Wise Folly (3 page)

“What a good idea,” Dianna murmured, nodding her head toward the nearest of the
uniformed
men.

Jason took her elbow and
began g
uided her toward the elevators. “It was put into practice years ago. There are too many young women working at Wescomp to
take a
chance
on
their safety. It’s rumored that a girl was raped down here once and they’ve had security guards ever since.”

The blood slowly drained from her face and her legs trembled with an uncontrollable weakness. A deadly quiet surrounded them except for the sound of the elevator making its way toward the basement Fine dots of perspiration beaded her upper
lip
and forehead as her eyes darted around the concrete walls. She had never been in the garage since that night
....
she had
tried so hard to forget
...

A Cadillac. Charles had
picked her up and
driven to the dinner club in a royal blue Cadillac with seats so soft they enveloped her in a
silky
, spongy cocoon. It was a perfect start to what promised to be a perfect evening.
Because she had thought they
were meeting
Noah
there.

She'd met
Charles e
arl
ier that day when she had applied for a position
at
Noah's
insistence.
As a younger brother, he
was
fun
,
personable and very jealous of his older,
CEO
executive brother.
Noah was the man in charge, and his very stance and attitude showed it.
He
wore
a permanently etched frown and caramel-colored hair. And when
Charles
had
called and said he was assigned to take her
to meet Noah for dinner, she
had
smiled and agreed.
She had
begun to fall in love with Noah, and her heartbeat raced at just the name passing her lips. To think he'd send his brother to pick her up made her feel even more special than Noah had already accomplished. And
Charles'
easy banter and
joking had put her at ease almost immediately. But there was no doubt all her attention had been on seeing Noah again.

It turned out that Noah never made the restaurant. He was detained by an impromptu meeting according to Charles.
T
he food was good, the wine better, and as the evening wore on she was put at ease by his bright smiles and too many
sips
of wine. Charles never let her g
l
ass get more than half empty. Fresh out of college and thrilled at the prospect of
being Noah's girlfriend and
starting her first
'real'
job, she had been too naive to heed the warning bells

However, w
henever Charles gazed longingly at her
or
when he held her too close as they danced around the postage-stamp floor she pushed away
to give her more personal space
, only to see his brow furrow a second before he smiled again. It was a funny smile, one that sent a chill down her spine for no reason at all. How could she be afraid of the young man who owned
a portion
of the
company for which she would be working?
She had changed her drink from wine to a soda, and
, at his insistence,
still couldn't drink the full glass
explaining it tasted funny.

“Ready to go?’ His voice was slurred and Dianna wondered how many glasses of wine he had had to drink. She
hadn't paid attention
.
But then, her thoughts began to swim around, too.

The radio speakers inside the Cadillac emitted
a drum beat that played havoc with her thoughts.
Dianna
had
leaned
her head back and clos
ed
her eyes as they exited the parking lot and turned into the downtown streets. She’d declined his offer of a nightcap at
his
penthouse apartment
right next to his brother's larger one
in the Wescomp building
.
She was feeling dizzy, warm,
and uncertain
of how to move.

W
ithin minutes Charles had made a wide rough curve into the
Wescomp
building’s underground parking garage. He pulled the car to a short stop
with her door
scant inches from the brick wall of the elevator shaft
.
Confused by the deliberate way he’d ignored her request to be driven home, Dianna blinked, looking at him to see
dilated
eyes leering at her
with a
half-
smile
in the dashboard’s dim light

“Dianna! Mrs. Hammond! Are you all right?” Jason repeated, giving her shoulder a slight shake. She turned wide unseeing eyes up to him as slow-building panic bubbled in her throat to block off air. She was rooted to the concrete, transported into time past as its memories kept her in a viselike grip and shut out the present completely.

Charles had reached for her, pulling her close to press his lips against hers. At first, she resisted, but he paid no attention. Then she went limp, hoping he would stop when she didn’t respond. His behavior was more irritating than frightening.

Suddenly he
was
rough
,
gr
inding
his mouth against hers
;
harder, harder, until she tasted the warm saltiness of her own blood.
She
push
ed
against his chest and attempted to scream
with all her might
.
A small part of her mind
refused to accept what he was doing. Soon he would recover and
apologize. And
she would slap him silly and call a cab.
She knew it!

When his hand reached down to cruelly grab her breast and knead it painfully against arched ribs, terror washed over her.
She recognized bare strength and knew he would use it.
She made a superhuman effort to fight him off, but his grip didn’t lessen until her elbow hit his stomach. She struggled, wrenching herself free of his grip and reaching for the door handle only to fumble in her haste. He recovered quickly and lunged at her before she could force it open, knocking her head against the unpadded edge just below the window. Stars exploded in front of her eyes and she lay dazed, hardly aware of
the
ripping noise her blouse made as he tore
the
buttons off in
his
fury. Her skirt was pushed up with rough hands, panties pulled until the thin elastic ate into the tender flesh of her
waist
. She felt his hot breath on her breast and the coolness of the night air on her tear-stained cheeks. Her mouth kept forming words to implore him to stop, but her voice came out in a
slurred
whimper.

S
he
screamed
as she tried to push him away again and again. He was angered even more and bit into
the
upper softness of her breast and her
screams
became
cries
. Was that her voice? Why did it sound so far away?
All
she knew was pain, a terrible agonizing pain that spread through her entire body.

“Shut up!” he muttered
slapping her hard
as he tried to control her swinging arms. Grabbing her shoulders, he banged her against the door again.
Then
again. Darkness surrounded her and she wondered if she was blind. Her eyes were open, weren’t they?

His fingers ruthlessly pushed between her thighs and once again a moan turned into a cry. One hand slapped her face, knocking her head sideways and hurting her cut cheek again. Salty tears streamed down her face to mingle with the blood and cause a new burning sting, but she hardly felt it His hands were all over her, kneading, pushing,
and tearing
. She was lying on the seat now, no longer fighting, her mind closed to the actions in
side the
car except to hear his cursing and the rasp of his short heavy breathing
, smelling of sour liquor
. Suddenly her limp hand came into contact with some-thing on
the
floor of the car
.
Her
shoe?
Jumbled thoughts tossed, one over another.
She
fumbled, grasping
it by the sole, the heel free
. W
ith
her final
last bit of strength, she swung it as hard as she could, aiming for his head. Her hand continued its arc even as
he punched h
er in the gut
and a
piercing pain lit a searing hot fire
inside her
. . .

“My God!” Then nothing.

“Mrs. Hammond!” Jason exclaimed, now worried

Dianna’s breath came in short, uneven gasps as the elevator door opened and a tall imposing figure stepped off to block her flight
.
She was stilled by the
piercing
gray-black eyes that held her, calmed her.
Knew her.
Calmed her.
He gave
Jason
a quick glance and motioned him into the elevator as h
e r
eached for Dianna
hand
.
She held
it
tightly, her knuckles white with strain as he placed her hand on his arm and turned slowly back to the opened door. She moved like an automaton as they entered the elevator and the door quietly closed.

His voice was low and melodic; soothing her raw emotions.
“It’s nice to see you again, Dianna. I was just coming down to greet you, remembering that you were never fond of closed-in places.” His voice was low and
slow
, as if he were talking to a child.

Dianna kept her eyes fixed on the floor as relived terror slowly subsided and she realized the complete fool she
'
d made of herself. But even as the fear receded she could
n't
deny
the
relief that flooded through her at his mere presence. He had known what to do then, just as he knew what to do now. What would she have done if he had not been there?

The words of gratitude slipped out with quiet
sincerity. "Thank
you, Noah.”

"
So t
hat was it!” A relieved smile broke across Jason’s face. “
Ma'am, y
ou gave me quite a fright
. I didn't know what I'd done wrong.
But I understand—I’m that way about a few
things
myself.” His reply was tinged with humor and sympathy. “I’ll bet just hearing the sound of those rusty cables echoing in the concrete basement touched it off. They really do make an eerie noise at night”

“Then we’ll have to do something about that won’t we?” Noah Weston stated calmly, his dark gray hawk
-
like eyes never leaving Dianna’s face. “We can’t have the new head of Programming afraid every time she ... steps into an elevator.” His voice was cool, slow, but there was another message beneath his words.

Dianna understood
. S
he couldn’t relive that one night for the rest of her life. But she also knew that the
terror
those memories
held for her could never be erased. She stared up at him with a look that told him so. His smile was tinged with sardonic amusement and for a split second Dianna knew what pure and raging hatred was. She tried to wrench her hand away, but he tightened his and held her more securely. She couldn’t free herself unless she wanted to make a scene.

“
So, I guess you t
wo know each other?’ Jason asked. Before an answer could be given the elevator doors quietly opened and they stepped out

“We’ve met
.
” Noah said noncommittally as he walked her down
the
wide hall toward music and voices. “Would you care to freshen up, Mrs. Hammond?” he said in a low voice, emphasizing her marital status.

Fear and anger fought and anger won. Her hazel eyes flashed, her expression looking more determined with each passing second. “Thank you
, Mr. Weston
. Please don’t wait for me.
I'll
find my own way to
the
party,” she answered stiffly.

He
chuckled
, his eyes lit with amusement at her discomfort “
In this building,
I doubt if you could find your way out of an empty room, but I wasn’t going to wait for you
.
Jason will do that
.
” He glanced over his shoulder at the puzzled younger man. “Won’t you, Jason?’