The Tycoon's Captured Heart (6 page)

His eyes shifted.  “You want that idiot down the street from you, don’t you?” he asked, completely throwing her off. 

Scarlett had no idea what he was talking about.  “What guy?”

Grayson rolled his eyes.  “The one all of the ladies were trying to get me to help you attract?  The boring accountant you had your eyes on?  Are you so fickle that you can’t even remember the men you’re supposedly in love with?”

Scarlett vaguely remembered the guy but she had been too wrapped up in Grayson’s presence that Mark What’s-his-name had flown out of her mind.  “What about him?” she asked, still not sure she could even remember what the guy looked like.

“Do you want him or not?”

Pride was an ugly thing, she realized suddenly.  “Yes,” she snapped, crossing her arms over her chest, trying to protect herself from…well from this enormous, brilliant man realizing the truth.  She had to hide that from him at all costs, she realized with overwhelming sadness.

“If you want him, then you’ll need my help.  I’ll get information on him.”

Her eyes widened.  “You’re going to spy on him?”

“Of course!  I told you I was going to run a background check on him.”

“You did not tell me that!” she came right back.

He shrugged one of his massive shoulders.  “Perhaps it was mentioned with the others.  Doesn’t matter,” he dismissed.  “I’ll get my security team working on him tonight.  By the morning, I’ll have more information on him.”

She shifted slightly, trying to decide if she wanted the information or not.  Well, she knew that she didn’t care a fig for the other man.  She couldn’t remember if the guy was blond or dark-haired so why would she care about whatever information Grayson might dig up on the poor gent? 

But then something occurred to her.  If Grayson was willing to show her how to attract a man, maybe he could give her clues on how she could attract his attention?  Maybe, if she did it right, she could share his bed for more than just one night.  And maybe, he wouldn’t be running from her bed, and from her, the following morning. 

Yes, she thought quickly, her mind working frantically to come up with a better plan.  She could do this.  She could use this Mark guy as a ruse, a means to pick Grayson’s brain on what he liked and disliked about women, why he ran from their beds so early in the morning, why he wouldn’t fall in love with any of the women he’d dated so far, why he kept emotional distance from…everyone, even her now! 

Oh, this was going to be perfect!

And if she got her heart broken again, well, at least, when she was ninety and surrounded by twelve cats and she was kicked out of New York City for throwing too much cat poop down the trash shoot, she would have memories of a few nights in this man’s arms instead of just the one, magical, beautiful night that really wasn’t a whole night. 

Was she being greedy?  Was she trying to get more than what she deserved?

Probably. 

Was she going to play the game and hope for more?  Absolutely! 

“Okay.  Fine!” she snapped.  “I’ll wait until tomorrow but you have to promise me that you’ll give me lessons.  Personal lessons on how to attract a man.  You have to tell me what you like and dislike when a woman walks into a bar or a party.  You have to be open and honest about what men like and dislike about women.”

He huffed a moment and she thought he was about to withdraw his offer.  Her whole body tensed in fear that he wouldn’t help her any longer.  But then he shook his head.  “I only know what I like in a woman, Scarlett.  I can’t tell you what all men like.”

Her heart soared! 

“That’s good enough for me,” she told him with a secret smile. The man didn’t know what he was getting into, she thought with eagerness.  “What time do we fly out tomorrow?”

Grayson saw her smile and knew that something was going on.  Something he should be very wary of.  “Nine o’clock tomorrow morning.  And you’re going to have to have dinner with me tomorrow night.  We’ll start our lessons then.” 

He wasn’t asking.  He was telling.  Grayson spun around and walked out of the room, not able to stand next to her any longer with that damn bed so close.  And she smelled good!  The woman shouldn’t smell so good!  Most women wore that disgusting, cloying perfume that made him gag.  Scarlett wore some flowery scent that, unfortunately, he suspected was just her. 

As he walked down the long hallway, he suspected that the next few weeks were going to be brutally painful for him.  And wonderful.  Scarlett wanted lessons?  Well she was damn well going to have to eat with him and be with him, meet him for lunches more often and, damn it, he was going to have her meet him for drinks too. 

He smiled as he opened the door to his suite and pulled off his tie, tossing it onto the bed as he headed towards the bathroom and yet another cold shower.  Inevitably, when he was around Scarlett now, a cold shower was necessary.  Not that it did a whole lot of good, but at least it got his mind off of her breasts.  Or the gentle curve of her waist.  Or the golden glow of her beautiful hair. 

He turned the water colder as images of his lovely woman flashed through his mind.  If he played this correctly, he could even give her the worst kind of information. 

No, that wouldn’t be good.  He wanted Scarlett to be happy.  If he told her the wrong thing about attracting men, she’d never find a husband.  Of all the people in this world, Scarlett deserved to get married.  And she deserved kids.  Or more specifically, the unborn children deserved Scarlett for a mother.  She would be incredible!

It suddenly occurred to him that, while he was giving Scarlett lessons on how to attract a man, he could ask her questions on what she liked in a man. 

He could change, he thought as he shut off the water.  Toweling himself dry, he chuckled at all of the women over the years who had tried to change him.  He’d dumped them the moment they started their efforts.  But for Scarlett?  Yeah, he could become someone…nice.  He pictured Damon or Stefan if he told them that.  They’d be laughing their fool heads off.  Grayson had never been nice.  He wasn’t sure it was in his character.  He preferred getting what he wanted and in business, that had served him extremely well.  But for Scarlett, he could fake being nice. 

Yeah, it was a good plan.  One he’d put into action the following morning. 

“So what is your plan?” she asked as soon as they were in the air, leaving Sarkit and the others behind.  She’d barely slept last night as she thought about different ways she might entice Grayson, discarding them as being too silly.  Or things she didn’t have the courage to do.  Around two or three in the morning, she’d come up with the idea of simply stripping her clothes off and offering herself to him.  He hadn’t minded when she’d been naked in his arms the last time. 

But she simply wasn’t that brave.  She was a wimp, actually.  If she were more adventurous, maybe he wouldn’t have lost interest by the following morning.

As she looked at Grayson in his leather seat, she wondered if she was brave enough for him.  Maybe he needed...

He snapped his cell phone shut and looked back at her. 

“My plan?” he asked, looking across the short expanse of the private plane at her.  She was here, in his plane and under his protection.  A surge of satisfaction shot through him.  But it wasn’t enough, he realized.  He wanted the right to protect her all the time.  He wanted her under his roof.  Or whichever roof he was inhabiting for the night.  He wanted her in his bed, in his arms. 

Hell, he wanted her. 

“Yes,” she repeated, shifting uncomfortably in her chair.  The look he was giving her was new and strange.  She couldn’t interpret those glowing, yellow sparks.  “What’s your plan?  How are you going to teach me to catch a guy?  I want good intel on what men like and dislike.”

He leaned back in his chair, loosening his tie slightly.  “Ah, well, that’s going to take a while.”

Her eyes widened.  “What do you mean?  Are you reneging on your promise?” she asked, anger building up inside of her as the image of all of her lovely ideas started to tumble apart. 

“Oh, I’ll tell you what a man wants.  I can only speak from personal experience but I’ll give you whatever information you want to know.”

This was so different from their normal conversations.  She was a bit flustered.  He was sitting there in his enormous chair, looking like the cat who ate the canary.  What was going on inside that brilliant mind of his?  She couldn’t even fathom the depths of his mind and it was scary to contemplate. 

“Personal knowledge is good enough,” she said, shrugging slightly to pretend she could put personal information to general use.  But she was going to use his personal information in a very personal way.  Against him.  To have him all for herself.  If only for a few nights. 

“We’ll start over dinner tonight.  You’ll tell me what you like in the various men you’ve dated so far and we’ll go from there.”

She considered her options.  It sounded fairly straightforward.  “And you’ll tell me what went wrong in your relationships?  What the women in your past did to make you shut them out?”  She wasn’t sure she wanted to hear about all of them, she realized as jealousy ripped through her.

Grayson thought about her question.  The simple truth was, the other women in his life hadn’t been her.  He’d loved her since she’d turned…hell, he had no idea when his feelings changed from protectiveness to love.  It had sort of snuck up on him.  One day, he was just angry because she was going off to college and growing up, and the next thing he knew, he was buying a new house so that he could be with her a bit more while she decorated the rooms for him.  It was such a smooth, almost natural transition, he didn’t even care why or when it had happened. 

“Over dinner tonight, we’ll discuss it.”  His phone rang at that point and he winked at her a moment before he picked it up and answered it.  Her phone rang as well.  She rolled her eyes at his wink and answered her own phone, pulling out her computer as she discussed budgets with one of her clients. 

For the rest of the flight, they worked on their own issues, both with a computer open and cell phones going.  The flight attendant provided food for the long flight, coffee and sporadic refreshments, but overall, the flight was companionable.  Scarlett was relieved to have their friendship back, but she knew that it wouldn’t last long.  Especially if she was going to make a pass at him before this whole thing was over.  And if he didn’t want that move, she was going to embarrass both of them. 

Better to be embarrassed for a while than to live with regret and not knowing if something could have happened between them.  She was somehow going to gain the courage to make her move.  Once she had enough information, she’d do it.  That was a promise to herself. 

When the plane landed, Scarlett thought about getting a cab to take her to her own house.  But she also knew that Grayson wouldn’t accept that.  So instead of moving towards the taxi line, she allowed Grayson to lead her over to his limousine, ducking into the back. 

When the chauffer pulled up outside of her house, he stepped out and held out his hand to assist her.  She almost didn’t take it, too afraid of the heat and intensely shocking feelings that shot through her body whenever they touched.  But in the end, she still wanted that touch.  She still needed to feel him, to know that the tension was there, even if it was only on her side for the moment. 

“Thanks for the flight home,” she told him, standing on the sidewalk while his chauffer pulled her bag out of the trunk.  “And for the ride from the airport.”

Grayson leaned forward, wanting to kiss her lips but he settled for a light kiss to her forehead.  “Get some rest, finish up your work and meet me for dinner tonight.  I’ll pick you up at seven o’clock.”

He ducked into the back seat and the chauffer pulled away.  Scarlett realized two things at that moment.  First of all, he hadn’t given her any background information on Mark as he’d promised.  And secondly, he’d almost bent down and truly kissed her!

With a silly smile on her lips, she grabbed the handle on her suitcase and walked through her front door.  There was a spring to her step that she hadn’t had before. And hope!  Goodness there was so much hope and excitement welling up inside of her! 

Scarlett wore a navy blue dress that night, not willing to sacrifice another red dress like the morning after…well, that morning.  Smoothing down her dress, she adjusted the collar, thinking that the dress looked elegant and formal without being too promiscuous.  Slipping her feet into blue and white pumps, she felt put together and just a little quirky. 

When Grayson picked her up, his eyes moved over her figure, but he didn’t say a word.  “Let’s go,” he told her, his lips compressed together. 

She was hurt when he only grabbed her hand and pulled her out of her door, barely giving her time to pull her front door closed and make sure it was locked. 

When they were in the limousine, she turned to him, was about to snap at him and demand to know what was wrong with him, but the grim expression on his rugged features stopped her from asking him anything.  He was too rough, too angry looking right now. 

But by the time they were seated at a very small, very romantic table with a bottle of red wine at his elbow, she was too irritated by his demeanor to keep her mouth shut any longer. 

“Okay, what’s wrong?  I know you didn’t lose at work.  So what’s wrong with you?”

He looked across the table at her.  “How do you know I didn’t lose something at work?”

She sighed and put her menu down beside her.  “Because you never lose, Grayson.  You are one of the riskiest businessmen I know.  You do things in the business world that others would be too terrified to even attempt and yet, you do everything with complete calm and you never fail.  You never lose when it comes to business.”  She lifted an eyebrow, daring him to challenge her assertion.  When he remained silent, she leaned forward, crossing her arms on the table right in front of her plate.  “So what’s going on?  Why are you in such a grumpy mood?”

He laid his own menu beside him. “You want to attract a man?” he asked sharply.  He was irritated because she looked like a nun.  Her blue dress covered her from her neck to a few inches below her knees.  It was a dress his grandmother would wear and he was furious that she was sending the message that she didn’t want him to assume anything about tonight.  He got the message, loud and clear.  No sex with Scarlett! 

“Of course I want to attract a man,” she told him.  “Isn’t that what tonight is all about?”

His eyes moved from her pretty blue ones to her neckline.  “If you want a man, don’t dress like his great aunt or his grandmother,” he told her without any softening of his tone.  “You look horrible.”

Scarlett’s mouth fell open on a gasp as her hand flew to her collar.  “I just bought this dress!  I thought it looked very retro!”

“It doesn’t!  All it does it make you look matronly.  It is hideous.”  And he wanted to tear it off of her, burn it and refuse to believe the message she was sending to him. 

Scarlett wasn’t sure what to say.  She looked down at her dress, thinking that she was insulted.  But then why was she here tonight with Grayson?  Wasn’t she trying to see the world, and specifically, women, through his eyes?  That was the whole point of the night, of his help. 

Looking up at him, she smiled brightly.  “Okay.  So I won’t ever wear something like this on a date.  Tell me more.”

His eyes narrowed on her beautiful face.  “Wear your hair down.  A man wants to see the woman’s hair.”  He half expected her to pull the pins out of her hair but was disappointed when she simply nodded at his instructions. 

“Okay, noted.  What else?”

“Wear sexy underwear.” 

Scarlett’s mouth opened, then closed.  She felt her cheeks heat up and shook her head.  “What does that have to do with anything?”

He smiled slightly.  “It makes a woman walk differently.  I don’t know what it is,” he said as his eyes moved down her figure, or whatever he could see of it from over the table, “but a man can tell when a woman is wearing sexy underwear.”

The waiter arrived just at that moment and Scarlett’s blush intensified.  “Got it.”  She turned her attention to the waiter who was looking as if he hadn’t heard anything odd at the table.  He politely told them the specials for the day, then wrote down Scarlett’s order, and then Grayson’s, before slipping away to leave them in private once again. 

“It isn’t like the guy is going to see my underwear,” she mumbled to herself.

“Good,” he told her.  “But that isn’t the point.”

“How can a man tell when she’s wearing granny panties or something sexier?”

He shook his head.  “It isn’t the difference between granny panties or something different.  I’m talking about the stuff that women buy specifically for seduction,” he explained, leaning closer and holding her gaze.  “I’m talking about the stuff that a woman wears when she’s trying to get a man to notice all of the special parts of her that make a man and a woman different.”

“How do you know the difference?”

He shrugged, still not releasing her gaze.  “It’s in the way she walks, the way she moves.  It’s in her eyes.  There’s just a sparkle there, a different look that lets a man know that he’s going to be lucky that night.”

She licked her lips, thinking about the bra and panty set she’d seen in a store window last week. She was getting over there to buy it tomorrow!  “And what if he isn’t going to get lucky?”

He chuckled.  “It keeps a man guessing, doesn’t it?  That’s part of the allure of being a woman.  She has to keep a man guessing, maintain that mystery so that he’s never really sure about her.”

“Is that what you like?”

He laughed slightly.  “Oh, there’s something nice about a sure thing, but the chase, the conquest.”  He nodded his head.  “Yeah, that’s better.  Makes a man feel like he’s accomplished something by winning a woman’s hand.”

She almost laughed at his comment.  It was so typically alpha male.  So like the man sitting before her. 

After that, they talked in generalities and no matter how much she tried, she couldn’t get him back to the subject of his likes and dislikes.

The following evening, she was right back across from him.  “Better dress, by the way,” he told her, his eyes skimming down her figure in a black wrap dress with a pretty, delicate gold chain around her neck. “You need different jewelry though.”

Scarlett’s hand flew up to her gold chain, wondering what could possibly be wrong with the necklace.  “What’s wrong with this one?” she demanded. 

“Nothing.  If you were meeting your girlfriends for drinks and girl chat.  Or maybe for a client.”

She leaned back, sipping her martini.  She was trying to be bold and hoped that the alcohol would help.  “But not when I’m trying to entice a man?”

He shook his head, sipping his scotch as he looked at her over the rim of his glass.  “How did the client like that new living room you did last week?” he asked, changing the subject. 

They fell into their old patterns of conversation and, on the one hand, Scarlett was relieved that they were still friends.  But she was also frustrated because she had no idea how to get him to think of her as a girlfriend.  She was back to being friend zoned and she was sick of it! 

The next night, one more romantic restaurant but this time, she met him there, having a client meeting until the last minute.  Or that was what she’d told him when he’d called to make the arrangements.  In reality, she just wanted to get this whole dress thing right. 

This time, she was wearing a red dress that clung to all of her curves.  And instead of a simple gold chain, she’d splurged on a lariat-style necklace in shining gold that curved around her neck and then snaked down low, resting between her breasts.  The dress revealed a lot more cleavage than she normally was used to revealing and she hurried into the restaurant tonight, eager to see his reaction. 

When Grayson stood up, she knew that she’d gotten it right on the mark.  The look in his eyes as she walked towards him gave away everything this time.  Those yellow flecks were flickering in the candlelight and she smiled as she sauntered over to their table.  The red, lace underwear she’d bought earlier today was making her hips sway a bit more than normal too and she loved the way his eyes traveled down her figure, unable to look away. 

Grayson watched as his beautiful Scarlett approached the table and his jaw clenched with fury.  Or was that lust?  He wasn’t sure any longer.  She was gorgeous but all he wanted to do was to pull her back to his limousine and order her to dress in that matronly blue dress from three nights ago.  It was safer, dammit!  The other men, and most of the women, in the restaurant were staring.  He could feel the lust coming from the other men and the fury from the women who were jealously watching her make her way across the room. 

Even the waiter jumped up and held Scarlett’s chair for her.  Grayson almost punched the young kid out when he did that but instead, he simply elbowed the guy, pushing him out of the way as politely as possible under the circumstances. 

When Scarlett sat down, the soft material of her dress parted on her thighs and he caught a glimpse of the lace on her stocking.  He almost swore under his breath when he realized what she was doing but kept his cool. 

For about five minutes.

“We’re leaving,” he told her.

Scarlett laughed softly and lifted her glass of wine to her lips.  “I’m guessing I don’t look matronly tonight?”

“Hell no,” he growled.  “You look…” he sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose.  “The dress is…”

Her grin widened.  She wasn’t aware of how sultry her glance was, but he felt that look right down to his groin.  “And the necklace?  Is this what you meant last night about the jewelry needing to capture a man’s attention?”

Grayson’s eyes moved down to the sparkling spot between her breasts.   “You hit it exactly on the mark and you know it,” he snapped. 

Scarlett’s smile brightened with that acknowledgement.  “Okay, so now that I’ve got the dress code down, what else do I need to do to entice a man?”

Grayson stared across the table at the woman, not surprised to realize that he was fully erect, fully ready to take her right here on this table.

No, he shook his head mentally.  Not on the table.  He needed a large bed to thoroughly do the job.  He needed to…

He needed to not think about all the things he wanted to do to her body.  Shifting his mind, he looked down at the menu.

“What are you having for dinner?” he growled out. 

Scarlett had no idea what she’d done to make him so angry but she wasn’t going to put up with his grouchiness.  Reaching across the table, she gently touched his hand.  “What’s wrong?  What’s happened to make you so grouchy?”

Grayson’s teeth clenched as the extra stimulus of her hand made lust surge through him.  Grinding his teeth to keep himself from pulling her into his arms, he shook his head.  “I’m fine.  Tell me about your day.” 

Scarlett pulled her hand back and tucked it onto her lap under the table, feeling foolish for even caring.  She’d never thought of Grayson as moody, but the past three nights had been a challenge to get through.  On the one hand, she loved being with him, trying to entice him and seeing the look in his eyes change.  But on the other hand, he seemed…angrier now. 

She was about to say something but the waiter interrupted them, placing their salads in front of them.  Scarlett waited until the man had gone away once more before she continued. 

“It’s working just fine,” he told her before she could start up again.  He picked up his fork and devoured the dainty salad that couldn’t satisfy his increasing appetite.  Hell, nothing could really satisfy his appetite except a few weeks in a bed with this woman.  Naked. 

Actually, he’d need more than a couple of weeks.  Maybe a couple of months.  Or a couple of lifetimes. 

Scarlett started discussing the clients she’d worked with today but kept her eyes on Grayson’s eyes, trying to determine why he was so cranky.  She gently questioned him about his day, trying to find out if something had gone wrong.  But he was very closed-mouthed about his day.  So by the time their meals arrived, they were barely speaking with each other. 

She was wearing the dress!  She had the necklace!  She was even wearing the lingerie!  Why wasn’t he attracted to her?  Why wasn’t he suggesting that they walk out of this restaurant and find some place private to have dessert? 

She sighed when the waiter took their plates away and sipped her wine, wishing he would just talk to her. 

“This isn’t working, is it?” she offered him with a gentle smile. 

“No.  So you’re going to stop?” he demanded, tossing several bills onto the table.  He saw one of his colleagues approaching and he damn well wasn’t going to introduce Scarlett to the man!  He wanted her as far away from this restaurant as possible so he didn’t have to endure the other patrons twisting around to get a better look at Scarlett in that smoking-hot dress. 

“Stop?” she asked in a whisper. 

Hell, why did she sound so hurt now?  He looked across the table into her pretty blue eyes, trying to figure out what he’d said.  He’d only agreed with her!  Her efforts to find a guy were wrong and…

No, they weren’t wrong, he reminded himself.  They were perfectly natural.  He just couldn’t be the man to help her do it.  “Let’s go,” he commanded and took her arm, grabbing her pashmina and leading her out of the restaurant before the other man could wind his way through the tables to them.