puzzled glance. He said it so matter-of-factly, she was forced to see his point. She’d been spending the nights with him. It’d be nice to brush her teeth properly or have something other than expensive men’s shower gel and deodorant to clean up with, even if the spicy scents on her skin did remind her of Dylan.
There was also a cosmetic set filled with top-of-the-line makeup, and she experienced a pang of embarrassment at the memory of his mention of her liberal use of her cheap eyebrow pencil, eyeliner, and mascara. There was a fluffy robe. Next, she discovered an assortment of lingerie wrapped in tissue paper. She held up a black silk bra-and-panty set and met Dylan’s stare.
“I suppose you have a thing for lingerie, too?” she asked dryly.
He arched his brows. “I have a feeling I’m going to have a big thing for you in lingerie,” he replied without pause.
Her gaze dropped to the bulge at the front of his towel. She snorted with laughter. He smiled full-out at her reaction. Her mirth faded.
Dylan’s smiles were really something to see.
Much to her amazement, he returned to his closet and brought out another armful of items.
“What did you do?” she demanded, distressed at the amount of shopping he’d done. Although more than likely, he’d had someone purchase the items for her. Still, he would have had to put some significant thought into the items. He placed two large glossy boxes one on top of the other in her lap. “I can’t accept all this,” she exclaimed, flustered.
“Sure you can,” he said nonchalantly. “What else am I going to do with it?”
She’d never seen such gorgeous packages, let alone received any. Curious despite her protests, she flipped open the lid on the sleek top box. She stared down at a beautiful pair of brown boots made of supple smooth leather. He must have paid more money for them than she’d ever had in her checking account at one time, never mind the cost combined with all the other items surrounding her. Something caught her eye, and she pulled out a pair of soft leather gloves that matched the boots. “Are these riding boots and gloves?” she asked dazedly.
“Yes. There’s something else for you in there.” He stepped closer and moved aside some tissue paper. He lifted a brown leather crop from the box. The rod was thin and whippy, and there was a two-inch-square black leather slapper on the end.
She stared up at him, bewildered. “I don’t ride.”
He walked over to the bedside chest, opened a drawer and dropped the crop inside. “Actually, that stays here. The other things are for horseback riding, though.”
She choked back incredulous laughter, her cheeks flushing at what had just occurred, even though she was still a little confused. “You’re not listening. I don’t ride,” she repeated.
“I’m going to teach you. Alice?”
She blinked at the sound of him saying her name sharply. She’d felt a little disoriented there for a moment.
“I hate horses,” she whispered.
“Why? What do you remember about them?”
She gave him an incredulous glance at his taut question. Wasn’t that an odd thing to ask?
“Remember about them? Nothing. There’s nothing to remember. We didn’t exactly have equestrian lessons offered at Club Little Paradise,” she laughed. “I just don’t like horses.”
“But why?”
She shook her head, suddenly feeling like she was under a spotlight. “They’re too far off the ground.” He just stared at her, his expression unfathomable. “I have a fear of heights,” she explained. “Or more accurately, a fear of falling. Do you really want to take me horseback riding?”
He nodded and stepped toward her, digging in one of the bags. “Here are jeans, socks, a few shirts. We’re going this evening, before dinner. There’s a stable just down the road from the inn where we’re having dinner. I’ve arranged a private meal there, and the owner has said we can use the facilities there to clean up after our ride.”
She shook her head. “I don’t know, Dylan,” she said doubtfully, referring to the horseback riding.
He studied her closely for a moment, and then shrugged. “Okay. It was just a thought.”
She swallowed thickly and stared down at the beautiful boots. She rubbed the soft leather with her fingertips. A longing welled up in her to go with him, but she was afraid, too.
“Do you think I could ride with you?” she asked, belatedly realizing how small her voice sounded. How weak. “I mean … on the same horse? Until I get more used to them?” she said more forcefully.
He surprised her by coming closer and cupping the side of her head with his hand. His thumb stroked her cheek when she looked up at him.
“Of course,” he said. “All you had to do is ask.”
She rolled her eyes, trying to diminish her vulnerability and the impact of what she saw in his eyes at that moment.
“Right. Ask and my every wish is gran
ted,” she joked. “Princess Addie and all.”
His expression stiffened. A cascade of shivers ran down the length of her spine and coursed down her arms and legs.
“What did you say?”
She gave him a confused glance. She laughed uneasily, trying to rid herself of a strange sense of foreboding. “Princess Alice. That’s what you called me. In the shed?” she reminded him, her cheeks heating when she recalled the surrounding circumstances. Had Dylan been so crazed with lust that he’d forgotten? And why was he looking at her so oddly? “I just thought it was funny when you said that. Only you would ever think to call me a princess,” she scoffed.
“Yeah. Only me.”
The silence stretched.
He moved aside the boots and opened the box below it. Slipping his fingers through the thin straps, he lifted a stunning dark blue backless silk dress.
“I thought it’d bring out the color of your eyes,” he said quietly.
Alice gaped in awe, and the strangeness of the moment faded back into the shadows.
FOURTEEN
They left Morgantown and Castle Durand behind.
The stable where Dylan took her was just north of the beach town of Saugatuck. Alice enjoyed herself on the ride as Dylan drove the luxury sedan down state highways and rural routes and they chatted about whatever came to mind. Being in the car with him made her feel less self-conscious and more relaxed. Dylan himself seemed more approachable, wearing a pair of jeans, a simple black T-shirt, and sunglasses. She kept stealing covetous glances at his long legs or the succulent dense muscles of his upper arms peeking out just beneath his sleeves or the distracting vision of his large hands holding the leather wheel lightly.
When she wasn’t leching over Dylan, she was admiring her sleek new boots and cute jeans and top. Her new clothing made her feel pleasantly pretty and feminine, but also transparent somehow. She was just starting to learn how natural it was for her to guard her sexuality, to diminish the impact of her femininity as a means of self-protection. It was an ingrained instinct, and going against it left her feeling vaguely uncomfortable.
It was a new experience for her, not to duck into the shadows. Dylan wasn’t in the shadows. The temptation of him was so great, she’d been lured out of her place of safety. And there in that tempting, wonderful place of being with him, she fought her urge to cringe back and take cover.
Under Dylan’s spell, she opened up to him more than she ever had in the past. He asked her on the drive about her experience as a counselor, and she had the impression he really wanted to hear what she said. She told him about some of her kids, the good, funny moments and the challenging ones. When she talked about the Red Team, she was surprised to hear the note of pride ringing in her voice.
She told him about Judith and their prickly interaction just hours earlier. Dylan listened without interrupting, his gaze steady on the road.
“Do you think I made the right decision in making Judith the student leader?” she asked him a while later.
“Yes,” he said without hesitation. “She’s strong. That’s what you see in her. It’s what others will see, too.”
“It’ll be hard,” Alice said, staring out the windshield. The afternoon sun was starting to dip in the sky, making Lake Michigan sparkle brilliantly to the left of the car. “To trust her not to screw up, I mean.”
“Hard. But worth it,” Dylan said. “It’s a big part of being a manager, you know. That’s why we emphasize trust so much at Camp Durand. There’s no quicker way to burn out and fail as an executive than taking on all the responsibility yourself because you can’t trust anyone else to do the job. The ability to delegate is a must.”
Alice listened with wary interest. She understood what Dylan meant. But she wasn’t so certain it was smart to let go of too much control. Alice knew herself. She knew she could get a job done. She wasn’t so sure anyone else could do it as well. That’s why she was a workaholic. She’d take on extra work because she wanted it done right.
“There’s the stable,” he said, lifting two fingers off the wheel and pointing. Alice peered out the window, seeing long stretches of white picket fences in a golden green meadow. One black and two brown horses grazed in the pasture. In the distance, she saw a neat white building at the edge of some woods and a fenced-off corral.
“How long have you ridden?” she asked him, a feeling of excitement and nervousness going through her at the idea of crawling up on one of the large animal’s backs.
“Since I was twelve.”
She looked at his profile. “Did you first ride at Camp Durand?”
“Yeah. And I’ve been hooked ever since.”
“Who taught you?”
“Alan Durand.”
“Really?”
He nodded, keeping his eyes trained on the road. “Alan loved horses.”
“So you knew him really well?” Alice queried, her curiosity on the subject making her heart race.
“Yeah. We became close,” Dylan said. Something in his tone warned her that he wouldn’t elaborate, so she was surprised when he continued after a moment. “I knew his wife, too. They didn’t take a regular part in Camp Durand programming, although the camp was their baby—their favorite philanthropic project. It was Lynn Durand’s pride and joy. She loved children. But they usually let the staff and the counselors handle things at the camp, with a few exceptions for special occasions.”
“Like you do now,” Alice filled in.
He nodded. “But since they both rode, I ran into them once in a while at the stables when I came to camp that first time. I got close to them my second summer.”
“What were they like?”
“Nice. You’ve never met a warmer couple. Easy to talk to despite their classiness. Welcoming. Gracious.”
“And they took to you?” Alice asked quietly. She’d been avidly curious about Dylan’s association with the Durands, especially since it all seemed to be veiled in mystery.
“Yeah,” he replied, turning the sedan onto a gravel road. “I took to them, too. After a bit. Or maybe a little more than a bit.”
“What were you like then?”
“Me?”
“Yeah,” she said, smiling because he sounded mildly surprised she’d want to know.
“You know how I described the Durands?”
“Uh-huh.”
“Pretty much the opposite of that.”
She laughed in understanding. Before she could follow up with a question, however, he stopped the car and put it into park. A smiling silver-haired man was approaching the car to greet them.
“There’s Kevin Riley. He owns the stables. He’s been around this area forever. He supplies us with a lot of the Durand horses and tack,” Dylan said as they unbuckled their seat belts.
Kevin was down to earth and easy to talk to from the first. They walked together toward the stables, Kevin asking Dylan about the health of his horse, Kar Kalim, who, Alice discovered, had been purchased from Riley Stables. Kevin quickly picked up on Alice’s wariness about horses, which was no surprise. She’d never been good at hiding suspiciousness.
“She’ll go up this first time with me,” Dylan said. “So we’ll need a good-sized saddle and a steady mount.”
“Quinn, do you think?” Kevin asked as he led them through a small corral to the entrance of the handsome stables.
“Yeah, that’s what I was thinking, too,” Dylan agreed. Kevin nodded, his gaze sliding off Dylan and sticking on Alice, who walked between them. Alice did a double take when she saw Kevin’s expression turn perplexed as he stared at her profile.
“Sorry. It’s the damnedest thing,” Kevin said, shaking his head as if to clear it and smiling sheepishly. “I’m gawking at you because you look so much like—”
“She does look a little like Jamie, doesn’t she?” Dylan interrupted. Alice blinked when Dylan took her hand and pulled her up short. “Jamie is the stable hand here,” he explained to Alice. “Too bad she’s off today, or we could do
a side-by-side comparison. Kevin, could you please bring Alice a helmet, as well?”
Kevin paused and glanced around. “Uh, sure … sure thing. Be back out with Quinn in a jiff,” he said before he disappeared into the stable.
She peered at Dylan suspiciously. “So, is that why you’re interested in me? Because I look like this Jamie girl?” she asked, mostly joking, but a little serious.
He snorted with laughter. Alice couldn’t help but grin, his surprise at her question seemed so genuine.
“No. I’ve met Jamie all of three times, and only remembered her name because Kevin told me she wasn’t working today earlier on the phone.”
Dylan started to put on his riding gloves, snapping them at the wrist in a practiced gesture. She followed suit with her new ones. When they’d finished, she studied him from beneath lowered lashes. He looked very natural in this setting, rugged with a shadow of whiskers on his jaw and upper lip, his hair gleaming in the sunshine, his jeans, boots, and leather riding gloves all worn from use. She had a sudden urge to have those large gloved hands on her, reassuring her …
Making her forget her fear. Making her forget everything but the way he made her feel.
As if he’d read her mind, Dylan suddenly reached out and took her hand. She tried to smile, but ended up scowling worriedly instead. “Did you ask him about a helmet because you knew I might fall?”
“I asked him because I thought it’d make you feel more secure, not because I think you’re going to fall. You’ll be fine. You’ll be with me,” he said, his arched brows and firm tone sounding final and absolute. She nodded.
“Come on,” he said, hitching his head toward the distant fence and the shimmering blue lake in the distance.
While Kevin saddled the horse, they admired the view. The earlier humidity and scattered clouds had cleared, leaving a warm clear summer’s day. The setting was beautiful, and she was happy being there with Dylan. If only she weren’t so prickly at the idea of getting on a horse’s back …
She heard the sound of a horse’s clopping hooves behind them and spun around. Her eyes went huge.