The Seduction Game by Sara Craven Read Free Book Online Page A

Caroline to go out too.
    She was so on edge that she almost cried out when, with a soft chirrup, Melusine landed on the bed, as she did every night. It was comforting to feel the small paws kneading the coverlet in the familiar rhythmic way, and hear the throaty purr.
    Oh, Melusine, she thought, stroking the small proud head. If you only knew what a mess I am.
    She was still bewildered with herself, at the way she’d behaved with Adam. Once she’d made the decision to have supper with him she should have remained in control throughout, as she’d planned.
    Interviewing, after all, was her thing. She should have been able to find some topic of mutual interest on which she could have drawn him out, discovered what made him tick, just as she’d intended. She was good at it. An interested and encouraging listener. Even quite hopeless clients would leave her office probably convinced she’d be their friend for life, and godmother to their children as well.
    But this time all the revelations had seemed to be on her side instead. She wasn’t sure what she’d given away—or how. But somehow he’d made her stilted—awkward—commonplace. Pushed her on to the defensive.
    Where, she realised helplessly, she still remained.
    She turned over on her side, staring towards the window, and Melusine, fed up with the constant disturbance, yowled reproachfully and jumped to the floor.
    It had been nearly three years since she’d experienced that fatal drag of sensual awareness towards a man. Since she’d even been remotely tempted to acknowledge her body’s need. Its sheer physical hunger for human contact. For warmth and affection.
    But then, after Jack, it had seemed safer to remain in the wilderness that his departure had created.
    ‘Jack.’ She said his name aloud, wrapping her arms round her body, waiting for the shock of pain and humiliation that the evocation of his memory aroused even now.
    That was why she tried so hard not to think about him. To relegate him to the back of her mind where he belonged. But tonight, it seemed, he was not to be so easily dismissed.
    She’d been twenty-three when they met, heart-whole, with a string of casual relationships behind her, none of which she’d been prompted to translate into any real intimacy.
    She had not long joined Marchant Southern, and her career was still at the fledgling stage when, fatefully, she had been invited to a drinks party in the boardroom of her father’s company. Gordon Fairclough, one of the other directors, had been celebrating his birthday.
    She’d noticed Jack instantly. He’d been with a group of other men, all twenty-somethings, but he’d stood out, tall, dark-haired and swarthy. He’d been talking and laughing, his eyes constantly raking the room, and as he’d seen Tara his gaze had narrowed appraisingly, appreciatively, until she’d turned away in slight confusion.
    She’d said to Anna Fairclough, who’d been at school with her, trying to sound casual, ‘Who’s that? Tall, blue pinstripe, dark red tie.’
    Anna peered obligingly through the crowd. ‘Oh, some new whizz-kid accountant type, I think.’ She pursed her lips. ‘Jack—Jack—something. Dad says he’s—’ She broke off to greet another acquaintance with extravagant delight, and Mr Fairclough’s opinion was lost. Tara drifted off to find her parents, and refill her wine glass at the buffet
    She felt a light touch on her arm. ‘Actually, it’s Jack Halston.’ He was smiling down at her. ‘Anna’s a shocker for names.’
    She smiled back, aware she had flushed a little. ‘She always was.’
    ‘Do you work for Grainger Associates? I’m still a new boy, but I’m sure I haven’t seen you around.’
    She said lightly, ‘It’s a big company. A lot of people work here.’
    ‘Ah,’ he said. ‘But I’d have noticed you.’ He wasn’t smiling any more, and the dark gaze was intense, burning into hers. He said quietly, ‘You know that, don’t you?’
    From some far