The Enemy's Daughter (Dynasties: The Danforths Book 9) Read online

  He grinned, delighted at her unexpected appearance. “I think that could be arranged.” He met her halfway across the room and put his hands at her waist, pulling her to him. “Hello,” he murmured as he set his mouth on hers. But even as he sank into the embrace, his mind wouldn’t shut off. “What about your father?” he murmured. “You’re taking a huge risk coming down here.”

  She shrugged, framing his face with her small fingers. “You’re worth a few risks.” Her eyes were very green and determined, and he wondered what had occurred that had emboldened her so. She certainly couldn’t be described as timid, but she worked hard to avoid controversy. If she had been recognized coming in here, things could get tense between her father and her in a hurry.

  “Tomorrow night is too long to wait to see you,” he said, cuddling her against his chest. “Let’s get together tonight. We’ll go out for dinner and then head back to my place.”

  “I can’t,” she said regretfully. “I need to stay at home this evening.”

  “Why?” He kissed her tenderly. “I don’t want to wait until tomorrow evening, Selene.”

  “It’s only a day,” she teased him. Then her smile faded. “But I feel the same way. I shouldn’t have stopped in here today but I wanted to see you.” She paused, letting her hands slide up into his hair and he shivered as her fingers lightly traveled over his scalp. “I needed to see you.”

  “I’m glad.” The tenderness faded from his expression, replaced by hungry desire. “I’ve been missing you, too.”

  He bent his head and found her mouth, kissing her deeply, sweeping his hands over her slender frame as his body sprang to full alert. She was like wildfire in his arms, twisting against him, igniting passion with every touch, every brush of her soft curves against him. He arched her backward, kissing her neck and sucking her earlobe into his mouth as he swirled his tongue over her satiny flesh. She shivered and clutched at his shoulders. As she lifted her arms, the short sweater she wore rode up her midriff and his seeking fingers encountered bare, creamy skin stretched over the delicate bones of her rib cage. He slid one hand up beneath the sweater, seeking her breast—

  —And the door opened.

  The sound was like the shock of cold water being thrown over his head. His head jerked up and he straightened, although he didn’t let go of Selene, palming the back of her head and pushing her face into his shoulder to hide her identity.

  His brother Marcus stood frozen just inside the door, his face a picture of amused surprise. “Well, hey. Guess there was a reason Geoffrey was trying so hard to head me off.”

  Adam’s flustered assistant appeared in the doorway behind Marcus. He was practically wringing his hands. “I tried,” he said to Adam, shaking his head in annoyance as he eyed Marcus. “I really did.”

  “It’s all right, Geoff,” Adam said. To his brother, he said, “Hello, Marc. I imagine there’s a good reason for you to barge into my office.”

  His younger brother’s grin was a rare sight. Marcus had always been driven, but after he’d caught his fiancée in bed with his best friend a year ago, his smiles had all but disappeared. “It can wait. Introduce me.”

  Adam heaved a sigh. “All right, but you have to promise not to tell anyone you met her until after the election.”

  Marc’s brow furrowed. “After the election?”

  “Selene, this is my idiot brother, Marcus Danforth. Marc, Selene Van Gelder.” Gently, he set Selene away from him as she lifted her face from his shoulder and turned to greet his brother.

  Instant comprehension lit Marcus’s dark eyes. “Whoa.” He offered Selene his hand. “Your father doesn’t have much use for anyone named Danforth, I understand.”

  Selene shook her head ruefully as she took his hand. “No, I’m afraid not.” She glanced up at Adam and smiled when he met her gaze. “But that isn’t going to matter. We’re only waiting until the election is over so that we don’t distract either of our parents.”

  Marcus gave a short snort of unamused laughter. “You’d have to do a lot more than hang out with Adam to distract our father.” He released her hand and backed toward the door. “I apologize for barging in.”

  “Wait,” Adam said. “What did you want?”

  But Marcus only shook his head. “Not important.” Another of the rare smiles lit his sober features. “Carry on. Nice meeting you, Selene. I’ll see you again when you two come out of hiding, I hope.”

  She smiled. “Most definitely. It was nice to meet you, Marcus.”

  As the door closed behind him, she turned to Adam, still smiling. “Now where were we?”

  Eight

  Adam didn’t smile in return. It was as if his delight in her visit had vanished with his brother. “It’s only September,” he said. “Are we really going to have to hide our relationship for another month and a half until this damned election’s over?”

  She stilled at the grim note of frustration in his tone. “It would be best.”

  “Best for whom?” he demanded.

  She’d never seen this side of him, this restless impatience, and it made her feel small and selfish. “Best for us,” she said quietly, trying not to give way to her distress.

  “It’s not best for me.” His tone was distinctly grumpy. “My father doesn’t give one flying damn what any of his offspring do or who we date. Your father is the only one with the problem.”

  “I know.” She was near tears. “But he’s the only living relative I have, Adam, and I don’t want to alienate him needlessly. All I’m asking for is seven weeks. Is that really so much?”

  His expression softened, and to her relief he reached for her again, gathering her close. “No. Not compared to the rest of our lives.”

  The promise implicit in his words thrilled her. So he really was thinking of marriage!

  He sighed. “It’s just that I want to be with you all the time. I want to take you out to dinner or to a party and not have to worry about someone seeing us and tattling to some gossip columnist.” His voice had risen again. There was a moment of tense silence and then she felt his taut muscles relax. “I want to introduce you to my family,” he said in a more moderate tone. “I want the world to see us together.”

  “No more than I do,” she told him softly, reaching up to cradle the strong line of his jaw. She understood now why it was so important to him; he’d been crucified in the media once and wasn’t about to let it happen again. “I know seven weeks seems like a long time, but it will go quickly. I promise.”

  “Not quickly enough for me,” he grumbled. But he bent his head and kissed her again and she realized the moment of discord had passed.

  “Tomorrow night,” she promised when he finally lifted his head. “I’ll see you then.”

  “I don’t guess you’d let me pick you up,” he said, though it was clear he already knew the answer.

  She shook her head. “Why don’t I take a taxi to your place and we can go from there?”

  He was watching from a window when Selene’s taxi pulled up outside his gate the following evening. He opened the door and stood waiting as she came up the walk, marveling at the good fortune that had brought her his way. She walked with the fluid grace of a dancer, and he recalled how gracefully she’d matched his steps that first night in the garden, how perfectly her body had fit against his.

  She came up the steps smiling quizzically. “Good evening. You look as if you’re a million miles away.”

  He smiled, murmuring, “Not so very far.” He stepped aside, holding the door wide for her, enjoying the slight brush of her body against his as she entered his home.

  She stopped on the patterned rug in the foyer and laid her purse on the hall table beneath the wall-mounted mirror. For a moment, her back was to him, and the perfect curves of her heart-shaped bottom were beautifully outlined beneath the little skirt she wore. The pleasant arousal that had been simmering inside him since he’d first glimpsed her long legs uncoiling from the cab ratcheted up a notch and he stepped in
close behind her. Setting his hands at her waist, he drew her back against him. He used his mouth to brush aside the hair at her neck and set his lips against the gently beating pulse he found there, kissing her lightly beneath her earlobe until she shivered and pressed herself back against him.

  Adam groaned as he was sandwiched between their bodies, nestled between the sweet globes of her bottom. He slipped his hands beneath the short sweater she wore and boldly palmed her breasts through the lacy bra she wore.

  Selene made a small sound deep in her throat as he flicked his thumbs across the sensitive peaks until they were pebbled and hard, standing out even through the bra. Her small hands slid back to clutch his buttocks and pull him harder against her, and she gently rotated her hips, rubbing her bottom against him.

  The world around him receded to one simple, overwhelming fact: he wanted her. Now.

  Quickly, he slid his hands down her hips to the hem of the skirt and he tugged it up to her waist. To his delight, she wore a lacy black thong beneath it. Tracing his fingers gently along the scrap of fabric, he followed it down between her thighs. When he applied gentle pressure, she willingly widened her stance. He looked down her long slender legs and realized she still wore the small strappy heels in which she’d minced up his steps, and suddenly, he couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think, couldn’t wait.

  He slipped his fingers beneath the edges of the thong, feathering through the tight little curls to the soft, moist flesh beneath. She was slick and hot, and as her readiness registered, he drew back just far enough to unzip his pants and push them out of the way in a few deft moves, sighing in relief as his throbbing flesh pressed into the satiny bare skin before him.

  He reached down and moved himself into position, nudging her legs wider, and she automatically leaned forward, bracing her arms on the small table before which she still stood. Slowly, deliberately, he pressed forward, groaning in relief, delight, ecstasy, as her tight channel admitted him. Forward and forward again, until there was no telling where he left off and she began, until he was snugly embedded within her.

  She wriggled a little, searching for a comfortable fit, and he was reminded of how new she was to this. Tenderness swept him, and he slid his palm around to her abdomen, flattening it there and extending a seeking finger down over the soft rise of her mons until he found the pouting bud between her legs.

  She cried out when he gently pressed it, and he smiled as he initiated a circling pattern of magic that quickly had her moving and shifting in his arms.

  He paused for a moment, and she said, “Adam!” in a threatening tone. And then she rolled her hips once, twice, and he was lost. Beginning a slow steady rhythm, he clung grimly to control, but she wouldn’t let him wait, and as her body writhed and shifted on him, he felt the control slipping away, vanishing in the mist of passion, and he began to move faster and faster, bare flesh slapping against bare flesh. He anchored her to him with his hand on her abdomen, and their movements pressed his finger hard against her, making her cry out again and again until, with a near-scream of incoherent pleasure, she began to convulse in his arms. Her body shook and surged, tightened around him in a sensual grip he was powerless to resist. Faster and higher the tight coil of tension within him flew until he felt shivers of completion rushing along his spine, surging down to empty him into her in final great thrusts that arched his back and left him spent and gasping, curved over her back as she lay across the table.

  For long moments, neither of them spoke. Finally, he stepped back, reluctantly disengaging their bodies. Selene still didn’t move, and he took a second to fasten his pants before moving to her side and drawing her to him. She circled his arms with her neck, then squeaked in surprise as he bent and scooped her into his arms.

  He bent his head and kissed her, lingering over the sweetness of the moment. “Sorry,” he said when he lifted his head. “I think we got a few things out of order.”

  She smiled up at him, laying her head against his shoulder as he began to carry her up the stairs. “And we forgot something, too.”

  Adam stopped dead, shock ripping through him. What the hell had he been thinking? He’d completely forgotten about birth control! “Oh, hell,” he said. “I never gave it a thought.”

  “It’s all right.” She stroked his face with her fingers, appearing amazingly calm and unaffected under the circumstances.

  “How is it all right?” he demanded. “If you get pregnant—”

  “We’ll deal with it together,” she said, still nonchalant. “It would make all this worrying about keeping it from my father until after the election seem a lot less of a problem, wouldn’t it?” There was actually a note of humor in her voice.

  “It isn’t funny!” he said.

  “It is,” she said, openly laughing now. “You’re funny. I’ve never seen you so panicked.”

  “With good reason.” But he was relaxing again as he started on up the stairs, and a smile tugged at his lips.

  He set her on her feet in his bathroom, keeping one arm around her as he reached in to turn on the shower. Then he turned to her, tugging the sweater over her head and tossing it onto the wide counter.

  Her eyes widened as he unhooked her bra. “We’re going to shower together?”

  He grinned. “Yeah.” And with that, he stripped off the rest of their clothes and tugged her into the shower. “And this time we’re using protection. Much as I like the idea of you having my baby, the timing would really be lousy.”

  She softened, curling into his arms and pulling his head down for a kiss. “Make love to me again. With or without protection.”

  Afterward, they toweled each other dry and he led her into his bedroom. “I’ve wanted you here,” he confessed, “in my bed.”

  “I can’t stay,” she said. But she let him pull back the sheets and lay her down.

  He gathered her into his arms and tugged the sheets over them, creating a cozy cocoon. “Just for a few minutes.” He stroked her back. “I love you, Selene.”

  She stilled in his arms. For a long moment she didn’t speak, and resignation seeped through him. She was determined not to let him tie any strings between them until after this damned election.

  Then she said, “I love you, too.” She tilted her head back and kissed his chin. “If I’m pregnant—which I doubt—I promise I’ll tell you right away.”

  “And we’ll get married right away.”

  She smiled. “You know, I should be worried. You’re just sneaky enough to get me pregnant and force the issue.”

  He grinned. “Much as I’d like to plan something like that, I’ll only insist if it turns out we have a baby on the way. If not, we’ll wait until after the election.”

  She hesitated, her pretty face growing serious. “I’m sorry I’ve been so difficult about our relationship. I don’t want you to be unhappy.”

  “It’s okay,” he murmured. And it was. She loved him. She loved him enough to actually hold a discussion about marriage and children. About their future together. Knowing that, he could wait seven weeks to share her with the world.

  Two hours later the telephone trilled, jarring him out of a daze. As he reluctantly released Selene and reached for the handset, he glanced at the clock. Twelve-thirty. Who in hell would be calling him after midnight? Dread coalesced in his belly, the dread that inevitably accompanied such a late call. Something must have happened to someone in his family.

  He sat up in the bed. “Hello?”

  “Adam. Thank God you’re home.” It was his father.

  “What’s wrong?” he demanded.

  “It’s Marcus,” his father said in a voice filled with more fear and concern than Adam had ever heard him use before. “He’s been arrested.”

  “Arrested?”

  “Yes. For racketeering.”

  “Rack—? That’s ridiculous and they know it. I thought this was settled the last time they questioned him.”

  “Apparently we were wrong.” His father’s voice was worr
ied. “Ian is sure it’s a frame-up.”

  “The cartel.” He knew immediately. “They haven’t been able to pressure Ian into switching to their coffee bean exporters any other way.” He was already scrambling out of bed. “Call a lawyer. I’m on my way.”

  “Marc already has. He called some friend from the bar association who will do for the bail hearing, but he’s going to need more than that. Ian’s calling Jake and the rest of the family. I’ll meet you at the police station. I’m going to push to get him released tonight. We can straighten the charges out tomorrow.”

  “All right. I’ll be there.”

  Adam and his father disconnected simultaneously. He tossed the phone in the general direction of the bedside table as he grabbed fresh suit pants from his closet.

  “What’s wrong?” Selene was sitting in the middle of the bed, apprehension etched on her pretty face.

  “My brother’s been arrested. Marc—the one you met. They’re saying he’s involved in racketeering. I’ve got to get down to the police station.” He thrust his arms into the sleeves of a dress shirt and frantically buttoned it, before stuffing the shirttails into his pants.

  Selene jumped out of bed and tossed on his robe, hanging on the back of the bathroom door. “Is there anything I can do?”

  “No.” His mind was caroming in a dozen different directions as he belted the pants and knotted a tie around his neck, then slipped into his suit jacket. “Yes. Get yourself home. Take your time, just lock the door on your way out.” He picked up his wallet, keys and cell phone and grabbed the briefcase that contained his laptop. He strode to the door where she waited, pausing briefly.

  She wore his robe but she hadn’t tied it, and as frantic as he was, he couldn’t resist sliding one hand inside and pulling her to him, fondling the smooth, bare curves as he lingered over a final kiss. “I love you. I’ll call when I can.”

  “I love you, too.” She stepped back and nodded her head at the door. “Go. Hurry.”