Page 23 of Dangerous Temptation

He’d made her mindless.

It was the only explanation.

Elena was still as she leaned against the window frame, staring out at the lake, but her finger traced its edge over and over again.

Inside, she was all tangled up. Around Alex, she did things she wouldn’t normally do and now she felt guilty, confused and apprehensive.

So uncomfortable, it was taking everything inside her not to throw some boxes into her car and leave.

She’d done it again.

She’d slept with him. It was like she didn’t know herself any more. All it took was a look from him or a kiss. His touch could make her cast aside her doubts and principles. Was he her enemy or her lover? She didn’t know.

It was this place. The situation. It was messing with her head, toying with her emotions. Screwing up her judgment.

Her fingers curled around the curtain, wrinkling it.

She’d looked through his notebook.

She’d spied on him while he’d been sleeping.

She’d had every reason in the world, but now remorse was making her sick.

She’d only had the nerve to flip through a few pages, and she hadn’t understood anything she’d seen.

It was all in some programming language.

The only things she recognised were the equations from Dr Walters’s economics book.

That had confused her even more.

What was he up to? He’d already been convicted of a financial scheme. Was he pompous enough to try again? Or was he simply trying to catch up at work? Wolfe Pack did specialise in market analysis software.

She rested her forehead against the window and the chill felt good against her warm face.

It didn’t matter. Justified or not, she felt terrible. She was no Mata Hari. She couldn’t continue like this.

Why did she have to respond to him the way she did?

She wanted him, regardless of his crimes – and she’d been one of his victims. Was there a part of her, deep down, that recognised something good in him?

Was it possible he was telling the truth?

Why did she find herself wishing that more and more when a court of law had already decided otherwise?

The phone rang before she could find an answer. Moving back to her desk, she picked up her cell. Her face flared when she saw the caller’s ID. Letting out a puff of air, she answered. ‘Hi, Mom.’

‘Hi, baby. Have you seen the news?’

Her attention focused. Her mother’s voice had an edge.

‘No, I’ve been working.’ Or trying to. ‘What’s going on?’

‘You’re not going to believe this. Bartholomew Wolfe was spotted again.’

‘Where?’ One word, one name, and Elena’s priorities were back on track. Reaching out, she moved her mouse to wake up her computer. She might be developing soft feelings for the younger Wolfe, but his grandfather was another story. The old man had never faced up to his crimes.

‘Belize.’

‘South America?’ She frowned and glanced at the world map she’d hung on the wall. Grabbing a pen, she walked over and marked an X. Stepping back, she surveyed the myriad dots that had been marked across the world. ‘I doubt that. Belize has an extradition treaty with the United States.’

‘But the man who thinks he saw him is a banker.’

And the last one had been a day trader.

Elena moved back to her desk and sat. Finding this man was becoming like a snipe hunt. ‘According to my chart, that’s the sixth country where a sighting has been reported.’

‘I know it’s a long shot.’

But her mother still wanted the man to pay. Everyone did. Elena jiggled her mouse again. She wanted to read the stories for herself and see if there were any bits in them that rang true. She frowned when the screen lit up, but her spreadsheet program closed. ‘What?’

She heard the ding of a timer on the other end of the line and the screech of an oven door. ‘Sorry, baby. What was that?’

Elena’s breath caught when her browser closed next, quickly followed by her text editor. ‘No, no!’

‘Lainie?’

She put down the phone and switched to speaker mode. She reached for the keyboard, but she was afraid to touch anything. ‘My computer is … Ahhh! It’s crashed.’

‘Uh oh.’ The edge had left her mother’s voice to be replaced with concern.

‘Maybe it was just a glitch. Or it’s booting again to install updates.’

She knew it was neither. Her luck just hadn’t been going that way. A knot started forming in the pit of her stomach.

‘Your paper is on there, and all your notes.’

‘I know.’ Being reminded didn’t help. Tucking her foot underneath her, Elena tried to get more comfortable. She pushed the power button again and crossed her fingers. She winced when a notice popped up about booting up in safe mode. ‘This doesn’t look good.’

‘Can you fix it? When was the last time you backed everything up?’

A couple of weeks ago, maybe? ‘Too long.’

‘Oh, baby.’ There was a swish and then the background noise on her mother’s side quieted. She must have moved to another part of the bakery. ‘What’s it doing now?’

Elena scanned the screen. Her breath caught when it blipped. ‘The screen just went blank.’

The conversation fell into silence.

‘What are you going to do?’ Yvonne asked. ‘You’re stuck there. You can’t go out and get another. Those news vans are still outside your gate.’

‘I don’t know.’ Elena bit her lip. She wasn’t a computer tech. She was competent in using them, but the inner workings were beyond her.

‘Can you call in a repairman? See if he can rescue it? But … damn. Who could you call that would keep their mouth shut?’

She didn’t know, but …

There was someone else on the compound who had an above-average knowledge of computers.

‘I’m going to have to call A –’ Elena broke off, nearly biting her tongue. ‘An expert.’

Another long moment ticked by. ‘When you say an expert, you mean Alex Wolfe.’

Her mother wasn’t stupid, even if the leap was a short one. Somewhere near the phone, fingernails drummed. ‘So you’re talking with him now?’

Elena searched for the right answer. ‘It’s kind of hard not to.’

They were doing a lot more than talking, but she wasn’t about to get into that.

‘What was all that about it being a huge property and you’d never have to interact with him?’

She fidgeted, feeling herself being trapped in a corner. Her mother had a very long and precise memory. ‘Do you have any other ideas? Because I’m open to them.’

‘I don’t want you getting messed up with that man.’

Too late for that.

Elena pushed herself out of the chair. Raking back her hair, she tried to think. She just couldn’t come up with any other options, and that made her stomach turn the wrong way.

She might trust the man with her body, but her computer was another thing.

Yet she could lose everything if she didn’t do something.

Panic started pushing at the edges of her thoughts. Sitting down again, she tried to clear whatever bug was gumming up the works. It didn’t matter what she tried, though, the system wouldn’t behave.

She groaned. ‘I’m going to have to ask him to look at this.’

‘He’s a Wolfe, Elena. He’s the Wolfe.’

‘I understand that, but he …’ Elena nearly spoke up to defend him, but stopped herself just in time. One word like that and her mother would be on an airplane to come get her.

‘I don’t want to, but I need his help.’ The more she looked at the things happening on her computer, the more she wanted to cry.

‘Well, I suppose he owes you that much,’ her mother conceded. She let out a heart-wrenching sigh. ‘You be careful, baby. Don’t let those dreamy eyes and wide shoulders trick you. There’s a Wolfe under that sheep’s clothing.’

‘I know.’

‘A sexy one, but a dangerous one.’

‘I know !’ Her discomfort with the discussion wasn’t easing.

The drumming noise on the other end of the line became more punctuated. Her mother was not happy. ‘You call me back later to give me an update.’

‘I will. Bye.’ It was Elena’s turn to sigh when she hung up the phone.

She stared at the computer for another ten minutes.

Nothing she did worked. By the time she turned to her phone again, the panic was pushing in on her.

It took only two rings before she got a connection, but that was almost too long.

‘Alex,’ she said tentatively, ‘can you come down to the lake house?’

‘Elena? Is everything all right?’

Her anxiety had moved into her throat. She heard her words shaking, but as she looked around the room, all she could think of was the long nights she’d put into her studies. Now all of that was in danger of being lost. ‘It’s your turn to rescue me.’

She hung up and gathered her computer and its power cord and moved everything out into the living room. Closing the office door, she looked around for anything else she should put away.

The irony didn’t slip past her. She was hiding from him what he should have hidden from her.

The refrigerator hummed and the grandfather clock in the corner of the room ticked as she waited. She stared over the back of the sofa at her laptop. It currently displayed an hourglass of death. It might as well have been counting down her future, flipping it over and dumping it out.

She let out a hiss of air and went to wait by the door. With nervous hands she tucked her hair behind her ear. She wasn’t ready to face him yet. Last night and this morning had been too intense.

Yet she needed him. That brilliant, calculating mind …

Every tick of the clock pulled her nerves tighter as she watched the manor. The kitchen door finally opened and Alex appeared. He trotted down the hill, his long legs eating up the distance fast. She opened the door before he even knocked and waved him inside.

‘Are you OK? What is it?’

She swallowed hard. ‘My computer. Something is wrong.’

The stiffness left his face, but the relief lasted only a brief second. It was quickly replaced with serenity, but the expression looked forced. His eyes were too bright. Bright and alert.

Grabbing his hand, she dragged him over to the coffee table. ‘It’s had that hourglass for the last fifteen minutes.’