“No, wait,” he said, stopping her with a hand to her arm.
Her skin, smooth and warm, enticed him to explore further. To move in a gentle caress up over her shoulder and trail across her collarbone to the beckoning hollow at the base of her throat. Her eyes shuttered as if his touch had sent her to a similar place of longing. He knew the look, knew that she was a woman who was passionate about life and who could be equally passionate in bed. But she was also passionate about a lifestyle he wanted to avoid.
He withdrew his hand from her arm. “You can go in through the connecting door inside my house.”
The delicate wings of her eyebrows drew together, causing a narrow crease above her small nose. He knew without asking that she was considering his reputation.
“Just for now,” he assured her. “Until we can figure out another solution.” He would have offered her a key to his house but, considering her wariness toward him, he thought it best to wait on that.
Geneva gave him a reluctant nod and taking Jacob’s hand, they followed him in through the garage. As they went, he explained that the two apartments had been added by his parents when he was a teen. “Your place was occupied by my grandmother after she’d broken her hip. That way, she could live independently, but it was close enough to allow my parents and me to check on her every day.”
Just as Geneva was now doing for his younger brother.
“Was Sean’s apartment originally for your other set of grandparents?” she asked.
He grinned as he entered the den and unlatched the connecting door between their residences. “It was for me. When I was seventeen, I had such an active life, with people coming and going all the time that it was distracting to the rest of the family. So when they built the apartment for Nana, they had the contractor do one for me as well.”
Geneva could feel her eyes grow large at his revelation, and she tried to squelch her reaction. It wouldn’t do to have her eyes pop out, right here in her landlord’s house. Even so, it was a shock to discover that his proclivities had started at such a young age…and that his parents had condoned it.
In an article in the local newspaper last year, he’d been named the town’s Most Eligible Bachelor. The author of the article had used words such as playboy and rake to describe him.
And then it had referenced another equally dubious distinction in which the mayor had proclaimed her landlord Bachelor of the Year and presented him with a gold pin. Geneva wondered if that was the same pin he wore on his collar and touched frequently as if it was some sort of lucky charm.
This information she’d regrettably discovered only after she’d signed the lease. If she’d known of his social standing beforehand, she wouldn’t currently be worrying that someone might have seen her enter his house. In fact, she’d be living somewhere else altogether.
One thing was for certain. If she had gone elsewhere, her surroundings wouldn’t be nearly as beautiful, nor would the place be as affordable. And she doubted she’d be able to save for a house of her own…a dream Les had trampled before their divorce.
As it was now, her modest apartment, located smack in the center of Kinnon Falls’s most exclusive residential community, overlooked a postcard-beautiful lake with a lush green golf course beyond it. To the left, about a ten-minute walk away, the country club and gardens created the perfect setting for outdoor parties and receptions. So far, she and Jacob had seen two such parties, their Japanese lanterns twinkling beneath a star-studded sky.
Releasing the latch on the door connecting their living quarters, Wade gave a push, but something on the other side refused to give. Casting a knowing glance at her, he stated rather than asked, “You added another lock, didn’t you?”
Of course she did! As the owner of the Country Club he might be the most successful businessman in Kinnon Falls, and he might have his pick of any of the area’s most influential society women, but she wasn’t taking any chances. Not that he’d be interested. Even so, she had her own reputation to consider.
“Gotta go!” Jacob reminded her with renewed urgency.
“It’ll take me a few minutes to climb through your window and unlock your new security hardware.” He pointed past her. “You can take him down the hall to the first door on the right.”
As she took her son through the house, she noted with relief that the portion of the dwelling she saw seemed very ordinary. Nothing gave testimony to the wild life her landlord was reputed to lead. No beaded curtains, overly large mirrors, mood music or other evidence that this place might serve as a seduction palace. The decor was masculine and free of frills but tastefully elegant with its heavy rosewood furniture and Oriental rugs. And, for a bachelor’s place, the area was surprisingly neat. The only thing that stood out to her was the pinball machine that commanded one corner of the den.
They returned a few minutes later to find Wade standing beside the open door. The amusement in his green eyes told her what he’d found even before he spoke the words.
“You added a slide lock and a chain?”
She squirmed under his perusal, anxious to get back to the sanctuary of her apartment and put the closed door and three locks between them. “One can never be too careful these days.”
“So true,” he said as if confirming that she had reason to be wary of him. Well, at least he didn’t pretend to be something he was not. “Which brings me to the problem of your getting in and out of your place.”
Reaching into a cut-glass dish on the coffee table, he withdrew a couple of chocolate candies, handed one to Jacob, and offered the other to her. When she refused, he gave that one to Jacob as well. Her son smiled and promptly expressed his thanks by sitting on his benefactor’s Italian-leather loafer while he removed the paper. Geneva started to say they hadn’t had dinner yet, then decided to let it slide this time. With any luck, they wouldn’t have much contact with each other after this.
“My golf pro knows a lot about birds. I’ll check with him to see if we can safely move the nest to a more convenient location.” He reached into his hip pocket, pulled out a wallet with a familiar designer logo and retrieved a key from it. “In the meantime, you can use my spare key for access to your place.”
Geneva took a step back, holding her hands up, palms facing outward. “No, I don’t think that will be necessary.” At the moment, she didn’t have another solution, but she was hopeful that if she gave it enough thought she could come up with something.
His hand dropped to his side, fingers gripping the key tightly. “You’re not afraid of me, are you?”
She was certain the offer was made out of generosity and concern for her and Jacob—at least, she hoped so. But she didn’t want to offend him further than she already had by confessing her fear that his reputation might taint her own.
“You lead a busy life,” she said at last. “I wouldn’t want to interfere with your, uh, entertaining.”
“You’re in luck,” he said, pushing the key toward her once again. “I only hold my orgies every other month. This is my month to rest up and study the videos.”
Before she could stop herself from reacting to his outrageous statement, Geneva felt her mouth drop open. Recovering as well as she could, she said, partly to assure herself, “You’re just teasing me.” Even so, she felt it necessary to refuse the proffered key. When he didn’t crack a smile, she added, “Aren’t you?”
Wade frowned. He couldn’t blame her for believing the things she’d heard about him…hell, he’d intentionally started some of those rumors himself.
With other women, he felt relief upon seeing their expressions of