The Spanish Tycoon's Temptress (8 page)

She looked down at the table, suddenly feeling deflated because he was right.  She wasn’t taking care of herself.  She’d forgotten to eat breakfast this morning and she really was hungry because a cup of coffee didn’t last very long.  “I’m sorry.  You’re right.  I need to eat better but you really don’t need to take me out for meals just to make sure I eat well.”

He was surprised by her sudden defeat.  He didn’t like the sad, desolate look  that entered her eyes.  He preferred the spunky, kick-the-
shins-of-whoever-got-in-her-way Elana.  “What just happened?” he demanded.

Elana smiled slightly, leaning forward and running her fingers over the condensation of her water glass while she looked around at the other patrons.  “I guess I simply realized that you’re right.  I haven’t been taking care of myself.  My home is a mess, I’m barely eating….” She sighed and her shoulders drooped.  “I haven’t even exercised since… I don’t know when.”

“You used to love working out,” he said softly, his voice gravelly as it always was when memories popped up of what she used to be like, of what they had together and lost. 

She grimaced.  “I know.”  She looked down at the linen table cloth.  “Do you?” She asked.  “Work out, I mean.”

“Yes.”

“Just as crazy as you used to be?”

He chuckled.  “I never thought I was crazy before.”

She laughed softly.  “Which only means that your workouts are probably more insane than they used to be.”  Her eyes drifted over his broad, muscular shoulders and the biceps that bulged against the fabric of his suit.  “You look good,” she said, suddenly startled by that realization.  Hadn’t he been affected by their breakup?  Actually, he looked amazing, even more buff than he had been before when they were together.

“I still work out,” was all he would say. 

“And what else do you do?”

He wasn’t sure what she was asking but he leaned forward himself.  “I work a great deal,” he commented.

“And…” she swallowed painfully, blinking back the tears in her eyes.  “Are you seeing anyone special?”  Her whole body braced for the answer, wondering if she could take it if he said he was seeing someone significant.  It was bound to happen, she told herself.  She might as well get that out there and
face up to the reality.  He was a man who would want an heir.  Since he was now in his mid-thirties, he would naturally start to gravitate towards someone who would be interested in marriage. 

It didn’t matter that they’d talked about marriage and kids, discussing their futures
together as if they were set in stone together.  Both of them had been deliriously happy about the idea of spending the rest of their lives together, but apparently, that hadn’t been the case.  At least not in his mind. 

“I’m not seeing anyone special,” he replied and he noticed that every muscle in her body seemed to relax with that reassurance.  Interesting, he thought.  “What about you?  Or should I already assume the answer based on your lack of sleep?” 

She laughed, thinking he was referring to Tom’s comment that she’d been in the laboratory pretty often lately and her lack of sleep was apparent with the dark circles under her eyes.  “I think I’m just getting used to sleep deprivation,” she joked.  “It will help once I decide to have kids, right?” she laughed, but the sound came out harsh.  Fake. 

He hated the idea of another man keeping her up late each night, making love to her and touching her beautiful body like he wanted to do.  Pushing the image of another man in her arms out of his mind, he focused on the conversation and
his ultimate goal.  “Is there a prospective father on the horizon?”

She laughed again.  It was a pretty pathetic reality that no man had kissed her since Gaston.  “No.  No prospective groom or father.”

“Aren’t those the same thing?” he asked harshly.

She glanced up, surprise by the vehemence in his voice.  “Of course,” she confirmed, not sure where this bout of anger came from.   “I spend a great deal of time in the lab so it isn’t as if there’s a
large social network of prospective candidates among the other lab geeks.”

He raised his eyebrows, but didn’t have a chance to comment because their meal arrived at that point.  He was relieved when she dug into the chicken.  At least she wasn’t averse to eating.  She just didn’t think of it, he realized. 

“So how are the experiments coming along?” he asked, thinking to change the subject to something less controversial and with a few less explosive possibilities.

She smiled and nodded her head.  “They are going extremely well, thank you.”  She was genuinely grateful for his assistance here.  “You were right.  The original bacteria samples I was using were contaminated but because of that, I was able to isolate several different strains and….” She went on talking about the bacteria and her progress, answering all of his questions eagerly and with enthusiasm.  This was her baby and although the previous
tampering was a setback, it had provided her with new ideas and greater insight which she was now applying to her work.  The last six months hadn’t been a waste at all, but had possibly spurred greater success.

By the time they finished their conversation, she’d eaten all of her meal and felt enormously better.  “Thank you for lunch,” she said shyly, glancing up at him through her lashes.  “I didn’t realize how hungry I was.”

He shook his head.  “It’s one of those issues that not many people suffer from.  The bigger problem in the world is stopping people from eating but you have this problem with remembering to eat.”

She laughed, feeling energized and ready to take on the world.  “I guess I get a little too enthusiastic about my work.”

“A little?” he teased as he passed the waiter his credit card.  “Perhaps too much.”

She shook her head.  “That’s calling the kettle black,” she countered.  “What time did you finish working last night?” she asked, knowing that he was just as much of a workaholic as she was. 

“About midnight.”

“So?” she replied, her hands flat in the air as if to say, “Don’t you see the similarities?”

“There’s a difference,” he countered.

“What’s that?” she asked as she stood up and let him lead her out of the restaurant with a hand on the small of her back, feeling the heat of his hand but it didn’t feel horribly threatening at the moment.

“I didn’t forget to eat,” he explained plainly. 

Elana opened her mouth to argue with him, but then she stopped, thought back to the previous night and tried to remember what she’d eaten for dinner.  When she couldn’t think of anything, she simply closed her mouth once again and walked out into the sunshine again, ignoring his smug satisfaction. 

Her shivering didn’t start up again until she was standing by the curb and the limousine rolled up, his driver jumping out to open the car door for them.  “I don’t mind catching a cab back to the lab,” she said, taking an involuntary step back from the dark interior of the vehicle.

“Nonsense,” he replied, putting a hand to the small of her back and almost pushing her into the car.  “We’re both going to the same place.  It makes no sense to drive separately.”

She disagreed with him, but she wasn’t sure she could convince him of her need to stay away from him.  With a sigh of resignation, she ducked into the car, taking the seat opposite him again. 

She blushed when she saw the expression on his face, a look that told her that, if he wanted her in his arms, he knew he could get her there despite her
distance.  The problem was, she was pretty sure that was true.  Which was why she was sitting on the opposite side and crossed her legs and arms, as if she could form a physical barrier from the man and his allure. 

“What are you doing this weekend?” he asked as the driver pulled away from the curb. 

Elana’s mind went over her plans for the next couple of days and she drew a blank.  She could clean her apartment, she thought.  She didn’t have much work to do because she needed to grow her bacteria and it took a while before the next batch would be viable enough for her to implement into the experiment. 

His
eyebrows went up in question as he waited for her answer. 

“I have plans,” she said somewhat defensively. 

“What are they?”

She crossed her arms over her chest and glared back at him. 
It wasn’t really any of his business what she was doing, but he was looking at her as if he knew she was afraid to be alone with him.  “Since my slides are growing,” she said with a tinge of unease, “I’ll clean up my apartment and get things organized for the next phase of my experiments.”  Her eyes lit up at that, eager to prove that she wasn’t so pathetic.

He immediately shook his head, thi
nking about hiring an organizational expert to do all of that work for her.  Her apartment wasn’t dirty, just disorganized.  “No, you’re coming to the investor’s meeting with me tomorrow night and then I think I should probably take you to my lake house just to make sure that you eat over the weekend.”

Elana didn’t like the sound of that at all.  She couldn’t spend even an evening in his presence if her behavior before lunch was any
indication, not even considering the possibility of an entire weekend.  “I don’t think that’s going to happen,” she replied and looked out the window of the vehicle.  She focused her attention on the various people milling about on the sidewalk as the limousine waited for the light to change. 

He smiled at her resistance, ready to take on the challenge. 
“First of all, I need you at the board of director’s dinner tomorrow night.  You’re a big investment that I’ve approved and I need you to charm the other board members so that they know that you’re a reasonable risk.”

Elana’s heart picked up the pace with that declaration because she’d had to attend these functions on several other occasions with whichever group was providing her funding.  It was standard procedure to wine and dine the people who were paying, to convince them that her work was important and would help with the end goal of whichever organization was paying for the work.  “Fine,” she said grudgingly, which probably
wasn’t a good idea considering that this man was the head of that particular board.  She needed his support, she realized suddenly.  And she wasn’t doing a very good job of making him feel her appreciation for his efforts. 

She might be better at that part of her job if he would just keep his distance, she thought with resentment.  No kissing would be a good start!  “What time and what’s the dress for tomorrow night?”

“I’ll pick you up at six o’clock tomorrow and the dress is formal.”  She didn’t even touch the idea of his lake house.  She’d never been to his lake house, hadn’t known he even owned one, but she didn’t want to spend the weekend with him anyway. 

Elana sighed and bowed her head slightly.  Why was
this such an imposition?  She used to love dressing up and mingling with people, laughing and learning about what they did and what they thought.  When had she become such a curmudgeon? 

Had she let Gaston’s betrayal affect her so much that her entire personality had faded away? 
Had she really become such a shell that her life was solely about her work? 

Obviously the answer was yes since she’d had to dust off her previously favorite shoes the last time she’d gone out to dinner with him.  Not good, she told herself firmly. 

She sat up a bit straighter in the leather seat, wanting to show him that she was strong and confident.  “I’ll be ready, but you don’t have to pick me up,” she said, not looking at him.  “Just have your assistant send me the address and I’ll be there.”

He laughed
softly and shook his head.  “I don’t think so, Elana.  I know the way you work and you’ll be in the lab until midnight, forgetting everything if I don’t make sure you arrive on time.  I’ll pick you up at six.”

Elana looked back at him, irritated that he was being so stubborn about this.  “I’ll set an alarm to make sure I leave the lab with enough time.  I don’t want you in my apartment again.”

His smile was slow and sexy as his eyes looked at her figure, ending at her soft lips.  “Why not?  What are you hiding in that place?”

She squirmed under his intense scrutiny, her lips pressing
together mutinously.  “I’m not hiding anything in my apartment but even if I were, it still wouldn’t be any of your business.”

“So why don’t you want me in your apartment?”

“Because…” she wasn’t sure how to explain that his presence in her apartment set her world off kilter, made her private space seem as if he should be there more often.  But she didn’t want to reveal that much to him.  She didn’t want him to know that she still might have feelings for him.  And she didn’t want to be hurt by him again.  So the less time he was in her private spaces, the less of an impact he could have on her life and the easier her recovery would be once he left her life once again. 

“Because I don’t want you invading my private life, Gaston.”
  She said it with finality, looking him straight in the eye and feeling proud that she didn’t back down this time. 

He was silent for a long moment, his smile growing slowly and the light in his eyes, that light that made her stomach muscles quiver and her knees press together, told her that she was in deep trouble.