That Night with You (10 page)

Dashing from his office, she fought to
hold her emotions in check until she reached the elevator. Only
when the silver doors closed did she let out a long, loud breath
between her gritted teeth.

“
You’re an idiot, Madison
Barnett.” She forcefully wiped her hand over her forehead. “How
could a man like that ever want a stupid girl like you?”

***

Madison spent the rest of the
afternoon at her computer, diligently developing her design. She
refused Adam’s invitation to join him for lunch, and continued
working until five o’clock rolled around and the shuffle of the
others on their floor drifted in through their open office
door.

“
I guess that’s it for the
day,” Adam remarked as he shut down his computer. “You ready to
head out?”

Madison stretched out her back and
then shook her head. “No, you go on. I’m going to stay for a while
and get a bit more done.”

Adam went to the corner table with the
large printer on it. The hum of the printer filled the air as it
churned out a hard copy of Adam’s design.

“
It’s just a rough sketch,
Madison. You don’t have to have it completed.” After glancing over
at her drawing, he pulled the large copy of his design from the
printer and began rolling it up.

She nodded to his desk. “Is yours
almost finished?”

“
Not quite, but it is good
enough for the Martins.”

“
Who are the
Martins?”

He sheepishly grinned. “The clients.
Mr. Parr told me about them. Old friends of his family…that’s why
he is giving us a shot at the plans. He couldn’t afford to piss off
a real paying client with two new grads for architects.” Adam went
back to his desk. “Anyway, I wouldn’t kill yourself over this,
Madison. Mr. Parr is probably going to ignore whatever we come up
with and give the project to Garrett.”

“
Did he tell you
that?”

“
He didn’t have to. When
you came in after meeting with him, you looked down in the dumps
about something. I figured he wasn’t happy with your
design.”

“
No, he actually seemed
rather excited about my design.”

“
Could have fooled me.” He
slung his blue backpack over his right shoulder, gripping the
rolled up paper in his hand. “Are you sure I can’t talk you into
leaving? We could go around the corner to Rory’s and grab a
beer.”

“
No thanks. I’ve got to
finish this.” She motioned to her computer screen.

“
Suit yourself. If you ever
feel the need for a drink, the invitation is always open.” He
hurried into the hall.

Relieved to finally be alone, Madison
took her chair and shifted her attention to the design on the
computer screen. The house was beginning to take shape. As she
began to lengthen out the rear porch that she had inserted
overlooking the creek, Adam’s words came back to her.

Why was she bothering if all of her
efforts were for naught? Sighing as she shaded in a section of the
extended porch with her mouse, Madison considered if she should
finish the design she had started. Maybe someday, someone would
like it.

“
Yeah, maybe
someday.”

It seemed her life had been an endless
string of “maybe somedays.” She had placed so much hope on someday,
that the reality of today had been pushed aside. Madison had waited
for someone special to someday come and change her life, but that
someone had never appeared. Instead of losing her virginity to a
man she loved, she had given it to a stranger, and when that
stranger turned out to be like every other man she had met, the
reality of her life came crashing down around her. There was no
someday…only today.

Even the special attention Madison
thought she had been receiving from Hayden Parr had been her
imagination. Like her silly infatuation with Harry, she had built
her relationship with her boss into something it obviously wasn’t.
Maybe she had built up Harry to be something he wasn’t as well. As
her mind wandered back to that night, Madison tried to find subtle
hints or words that would allay her apprehensions, but there was
nothing. No sweet endearments whispered in her ear, no gentle
caresses or prolonged embrace. It had just been sex…really good
sex, but sex all the same.

“
It’s time to grow up,
Madison,” she voiced, hardening her resolve to put away the past.
“It never mattered. It was nothing more than a one-night stand, and
no one’s ever found happiness in the arms of a
stranger.”

Chapter 6

The poufy gold and white skirt of her
long dress was bunched around her hips as she struggled to reach
for the release on her seat belt. Sitting in the front seat of
Charlie’s blue Honda Accord, Madison waited as a valet came toward
the car door outside of the entrance to Turtle Creek Mansion
Restaurant.

“
Don’t forget your plans,”
Charlie said, handing her the cardboard tube containing her
computer generated drawing. “Text me when you’re ready to go. I’ll
probably still be over at Nelson’s unpacking.” Her eyes swerved
back to the pile of boxes she had stacked in her
backseat.

“
You’re sure you don’t mind
picking me up?” Madison finally hit the button on the seat belt
release. “I can grab a cab home.”

“
No. I’m happy to come back
and get you. That way I can leave Nelson to do the
unpacking.”

The car door opened and a sharply
dressed young man in black pants and a red vest held out his hand
to Madison.

“
You look great,” Charlie
declared. “Go get that hottie boss.”

Madison smiled warmly for her friend,
ashamed that she had not told Charlie the truth about Hayden and
how he had forgotten all about their one night together.

“
Thanks, Charlie,” she
uttered, before stepping from the car.

Clutching her small gold purse and the
round cardboard tube with her design, Madison stopped before the
grand entrance to the restaurant and glanced up at the impressive
Rosewood Mansion on Turtle Creek.

Built over a century earlier by a
cotton baron, the stately home was designed as a High Renaissance
Italian villa, complete with heavy decorative white moldings above
the grand domed entrance and long arched windows. Short, protruding
balconies on the second and third floors were wrapped in heavy
white iron railings. The patio leading to the doorway was covered
with red brick inlaid in an arched pattern, resembling waves on the
water. A white canopy covered the walkway to the main entrance,
while all about the greenery had been strewn with white tea lights.
As she neared the doorway, with its white triangular pediment
rising majestically above, Madison sucked in a nervous breath and
smoothed out the front of her gold and white gown.

“
Here we go.”

At the oversized wooden doors, an
attendant dressed in a black tuxedo politely smiled and waved her
inside. The stately mansion had long ago been converted into a
fashionable hotel, and as Madison entered the warmly decorated
lobby with its modern custom artwork, she reveled in the estate’s
original magnificence of hand-carved fireplaces, marble floors, and
stained-glass windows. To the right of the lobby was a narrow
hallway with a stand announcing that the Mansion Restaurant was
closed for a private party. Following a line of well-dressed guests
down the hallway, Madison made her way toward the elegant leaded
glass doors that opened into the restaurant.

Passing through the doors, she was
enticed by the murmur of voices and greeted by a warmly lit bar.
With deep honey-colored paneled walls and burnt sienna leather
furniture surrounding black tables, the cozy room oozed elegance. A
wall of niched alcoves behind the dark-stained bar offered a
glimpse of the alcoholic brands offered. At the far end of the
room, a selection of dark beige and amber plush sofas stood on a
black, white, and gold-tiled floor across from a stately hearth
encased in a high taupe marble mantle. About the room, the formally
attired guests sipped on tall martini glasses filled with a red
concoction. Before Madison could even begin to wonder what the
drink was made of, a waiter decked in all black approached her
side.

“
Cranberry martini, miss?
It’s the signature drink for the party.” He held out a silver tray
filled with the specialty drinks before her.

Rearranging the awkward cardboard tube
and purse under her left arm, Madison reached for a glass. “Thank
you.”

The waiter disappeared behind her and
Madison raised the edge of the wide-rimmed glass to her lips. First
the tartness of the cranberry tickled her taste buds, and next the
pungent rush of alcohol hit her.

“
They’ll have to carry me
out of here if I drink this.”

Casually stepping to the side, she put
the strong drink on an empty table in the corner of the room,
pretended to adjust her gold clutch purse under her arm,
repositioned her tube, and then she slinked away.

Leaving the bar, she made her way to
the main dining room. Dark, carved panels of rich wood decorated
the walls, but the centerpiece of the room was not the impressive
walnut and white marble inlaid mantle with its depiction of the old
cotton baron’s family crest, it was the wall of stained glass
windows boasting the crests of the relatives of the influential
family that had built the massive mansion. Along one side of the
room a white linen buffet service waited, while chefs wearing high
white hats stood at the ready to serve the guests. The dining room
tables were covered in white linen, set with glistening white china
and shiny silver stemware, and in the center sat an arrangement of
bright red carnations. More vases of red carnations were scattered
about the room, and decorated the buffet tables. An open pair of
leaded glass doors allowed the cool night breeze into the room from
an adjoining patio.

Eager to check out the contents in the
selection of silver chaffing dishes, Madison slowly sauntered past
the buffet tables and her stomach rumbled in protest. Nervous about
the entire evening, she had skipped lunch, fearing that food would
have only added to the distress pervading her already queasy
stomach.

At the entrance to the patio, she
savored the feel of the nippy fall breeze on her hot skin. Then, a
familiar laugh made her breath catch in her throat.

Standing by an outdoor fireplace of
orange stucco and dressed in a fitted black tuxedo was Hayden Parr.
In the pale light of the dozens of cast iron lanterns that were
strewn about, his gray eyes appeared magically aglow. His rugged
features were accentuated by the dancing shadows of light, making
his strongly carved chin and sharp cheekbones even more luscious.
In his hand was an old-fashioned glass of dark yellow liquid that
matched the dark yellow furniture spread about the patio. He was
talking to a beautiful brunette with stunning cheekbones, catlike
brown eyes, and a lean figure, not unlike his. Draped in a black
and white satin gown that gathered at the waist and collected on
her right shoulder, she looked every inch the woman Madison knew
she could never be: sophisticated, stunning, and irresistible to
men. As she chatted with Hayden, she affectionately placed her
smooth white hand on the sleeve of his black tuxedo
jacket.

The well of jealousy that overtook
Madison was unexpected; she wanted to scratch the woman’s eyes out.
Feeling the desire drain from her body, Madison was about to turn
away when Hayden’s eyes found her. Suddenly, she felt naked beneath
his gaze. He seemed to drink in every inch of her, and without
hesitation she knew what he was thinking. Any woman worth her
weight knew that look when she saw it in a man. It was primal; it
was instinctual, and utterly carnal.

Putting his drink down on a nearby
table, Hayden abandoned the woman at his side and came up to
Madison. “You look absolutely wonderful,” he purred in a voice akin
to black velvet.

The rush of heat to her cheeks only
compounded the tingling in her belly. “Thank you, Mr.
Parr.”

He grinned, looking sexy as hell.
“None of that Mr. Parr stuff tonight. We’re out of the office and
this is a party. Call me Hayden.” He took her arm. “Come, there’s
someone I want you to meet.”

He escorted her across the patio to
the woman waiting in front of the large fireplace. As she came
closer, Madison noticed the way she watched her, smiling with
appreciation rather than malice.

“
Mike, this is the young
architect I was telling you about, Madison Barnett,” Hayden
proclaimed as he came to a stop next to the beautiful brunette. He
turned to Madison. “I would like you to meet my sister, Michaela
Chaplin. Everyone calls her Mike.”

Mike held out a sleek hand clad in a
wide diamond tennis bracelet and an assortment of diamond rings.
“Madison, great to meet you. Harry has been singing your praises to
everyone who will listen.”

Hayden frowned. “My sister
exaggerates, as usual.”

Mike laughed and slapped her brother
teasingly on the arm. “He never praises his architects, but you he
has simply gone on and on about.” She smiled, a mischievous smile
that hinted at the playful demeanor beneath the exquisite alabaster
face. “You see, Harry is one of those bosses that believes praise
needs to be earned.” Her brown eyes swept over Madison’s face. “And
you have definitely earned it.”