Seductive Reasoning (6 page)

“Hey, don’t let this dark-haired
opportunity go to waste. You’re going to have to kiss and tell on this one,
buddy. I want details, if you know what I mean.” Mark’s laughter rang out over
the phone.

A dial tone buzzed in Seth’s ear
before he could reply. He hit the power button and shoved the phone back into
his pocket. He’d like to shove it down Mark’s throat instead, and he didn’t
want to analyze why.

Seth started toward the front porch
past the mounds of flowers bordering both sides of the walkway. Maybe if he
explained the situation to her, she would understand the importance of his
project compared to a silly national lingerie contract. He had too much pride
to tell her about his job situation. But he shouldn’t have much trouble finding
another job. After all, he was a man of above average intelligence with several
years of teaching experience under his belt.

No doubt, Kate would strut around in
skimpy almost non-existent clothing and tempt him at every turn. Why couldn’t
women leave him alone? He’d gladly pass them onto Mark or any other man stupid
enough to go in for all that sentimental crap.

He stopped suddenly in the middle
of the sidewalk and frowned. Would he pass Kate on to another man? One word
resounded through his mind. No. Hell, the woman was making him crazy and the
week had barely begun.

Seth shook the disturbing thoughts
from his brain and headed for the front door, resigned to his fate. All in the
name of science.

Kate grinned from ear to ear. She
turned up the volume on the radio sitting on a shelf beside her bathroom sink
and listened to the snappy country tune. She tapped her foot on the pink and
green tiled floor and hummed along to the grinding melody. Kate shook her
underwear-clad hips while she bobbed her bra-strap covered shoulders to the
music’s rhythm.

Finally, she had a chance to prove
her theory about astrology and underwear. Having Seth Fallon where she wanted
him would be a bonus. This morning’s horoscope had promised a bold new horizon
and a renewal of a past relationship. The astrologer was right on.

Kate applied a coat of mascara to
her eyes, when the doorbell rang. She jerked at the sound then glanced at the
rose-shaped clock that hung on the wall. Darn it. Late again. She’d spent too
much time daydreaming about her first day with Seth.

She jabbed the wand back into the
tube of mascara, fluffed her hair, and heaved a deep, cleansing breath.
Remember,
Kate, you’re only doing this for the twenty-five grand.
Nothing to worry
about, Kate thought as she slipped on her dress and shoes. She dashed down the
stairs and crossed the foyer to the front door.

She peeked through the sidelight.
Seth stood on the porch with a small suitcase at his feet along with a large
pillow stuck under his arm. Kate’s heart tumbled in her chest. Oh, how sweet.
He brought his own pillow. She unlocked the door with a snick and swung the
panel open. “Good morning.”

His dignified, scientific gaze skimmed
her from head to toe. She wore a simple, floral print cotton dress with a
hemline that reached her ankles and pink leather sandals. What he didn’t know
was that underneath she wore the teensiest pair of see-through bikini panties
with matching bra. She bit her lip and shifted from foot to foot. Oh God, she
hoped she was doing the right thing. She was no expert when it came to
seduction and romance for herself, just for her customers. She either overdid
the seduction or under did it.

“Kate.” His voice, a low, silken
rumble, reached out and teased her senses. How did his female students handle
listening to his lectures in that sexy, come-and-get-me-baby voice?

She’d never seen him in anything
but button-down shirts and dark suits. But today, oh my. He wore a long-sleeve,
navy-blue Henley with the sleeves shoved up over his elbows. A smattering of
dark hair covered his toned, muscular arms. The piéce de resistance was the
pair of faded jeans that molded to him in all the right places and hugged his
long legs.

He looked casual, more
approachable, and infinitely touchable. Not to mention soul stirring sexy. But
there was so much more than his looks that attracted her. In college, he’d
treated her with respect, and he’d listened to her theories about astrology and
its effect on people’s lives. Seth hadn’t focused on her looks or thought of
her ideas as harebrained and foolish like a lot of the others. He’d really
listened to her and made her feel important.

Seth picked up his suitcase and
placed it carefully inside the door. His eyes shone intensely blue in the early
morning light with a what-the-hell-am-I-doing-here expression in their depths.
“Nothing personal, Kate, but I want you to understand that I’m only here for
the money.”

Nothing personal. Only here for the
money. She raised her chin. Fine, so was she. Darn him! Then why did his words
prick her heart dead center? “Sure. I understand.” Her voice sounded strained
and uncertain even to her own ears.

His chin shot up and his gaze
studied her face. “Kate, I only meant--”

She managed a smile. “I know. It’s
okay. Really. It’s best to get things out in the open.” She licked her lips.
“I’ve prepared an early lunch. Does that sound okay? Hope you’re hungry.” She
was starving before he’d arrived, but after hearing his comment her appetite
had fled.

Seth picked up his suitcase.

“Leave it. I’ll show you the
upstairs later.”

Seth nodded and reached for a small
black case instead. He followed her down the hallway into the kitchen at the
back of the house. Kate took a bottle of champagne out of the refrigerator.

She watched Seth glance around the
kitchen at the white, glass-fronted cabinets, bright yellow walls and pots of
herbs growing on the windowsill over the sink. His gaze shifted from the
kitchen back to her.

“So what are we having?”

Kate suppressed a smile. “I thought
we’d start with a toast.” She held out the bottle to him. Perhaps it would calm
her fluttering nerves. “Would you mind doing it?”

His brow lifted at her choice of
words. “Don’t you think we should talk first? Get to know each other?”

She smiled, her tension easing a
bit. This was the Seth she remembered. “I meant open the bottle.”

A blush stained his cheeks. He
cleared his throat and reached for the chilled bottle. “Oh, right.”

Kate set a bowl filled to the brim
with fresh strawberries on the counter along with two chilled crystal flutes.

Seth glanced at his watch. “It’s
barely ten thirty in the morning. A little early for champagne, don’t you
think?” He unzipped the black case he’d set on the counter and withdrew his
laptop. “Besides I’ve got some work to do.”

Kate plucked two strawberries from
the bowl and dropped one in each flute. “It’s never too early for champagne.”

With a shrug, Seth uncorked the
sparkling wine with a loud pop, but caught the cork in his hand before it could
fly across the room. He set the bottle on the counter.

Kate filled both glasses to the
brim. She picked up her glass and sipped. The cold amber liquid slid
deliciously over her tongue and down her throat.

Seth ignored his glass of champagne
and fixed his gaze on her. “Kate, if I could get out of this situation and
still win the money, I would. But I can’t and the future of my project depends
on it. So, I think if we set a few limitations and some ground rules, we will
both get through this week a lot easier. Besides, we hardly know each other.”

Limitations. Ground rules. How was
she supposed to win the wager with constricting boundaries?

He looked at his glass of sparkling
wine and pushed it to the side. “Got any tea?”

Kate nodded, walked to the stove,
and adjusted the flame under the kettle. She swiveled and leaned against the
counter top. “That’s the whole point isn’t it?”

“What whole point?”

She took another sip of her wine.
Slow
down, take your time. Don’t overwhelm the man.
“We’re here to prove our
theories, and in order to do that we need to get to know each other better.”

A frown creased his brow.
“Actually, where knowledge and discovery are concerned, personal involvement
isn’t necessary or warranted. In fact, such interaction may taint the results.
That’s where the limitations and ground rules I mentioned before come in to
play.”

Brother. “Okay, what exactly did
you have in mind?”

The tea kettle whistled with a loud
shriek. Kate turned off the burner, filled a pot with the hot water, and threw
in some tea bags. She faced Seth and lifted her brows in question, waiting for
him to continue.

“Scientists use several different
methods when making discoveries or proving theories. They observe nature,
classify their data, apply logic, and conduct experiments before they form a
hypothesis and express their findings.”

Kate retrieved a mug from the
cabinet and poured Seth a cup of tea. She set the steaming mug in front of him
along with the sugar dish and a small pitcher of milk.

What the heck was he talking about?
How could one man turn a simple bet into a complicated tangle of hypotheses and
theories? She had to use her brain. She didn’t want him to think she was
clueless. “That sounds reasonable. What’s your plan?”

Seth prepared his tea and took a
sip. “First, we need an independent source for our observations.”

Independent? She planned to be the
source. Not someone else. “Go on.”

“We should observe your customers
when they come into the store, preferably those women who have brought their
husbands or boyfriends along. From this we record the men’s reactions to their
women modeling the lingerie.”

With her gaze firmly fastened on
his cornflower blue eyes, Kate moved in close. “What about the actual
experiments?”

Seth cleared his throat and
straightened on the stool. Science class had never been like this. “Experiments
are vital, of course. In order to obtain an unbiased result, I think you should
choose four of your customers, two male, two female, and ask them if they would
be willing to conduct a few trials for you.”

A thought popped into her brain.
She smiled. “Okay. I choose us to be one of the couples.” He started to
interrupt but she held up her hand to stop him. “Wait, I’m not finished. By
choosing two independent couples, we would be getting all of the test results
secondhand. I think that in at least one of the trials we should be directly
involved.”

He pursed his lips. “Involved. How
involved?”

She intended to win the wager and
collect the twenty-five grand cash prize, but she didn’t want to scare him off.
She would have to proceed carefully. Seth needed to be handled with a
persuasive but silken touch. “I’ll need to model some of my lingerie and record
your reaction. In order for me to fully comprehend your response to me and the
clothing, we’ll need to get a little close, that’s all.”

Seth frowned.

Go easy. Don’t push.
“Seth,
this is your prime time. During the experiment, try not to analyze before you
react. Give yourself the chance to let feelings happen. You might discover
things about yourself you didn’t know existed.”

He rolled his eyes. “You aren’t
talking about all that astrology stuff again, are you? I thought we’d been
through all that.” He rose from the stool and marched from the kitchen.

Darn it, she was moving too fast again,
opening up when she was supposed to be hiding her feelings. But how could she
hide her feelings when she’d been taught all her life to let them out?

Panic raced through Kate. What if
he had changed his mind? What about the money? What about the time she wanted
to spend with Seth and the opportunity to touch him in a way he’d never allowed
her to before? She placed her glass on the counter with a scrape over the tile.
“Seth, please don’t leave.” When she stepped out into the hall she found him
squatting on the floor digging through a stack of books.

“Don’t worry.” He continued to paw
through the books. “I’m not going to leave. I agreed to this charade, and I’ll
stick with it for one week. But one week only. And I’m going to win this damn
wager.”

He rose from his position on the
floor and walked toward her. “I brought some books for you to read that will
dispel any myths you believe about the subject of astrology.” He moved around
her and into the kitchen. “Come back in the kitchen. I’ll show you what I mean.”

Kate pressed her lips together,
inhaled a deep breath, and exhaled. Fine. If he wanted her to be earnest and
look at his books, she would. She could be as no-nonsense as a heart attack if
that’s what it took for her to win the bet. She needed that money to prove to
her professional-minded family that owning the lingerie shop wasn’t some
frivolous pursuit, but a viable career.

Seth walked to the kitchen island
and laid out his books in meticulous order. Kate stepped up behind him and
rested a hand on his shoulder. The feel of her skin seared through the material
of his shirt and onto his body. Her breath wafted against his ear and desire
skittered down the back of his neck. She leaned forward until her head was
right beside his. He spared her a glance and was caught in the beautiful green
of her eyes.

Blindly, he picked up one of the
books from the counter and shoved the thick tome at her to put some distance
between them. “Start with this one. It explains the origins of astrology and
the beginnings of astronomy all the way to the present day. It’s very readable
and in laymen’s terms so you can understand it.” An expression of hurt shone
briefly in her eyes and for the life of him he couldn’t figure out why. “What’s
the matter?”

In a flash, the distress in her
eyes was replaced with her usual glimmer of cheer, and she smiled. “Nothing. I
look forward to reading the book.”