“This is Flynn.” Danielle gave a smile but he saw the uneasiness beneath. “He’s been checking the lock on my door.”
“Really?” Monica said haughtily, then dismissed him by smiling coolly. “You should have called, dear. I know a locksmith.”
He’d bet a thousand dollars she didn’t, Flynn thought, taking an instant dislike to Danielle’s mother-in-law, noticing how her smile didn’t reach her eyes. She was too cold. And calculating.
“Yes, well,” Danielle said. “The landlord will have to fix it now. Flynn hasn’t got the right equipment.”
“Oh, I don’t know about that,” he drawled, and was pleased when two spots of color appeared on Danielle’s cheeks.
Monica looked at Flynn. “If only my Robbie were here. He was good at fixing things.”
“I’m sure he was,” Flynn said, emphasizing the last word. If Monica thought she was warning him off Danielle, then she could think again. He’d already made the decision to stay away and it had nothing to do with her mother-in-law.
Monica’s narrowed eyes told him she got the message, and right at that moment, Flynn could see how much Robert Ford had been like his mother. From the moment he’d met the other man he’d disliked him intensely.
As if Danielle sensed something going on between the two of them, she turned toward him, her eyes agitated. “Well, thanks again, Flynn,” she said, almost pushing him out the door. “I appreciate your help.”
He was tempted to stay just to annoy this Monica. Instead he stepped through the doorway and into the hall. “Make sure you get the lock fixed as soon as possible.”
“I will. And good night.”
“Yes, goodbye,” Monica said, moving past him into the apartment, almost elbowing him aside. “Nice meeting you.”
“And you.” He could play the game as well as she could, he mused, watching her continue on to the living room. Her rigid back gave him an immense sense of satisfaction.
Danielle glanced over her shoulder, again reminding him she was uneasy with this woman in her home, and a protective instinct rose in him, which he firmly squashed. He had no doubt Danielle would continue to hold firm against the other woman. After all, Danielle could take care of herself. He had to remember that.
“I’d better go in.” Danielle started to close the door, then stopped briefly, awareness in her eyes shooting desire through every region of his body. “Thank you for returning my purse.”
He held her gaze for one long moment, angry she was who she was, but wanting her with every fiber of his being. “It was my pleasure,” he rasped, watching with satisfaction as a flush spread up her neck to her face just before she closed the door.
He stood there for a moment and inhaled her scent still clinging to him. Then he spun on his heels and headed toward the elevator. He was supposed to be going out tonight but the thought of talking to another woman, of being with another woman, of making love to a woman other than the woman he wanted, filled him with distaste.
Dammit, there was no way he could go on his date now. Not after what he’d just shared with Danielle. He only hoped that even this small sample of how pleasurable it could be with Danielle Ford hadn’t ruined his love life.
Forever.
Danielle shut the door, then let out a shaky sigh. She had been so close to disaster just now. If Flynn had mentioned the loan to spite her…If Monica had decided to use it to get the baby…
No, she wouldn’t let it happen to her.
Straightening her shoulders, she took a deep breath before turning into the living room to face Monica. Her mother-in-law was bound to say something about Flynn having been in the apartment.
“Here. Let me take those,” she said when she saw Monica with a pile of her personal papers in the other woman’s hands.
Monica spun around, a flash of guilt crossing her face. “Oh, you startled me. I was just moving them so I could sit down.”
Danielle was sure she’d been reading them, not moving them, but she let it pass. They were only some bills and the lease to the apartment, which she’d been meaning to put away, anyway. Thankfully there was nothing about the loan in among that lot, she thought with intense relief as she took the papers and put them in the bureau drawer, out of sight.
Monica sat down on the couch and stabbed her with her eyes. “Tell me, Danielle. How do you know Flynn Donovan?”
Danielle had already prepared herself for the question. “He was visiting my neighbor in the other penthouse,” she lied, hating it but knowing it had to be done. “My door was open and he came to tell me and we discovered the lock was faulty.”
“So you don’t know him personally?” she questioned further.
“No.” Something occurred to Danielle. “But obviously you knew who he was.”
Monica shrugged. “Only from what I’ve read in the newspapers.”
Surprisingly, Monica appeared to accept the explanation. Then her assessing gaze raked down Danielle’s bathrobe. “That’s new, isn’t it?”
Danielle suddenly felt exposed and vulnerable, even more than when she’d stood nak*d in front of Flynn, if that was possible.
“Yes, it is,” she said, trying not to get defensive. She’d bought the silk robe a couple of weeks ago when she’d needed something to cheer herself up and the price had been so cheap it had almost jumped off the rack at her.
Another look at Monica, and Danielle decided she’d be too uncomfortable to stay dressed like this another minute. “I’ll just go and change.”
“Hmm.” Monica weighed her with a critical squint. “I’m not sure Robbie would like it on you.”
That old feeling of being smothered returned and Danielle stiffened. She had to be strong and continue to dodge being snared by her mother-in-law’s need to control. “Really?”
“And, Danielle, dear, a bit of advice. You shouldn’t wear something like that in front of another man. It may give him ideas, especially one as rich and successful as Flynn Donovan.”
Danielle whirled around and started walking to her bedroom so Monica wouldn’t see her face turning red. “Not in my condition it wouldn’t.”
“You’d be surprised. Some men find pregnancy rather attractive,” Monica warned, her voice rising as Danielle continued walking.
“I’m sure you’re wrong,” Danielle said, then closed her bedroom door and leaned back against it.
Heat washed over her body and her legs trembled. From the moment Flynn had stepped into her bathroom, she’d been his for the taking. Oh, she’d fought herself all the way to the front door, but when she’d turned and seen the hot desire in his eyes, she had melted for him.
But it had been so long since she’d felt attraction for a man. So long since she’d made love to a man she desired. Flynn had made her come alive again, had recognized her needs and taken her beyond the edge of satisfaction. She’d never had such an experience before. He made her feel like a woman again. And he’d given back what had slowly diminished in her marriage to Robert. Her sense of feminine self.
For that she owed Flynn Donovan a lot.
Of course, that didn’t make him any less arrogant, nor the right man for her, she reminded herself. She needed to keep that in mind and fend off her attraction for him.
Just then, there was a light knock on the door. “Are you coming out, Danielle? I want to give you your birthday present.”
Danielle let out a slow breath and counted to ten. Monica always did this, stalking her until she felt smothered. Robert had been the same. And that was a timely reminder that the battle for independence had been too hard fought and won.
“I’ll be there in a minute, Monica. Why don’t you put the coffee on?”
A moment’s silence, then she said, “Fine.”
Danielle waited a moment more, then pushed herself away from the door with trembling hands. She was never going to let herself be dictated to again.
Never.
And that applied to Flynn Donovan.
No matter how wonderful he made her feel.
Five
A fter the function, Flynn dropped his date off at her apartment, drove home to his mansion in Cullen Bay, then spent the early hours of the morning sitting on the balcony of his master bedroom. An electrical storm had raged during the evening while he’d been at the dinner, and now his lushly landscaped garden was beautifully moonlit.
He’d realized one thing tonight. He’d rather spend an evening being antagonized by Danielle than being sweet talked by a bevy of beautiful women.
God, what was it about Danielle Ford he couldn’t shake? As much as a part of him didn’t want to see this woman who was far from an angel, he knew his body still hungered after her. It was a hunger that he wasn’t about to appease, so why was he putting himself through this? He couldn’t have her…shouldn’t have her…but he’d tormented himself anyway.
Yet every time he looked into her blue eyes it weakened his determination to stay away from her. And tonight…no, yesterday…he couldn’t stop thinking about the way she’d melted for him back there in her apartment.
And that baffled him. For a woman who would have used her body many times to get what she wanted, according to her former husband, she hadn’t been as experienced as he’d expected. Her slight hesitation and occasional lack of control…while thoroughly tantalizing…had told him otherwise.
Dammit, she just didn’t add up. She seemed to be a mixture of truth and lies. Of innocence and guilt. Independent yet reliant. Look at the way she’d left her door open for him…or not. The lock had been faulty, he admitted.
And she’d mentioned her job in the stress of the moment. So it was a real job, after all, not a volunteer one as he’d suspected. It was time he actually got that report done on her. A personal one this time, not just a financial one. He wanted to know everything about her. Everything and more from the day she’d been born.
And dammit, yesterday had been her birthday and he hadn’t known until too late. It turned out that the car he’d given her had been an inadvertently well-timed gift, but spending the evening with a cold, unfeeling mother-in-law who obviously didn’t have an unselfish bone in her body wasn’t exactly a great way to celebrate.
Danielle deserved better.
She also deserved an Oscar, he forced himself to remember as he hopped in his Mercedes just after breakfast, intending to drive to her apartment before she went to work. He was determined to make sure she had dinner with him tonight.
Him and no other man.
He was just leaving his driveway, about to turn out onto the main road when a figure stepped in front of the car. He swore as he slammed on the brakes, stopping just short of hitting the person.
Then he saw who it was.
Monica Ford.
His jaw clenched as he got out of his car and walked toward her. She’d obviously been waiting for him to leave his house, though how she’d known where he lived made him uneasy. He didn’t like this woman.
And that hated look in her eyes said she was still remembering meeting him yesterday at Danielle’s apartment.