Rafe hadn’t paid much attention. Politics had been of little interest to him in those days. In any event, he had been too busy obsessing on Hannah’s list of criteria for Mr. Right that night.
The memory made him look around for his date. He spotted her coming toward him through the crowd. The sight of her sparked a thrill of intense awareness deep in his gut. She looked great, he thought. The snug-fitting little black number she was wearing underscored a whole lot of her best assets, including the neatly curved breasts, slim waist, and full hips. Her hair swung in a sleek, gleaming curve every time she moved her head. Her legs were incredibly sexy in dark stockings and black high heels.
The most exciting woman in the room, no doubt about it. At least so far as he was concerned.
He watched her weave her way toward him. She had Decatur in tow, but Perry looked more irritated than ever, so that was okay for now, Rafe concluded. Irritated was good. Irritated meant that Decatur had not liked the fact that Hannah had brought her own date tonight. The jerk had probably counted on taking her home after the reception, maybe even planned to take up where he had left off that night in the front seat of his car eight years ago.
Not bloody likely.
Hannah came to a halt in front of Rafe. She looked flushed and glowing, and there was a sparkle in her eye. He was almost positive that Decatur had nothing to do with the look. She was up to something. He had sensed it when he’d picked her up earlier. She had a scheme cooking tonight. He was content to stand back and watch it unfold.
She smiled.
“We’re back,” she said.
“Yeah, I can see that,” Rafe said.
“You’ll have to excuse me,” Perry muttered. “Got to say hello to some very big people. I’ll catch up with you later, Hannah.”
“Yes, you will,” she said very sweetly. “I’ll look forward to it.”
Perry hurried off into the throng.
“He doesn’t look real happy,” Rafe said. “What did you do? Step on his toes?”
“I’m saving that for later.”
Jed looked interested. “That sounds promising. Anything you want to tell the press?”
“Not yet, Jed.” Hannah smiled. “But stay tuned.”
“If we’ve got some time before the excitement starts,” Rafe said, “may I have the next dance?”
“You may.”
“Hannah!” A man’s voice rose above the din of nearby conversation. “Hannah Harte! Is that you?”
In the next instant, a small knot of people unraveled to allow Tom Lydd to pass between them. He had his wife, a wholesome-looking blonde, in tow. Both were smiling at Hannah with genuine delight.
“What a terrific surprise,” the young Mrs. Lydd said. She threw her arms around Hannah and then stepped aside so that Tom could do the same.
“Didn’t know that you’d be here,” Tom crowed. “This is great. Nice to see a familiar face.”
“I’m delighted to see you,” Hannah murmured. “Allow me to introduce Rafe Madison and Jed Steadman. Rafe, Jed, meet Tom and Julie Lydd. Fair warning—Jed is the editor of the Eclipse Bay Journal.”
“Not a problem. I’ve got no quarrel with the press. Always been good to Lydd-Zone.” Tom pumped the hands of both men with his trademark boyish enthusiasm. “Great to meet you both.”
“Any friend of Hannah’s.” Rafe slanted a quick glance at her. She winked at him. That clarified one thing, he thought. The Lydds were part of whatever plan she had concocted.
“Hannah is more than a friend,” Julie Lydd confided. “She was our wedding consultant. A true magician, as far as we’re concerned. Tom and I had a vision of what we wanted, but we didn’t have the vaguest idea of how to pull it off. Hannah made it all happen.”
“Everything went off like clockwork.” Tom beamed at his wife. “Isn’t that right?”
“It was amazing,” Julie agreed. “We wanted the whole thing staged on an alien world, you see. The one Tom created for his first big computer game.”
“We’re talking waterfalls, lagoons, architectural features, the works,” Tom continued. “Did the whole thing on our private island up in the Sans Juans. Hannah was brilliant. You can imagine the logistical nightmare involved. Very impressive organizational talents. After we got back from the honeymoon, I called her up and tried to hire her. There’s always room for that kind of management skill at Lydd-Zone.”
“I told him that if the bottom ever falls out of the wedding business, I’ll take him up on his offer,” Hannah said.
“Anytime,” Tom assured her genially.
Hannah smiled warmly. “I love doing weddings for couples who are matched by my sister’s agency.”
Jed cocked a brow. “Your sister’s a matchmaker?”
Julie Lydd answered, “Tom and I met through Private Arrangements. That’s the name of Lillian Harte’s agency. She uses a very sophisticated computer program to make her matches. Not everyone likes that approach, of course. A lot of folks think it takes the romance out of the process. But it appealed to both Tom and me.”
Rafe looked at Tom. “I hear you’re thinking of endowing a research fund here at the institute.”
“Looking into it,” Tom agreed. “I’m a big fan of the think tank concept.” He turned to Hannah. “You’re from this neck of the woods. What’s your take on the folks running this place?”
Hannah’s smile brightened to a blinding glare. “I’m so glad you asked, Tom. I do have some opinions on this operation. Why don’t we find a private place to talk?”
“Great.” Tom took his wife’s arm. “I noticed a small conference room just outside in the main hall. Doubt if anyone would mind if we used it.”
Jed watched the three vanish back into the crowd. He turned to Rafe, his eyes gleaming with interest. “What do you think that was all about?”
Rafe picked up a knife, dipped it into a bowl of what looked like cheese spread, and smeared some on a cracker. “How the heck should I know?”
But he had a pretty good idea, he thought. Hannah was making her move. He couldn’t wait to find out what happened next.
“What’s wrong?” Jed asked.
Rafe grimaced. “The cheese spread is bland. Could have done with some feta and walnuts.”
At ten-thirty Hannah emerged from the rest room in time to see Trevor Thornley take the podium to make his big announcement. The lights dimmed over the crowd. Onstage, the politician stood in the center of a dramatic spot. His wife, Marilyn, stood a little behind and just to the right, glowing with wifely pride.
Hannah had a hunch that Marilyn could take a lot of the credit for the fact that her husband was about to launch a campaign for the U.S. Senate. Marilyn had always been ambitious.
Trevor Thornley raised his hands for silence.
“I want to thank everyone here tonight, starting with the faculty of this outstanding think tank. The cutting-edge work done here at the institute in the areas of social and public policy has had a profound impact, not only on how the pundits discuss the issues, but, more importantly, on how politicians and voters think about the challenges that face our nation today.
“The greatness of this country lies in its people. I have always . . .”
“What the hell do you think you’re doing, Hannah?” Perry’s voice hissed out of the shadows behind her. His hand closed over her arm. His fingers tightened painfully. He spun her around to face him. “I just got through talking to Tom Lydd.”
“Such a nice man. And so smart.” She smiled into Perry’s fuming eyes. “I like his wife, too, don’t you?”
“Lydd just told me that he wouldn’t even consider endowing a research fund here at the institute unless Professor Brad McCallister of Chamberlain College received a joint appointment to the faculty.”
Hannah widened her eyes. “That shouldn’t be a problem. I hear that Brad McCallister has already been nominated by the selection committee. He’ll make a terrific addition to your staff.”
Perry’s face was suffus
ed with an angry red color. “Damn it, you had no business interfering in the professional affairs of the institute.”
“But I didn’t interfere.” Hannah smiled. “I merely told Tom that Brad was brilliant and that the selection committee should be applauded for choosing him.”
“Lydd told me that he wants McCallister to run the department created by the endowment.” Perry started to sputter. “The whole damn department.”
“An excellent idea. Brad is the very soul of integrity. With him in charge, Lydd and the institute will have the satisfaction of knowing that Lydd’s money is spent the way he wants it spent.”
Perry’s face worked furiously. “Pamela McCallister is your friend, isn’t she? You knew that Brad was being considered for a joint appointment here.”
“I also heard that you were trying to block it because you’re jealous of Brad’s professional abilities. You’re afraid he’ll outshine you once he gets on the institute staff, aren’t you?”
“That’s got nothing to do with it.”
“Good. In that case you shouldn’t have any problem with the selection committee’s choice.”
“You planned this. You agreed to come here tonight because you knew the Lydds would be here.”
“I believe it was you yourself who mentioned that they had been invited.”
“That’s beside the point.” His voice rose. He grabbed her other arm. Rage flashed in his eyes. “You think you can pull a stunt like this with me just because you’re a Harte?”
“Perry, you tried to use me and the Harte name tonight. I let you do it. In exchange, I used the opportunity you dropped into my lap. I’d say we’re even.”
“You little bitch! You got a kick out of playing the tease eight years ago, and you’re still at it, aren’t you?”
It occurred to her that Perry had not learned to curb his temper in the past eight years. It flared as quickly and intensely as it had in the old days.
“Let me go,” she said coolly. “This scene is starting to remind me of another discussion we had once.”
“If you’re talking about that night you staged the big drama in my car and then jumped out when I got tired of your cock-teasing—”
Her own temper kicked in. “I’m talking about the night you decided that since you couldn’t seduce me into having sex with you, you would try force instead. What were you thinking, anyway? Were you working on the theory that once I discovered what a great lover you were I’d agree to marry you?”
“Damn it—”
“Or did you convince yourself that if I had sex with you, I’d feel that I had to marry you just for the sake of my reputation?”
His eyes narrowed. “If I ever thought you cared a damn about your reputation, you sure straightened me out when you told Chief Yates and anyone else who would listen that you’d spent the night on the beach with Rafe Madison.”
Hannah’s turbocharger switch suddenly tripped and her temper went into overdrive. “Let me tell you something, Perry Decatur. You are very, very lucky that I did not tell my folks or my brother how you really behaved in the front seat of the car that night. All I ever said was that we’d argued. I never told them how you tried to force yourself on me.”
His eyes bulged. “How dare you accuse me of that sort of behavior? No one has done more for women’s issues here at the institute than me.”
“Forget the political agenda. We both know what you had in mind that night.”
“We were on a date.” Perry’s voice was choked with outrage. “You freaked out when I tried to kiss you. That was all there was to it.”
“That’s not quite how I remember it.” She stabbed her finger against his elegantly knotted white silk tie. “You thought you could coerce me into marrying you.”
“You’re crazy. Hell, I knew that you were naïve and inhibited in those days, but I didn’t think you were so naïve and so inhibited that you couldn’t recognize a grown man’s normal, healthy sex drive when you saw it.”
“I saw it, but I gotta tell you, Perry, it didn’t look normal or healthy to me.”
“It was your fault that there was a small misunderstanding.”
She gave him an icy smile. “Yes, it was on the small side, but I wasn’t going to mention it.”
“There’s a word for women like you. You can’t blame me for trying to take you up on what you were offering.”
“I didn’t offer you anything, and you know it.”
“I cared for you.” His jaw jerked a couple of times as if he were on the verge of being overcome by emotion. “I wanted to marry you.”
“Sure. But only because I was a Harte.”
“That’s not true.”
“It was true. I wasn’t nearly as naïve in those days as everyone seems to think. Do you really believe that you were the first man who latched on to me because he saw it as a way to marry into Harte Investments?”
“I resent the implications of that statement,” Perry said furiously. “I’m an academic. I live for the world of ideas, not the world of business.”
“Give me a break, Perry. You’re a hustler. You always have been a hustler. Eight years ago you saw marriage to me as a quick, easy way to get access to the deep pockets of my father’s company. You also figured you’d have a lot of use for the social and business contacts that my family could provide, didn’t you?”
“Your parents liked me.”
“Mostly because they thought you were bright, charming, and ambitious. Really ambitious. My family admires ambition in a person. Sometimes we admire it a little too much.”
“There’s nothing wrong with ambition. It’s the American way.”
“What you seem to have overlooked is that there’s a line between ambition and hustling. I’ll admit that it can be mighty thin at times, but it’s there if you care to check for it.” She paused deliberately. “Something tells me that you haven’t looked for it in years, Perry.”
“You’re just as preachy and prissy as ever, aren’t you?” His mouth tightened. “Do you know how incredibly self-righteous and officious you sound when you go into your lecturing mode? No wonder your engagement fell apart. What man in his right mind wants to go to bed every night with a woman who can’t stop lecturing?”
She caught her breath. Then she glanced very pointedly at the hands he had clasped around her arms. “Let me go, Perry.”
He ignored her. His fingers squeezed tighter. “I’ve got news for you. The Miss Virtue act doesn’t work here in Eclipse Bay anymore. You screwed your image eight years ago when you provided Rafe Madison with his alibi. And what do you think will happen when word gets out that the two of you are negotiating the details of your aunt’s will over cozy little breakfasts at your folks’ place?”
“You know, it won’t be as easy to knee you in the crotch tonight as it was the last time, because this skirt is much tighter than the one I had on that night. But I think I can manage it, and I will if you don’t let me go right now.”
He released her and jumped back as if he’d just touched an electrically charged wire. “Bitch!”
“I think this is about where I came in last time,” Rafe said from the shadows behind Perry. “But the big difference is that Hannah won’t have to walk home tonight. I’ve got my car.”
“Madison.” Perry jerked around to face Rafe and then took another hasty step back. “This is a private conversation.”
“I got the impression that Hannah didn’t want to continue it any longer.” Rafe glided forward with a deceptively lazy movement. His eyes never left Perry’s face. “Was I mistaken?”
“This is none of your business.” Perry’s voice squeaked slightly. “If you touch me, I’ll file charges.”
Alarmed by the glint of predatory anticipation in Rafe’s eyes, Hannah stepped quickly between the two men. “That’s enough, Rafe. Everything is under control.”
“I know, but it would be sort of fun to bounce him around a little. Please?”
“Rafe, I’m serious.” I
t occurred to her that in her career as a wedding consultant she had honed to a fine art the ability to nip embarrassing public scenes in the bud. Now she was standing in the middle of one that she herself had created. “I do not want anyone hurt here.”
“I could take him somewhere else.” Rafe looked hopeful. “Pretty quiet down at Eclipse Arch this time of night. No one would hear him squawk.”
“You’re crazy.” Perry backpedaled several more steps. “How dare you threaten me! Do you have any idea of just who is out there in that reception room? There’s a future U.S. senator out there. Not to mention a lot of other very important people.”
“He’s right,” Hannah said firmly. “We do not want to cause a disturbance that will only result in embarrassment for all concerned.”
“I don’t mind a little embarrassment,” Rafe assured her. “I’m a Madison.”
“Stop threatening me,” Perry howled.
“I didn’t threaten you.” Rafe looked at Hannah. “Did you hear me threaten him, Hannah?”
She seized his arm. “You and I are leaving. Now. The main goal of the evening has been accomplished. Perry has just assured me that he will not stand in the way of Brad’s joint appointment at the institute. In fact, he will do everything he can to ensure that it goes through. Isn’t that right, Perry?”
“I won’t be intimidated,” Perry said forcefully. “Furthermore, I am not in charge of the selection committee. You have to remember that.”
“Sure, sure, we understand.” Rafe winked. “But just among the three of us, Brad McCallister’s appointment looks like a sure thing, right?”
Perry cleared his throat and somehow managed to look down his nose even though he was at least three inches shorter than Rafe. “If Lydd goes through with his plans to endow a research fund here at the institute, and if he feels strongly about McCallister’s appointment, he will, of course, be able to bring a great deal of influence to bear on the matter.”
Rafe glanced at Hannah. “Are you sure you don’t want me to bounce him around a bit?”
“Positive. We don’t need lawsuits.” She tugged on his arm. It was like trying to hoist the anchor of a container ship by hand.