LITMIR.BIZ

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patted her purse. “Right here.”

      “Then let’s go.”

      Outside, there was something about the heavy night air closing in around them that made Tyler feel as if they were still all alone. It was the kind of atmosphere that invited confidences. But instead, they walked in surprisingly companionable silence for a bit. Tyler hadn’t realized Maddie could be so quiet for so long. Thrown off guard by it, he felt a sudden need to figure out what made this woman tick, to unravel the contradictions he’d sensed in her.

      “Maddie, what really brought you to my place tonight?”

      She regarded him with surprise. “I told you, I was concerned when you didn’t show up at O’Reilly’s.”

      “You have to admit it’s unusual to take such an interest in a virtual stranger.”

      Her gaze met his. “Not for me.”

      “Then you make a habit of riding to the rescue of people you barely know?” The thought bothered him for some reason he couldn’t quite explain. On some purely masculine level, he wanted to be different, which was absurd when not five minutes ago he’d feared getting any more deeply involved with her.

      “Only the ones with potential,” she teased lightly.

      “Potential?”

      “Of becoming friends.”

      Friends. The word echoed in his head, annoying him irrationally. Had he been misreading the signals that badly?

      “Can you believe how hot and muggy it is?” she said, stealing the chance for him to question the limitation she seemed to be placing on their relationship. “It feels like rain. Maybe that will cool things off.”

      Because she seemed so determined to move to an impersonal, innocuous topic, Tyler deliberately gave the conversation a provocative turn.

      “Some people think there’s something sexy about a sultry night like this.” His gaze locked with hers. “The weather gets you all hot and bothered. You start stripping off clothes till you’re down to almost nothing.”

      Maddie swallowed hard, but she didn’t look away. “Sounds…” Her voice trailed off.

      “Tempting?” he inquired, amused by her sudden breathlessness, relieved that he hadn’t lost his touch, after all.

      She blinked away the hint of yearning in her eyes, seemed to struggle to regain her composure. “Disgustingly sweaty,” she said tartly. She turned away, then stopped, looking relieved. “Here’s my car.”

      “Well, good night, then. Drive carefully.”

      “I always do.”

      For some reason he didn’t entirely understand, he impulsively captured her chin in his hand and brushed a light kiss across her lush mouth. Maybe it was just so he could catch one more glimpse of that startled flaring of heat in her eyes. He was amply rewarded for his efforts. She stared at him in openmouthed astonishment, but unfortunately that quick taste and her surprise didn’t seem to be quite enough to satisfy him. Besides, her lips were soft as silk and sweet as sugar. What man could resist?

      But even as he lowered his head to claim another kiss, she ducked away and slid into her car. The rejection might have stung if he hadn’t noted the way her hands trembled ever so slightly before she clutched the steering wheel tightly.

      “Good night,” he said again, but the words were lost as she started the engine.

      He watched her drive away. Then, instead of turning toward home, he headed for O’Reilly’s, his throat suddenly parched. Rather than simplifying his life as he’d planned to tonight, he had a feeling he’d just made it a whole lot more complicated.

      Chapter Three

      This was going to be much more difficult than she’d anticipated, Maddie concluded as she drove slowly away, trying to calm her jittery nerves after that unexpected kiss. She should have seen it coming, should have steeled herself against it. After all, wasn’t Tyler’s easygoing flirtatiousness one of the very reasons she’d chosen him as the best Delacourt to approach?

      However, her instantaneous reaction was a warning. She had to get a grip, find some way to avoid being alone with him on hot, sultry nights that held the promise of romance in the air. Otherwise this investigation of hers was going to get very dicey.

      And, unfortunately, that wasn’t the only potential problem she’d discovered tonight. She’d also realized that the man didn’t trust her. Apparently she wasn’t nearly as good at deception as she’d hoped to be. He’d watched her suspiciously from the instant she’d arrived on his doorstep, then deftly skirted many of her questions. Obviously, she was going to have to work harder to gain his trust.

      Of course, the worst glitch of all, the most unexpected was the fact that she instinctively liked him. Hormones were one thing, but actually relating to the man was something else entirely—and in some ways even more seductive and dangerous. Tyler was a funny, low-key kind of guy, surprisingly unpretentious for a man with the Delacourt wealth and standing in the community. Under other circumstances…

      She caught herself before that particular thought could take shape. The circumstances were what they were. She couldn’t let herself like Tyler, or any other Delacourt. If that meant reminding herself that they were the enemy a hundred times a day, then that was exactly what she had to do. She was up to her fiftieth reminder so far tonight, and the message apparently wasn’t getting through.

      Unfortunately, she was as certain as ever that Tyler was the key to getting what she needed. All of her preliminary research indicated that his brothers and his sister were leading exemplary lives. And since Tyler was the only remaining bachelor, he was the only one who was readily accessible to her. It had been easy enough to discover his usual routine, the places he tended to haunt. O’Reilly’s was one, but there were more locations where she was certain she could bump into him “accidentally” to keep the contact alive.

      After all, if there were skeletons in anyone’s closet, Tyler would know. Whether she could get him to reveal the information was something else entirely. Although he’d given a cursory sketch of the various family members willingly enough, he had definitely balked whenever she’d pressed for details. Was that natural reticence, protectiveness of their privacy…or something more? Were there secrets he was trying to guard?

      During her first couple of years in journalism, Maddie had gotten used to being in an adversarial position with some of the people she interviewed. She was putting them on the spot, asking them about things they might not want their neighbors to read about over their morning coffee. She’d developed a technique for disarming them, straightforward honesty tinged with sympathy. She told them up-front that, like it or not, the story was going to appear in the paper, but she was giving them a chance to shape it in their favor by telling their side. It almost always worked.

      She could hardly do that with Tyler. Unlike the everyday assignments she’d had for her first small daily newspaper, she had to work undercover on this one, get as much information as she could before approaching Bryce Delacourt armed with the facts that would bring him down or, at the very least, publicly humiliate him.

      But as she’d learned tonight, the deception was definitely going to be trickier than she’d anticipated. It went against her natural penchant for the truth, which was what had brought her into journalism in the first place. But in this case she was convinced that the end justified the means. She tried not to dwell on the fact that the saying originated with Machiavelli, the princely advisor renowned for his duplicity.

      Remember the goal, she reminded herself sternly. Retribution, revenge…whatever it was called, it was going to make a few uncomfortable weeks of staying in Tyler Delacourt’s face—a few weeks of lying to him—worthwhile.

      When she reached the small but well-furnished apartment that Griffin Carpenter had arranged for her, she opened her purse and took out the tiny, voice-activated recorder. Flipping on the tape, she

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