High-Society Seduction by Maxine Sullivan Read Free Book Online

pressed a button and the screen slid open. “Harry, go straight to my place,” he instructed, putting his hand on Jenna’s arm to silence her when she went to speak.
    “Yes, Mr. Roth.” The screen slid shut.
    Her stomach fluttered. “I want to go home, Adam,” she said firmly. This wasn’t part of the deal.
    “Chelsea and Todd are behind us.”
    “What!” She sat up straighter and twisted around. The white limousine was behind them. “Are they following us?”
    “No. Their path home goes right past my apartment building. It’s just our bad luck that they left at the same time as we did.”
    She glanced at him suspiciously in the passing street-lights, but he didn’t seem to be hiding anything. “I’ll catch a cab home from your place then.”
    “Harry will take you after you have a nightcap.”
    “I’d prefer to go straight home as soon as we get there.” Was he up to something after all?
    His eyes fixed on her. “Are you scared of coming up to my apartment?”
    “No.”
    “Scared of me?”
    “No.” And if she was, she would never admit it.
    He studied her, then appeared to accept her answer. “Look, Chelsea and Todd are night owls. They could be driving around looking for someplace to go. I don’t want them to see you in a cab, and I don’t want to risk them seeing you inside this limo alone, either.” She opened her mouth. “Yeah, even with tinted windows. It’s best you wait at my place for a while. Give them time to get settled somewhere.”
    “Are you making this up as you go along?”
    He chuckled. “No.” Then he sobered. “I wish the hell I was. I know it all sounds unlikely, but just humor me this once.”
    She thought about that. It really was no use taking a risk, no matter how slight. And while she didn’t like to think Adam would go back on his word, he might well decide to do nothing just yet about the money for Stewart. Not until she’d “paid” her dues.
    In full.
    She inclined her head. “I suppose I could have a small nightcap with you.”
    “Good.”
    They drove awhile. It was almost midnight and being a Friday night, St. Kilda Road was still flowing with traffic and people strolling along the streets, but she and Adam may as well have been the only ones around. Jenna could feel him on the seat next to her…could see the length of his thighs beneath the dark trousers…could inhale the scent of his aftershave…. His presence disturbed her.
    She glanced at him, needing to break the silence. “Chelsea said you’ve been seeing another woman.”
    His lips firmed into a straight line. “It was over a few weeks ago.”
    It was hard to tell if he was annoyed with her for mentioning it, with Chelsea for telling her or with the other woman. Probably all three.
    “She needs to get up-to-date then,” Jenna reflected.
    “She needs more than that,” he muttered, for a moment looking like a man who’d had more than enough. His face hardened again. “Chelsea befriended Diane, who won’t admit it’s over between us. Unfortunately, Diane—that’s the lady I was going out with—unwittingly keeps her informed. Diane has no idea Chelsea is using her for her own purposes.”
    She tilted her head back. “Boy, your life is a real mess, isn’t it?”
    He grimaced. “Yes, but not through any fault of my own.” Then he gave a shrug. “All this goes with the territory, I’m afraid.”
    “Territory? Being a Roth, you mean?”
    “Being a man,” he drawled, his sense of humor reappearing.
    She laughed, then suddenly a car horn blasted a good-night from Todd and Chelsea, making Jenna jump, and the white limousine went zooming past just as they arrived at the front of Adam’s apartment building.
    “Make yourself comfortable while I pour us that nightcap,” he said, once they stepped out of the private elevator upstairs.
    Jenna put her purse down on the couch and strolled onto the balcony. She wasn’t planning on making herself too comfortable, certainly not in the way