on the brass handle and escaped into the night. A sharp twinge of guilt told her she should make some excuse for leaving to Noah, but she didn’t know what she would say. It was easier to leave undetected. She couldn’t afford to get involved with Noah Wilder or any of his personal problems. Right now she was a business partner of Wilder Investments, nothing more.
Sheila shuddered as a blast of cold air greeted her. She had to squint in the darkness. Soft raindrops fell from the sky to run down her face as she attempted to get her bearings in the moonless night. “Damn,” she muttered under her breath when she realized that she hadn’t walked out of a back entrance to the house as she had hoped but was standing on a spacious flagstone veranda overlooking the black waters of Lake Washington. She leaned over the railing to view the jagged cliff and saw that there was no way she could hope to scale its rocky surface. She couldn’t escape.
“Sheila!” Noah’s voice boomed in the night. It startled her, and she slipped on the wet flagstones. To regain her balance, she tightened her grip on the railing. “What the devil do you think you’re doing?” In three swift strides he was beside her. He grabbed her shoulders and yanked her away from the edge of the veranda.
Sheila froze in her embarrassment. How stupid she must look, trying to flee into the night. It seemed that her poise and common sense had left her when she had met Noah.
“I asked you a question—what were you doing out here?” Noah gave her shoulders a hard shake. His eyes were dark with rage and something else. Was it fear?
Sheila managed to find her voice, though most of her attention remained on the pressure of Noah’s fingers against her upper arms. “I was trying to leave,” she admitted.
“Why?”
“I didn’t want to hear your argument with your son.”
The grip on her shoulders relaxed, but his fingers lingered against her arms. “You would have had to have been deaf not to hear that argument. I’m just glad that you weren’t considering jumping from the deck.”
“What? Of course not. It must be over fifty feet straight down.”
“At least.”
“And you thought I might jump?” She was incredulous.
“I didn’t know what to think,” he conceded. “I don’t know you and I don’t really understand why you came out here or why you were leaning over the railing.” He seemed honestly perplexed.
“There’s nothing mysterious about it, I just wanted to leave. I was looking for a back exit.”
“Why were you in such a hurry?” He examined her more closely. It was hard to tell in the darkness, but he was sure that she was blushing. Why?
“I don’t feel comfortable here,” she admitted.
“Why not?”
Because of you. You’re not what I expected at all. I’m attracted to you and I can’t be! “I’ve invaded your privacy and I apologize for that. It was rude of me to come to your home uninvited.”
“But you didn’t know it was my home.”
“That doesn’t matter. I think it would be best if I were to leave. We can meet another time…in your office…or at the winery, if you prefer.” He was close to her. She could see the interest in his cool blue eyes, smell his heady male scent, feel an unspoken question hanging dangerously between them.
“I don’t know when I’ll have the time,” he hedged.
“Surely you can find an hour somewhere,” she coaxed. The tight feeling in her chest was returning.
“What’s wrong with now?”
“I told you…I don’t want to interfere in your private life.”
“I think it might be too late for that.”
Sheila swallowed, but the dryness in her throat remained. Noah looked into the farthest reaches of her eyes, as if he were searching for her soul. She felt strangely vulnerable and naked to his knowing gaze, but she didn’t shrink away from him. Instead she returned his unwavering stare. His fingers once again found her arms. She didn’t pull away, nor did she sway against him. Though she was drawn to his raw masculinity, she forced her body to remain rigid and aloof as his hands slid up her arms to rest at the base of her throat.
Raindrops moistened her cheeks as she lifted her face to meet his. She knew that he was going to kiss her and involuntarily her lips parted. His head lowered, and the pressure of his fingers against her throat moved in slow, seductive circles as his lips touched hers in a bittersweet kiss that asked questions she couldn’t hope to answer. She wasn’t conscious of accepting what he offered until she felt her arms circle his waist. It had been so long since she had wanted a man. Not since Jeff had she let a man close to her. Never had she felt so unguarded and passionate. Until now, when she stood in the early summer rain, kissing a man she couldn’t really trust. She felt a warm, traitorous glow begin to burn within her.
His hands shifted to the small of her back and pulled her against his hard, lean frame. She felt the rigid contours of his body, and the ache in hers began to spread. Lazily he brushed his lips over hers, and softly his tongue probed the warm recess of her mouth. All of her senses began to awaken and come alive. Feeling she had thought dead reappeared.
When he pulled away from her to look into her eyes, her rational thought came thundering back to her. She saw a smoldering passion in the smoky blue depths of his eyes, and she knew that her own eyes were inflamed with a desire that had no bounds.
“I’m sorry,” she swiftly apologized, trying to take a step backward. The hands on her waist held her firmly against him.
“For what?”
“Everything, I guess. I didn’t mean for things to get so out of hand.”
He cocked his head to one side in a pose of disbelief. “You must enjoy running out on me. Is that it? Are you just a tease?” Was he kidding? Couldn’t he feel her response?
“I meant that I hadn’t planned to become involved with you.”
“I know that.”
“Do you?”
“Of course. Neither of us planned any of this, but we can’t deny that we’re attracted to each other. We both felt it earlier in the study, and we’re feeling it now.” One of his fingers touched her swollen lips, challenging her to contradict him.
Her knees became weak as his head once again lowered and his lips, deliciously warm and sensitive, touched hers. She was drawn to him, but she fought the attraction. She pulled away. Her own lips were trembling and for an unguarded instant, fear lighted her eyes.
Noah was wary. “Is something wrong?”
She wanted to laugh at the absurdity of the situation. “Is anything wrong?” she echoed. “Are you kidding? How about everything? The winery is in a shambles, so I came to Seattle hoping that you would help me. Instead, I end up here looking for your father because I couldn’t get through to you. On top of that I stumble onto your argument with your son, and finally, I fall neatly into your arms.”
Noah
