“Something neither of us want.”

“Because you view this as your stepping stone to partnership?” he asked with uncanny accuracy.

“Because the firm has my loyalty, and yes because I want to make partner.” And she didn’t want her obsession with Jack or her blatant move last night to jeopardize all she’d worked for.

He stopped walking without warning. She didn’t realize he wasn’t beside her until he called her name. She turned, making her way the few steps back toward him.

“What is it?” she asked.

“I don’t want you to think I’d do or say anything to destroy your chances for partnership.”

“I’d hope you wouldn’t. In fact I guess a part of me must have trusted you not to betray last night or else I’d have been a fool to set that plan in motion.”

He reached a hand up to cup her cheek. His warm yet roughened palm caressed her skin. “You’re no fool.”

The cool breeze blew around them and she shivered, a blatant reaction to his touch and not the ocean air. “Neither are you.”

“True. And considering I didn’t walk out as soon as I realized it was you, I suppose we’re trusting each other not to reveal the fact that we’re breaking the no-office-romance rule.”

Present tense. Was he asking for more time or was she reading her wishes into his words?

Mallory tipped her head to the side, causing his hand to cradle her cheek in a gentle caress. “Are you telling me Jack Latham is trusting a woman?” she asked wryly.

He grinned. “Trust is easier to give when it’s mutual and both parties have something at stake.”

“At which point it isn’t trust but more like a level playing field.”

He burst out laughing. “I really do admire you,” he said, sobering. His eyes darkened with desire.

Her heart thudded hard in her chest. “Same here.” And she wanted him, with an intensity that frightened her.

To give in to her fantasies again, in daylight no less, would make them that much harder to put behind her when this trip was over. Mallory the dreamer didn’t mind.

Mallory the realist knew better than to cross a boundary with no safety net. And that safety net was distance and control.

CHAPTER SIX

THE TIDE STILL LAPPED at his feet as Mallory looked up at him with wide eyes. Yes, Jack admired her, but did she realize how much he wanted her as well? He could lean forward for a kiss. He could taste the salt on her lips and let her soft body mold against his harder one, but it wouldn’t be enough.

And from the hesitant look in her eyes, she wouldn’t be receptive. Jack admired her gutsiness and intelligence, her spunk and positive outlook for the future. No matter how strong she’d come on last night, he respected her uncertainty now.

He’d been wrong to think the woman from last night was the real Mallory. In reality she was a fascinating mixture of two personas and she intrigued him on too many levels beyond sexual. The knowledge set off warning bells in his cynical brain.

His encounters with the opposite sex were supposed to be simple and fun. Easy to walk away from, no strings attached, no emotional commitments. But the yearning he felt for Mallory was beginning to surpass mere sexual desire.

He wanted her.

He desired her company, too.

But he yearned for another invitation most of all. He could see from the determined look in her eyes one wouldn’t be forthcoming.

Yet she’d set a challenge in motion last night. She’d proven both her femininity and his susceptibility to her charms. His turn next and he intended to prove she wasn’t any more immune to him than he was to her. Up the stakes, even the playing field and they could both retreat, egos intact. Next time.

Kissing her now would destroy any prayer of catching her off guard later. So he pulled back instead. “Ready to go inside?” he asked.

She blinked, obviously surprised at his about-face. He didn’t mind putting her off balance for once. She’d done it to him too often.

She shook her head. “You go on. I think I’ll hang out here for a while. At least until the sun gets too hot.”

They’d each backed into neutral corners. Without her explaining, Jack understood exactly what was going through that analytical brain. The dichotomy in her personality was most evident in broad daylight and there were consequences to them she wasn’t ready to face.

Kissing under the morning sun would have meant acknowledging she’d crossed the line from proving a point last night to something more between them today. He agreed.

Disappointment churned in his gut but he accepted the parameters. It was the only way he had a chance of seeing Mallory, the sexy seductress, again. “Be careful not to get burned,” he said.

A flicker of dismay crossed her features and darkened her blue eyes. Well that was something, Jack thought as he walked away.

The desire to turn back was strong yet he acknowledged their separating now was for the best. He wasn’t ready to walk back to their rooms and part in the hall, not when he’d rather take her into his room and then to his bed. Though his mind accepted the need to leave, his body wasn’t nearly as understanding and a throbbing, unfulfilled desire remained.

He left her standing on the beach. The image of the wind blowing her tight bun out of order and place, of her wide blue eyes staring at him as he backed off, was etched in his memory. He feared it could make its way to his heart, if he wasn’t careful.

But when it came to women Jack was always careful, and Mallory was no exception. He couldn’t allow her to become more to him than a private fling. A memory he could cherish and hold on to, but one he could never reveal-not to anyone back home and not even to himself.

He picked up his pace. Was it his imagination or could he feel her burning stare sear into his back as he retreated to the hotel? He shook his head and let himself in through the back door of the restaurant-the fastest way off the beach and out of her line of vision. Away from his own fanciful musings.

Jack passed through the dining area and then the front desk. He rounded the corner to the elevators, pausing by the gym on his way.

He’d been impressed with the facilities when Lederman had taken him on a hotel tour before their sauna. The spa sported a full-service gym with instructors available for a wide range of requests, including a new full cardiovascular workout-under a doctor’s supervision.

Jack peered through the glass window to the nearly empty gym. There was no better way to alleviate stress and strain than to work up a good sweat, and no better means of obtaining information than to make conversation with hotel employees. Both would hopefully take his thoughts and desires off Mallory and center them on work where they belonged.

He signed in and grabbed a white towel from the stack behind the registration desk.

“Can I help you?” A dark-haired woman with muscles he’d be proud to possess walked over.

He hung the towel around his neck. “I just thought I’d give the treadmill a run.”

She nodded. “No problem. Let me familiarize you with the equipment and you can get started. I’m Eva.” She extended her hand. “I’m the manager.”

He shook her iron grip. “Jack Latham.”

Her eyes widened with recognition. “Nice to meet you. Paul…I mean, Mr. Lederman mentioned you were one of his special guests.”

Jack didn’t miss the familiarity in her tone when she spoke of Paul Lederman, but he let it slide. He laughed and brushed off her words with a sweep of his hand. “That’s Paul for you. But I’m not looking for any special treatment.”

She shook her head and her ponytail swished against one shoulder. “Are you trying to cost me my job?” she asked, laughter in her eyes.

“I can’t imagine Paul firing you.”

“Me neither.” She met his gaze with what he could only call a certain yet knowing stare. She was an attractive young woman with curves in all the right places and by her posture and confidence, she obviously knew it.

Silence stretched for a moment in which Jack questioned her relationship with his potential client, then reprimanded himself for looking for fires where there were none. “You always do what the boss says?” he asked.

She glanced away without meeting his gaze. “He pays the bills.”

And Jack wondered if he’d hit paydirt. “I’ll bet he wishes all his employees were as loyal as you.”

“He’s a man that inspires loyalty, but being that special guest of his I’m sure you know that. Now let’s get you started on that workout.” She gestured toward the treadmill.

Jack doubted Paul would have an affair with a woman who worked in the same place his wife lived. Lederman was arrogant to the extreme but he wasn’t careless. Not where his empire was at stake. His disappearances were more telling than a young girl’s infatuation and if there was a mistress to be found, she wasn’t on the premises.

But Jack had a hunch Paul had done nothing to discourage this employee’s interest. Her husband’s flirting, if that was what had happened, couldn’t please Mrs. Lederman. And careless trifling with female employees could be evidence of the man’s willingness to take greater risks.

Jack smiled at the pretty manager. “This is one impressive setup you’ve got here.”

“It certainly is. I’m lucky to work in a place like this, but as you probably know there’s a story behind it.”

Jack didn’t know but he sure as hell wanted to find out. “You can say that again. But I didn’t realize Paul had begun working out.”

Eva nodded. “He starts on the treadmill, too.”

“I bet I could benefit from his routine.”

She looked him over approvingly. “Oh, it looks like you do just fine on your own.”

He hung his towel over a chair and climbed onto the exercise machine. He pressed in the buttons on the computerized equipment and started an easy run.