Solace in Scandal Read Free

breathing rhythmically, before gracefully stepping back and twisting at the waist.
    She was doing yoga.
    Alex stared on in disbelief. She moved fluidly from pose to pose, her body seeming long and lean, even though she was a petite thing. She controlled each movement, each breath and each position. She seemed so calm and peaceful as he stood fuming, enraged by the intrusion of her very presence.
    He was about to call out to her, to order her off the property, when she folded in half and planted her hands flat on the dock in front of her. The position lifted her hips in a way that brought to mind only one thing and lust slammed into his body with all the delicacy of a battering ram.
    Pure, white-hot and dangerous.
    The words died on his lips and his mouth went dry as a bone. He felt like a voyeur, but he couldn’t stop watching as she flexed and contorted, the water glittering all around her.
    His fingers turned numb around the railing. He hadn’t seen a woman in what seemed like for ever. Hadn’t talked to one. Hadn’t touched one and certainly hadn’t made love to one.
    Yet this beauty was no ordinary woman.
    Hunger swirled around inside him, combining with the anger for a treacherous blend. He didn’t know who she was and didn’t like that she was here, but he was a red-blooded man. She was a sensual woman and he wanted her underneath him, naked and straining. He wanted to slide into her hot, tight heat.
    Most of all, though, he wanted her gone.
    He straightened, pulling back his shoulders as irritation won out – but then she relaxed from her exercise and looked over her shoulder. Their gazes connected and he nearly vaulted off the balcony to go claim her.
    The air pulsed as their gazes locked. Each breath Alex sucked into his lungs was hot and jagged until she finally broke the connection. She seemed timid then, a scared little rabbit needing safety. She darted to the lake house, and he watched as the lights came on and the shades were pulled.
    ‘Run, little siren,’ he murmured. ‘You run good and far.’
    Turning away from the night, he stalked back into the house. ‘Leonard?’ he roared.
    The ceramic shards in front of the fireplace were gone as if they’d never been. The decorative pieces on the sofa table had been rearranged so no gaps appeared. His manservant floated around this house like a ghost, but he heard things and knew more than anyone suspected.
    Anyone but Alex.
    ‘Yes, Master Wolfe?’
    The butler appeared from the hallway behind him, making Ax turn. His eyes narrowed. He’d become sensitive to having people at his back. ‘When did we start renting out the lake house?’
    ‘We haven’t, sir.’
    He let one eyebrow lift. ‘There’s a woman staying down there. She was just doing yoga out on the dock.’
    The butler glanced at the watch on his wrist and nodded. ‘Yes, that is her routine. She finds the exercise challenging to the body and soothing to the mind.’
    Alex cocked his head. ‘You seem to know her very well.’
    ‘We’re friendly.’
    Friendly. It wasn’t the first word that came to mind when Alex looked at her.
    He reached up to rub his stiff neck. He trusted Leonard, but the man was being deliberately evasive. ‘Who is she?’
    ‘Her name is Elena.’
    Elena. He rolled it around on his tongue. It fit her. Elegant yet exotic. ‘I gave you specific instructions to protect the house during my absence. By whose authority is she here?’
    The Feds and the Securities and Exchange Commission regulators were still on his ass. They wanted access to his home, his businesses, his charities and his financial dealings. He’d already given them a pound of flesh, but the hungry zombies wanted more. He’d be damned if he’d give it to them.
    Leonard cleared his throat. ‘By my authority, sir.’
    That gave Ax pause. ‘Is she family?’
    ‘Not quite, sir. She’s the daughter of a previous employer. Miss Elena arrived needing shelter and a place where she could work on her