And Mallory Sinclair was always the upstanding, responsible adult and attorney. Always. She had to be.
Julia sat on the bed and crossed her legs. “It may be business, but it’s still the beach.”
“That’s what Jack said.” The memory of his charcoal-gray eyes boring into hers lit a fire inside her. The warmth of desire burst into a burning flame. Lust, Mallory reminded herself. Nothing more than sexual need, a desire easily controlled. No matter if she was lying to herself, she had no choice but to convince herself and act accordingly. So what if the man was sexy? She was an adult, after all.
“Who’s Jack?”
“The senior partner in charge of this case.” Her garment bag already packed with a combination of appropriate lightweight pantsuits and skirts, Mallory folded her private underthings and placed them inside the suitcase.
Julia seated herself on the bed. “What’s he look like?”
“What’s it matter?” Mallory shot back quickly.
Too quickly, and her cousin’s eyes narrowed. “Why so testy? Uptight about going away with a seventy-year-old man who’s judging your every move?” Julia’s blue eyes locked with hers, daring her to reveal what was on her mind.
Sometimes Julia was too perceptive and understanding, just another reason why Mallory adored her cousin and let her live here rent-free while she “found herself” in New York. “More like a thirty-something, perfect-looking, unattached man,” Mallory muttered.
Julia laughed. “I heard that.”
“I wanted you to or I wouldn’t have spoken out loud.”
“That’s my favorite cousin, nothing uncalculated, nothing unplanned.”
“The complete opposite of your spontaneous nature, you mean. You know it wouldn’t hurt you to plan ahead. Set goals, chart your course in life.”
“Any more than it would hurt you to jump into something with your heart and not your head. So what’s the story with your office hunk?”
Mallory shook her head. “No story. Not with a no-office-romance policy, and not with a man who, if you believe the rumors, doesn’t have the ability to commit.” And not with a man who hadn’t shown her an ounce of interest.
Julia leaned forward, resting on her elbows and propping her chin on her palms. “So? Does he have to commit to have an affair?”
“Who said I was looking for an affair?” Or a commitment for that matter. She didn’t have the time to worry about her personal life, at least not until her partnership was secure and stable.
“Maybe you should be.” Julia reached into the suitcase and held one of Mallory’s lace teddy’s in the air, dangling it from her fingertips. “Seems to me these lacy getups are wasted if you’re alone.”
Mallory grabbed for her nightie and buried it back inside her suitcase where it belonged. “Didn’t you ever hear of doing things for yourself?”
“Anyone ever tell you it’s more fun doing it with a partner?”
Visions of herself and Jack played before her eyes, a seductive dance with the ocean as the backdrop. She shook her head at her thoughts—all inappropriate, un-called for and not possible. Beyond office policy and Mallory’s long-term goals, she understood reality.
She swung the suitcase off the bed and blew Julia a kiss. “I’ll be in touch.” She passed the mirror as she headed out the door, catching a glimpse of herself in the glass. Her black glasses stood out, glaring and unattractive. Exactly as she’d meant them to be.
Mallory was heading off to an exclusive resort with the best-looking man she’d ever met. A man who made her ache with a simple glance. A man whose voice caused ripples of awareness to burst to life inside her.
But just as she planned, that sexy man wouldn’t give her an interested glance. Jack Latham wouldn’t be captivated by Mallory Sinclair, attorney. He wouldn’t be charmed, enchanted or tempted.
“It might help if you let down your hair,” her cousin supplied in a sugary-helpful voice.
Not if she wanted to make partner. Mallory glanced at her watch. Half an hour till show time. She had a firm-hired car picking her up downstairs to take her to the airport. “Gotta run or I’ll be late.”
“Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”
“It’s not like I’ll even be given the chance,” she muttered to herself.
2
JACK GLANCED at his watch. Half an hour until landing and their descent couldn’t come a minute too soon. He didn’t know how much more togetherness he could take. Mallory shifted in her seat and her right knee grazed his left leg. A shot of heat radiated up his thigh.
“Sorry,” she mumbled, then sighed.
It had been like this for the entire flight. The cramped quarters of the plane and Mallory’s enforced proximity was causing his body to react in conflicting and confounding ways. She’d exchanged the uptight suit for a lightweight dress with a hem that ended marginally higher and revealed an enticing hint of bare skin. Without stockings he was treated to tanned, smooth-looking flesh and he found his gaze drawn back again and again.
He assumed her contradiction in dress, along with the arousing floral scent that had permeated the cabin from the moment of her punctual arrival accounted for his curiosity. He wasn’t about to call what he felt for Mallory interest.
But he hadn’t noticed her feminine fragrance in his office earlier that afternoon, and he couldn’t help but wonder about a woman who dressed and acted with an ultraconservative flair, yet managed to unwittingly tease a man with her voice and affect him with her scent. A woman who could entice with an innocent, accidental brush of bare skin.
“So what’s the plan when we arrive?” Mallory asked.
Grateful for normal conversation at last, he turned toward her. “Lederman has a car meeting us at the airport. We should be at the resort by nine. I assume we’ll unpack and get some sleep. After that, it’s up to our host what happens next.”
“With any luck we can discuss his plans, lay out strategy and be home in a couple of days.”
He didn’t miss the hopeful note in her husky voice. “What do you have against the beach?”
“Nothing if you’re on vacation. But every day we’re out of the office means work is piling up.” Her jaw ticked in frustration.
He leaned back in his seat. “That’s why I had the bulk of your work reassigned. Paul Lederman is eccentric. He doesn’t like to be rushed and if he’s refusing to leave the resort to meet with us in the office, I wouldn’t hold my breath for a quick decision on his part.”
She muttered something he didn’t catch and he shifted his gaze from the drawn window shades to her face, taking in her profile for the first time. Severe hair and black glasses aside, she had chiseled features, high cheekbones and even minus the makeup, porcelain skin most actresses and models would kill to possess. But she did nothing to enhance her looks. In fact, she did everything possible to detract from them. He wondered why.
He shrugged and transferred his gaze. This flight was definitely too damn long if he was looking beyond the surface and contemplating Mallory Sinclair’s grooming habits.
“What are the basic facts of the case?” As she spoke, she leaned down and pulled a yellow legal pad from her briefcase, then grabbed for a pen. “Ready when you are.” She sat up straight in her seat.
The woman was brusque and efficient, the way he liked his associates. But not his women. Women, he preferred soft and pliant, warm and giving. With at least a week at a resort ahead of him, there’d be no shortage of the opposite sex. Unfortunately, strangers no longer appealed to him, which meant life was becoming increasingly complicated.
A short, no-strings affair suited his lifestyle and beliefs best. He couldn’t end up in divorce court as anything other than counsel if he lived by his self-imposed rules. With no commitments, he couldn’t be the cuckolded, sad excuse for a man his father had become. But with age came wisdom and discrimination—and an increasing restlessness he couldn’t understand.
“Mr. Latham? Is something wrong?”
At the sound of her lush tone, a ripple of awareness meandered through his veins. A trickling, growing warmth pulsed in his groin. Something was wrong, all right. Everything he was feeling about his associate was off-kilter and he didn’t like it one bit.
“What did you want?” he bit out.
“The facts of the case.” She waved the legal pad in the air, reminding him of why they were together on the plane. “I want to be up on things to help impress the client.”
He met her gaze behind the thick lenses. Sanity returned and he immediately felt better. “You might as well call me Jack.”
She nodded, wide-eyed.
He forced his stare away from the blue eyes he couldn’t see clearly. “Lederman’s been married for years. He’s fifty-eight and wants out.”
“Why?” She paused, pen ready to write down his every word.
“Irreconcilable differences.”
“That’s the legal definition. What’s the behind-the-scenes take on things? What will boost the settlement in his favor? Assuming we get the case.”
Jack stretched his legs out in front of him as much as he could, but made sure he didn’t touch Mallory as he moved. “That’s what we’re here to find out. Then we decide how to take her faults and spin them in our client’s favor.”
“Interesting turn of phrase—her fault.”
“How so?”
She crossed her legs in front of her, and his gaze fell to her ankles. He’d never been a leg man, but she made him rethink his preference.
“You’re assuming it was Mrs. Lederman’s fault that the marriage disintegrated. There’s always the possibility that our client was equally to blame. And if that’s the case, we need to put a positive spin on his negative actions.”
He leaned his head against the seat and turned toward her. “That’s what I said. We need to put a positive spin on things.”
“You said we need to spin her faults…” Her voice trailed off, and she shook her head before capping her pen. “Never mind.”
“I’m not sure I get the distinction you’re trying to make.”
She let out a long-suffering sigh. “I’m sure you don’t.” She busied herself putting away her things and latching her briefcase.
“Good afternoon, folks.” A voice sounded on the loudspeaker, from the cockpit of the small plane. “We’re about ready to begin our descent, so go ahead and fasten your seatbelts…”
The captain’s voice prevented any further talk. Mallory checked her safety belt and stared out the window. She obviously had no desire to finish their conversation. Yet she’d gone and given him an odd, empty feeling in his gut. As though in the brief minutes of their discussion, she’d judged him and found him lacking.
He didn’t like the sensation of coming up short in her estimation and he wasn’t sure why. Once again, she had him off balance, only this time she’d left him with the burning desire to shift both her negative opinion as well as her lack of interest.
Jack loved a challenge, but he only acted when that challenge made sense. And his interest in Mallory Sinclair did not.
A WARM BREEZE blew off the ocean, carrying the scent of salt water in the air. Mallory’s hair frizzed in the humidity, destroying the bun she’d worked hard to make earlier this morning. She glanced at her watch. It was 8:00 a.m. and there was still no sign of their host.
“He’ll be here,” Jack said in response to her unspoken aggravation. “He said to go ahead and have breakfast and he’d meet up with us by the time we were finished.”
She raised her gaze from the cinnamon-raisin French toast on her plate to glance at Jack’s face—something she’d been avoiding doing all morning. If she’d thought him devastating in a suit, he was overwhelmingly handsome in khaki shorts and a collared, short-sleeved shirt. Powerful muscles flexed in his arms and tanned skin peeked through the open buttons over his chest. His jet-black hair had been combed neatly back, and a pair of Oakley sunglasses covered his piercing gray eyes. He was perfection in a masculine package while she was a frizzy mess of conservatism in a bland, navy dress.
Oh, well. She wasn’t here to impress Jack with her looks, she was here to dazzle both him and the client with her brains. If only she could pull her thoughts off his sexy frame and focus on the task ahead of them. She’d spent last night in her room across from his, tossing and turning, unable to sleep. Unable to forget the scent of his musky cologne or his deep, rumbling voice.
“Glad you could make it. So what do you think of my place?” A booming male voice interrupted her inappropriate thoughts before she could take them to the sensual conclusion she’d experienced in her dreams.
“It’s incredible, but then you already know that.” Jack rose from his seat and Mallory followed suit. “Makes me realize I’m in the wrong line of work,” Jack said and laughed.
“You’re welcome out here any time,” a burly man said. “Now help me get rid of the albatross I married and I’ll name a suite after you and this colleague of yours.”
Mallory did her best not to wince at the callous words he used to describe his wife. The woman he’d married, for better or worse. The woman she assumed he’d once loved.
“Paul Lederman meet Mallory Sinclair, one of our top associates. Mallory, Paul Lederman.” Jack gestured between Mallory and their client who was dressed even more informally than Jack in boxerlike bathing trunks. Eccentric was putting it mildly, she thought.
She extended her hand. “Nice to meet you at last, Mr. Lederman.”
“Call me Paul.” He pumped her hand with enthusiasm. “Can’t be so formal while sitting at the beach and looking at this view.”
She glanced over his shoulder, taking in the clear blue sky and the glistening water in the background. He was right. She’d been so caught up in not watching Jack, she’d all but ignored the beauty in front of her. “You’re a lucky man, Mr. Lederman.”
He corrected her with a shake of his head.
“I mean Paul. Jack’s right. This place is incredible.”
“Then after we talk, make sure you let loose and enjoy it a bit. I like my attorneys on the same wavelength as I am.” He pulled out a chair and joined them at the table beneath the large umbrella. “Marriage.” He shook his head. “Risky business.”
Mallory grabbed for her pad and pen, while Jack leaned back in his seat. “Yours made it twenty-five years. Something must have held you two together,” Jack said.
Mallory liked the fact that Jack didn’t automatically bow to Lederman’s point of view, even if he silently agreed with the man.
“My money,” Lederman muttered.
“And children,” Jack added.
“The kids are on their own now.”
“So what are you looking for?” Mallory asked. “A quick out or…”
She didn’t get a chance to finish before he picked up speed. “I don’t care about quick. I just don’t want to be taken for all I’ve got. All I’ve worked for my whole life.”
“Does your wife work?” she asked.
“Hell no. Unless you count spending my money work.”
“What about raising your kids, Paul? When did that stop counting for something?” a female voice asked.
Mallory looked up.
An older but still beautiful brunette stood behind Paul Lederman. “And what about catering your parties? Seeing to your important guests? Your whims? Your needs? Your health?” The woman met Mallory’s gaze in an obvious search for feminine understanding.
In the brown depths, Mallory glimpsed a sadness and weariness that tore at her heart. Without knowing all the facts, Mallory imagined Mrs. Lederman as a woman much like her own mother, who sacrificed everything in order to further her husband’s desires. If her mother had focused even for a moment on anything other than her husband, she might have taken notice of the daughter she’d borne, then ignored when her father had decreed her a disappointment. With a sigh, Mallory shook off the personal memories, but her heart went out to Mrs. Lederman.
But she
couldn’t afford to pity her client’s wife. Not if she was going to convince the man she could represent him to the best of her abilities. With difficulty, Mallory tore her gaze away from the woman’s pleading expression and focused on her client instead.
She couldn’t read the man or his feelings for his soon-to-be ex-wife. But she did see an aging man with a slight paunch and receding hairline who was married to an elegant, attractive woman who still desired to be his wife.
“I suggest you two do all communication through your attorneys from now on,” Jack said, in a kind but firm voice.
Mallory glanced up through hooded eyes. The sadness in Mrs. Lederman’s countenance grew.
“I didn’t realize you’d already hired yours,” his wife said.
Paul Lederman coughed once. “I haven’t finalized a decision yet.”
“But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t protect yourself,” Mallory advised.
He nodded. “The lady’s got a point because I’m hiring the best.”
Mallory recognized Lederman’s subtle implication that he hadn’t yet decided if Waldorf, Haynes deserved the job, but right now her focus was on Mrs. Lederman and her pain.
“You don’t scare me, Paul. I’m looking at a man who doesn’t recognize the best when he’s got it in his life.” To the other woman’s credit, she held her emotions in check as best she could before she walked away, head held high.
“I didn’t realize you were still living together,” Jack said, breaking the awkward silence that followed.
Lederman snorted. “Not together. Opposite sides of the resort. She won’t leave. Says she loves me but what she really means is she won’t be charged with desertion. From her point of view, what’s mine is hers and what’s hers is hers. Damn place is turning into the War of the Roses.”
Erotic Invitation Page 2