Page 48 of Dangerous Temptation
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’stheWolfe.’
‘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.’
‘Iknow!’ 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.’
