Seduction by Design Read Free Page A

becoming a young lady, Mr.—”
    “Scott.”
    “Mr. Scott. She’s naturally self-conscious about the changes her body is undergoing. Being frightened by pain, she was mortified by the location of the stings and too embarrassed to tell you.”
    “But that’s crazy. I know what a female breast looks like.”
    For some reason Hailey didn’t want to put a name to, she suddenly became hot and breathless. She ridiculed herself for acting as juvenile as Faith.
    “It may be crazy to you, Mr. Scott, but to an impressionable, sensitive girl Faith’s age, it would have been devastating to … to show herself to you.”
    “I’m her father,” he said, his impatience with female logic apparent.
    “Even so, Mr. Scott. I know it’s hard for you to understand, but please try. Faith is very upset. She’s afraid you’ll be angry with her.”
    He cursed under his breath and flung himself down on the sofa again. He stroked his stubborn chin several times with a frustrated hand. He was a man striving to understand something he had no experience of. When he looked up at Hailey again, she saw something softening in his steely gray eyes. “I guess I overreacted as violently as Faith.”
    Hailey treated him to a real smile. “That’s understandable. Forgive me, but I asked Faith about her mother. She told me that you have recently lost your wife.”
    “She wasn’t my wife.” Seeing Hailey’s sudden loss of color and the stunned expression on her face, he clarified his remark. “She was my wife when Faith was born, but we were divorced soon after. Faith lived with her mother all that time. Monica was killed in a boating accident several months ago and Faith came to live with me.” His hard mouth slanted in a self-deprecating smile. “I’m still learning about parenting, you see.”
    Hailey glanced down at her hands, then shyly back up at him. “Single-parenting is an unenviable job for anyone. Under the circumstances I can see why you and Faith both would have adjustments to make.”
    Why was she talking to this man so candidly about such a personal subject? Still, he had initiated it, hadn’t he? Dare she give him one more word of unasked-for advice? “Please remember one thing, there is nothing more patience-taxing, sensitive, or emotionally delicate than an adolescent girl.”
    His thick brows lowered over eyes sparkling now with mischief. “Except an adolescent boy trying to make a move on an adolescent girl.”
    Dark lashes momentarily screened Hailey’s green eyes. A blush colored her cheeks, so recently pale, with flattering color. Rather than meet his probing eyes, she turned back to the typewriter and, in a no-nonsense voice, said, “I must get back to my office, but first I have to complete this form.” She set the proper margin on the typewriter, then inquired tersely, “Your full name?”
    “Scott. Tyler Scott.”
    Her hands froze on the keys. Her mouth went as dry as cotton. Her heart leaped into her throat. Her whole body shook with a slight tremor.
    In her peripheral vision she saw Tyler Scott get up off the sofa and walk around the desk to stand directly in front of her. Her upraised eyes took in the designer belt at his waist, his long, tapering torso, and impressive chest, the tanned column of his throat.
    When her eyes locked with his as he stared down at her, she quailed under his triumphant expression. “That’s right, Miss Ashton,” he said softly. “I own this place.”

CHAPTER 2
    T he accident report form was ripped out of the typewriter without the benefit of the paper release. With an accuracy that would have made Wilt Chamberlain applaud, the viciously balled-up paper was sent sailing through the air into the dead center of a metal trash can.
    “I think we can dispense with the mandatory report this time, don’t you, Miss Ashton?” he asked coolly. “After all, the accident forms eventually wind up on my desk and I already know the details of this incident. I hardly think