The Courtship of Dani (2 page)

His mouth closed over hers, and her words became a muffled protest. Dani began to struggle in earnest, but his arms went around her, clamping her tightly against his chest while he continued the aggressive assault on her lips. The kiss was wet and sloppy, suffocating, his teeth nipping at her lips with barely restrained savagery, his tongue pushing demandingly at her tightly clenched teeth.

Dani gagged. She strained with all her might against his hold, but he backed her up against the car and pressed his length against her to hold her still. She didn't even have room to use her knee. She was trying to find his instep with the heel of her shoe, when a snicker of female laughter made Lewis stiffen and pull away.

"Oh, please, Manders, don't let us interrupt your fun." Jason St. Clair's deep, sneering voice floated to them out of the darkness. "By all means, you and your girlfriend carry on. We were just leaving."

Pale and shaken, Dani leaned against the car and gasped for breath, unable to say a word, as Linda and Jason strolled by. Briefly Jason's eyes flicked over Dani, scorn and revulsion glittering in their dark depths. Then the couple was swallowed up by the darkness, and there was only the gritting sound of their receding footsteps and the labored rasp of Dani's breathing.

For several seconds she stared after them in horror, her hand clamped over her mouth, but the sound of a car door slamming farther down the drive brought her out of her stupor. She rounded on Lewis, her blue eyes blazing.

"You bastard!"

Her first volley caught him by such surprise that he backed up a step. Dani advanced and jabbed him in the gut with the narrow end of her gold clutch. "You sorry, worthless sleaze-ball!" she ground out in a furious cutting voice that made Lewis blink. "Who the hell do you think you are?" Dani looked him up and down, a grimace of pure disgust twisting her face. "You're nothing but a weak, spineless parasite. What on earth ever gave you the idea that I would be interested in you? You make me sick." "Now, see here—"

Dani jabbed him again and continued as though he hadn't spoken. "Don't you ever dare to touch me again. You got that? You keep your slimy hands to yourself, or I swear I'll make you regret the day you laid eyes on me." She shoved him hard, sending him staggering backward, then turned and jerked open the door to her car.

"You... you'd better be careful," Lewis blustered. "I doubt that my father would like it if he heard you talking to me that way." He was breathing hard and there was a look of acute dislike in his eyes, but there was fear, too, and it was on that Dani focused, savoring the grim satisfaction it brought. "You seem to forget that you're just the hired help," he sneered, whipping up his anger and growing steadily bolder at her continued silence. "You can be replaced at any time."

Standing in the wedge of space between the door and the car, Dani paused and looked at him. Inside she was shaking, but it was from fury, not fear. "You can tell Frank that he can have my resignation anytime he wants it."

Lewis began to backtrack immediately, his aggressive anger turning to apprehension. "Now...now wait a minute, Dani. You know I didn't mean it that way," he insisted in a panicked voice when she slid in behind the wheel and started the car. "Anyway, I would never mention this to Dad." Grasping the door, Lewis leaned down and treated her to his most charming, persuasive smile. "I mean, what's a little quarrel between friends?"

Dani gave him a scornful look, put the car in gear and shot down the drive, sending Lewis stumbling backward with a startled cry.

In the rearview mirror she saw Lewis silhouetted against the brightly lit house, standing in the drive with his hands on his hips, looking after her worriedly, and she gave a short, humorless laugh. She had no doubt that Lewis would keep quiet, not out of friendship but fear. It was very unlikely that Frank would fire her, and they both knew it. Frank himself would not even dare to use dismissal as a threat, since he knew that she could have her pick of any one of a dozen different jobs the minute the word got out that she had left Update, Inc.

Dani mulled over the ridiculous incident all the way home, her icy fury slowly subsiding. If she had thought for a moment that Lewis had any real feelings for her, she wouldn't have reacted so strongly or been so blunt. But she knew he didn't. If anything, Lewis resented her. Her intelligence, her position in the company and the high regard his father had for her were all sore points with Lewis, which, until recently, he had not bothered to hide. This sudden about-face was not due to a change of heart. Oh, no, Dani thought as she parked her car in her condominium's underground garage. Only at Frank's urging would Lewis pursue her so determinedly.

And it was not difficult to figure out Frank's reason for wanting to bring about a match. Frank was looking to the future. He was a hard working, ambitious man who had built his business-consulting firm into a thriving concern. He loved his son but he wasn't blind to what he was. Frank knew that Lewis didn't have the brains, the ability or the backbone to run Update, Inc. And he knew that Dani did.

When she entered her apartment Dani was shaking her head and chuckling, a soft, cynical sound that held little mirth. She owed Frank a lot. Eight years ago, at twenty, she had graduated from college with top honors, yet no one had been willing to give her a position of responsibility because of her youth. No one, that is, but Frank Manders. Once he had hired her, he had been quick to recognize and reward her ability, allowing her to rise rapidly through the ranks, until now she was the top business analyst with the firm and Frank's second in command. Yes, she owed him.. .but not that much.

Out of sheer force of habit, yawning hugely, Dani trailed across the living room to the small alcove that served as her office. Like the rest of the condo, it reflected Dani's passion for quality antiques, holding a rosewood desk and a delicate matching chair, a mahogany plant stand that sported an enormous ruffled fern, and a stack of very old, barrister's glass-front bookcases.

Sighing when she saw the red light blinking on her answering machine, Dani sank down into the chair and pushed the rewind button. There were three calls on the tape, all from her brother wanting her to call him the minute she returned.

Absently, Dani ran her hand back and forth across the satiny surface of the desk as she wondered what Chad wanted this time. He always wanted something: money, help with his studies, the loan of her car to impress some girl. Oh, he was always sweet and affectionate and charming, but Dani didn't fool herself. To Chad she was merely a means to an end; he wanted a college education, and she was his only hope of getting it. Their parents could not afford to send him and, unlike Dani, his grades had not been high enough to qualify him for a scholarship. For the past three years—ever since he realized that he would need her help—Chad had been playing the role of devoted brother, and Dani knew he would as long as she continued to finance his education.

As she stared at the answering machine, Dani felt a familiar heaviness deep in her chest. Hurting. Wistful.

Impatient with herself, she stood and walked into her bedroom, unzipping the cream silk dress on the way. So Chad was a user. So what? Hadn't she learned long ago that most people were takers, using one for gain of one kind or another whenever they could, often under the guise of friendship or love? People like her natural mother, her adoptive parents, Frank, Chad. Almost everyone who had touched her life had wanted something from her.

Dani slipped into a blue silk nightgown and sat down at the dressing table to remove her makeup. But that's all right, she told herself, staring determinedly at her reflection as she slathered cold cream over her face. As long as she understood and accepted that, she could deal with it.

As a child she had been a pawn with no say over her fate, but now she was in control. Now people used her only when—and as far as—she allowed them to. It was no hardship for her to finance Chad's education, so she did. She enjoyed her job at Update, Inc., and as long as Frank dealt with her fairly he would have her loyalty, but she would not be a crutch for his son. The choices were now hers to make.

Wiping her face with a tissue, Dani thought about that last unpleasant run-in with Lewis, and a frown marred the smooth skin of her forehead. She wished to heaven that Jason St. Clair had not witnessed that encounter.

Darn Lewis, anyway, she thought caustically as she swiped at her face with an astringent-soaked ball of cotton. She could cheerfully strangle him for putting her in such a compromising position. Now their new client probably thought she was some frivolous bubblehead who spent all her time behind a file cabinet, locked in a passionate clench with the boss's son.

Vivid blue eyes met their mirrored reflection and began to frost over once again. Dani picked up a brush and attacked her lustrous mane of sable hair with furious strokes. That, she vowed determinedly, was an impression she was going to correct Monday morning when they had their first business meeting.