Page 36 of A Lone Star Love Affair
Keeping his promise, Saturday and Sunday Tony showed her the city. He was charming, still flirting, touching her casually: his arm around her shoulders, taking her hand, sitting close beside her, so many light touches that shouldn’t have provoked desire, but did. She held to her promise to herself Saturday night and slept alone in her suite.
Sunday night they boarded his plane and flew home with tension heightening every hour spent together. By the time he saw her to her door, it was midnight Sunday evening.
She unlocked the door and he stepped inside with her while she turned off her alarm.
“I’ll always remember this weekend, Tony,” she said. “Thank you for a wonderful time.”
“I’ll remember it, too. Let me take you to dinner tomorrow night.” When she opened her mouth to answer, he swooped down to kiss her, drawing her into his embrace and holding her tightly.
All weekend he had charmed her, but she had guarded her heart. Instantly prudence burned away in a blaze of passion that was as passionate as Friday and Saturday nights with him. She dropped her purse and clung to him, kissing him, returning heat for heat, wanting him yet determined to stop.
When she ended their kisses, Tony was as breathless as she was.
“I’ll pick you up at seven,” he said, and she merely nodded, wanting to reach for him and pull him back.
He turned and was gone, closing the door behind him. She opened it to watch him stride back to the waiting limo and climb inside. She waved, even though she couldn’t see him through the limo’s tinted glass.
Closing the door, she moved automatically, her thoughts on Tony, wanting him with her. She was falling in love with him.
She acknowledged what she felt in her heart. Loving Tony would be hopeless. An affair with him would be meaningless and disturbing because she never wanted a relationship without commitment and had avoided one all these years. Until now. Unless she moved on and got away from Tony, that’s exactly what she was going to get herself involved in. She couldn’t exist in a relationship without a commitment. Her heart would be in it totally. And get broken to pieces in the process.
“Move on and save yourself grief,” she whispered. She suspected sleep would be a long time in coming.
Since Isabelle would be present, Tony looked forward to the Monday-morning staff meeting with an eagerness he had never had before. All his presidents and vice presidents attended and they went over any significant items for the upcoming week or month.
He was talking to Porter Haswell when others began to file into the room and the moment Isabelle stepped through the doorway, the air became electric. He continued listening to Porter, but flicked a glance at Isabelle, taking in her wine-colored suit with a matching blouse. With her hair pinned up again, she was buttoned up, looking business as usual, except the skirt ended at her knees, revealing shapely calves and trim ankles.
Tonight she would have dinner with him. He suspected she had been about to refuse his dinner invitation when he had kissed away a reply. Sometimes a twinge of guilt plagued him for his efforts to win her over and take her away from her goal of marriage and a family. If someone treated his sister in such a manner, he would be furious. Yet, Isabelle was so damned responsive to him, plus beautiful, sexy and appealing in every possible way. She had made it evident that she desired him and that she had found their night of love together something unique and special in her life. How could he walk away from all that?
He tried to focus on Porter when he felt his phone vibrate. Tony glanced at his phone and saw a text from his sister asking him if he could meet her for a quick lunch. It had their own code for “highly important” with an exclamation point accompanying the message.
He stepped into the hall to send her a quick reply telling her he would meet her and naming a restaurant. Wondering what had happened to cause her request, he returned to the meeting.
He met Isabelle’s wide blue eyes and again, the air sparked. He deliberately looked elsewhere, feeling the tension between them. Ruffling through papers on the table, he focused on the meeting, trying to keep his mind off the prospect of dinner with her tonight. When he looked at her or was with her, any slight guilt he felt for wanting to pursue her faded away.
The minute the meeting concluded, she gathered her things and headed out without a glance at Tony.
Thirty minutes before noon Tony left the office for the downtown Dallas club where he and his family, as well as most of his close friends, had memberships.
As he emerged from the elevator on the top floor and walked toward the club restaurant, he heard a familiar greeting. “Hey, Tony.”
Tony looked around to see Gabe Benton in Western boots, jeans and a jacket over a white shirt that was open at the throat. “Going to lunch?” Gabe asked. “I just finished.”
“I’m meeting Sydney for lunch. You look in a rush.”
“I have a cattle auction to attend.”
Tony smiled. “I’m amazed your dad has left you alone about pursuing a ranching career instead of oil. You’re a good petroleum engineer, and Jake relies on you a lot. Actually, you’re a good investment broker.”
Gabe grinned. “What my dad doesn’t know won’t hurt him. He doesn’t hear much about ranching from either Jake or me. I love it, Tony. I’m a cowboy at heart. Too much time with Grandpa Wade when I was growing up.”
“Looks like damned hard work for uncertain returns if you ask me,” Tony said.
“As if any of the rest of you have certain returns on the deals you make.”
Tony smiled. “Go buy a lot of cows.”
“Cattle. Tell Sydney hi. Tell her to hang in there if she’s still getting flack from your dad.”
