A Seductive Proposal (9 page)

She could live with that.

She could survive that.

She nodded as the phone rang. Since he wouldn’t be close to her in a physical sense, she wasn’t in any real danger of oh, say, falling out-of-her-mind in love with him.

“Hunter Enterprises, Sheila speaking.”

Carly introduced herself and requested Quint.

“Of course, Ms. Grayson. He’s expecting your call.”

Her heart began to thrum as she waited. A road stretched before her, untried, untested. She had seen several warning signs, falling rocks, icy when wet, watch for animals, mountain lions in particular.

She could hang up now and let it all go, but somehow, as she looked back, she sensed she’d already come to the fork in this road several days ago, the same day she’d let Quint into her house.

“In for a penny, in for a pound,” she murmured, releasing a deep breath.

“What?” Quint asked.

“You’re there.”

“I’m here.”

“I’m in,” she said, letting out another deep breath.

“Good.”

“Are you smiling?”

“Uh-huh.”

Carly could picture that smile, a little smug, way too self-satisfied.

“Carly?”

“Yeah?”

“I’m very happy about this. You won’t be disappointed.”

“My attorney says it’s an excellent deal. That I can’t lose.”

“I’m looking forward to working with you. So,” he drawled, “what are you wearing?”

She gasped. “You have got to be kidding.”

He laughed. “You are so easy to tease. Of course, I’m kidding. I don’t know you well enough at this point to say something like that and actually
expect
to get an answer. Next week, maybe.”

“You’re outrageous.”

He deepened his voice. “Yep, but only with you.”

Carly knew this to be a calculated attempt at seduction but shivers rippled over her ear and down her neck anyway.

He continued, “I was hoping you could clear part of your afternoon tomorrow for me. I’ll be driving up to Sedona and I wanted to go over the interior of the winery house with you. We need to get the furnishings underway.”

Her heart seized like he’d just pounded on her chest. She leaned forward. She put a hand to her forehead. “Tomorrow?”
So soon
?

“Yes, and something else. You should know that I’m moving to Sedona for the next few weeks.”

A series of weird vibrations pulsed through her head like the barometric pressure had just bottomed out. She squeezed her eyes shut. “You’re moving here?”

“Yes.”

“That doesn’t make sense,” she said, a little too loud. “Surely you could send your minions to work out all these details.”

“My
minions
? You make me sound dangerous.”

“You are. Don’t come.”

A long silence followed.

She could hear his thoughts. She ground her teeth together.
Please don’t say it. Please don’t say it. Please don’t say it.

His voice was very deep, bass deep, a thousand fathoms deep as he said, “You know why I’m coming.”

Oh, God, he’d said it.

What she really didn’t know was why Alexander Graham Bell had invented the damn telephone in the first place.

She sighed. Her breasts ached. “So, you’re coming to furnish my house.” Then she started to laugh. Was that a double
entendre
? Funny that when sex was on the brain
everything
sounded
doublish
. “You want to prune my roses, as well? Wax my car? Clean my oven?” She started laughing and couldn’t seem to stop.

She was a mess.

“Hey, are you okay?”

Of course not. Not since I hauled your ass up to the Rim then let you ‘furnish my house’ the first time.

“I’ll be fine.”

“Then I’ll see you mid-afternoon at your tour office. Does three-thirty sound all right?”

“Three-thirty is fine,” she said sighing again.

“See you tomorrow.”

“Fine.”

She settled the receiver on the cradle

Quint was moving to Sedona.

She put her head in her hands and let the expletives flow.

“Unhinged.”

“What?” Carly asked, shooting a glance at Tina.

Tina stood in the doorway of her office with her hands on opposite doorframes as though she’d turned into Atlas and was holding up the world. She had on a super short skirt, too. A couple more inches and
her
world
would show as well.

Carly scowled at her and returned to the stack of stapled medical plans. The last page was wrong and she had to remove the staples, replace the last page, and re-staple each set. This had to be done right now, but she wasn’t sure why.

She hadn’t been able to find her staple remover so she used a letter opener and worked hard at lifting up the bent edge of each staple. She’d ripped several of the pages to shreds.

“I said,” Tina stated, “you’re unhinged this morning. Why?”

“
Why
?” Carly repeated. She glared at her office manager. “You know why? Because
that man
is coming here today, no,
moving here today,
and when I asked him ‘why’ he said,
You know why.
I’m so sick of
why.”

“Ah,” Tina said sauntering into the office. She chuckled. “You didn’t tell me that. All you said was that Harry Blooker would be here at three-thirty then you took off on your first tour. Now you’re back looking like a mad woman. So, exactly what’s wrong?”

At that, Carly dropped the letter opener on her desk. “What’s wrong?” She rose to her feet, crossed the room then closed the door. “He’s here for only one reason, to get me flat on my back.”

“And, what’s wrong with that?”

“Tina, we’ve been friends for a long time but if you think—“

“I think he’s great.”

“
What?
”

“I do.”

Carly spread her hands wide. “He’s just like Jeff.”

“No, he’s not.”

“He’s just like Jeff.” She slapped her pointer fingers together again and again. “He’s ruthless in business, his ambitions have no bounds, and he works at getting what he wants no matter who he runs over.”

“Now wait a minute, you don’t know that.”

“Which part?”

“All of it. Look, he made a sweet deal with you instead of pursuing the purchase and he came up with a pretty great compromise so he could make use of your winery to entertain some business clients. That has to mean something. Sure he has a couple of rough edges, what man doesn’t? But you can grind away at those and get him all smoothed out. I have confidence in you.”

Carly so didn’t need this. She wanted Tina to back her up not encourage her to play with wolves or in this case, mountain lions.

She shook her head and moved to the window to look up at the view. The last time Quint had been here he had been captivated by the view of the Mogollon Rim. Then the view of his body had captivated her.

Oh, God.

She was exhausted already and he hadn’t even arrived.

She released a sigh. She shouldn’t be so rattled. All she had to do was stick this out for the next three-and-a-half weeks. She’d put up with his antics, ignore his flirtations and keep encouraging him to go back to Phoenix. She could handle this. She could.

Tina drew up next to her then slid her arm around her shoulders. “Hey. Stop frowning.”

Carly shook her head. “Don’t you get it, Tina? I could really get into trouble here.”

Tina released a disgusted grunt. “Honey, you have got to get back in the game. I mean, why do you have to be so serious about all of this? He’s being totally up front with you and you’ve already slept with him. Enjoy his oh-so-magnificent body then once the Napa deal has run its course send him back to the Valley of the Sun. No harm, no foul.”

Carly pinched her lips together. If she opened her mouth to speak, smoke and flames would shoot out. Tina didn’t seem to understand the depth of her dilemma where Quint was concerned and she didn’t know what else she could say to convince her.

She moved to sit behind her desk. She picked up the letter opener then once more attacked the staples. She shredded yet another couple of pages in the process.

Tina rounded the desk, opened the wide center drawer about four inches, withdrew the staple remover then handed it to Carly.

“I spent twenty minutes looking for this.” She stared at it for a few seconds and finally took it in hand. She slid the forked end beneath the staple, clicked and removed. She let the small implement fall from her hands.

She sunk her head to rest on the desk.

Tina leaned close and spoke in a stage whisper. “Let’s face it. You still really need to get laid. That one night just didn’t do it for you.”

Carly turned her head, met Tina’s gaze then glared, hard.

Tina laughed and headed for the door. When she had the doorknob in hand, she turned back and lifted a single brow. “Well, I like Quint and I’m always right about people. It drives my husband crazy but I am. Take my advice and let him in. I have a feeling that with a good solid row of stitches, he’ll be good as new and if not, well, you’ll have had some great sex along the way.” She opened the door and walked out.

Carly wanted to throw the staple remover at the empty doorway but she just let it sit at eye level. She so did not need this. She did not need Tina tossing gasoline on the fire of her already blazing temptation where Quint was concerned. She wanted to let him in. She wanted to take him in, as deep as she could and keep him there.

She left her staple-removing job, tracked to the lobby counter, grabbed the rosters from Tina, went outside then flung the clipboards at her various rather surprised drivers.

* * * * * * * * *

That afternoon, Quint drove up I-17, the top up on his BMW, the air blasting. Early July had hit a solid one-ten in Phoenix. At least he was headed to high country. Sedona, at forty-four hundred feet, would be a little cooler.

He called Sheila on his Blackberry using the Noise Assassin Headset. “Hey. Yeah, I know it’s only been an hour. Did you get the signed contract from Sylvie yet? Excellent.” He loved how fast he could make things move. “I need you to find the number of a Grace Hartley in Sedona. She’s an interior designer. Call me back when you’ve got it.”

He hung up and called Brad. He spent the next fifteen minutes reviewing the results from the recent round of market analyses.

Sheila beeped in. He let Brad go and as his assistant spoke, he memorized Grace’s number. He called her right after he hung up.

“Hartley Designs.”

“Grace Hartley?”

“Yes.” Her voice had a soft melodic quality, maybe the kind you would expect from a laid-back interior designer working out of her home in Sedona. He pictured wall-shelves covered in ducks, bunnies and lace. “May I ask who’s calling?”

“Quint Barron, Hunter Enterprises. I’m a business associate of Carly Grayson. I’m calling concerning her winery house design project. I don’t know if she’s had a chance to speak with you yet, but I’ve taken a lease, which includes furnishing the house. I have my own interior designer and I won’t be needing your services at this time.”

“I’m sorry, who is this?”

“Quint Barron.”

“Oh, yes. Carly mentioned you.”

“Ms. Grayson signed a lease agreement with me yesterday. I’m sure you’ll want to call her to confirm.”

“Yes, I will. Thank you for your call, Mr. Barron. Good-bye.”

She took that well. Kudos for her.

Quint mentally checked this task off his list. He had no idea whether Grace Hartley knew her stuff in the design world, but Sylvie’s cachet as well as the speed with which she could get a job done in a pinch, put her at the top of his list.

He had everything under control.

For that reason, his thoughts drifted to Carly. He should have warned her about the change in designers, but he’d see her soon enough. She was a sensible woman and would recognize his rationale right away.

He took a deep breath.

Carly.

He released that breath in a long swell. He shifted in his seat to get more comfortable. He’d be seeing her again soon, within the next couple of hours.

He forced another breath in then out. He tried to prevent certain images from invading his head but that was like holding back the ocean with a boogie board. He saw Carly naked, on her stomach, on her back, on her side, facing away from him, turned in to him, her lips on his neck sucking, her long slender hands everywhere.

He was so into her.

He frowned. He needed to work harder at containing his desire for her. He had a clean set of rules about
no involvement
and he needed to stick to those rules. But something about Carly burrowed under his skin. His thoughts were never far away from her and some of his thoughts even crossed the line and demanded more. Not just in bed. He wanted something from her he couldn’t quite define. He wanted her thoughts aligned with his. When he spoke to her next, he wanted her to approve of his decision to let Ms. Hartley go. He wanted her respect, even her admiration.

So, when exactly had her opinion become so important to him?

He wished he hadn’t been so hasty about letting Grace Hartley go. His gut told him Carly wouldn’t like it. She’d be angry with him…again.

He remembered how incensed she’d been when he’d just shown up in Sedona to present his new plan. He’d loved the heat on her cheeks, the curt remarks on her tongue, the way her eyes met his dead on when she addressed him.

Yep, she’d be mad all over again.

His chest swelled.

He sure liked her fired up.

* * * * * * * * *

Carly walked in from a rough tour. One of the older women had had a recent hip-replacement so going up the hill and down had taken an extra hour. Her usual order of business at the first gasp and complaint was to turn around, but her soft heart had acquiesced to the pleas to continue the tour. The woman had been planning this trip with her grandchildren for months.

She leaned over the counter and whispered to Tina, “Why didn’t you tell me that woman had a disability?”

Tina clucked her tongue. “Because she didn’t. Besides, I knew it wouldn’t matter anyway. Once you heard her story, whether here in the lobby or in the Jeep, you’d do exactly what you just did—take it slow and give them a great tour.”