The Executive's Valentine Seduction / Valente Must Marry: The Executive's Valentine Seduction

“Schools weren’t as tolerant of teenage pregnancies back then as they are today.”

She could say it without bitterness. She’d never blamed the guidance counselor who’d called her in and told her she had to leave. Never blamed her parents for shipping her off to live with strangers. She was the one who’d tossed aside every principle, every precaution drummed into her by parents, teachers and church pastors to climb aboard a motorcycle that sweltering summer night.

“When I heard what happened, I…”

A brusque knock cut into Burke’s terse explanation. With a muttered oath, he went to let in the porter with his luggage.

Caro grabbed at the interruption with relief. She turned to stare through the doors that gave onto a wide balcony. The spectacular views had mesmerized her when she was scouting locations for the GSI conference last month. Now she barely registered the medieval castle brooding high on a rocky promontory at the far end of a perfect, crescent beach.

Tourists strolled the wide seawall circling the beach, admiring the remnants of a walkway first laid by the Romans when Hispania was one of its farflung provinces. Several fishermen sat beside boats drawn up onto the sandy shore, mending their nets in close proximity to the few hearty sun worshippers stretched out on towels or blankets.

It was a picture-postcard scene, one Caro was in no mood to appreciate. But staring at the endless stretch of sky and sea gave her time to squelch her churning emotions before she faced Burke again.

“So Evelyn told you I was pregnant. Do you want to know what happened to the baby?”

“I know what happened. I ran a check of birth certificates.”

Birth and death. One and the same for the stillborn baby she’d buried; only the sympathetic manager of the home was beside her.

She fought to keep the bleak memory at bay, but Burke must have seen it in her eyes. He crossed the room and stretched out a hand.

Caro’s tight hold on her emotions left no room for touching. She jerked back, and he dropped his arm.

“I’m sorry you had to go through that all alone,” he said quietly. “If I’d known, I would have come back to Millburn.”

That surprised her. Even more surprising was the fact that he didn’t ask if he was the father.

Then again, he knew she was a virgin that night. He had to, given her inexperienced fumbling and surprised yelp when he penetrated her. Then, of course, there was the blood he’d wiped from her thighs with his wadded T-shirt.

“My uncle tried to contact you,” Caroline said stiffly, “but he’d always paid you in cash, under the table. He didn’t know your Social Security number. Or your real name for that matter. We had no way of tracking you down.”

“I’m sorry,” he said again.

She knew in her heart it wouldn’t have made any difference if he had come back. Chances were she still would have lost the baby. And she still would have had to live with her parents’ bitter disappointment in her.

“I’m sorry, too. I won’t lie to you. The experience changed my life in ways I could never have imagined back then. I was so young, so stupidly naive. But in the end, it made me stronger.”

She lifted her chin. This time it was her gaze that held his, direct and unflinching.

“I’ve put the past behind me. I suggest you do the same.”

“That might be difficult, seeing as it just caught up with me a few months ago.”

“Try,” she snapped. “Try very hard. We’re going to be working together for the next five days. I don’t want to…”

She broke off, her eyes widening.

“Oh God! I didn’t connect the dots until this moment.” Disgusted, she shook her head. “The conference…This job…It dropped in our laps just a little over a month ago. After you found out about me.”

“I checked you out,” he admitted without a trace of apology. “Saw you’d quit your job at the library to launch this business with your two partners. I also saw you sank your entire savings into start-up costs and nationwide advertising. That wasn’t real smart,” he added in an aside, “considering the three of you could have qualified for a small, woman-owned business loan and kept your personal assets intact.”

She brushed over his editorial comment in her outrage over this invasion of her privacy. “How did you get that kind of information?”

“I’m in the security business, remember? I have access to all sorts of databases.”

“You had no right to delve into my personal life or my finances!”

“Wrong.” His mouth took a wry twist. “I’ve broken pretty well every rule in the book over the years, but there are a couple I live by. One, I keep my back to the wall. Two, I pay my debts.”

Caro didn’t think she figured into rule number one. That left number two.

A healthy dose of anger swept through her, scattering the other emotions this man had roused. She wasn’t a shy, uncertain teenager anymore! She hadn’t been for a long, long time. Becoming the butt of so many malicious jokes and whispers had stripped away her natural shyness and fired an inner core of tempered steel.

“Let’s get one thing straight, Burke. You don’t owe me a thing. You didn’t drag me down to the river that night and have your way with me. I went with you willingly.”

Willingly, hell! She’d been so eager, so hungry for the muscled-up kid with the wicked grin and daredevil glint in his eyes that she could hardly think that summer, much less weigh the consequences.

“Whatever price had to be paid for that bit of idiocy I paid long ago. The slate’s clean.”

“Not hardly.”

He reached for her again, giving her no chance to flinch away this time. His fingers tipped her chin. His eyes narrowed as they locked with hers.

“Millburn was just a brief stop on a road that would have landed me in jail sooner or later. I’d probably be behind bars now if I hadn’t gotten crosswise of a cop who grabbed me by the scruff of the neck and dragged me to an Army recruiter instead of the police station.”

She’d sensed that in him. The recklessness. The hint of danger. They’d only added to his appeal. Prim, proper Caroline Walters had been seduced as much by the age-old desire to taste forbidden fruit as by a pair of tight jeans.

“You said what you went through changed your life,” he said grimly. “The Army changed mine. Saved it, I guess you could say. In return, I gave everything I had to my platoon every minute I was in uniform. And when I got out, I went back and found the cop who kicked my ass all those years ago. Harry’s now my senior VP of operations.”

His thumb brushed the curve of her chin. His compelling amber eyes telegraphed a message she couldn’t begin to interpret.

“It’s your turn, Caroline. One way or another, I intend to make things right with you.”

Two

Rory could see he’d rocked his consultant back on her heels. No surprise there. He’d taken a few hits himself since learning he’d fathered a child in a single, irresponsibly careless act.

The woman who’d had to live with the consequences of that act frowned up at him now. Her heart-shaped face was a study in distrust and disbelief. Her forest-green eyes reflected her fierce struggle to deal with the shock of his unexpected reappearance in her life.

“I…I need some air. I’ll let you get settled in. We can talk later.”

They’d do more than talk. Rory had already decided that. But he would give her the space she needed to recover before initiating the next phase of his campaign.

“I’m still on U.S. time,” he reminded her. “How about an early dinner? Six o’clock?”

“Okay. Sure. Fine.”

“I’ll meet you in the bar downstairs.”