Instead he merely held her hand a second too long, and she looked as if he’d burned her.
That was a warning. He could hurt Alex. He didn’t want to hurt her. He wanted to kiss her.
“Good night, Alexandra.” He forced himself to walk away.
But somewhere in the night he woke remembering her smile, her scent, her soft skin…which was totally unacceptable. Alex Lowell wasn’t for him. She was an employee, an emotional woman, and he had ripped that kind of thing from his life years ago. He needed and wanted no one.
Still, the thought of Alex’s soft voice seduced him. He stepped out onto the balcony of the penthouse, hoping for distraction in the night scene below. Clamping his hands on the railing, he stared into the darkness for a very long time.
Working with Alexandra Lowell was going to be a challenge.
ALEX’S mind was a torrent of activity. She tried not to remember Wyatt’s rare smile last night, how it had felt to be alone with him as the sun’s rays hit the red rocks, what his touch had been like.
Grr. He’d merely been helping her from the car. It had simply been two hands touching…and this was the second time she’d had this reaction. What was wrong with her?
Nothing. Ignore those absurd longings. That’s guaranteed heartbreak. Don’t throw common sense away. You know what’s happened before when you’ve got involved with men you were trying to help, so back away from Wyatt. Don’t think of him as a man. Concentrate only on what Wyatt wants for McKendrick’s.
“Easy,” she muttered. “Tweaking, positive change, winning a National Travel Award and total hotel domination.”
A passing guest gave her a strange look. “What did you say?” the woman asked.
Alex blinked. She was losing it. She’d really said those words out loud, hadn’t she? She could only hope that she hadn’t also mumbled any of that stuff about Wyatt. If she had, Randy would be raising his bets, gambling that she would fall in love with Wyatt.
“I said that anyone who wants a tour should sign up on this sheet,” Alex improvised, pulling some McKendrick’s stationery from the desk. “Hotel Tour,” she scribbled at the top.
“Oh, I didn’t know they gave tours,” the woman said. “I haven’t seen half of what’s here. Who’s leading the tour? Are you?”
Uh-oh. Alex hadn’t thought that far ahead. She just hadn’t wanted the woman to think that Wyatt had hired a strange woman who talked to herself, so she’d simply blurted out that announcement. If she’d had time, she would have found someone better informed than she was to handle the task.As it was…
“Yes. I hope you’ll consider coming along. This hotel has some amazing nooks and crannies,” she said, even as she cringed at what she was saying. McKendrick’s private spaces that weren’t on the hotel map were a testament to the hotel’s very private owner, but Alex hadn’t yet located everything.
Time to pick Randy’s brain. If she was promising a tour, then she was darn well going to do it right.
“I wouldn’t miss it,” the woman said, scribbling down her name. “You should put up a sign.”
“That’s an excellent idea,” Alex said, and she set about making a temporary sign.
Within the next hour five more people signed up. Another couple was just putting their names down when Alex felt Wyatt’s presence behind her. She didn’t even question how she knew it was him. There was a change in the atmosphere, as if the air was supercharged. She turned around to find him examining her in that slightly distant, arch, bemused way he had.
Immediately her nerve-endings started to hum. It was a warning. Dangerous man ahead.
Wyatt looked at the sign, and when the couple moved away, he leaned in and put his name on the signup sheet.
“You don’t need a tour,” she said.
“No, but I’m interested in seeing what this one is like.”
“I’m going to keep it simple. At least this first time. Later, I’ll explore every inch of McKendrick’s I’ve missed.”
“Simple and safe can be good, but from what little I’ve seen, that doesn’t appear to be your style. And you’d miss the private solarium.” He grabbed a map and a pen and circled an unmarked place on the map. “It’s a bit difficult to find, but worth the trip. And you wouldn’t want to pass up the private dining rooms that are perfect for the man who wants a place to propose to the woman of his dreams.” His voice had dropped low. “Would you?” he asked.
She slowly shook her head. “No, but I might need some help finding those.”
“That won’t be a problem.”
“I don’t understand.”
He looked confused. “I do know my way around my own hotel.”
“No. I meant that I don’t understand why you went to so much bother about the romantic dining rooms. You don’t believe in happily ever after.”
“Not for me, no. But my customers find such touches appealing, and I try to give them what they want.”
Alex hoped Wyatt never tried to give her what she wanted, because right now she wanted him to move closer.
As if he had read her mind, he did just that. “I’ll meet you here at five,” he said.
“I’ll count on that.”
He raised one eyebrow.
“I really might need some serious help. I don’t even want to explain to you how this whole tour idea came about.”
“Then I won’t ask. But I will be there.”
Alex felt like a moth trying to stay away from the seductive flame and knowing that she was losing the battle. She was going to be spending more time with Wyatt when only minutes ago she had determined to keep her distance.
And yet five o’clock suddenly seemed too far away. She was starting to show definite signs of “Wyatt fascination.”
Randy would tell her that he’d told her so if she gave in. He might even actually win some money in the betting pool.
No, he won’t, Alex thought. She might be fascinated by Wyatt, but that was as far as this woman was going to go. She’d walked into heartbreak before, but there had been justification then. This time there was absolutely none. It would be like taking a knife and intentionally stabbing herself. She just couldn’t do it.
Just to make sure she remembered that, Alex grabbed a calendar from her drawer. Belinda had called to confirm that two months would be enough maternity leave. And with three days already gone, that left only fifty-seven.
Alex crossed a day off and wrote “57” on today’s date.
There—she was back in charge of herself. But when the clock struck five, butterflies began an intense dance in her stomach. She turned to see Wyatt walking toward her.
I am totally betting against myself, she thought.
Wyatt was enjoying himself more than was wise. Alex had made a full confession about how the tour idea had been born. And now she was being completely charming with the guests.
“This is the Blue Ballroom,” she said with a sweep of one arm. “It’s named, I assume, for obvious reasons.” She looked at Wyatt, a “hmm” expression in her eyes. “Maybe you could hire someone to choose a more imaginative name. Or have a contest to rename the room, with tickets to a local show as