The Danforths: Wesley, Ian & Imogene: Scandal Between the Sheets / The Boss Man's Fortune / Challenged by the Sheikh

Jasmine was standing on the steps of the courthouse interviewing the man who had just announced he was throwing his hat into the ring in the mayoral race. A small crowd had gathered and she was one of several reporters present. He was so focused on her he only half heard the questions she was asking.

Instead, he was too busy scanning her features. They were serious, intent and beautiful enough to take your breath away. He wondered if she was aware of just how sexy she looked dressed in a beige silk blouse and a chocolate brown straight skirt that stopped above her knees.

It dawned on him that the interview session was over when the crowd began dispersing. She turned, met his gaze and froze. He watched her brown eyes grow wary, aggravated, agitated.

It seemed they were back to square one.

But maybe not. There had been a kiss; a kiss he couldn’t forget and he doubted that she could, either. Knowing she had intended to interview Abraham this morning, he was about to save her the trouble from driving across town to Crofthaven by letting her know that Abraham had left town that morning on a business trip, but decided not to. Chances are she would not have believed him anyway.

He watched as she slowly made her way down the courthouse steps and decided to meet her halfway. When they met, coming face-to-face, he placed his hands in his pockets to keep from reaching out and touching her, or pulling her into his arms and kissing her again. “Jasmine,” he acknowledged. “Wesley,” she acknowledged back. “Don’t you ever get tired of following me around?”

Wesley heard the irritation in her voice. “I gave you a break yesterday.”

“No thanks for small favors. Don’t you think we should handle this another way? I feel like I’m being spied on.”

He smiled at that. “Now you know how Abraham must feel at times.”

She narrowed her gaze at him. “He’s running for public office, I’m not.”

“That’s a good enough reason for your unfair treatment of him? I don’t see you snooping around his opponent, John Van Gelder.”

Jasmine made a low sound of frustration before saying. “I’m not being unfair to Abraham Danforth. I’m assigned to cover him, not Van Gelder.”

Wesley crossed his arms over his chest. “An assignment that was very unlucky for the Danforth family.”

She sighed. “I regret they feel that way. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to make it to my next interview.”

When she walked off, Wesley couldn’t help noticing how nicely her skirt stretched across her backside, a very delectable-looking backside. And he couldn’t stop himself from thinking about how the sexy curve of that backside would feel against him.

When he had gotten home last night, images of her naked, standing in the middle of the bedroom while talking to him on the phone had taken over his mind. Trying to get some work done had been out of the question and he’d ended up taking his own shower and going to bed.

But he hadn’t been able to sleep. All he could do was think about her. Instead of locking horns with her, he wanted them to lock bodies. He’d tossed and turned in bed all night. Who would have thought that one kiss would have driven him to such a state? One kiss and he was dying for another one. The thought of never kissing her again was tying his stomach into knots.

He sighed deeply. Although the sun was out, the air was sharp and chill, unusual for a Savannah day in April. But then he needed the sharp chill to ward off the heat in his body. It was a heat he could not get rid of thanks to Jasmine.

Jasmine snapped her cell phone closed and placed it back in her purse. She had finished her last interview for the day and was headed home. She had awakened that morning with high hopes of interviewing Abraham Danforth but he had left town unexpectedly on a business trip. The reporter in her wondered what had been so urgent about the trip to Atlanta and why he’d gone instead of his son Ian, who was now in charge of the business.

She was about to exit off the interstate but a quick glance in her rearview mirror showed Wesley’s car was following in the lane behind her.

She sighed in frustration. The man was getting on her last nerve. She glanced at her watch. It was still early and if Wesley was determined to shadow her every activity then she wouldn’t make things easy on him. Actually, she hoped to make things nearly impossible. She hadn’t finished doing all her errands yesterday and decided now was a good time to complete that task and hoped that Wesley was up for it. She glanced back in the rearview mirror and smiled. First she would stop by the dry cleaners, then the car wash, and from there she would go to the butcher and the florist to pick out a plant to sit on her desk.

If the man had nothing better to do with his time than follow her around, that was his business.

What in the hell was the woman up to? Wesley wondered a short while later as he continued to follow her. She had told him she would be taking care of most of her errands yesterday, but so far she had made five stops at various places, parking her car, going into stores and either coming out with nothing or little at all. He released a frustrated sigh but was determined to stay on her tail.

He heard his stomach growl, reminding him it was past dinnertime yet here he was, sitting in the parking lot of Wal-Mart waiting for Jasmine to come out. Moments later, she walked out carrying a small bag. But the bag wasn’t what caught his attention. Once again his gaze was drawn to her skirt and how it stretched against her bottom, and the way her hips swiveled when she walked. Damn. Sexual frustration was taking a toll on him and there was no excuse for it when all he had to do was to pick up his phone and call any number of women who’d be glad to relieve him. But he wasn’t interested in any other woman other than the one crossing the parking lot at that very moment.

He closed his eyes and tried to remember that the woman was Jasmine Carmody. Jasmine the piranha of a reporter. Jasmine who was determined to dig up dirt on those he cared about. But then he also was reminded that she was Jasmine, the woman he had kissed senseless a couple of nights ago.

When he opened his eyes she had gotten into her car and was driving off. He hoped she was heading home but when she turned her vehicle in the opposite direction of her home, he knew that was not the case. Didn’t she plan on going home at some point today?

Forty minutes later and she was finally headed toward home. It had taken Wesley a few hours to figure out just what Jasmine had been doing and the game she’d been playing with him.

He frowned. If she thought the joke was on him she had another thought coming. If nothing else, he had shown her that he intended to stick to her like glue. Eventually, she would realize that he was not someone she could toy with.

An hour later, Wesley opened the door to his home at the same time his answering machine clicked on. “Wes, this is Kim. Give me a call when you get in. Zack and I want to invite you over for dinner tomorrow night.”

Wes smiled when he heard Kim’s voice. He was glad Abraham’s daughter, Kim, had found Zack, a man to give her the love and happiness she deserved.

He would call her back and confirm dinner after his shower—a shower he needed to calm his overheated body. At this point whether he was hot from anger or sexual frustration he wasn’t sure. All he knew at the moment was that one part of him wanted to put his hands around Jasmine’s neck while another part of him wanted to put his hands on other parts of her.

A few minutes later he was stepping inside the shower stall and under the spray of cold water in an effort to quell the sexual tension and anger that had overtaken him most of the evening. Since getting home, nothing he’d done had helped him to relax.

Warning bells went off in his head. No woman had ever affected him this way and he didn’t like it worth a damn. By the time he had finished his shower and dried off, he decided he would spend a quiet evening at home reading. He was determined not to indulge in foolish fantasies like he’d done the night before.

Drawing in a calming breath he walked downstairs. He’d eaten dinner, but there was another hunger deep within him. He needed to get a firm grip or he was going to be in serious trouble.

He was about to walk outside on the terrace when he heard the doorbell. Remembering he had left his security gate unlocked, he figured his visitor was probably Jake. He made his way to the door and opened it to find Abraham Danforth standing there instead.

“Abraham, come in,” Wesley greeted, smiling. He’d always had deep respect and admiration for Abraham Danforth and knew that his political aspirations were genuine and sincere.

Wesley knew that Abraham truly loved his children, but he also acknowledged that following the death of Abraham’s wife in an automobile accident, the young widower had felt unable to give them the care they needed. Ian had told him that Abraham had sent them all off to boarding schools. He knew that Ian still held a lot of resentment regarding his childhood years of having to spend much of his youth trying to impress his father and feeling that he had failed to do so.

“Hi, Wes, I hope I’m not catching you at a bad time.”

“No, not at all,” Wesley said. From the first time he had met Abraham, he’d always seen the same depth of kindness and caring in Abraham’s blue eyes that was always there in his brother Harold’s. “Can I get you anything to drink?” he asked.

Abraham shook his head. “No, I’m fine. I got a message that you wanted to see me. I just got back from a short trip to Atlanta.”

Wesley nodded. “I was wondering if you’ve received any more threatening e-mails?”

A few months ago, three separate e-mails had been sent to Abraham through his computer. Each had contained a cryptic message and had been signed “Lady Savannah.”

The first e-mail had read, “I’ve been watching you.” The second, “I’m still watching you.” The last e-mail that had read, “Expect the unexpected. This isn’t over,” and had contained a virus that had wiped out Abraham’s entire computer system. Because of the signature, everyone was assuming the person who had sent the e-mails was a woman and was wondering why she was targeting Abraham. The only people who knew about the e-mails were members of the Danforth family and they intended to keep it that way. The last thing they wanted was for the information to get leaked to the media. He could just imagine what Jasmine would do with information like that at her disposal. Abraham had hired a security specialist to secretly work on the case by the name of Michael Whittaker.

Abraham shook his head. “No, not since the last one that crashed my computer. I’m glad you were able to repair it for me.”

“I was glad to do it,” Wesley stated, leaning against his closed door.

The older man studied Wesley for a few moments then asked, “Is that all you had to talk to me about, Wes? For some reason I think there’s more.”

Wesley smiled. Just like Harold, Abraham could read him like a book at times. “Yes, there is something else. A woman by the name of Jasmine Carmody. I’m sure you probably know her by now.”

Abraham chuckled as he nodded. “Ah, yes, Ms. Carmody. She is a very dedicated reporter who can be relentless in her interviews. Although I have to admit she gets rather intense at times, I know she is merely doing her job.”

Wesley knew Abraham had stated things as diplomatically as he could. “She mentioned to me today that she heard your computer had gotten sabotaged and wanted to question you about it. I just thought I’d let you know. I also wanted you to know that she was rummaging through my garbage last week looking for anything that I may have tossed out after repairing your computer. Since I see she’s intent on getting into trouble, I’ve decided to keep a close eye on her.”

Abraham shrugged. “Although I’m as anxious as everyone else to know how Martha died, I have nothing to hide, Wes, so she can do all the digging that she wants.” The older man then studied Wesley intently. “But I am concerned about you.”