Read Online Reckless Moon by Doreen Owens Malek - Free Book Online Page B

placed her palm over his heart. “I want what’s in here,” she said quietly. “I want what you withhold from everybody. And until you’re willing to give it, I’m your lawyer, you’re my client, and that’s it.”
    Bram exhaled slowly as she withdrew her hand, and then drained the rest of the liquor in his glass. “Lady, you drive a hard bargain,” he said darkly.
    A waiter arrived and asked if they wanted a second round. Bram ordered another for himself after Beth shook her head to decline.
    “What happens if I don’t obey the ground rules?” Bram asked as soon as the man went back to the bar.
    “Don’t you intend to?” Beth responded.
    “I make no promises,” he said levelly, his eyes straying to her mouth.
    “Then I’ll have to be on my guard, won’t I?” Beth said.
    “You’re always on your guard,” Bram observed sarcastically.
    He sounded so genuinely annoyed that she had to smile.
    “What’s funny?” Bram asked.
    “You don’t like opposition, do you?” Beth asked.
    “Does anyone?”
    “I have a feeling that other people have a little more experience in dealing with it than you do. When somebody puts a roadblock in your path, you either crash through it or decide it isn’t worth the effort and walk away. You don’t go in much for negotiation.”
    “Which will it be with you?” he asked, his gaze penetrating.
    “I don’t know. It appears that with your father you just walked away.”
    Bram nodded as the waiter deposited another scotch in front of him, and then he downed half of it “There’s no other way to deal with Joshua. He’s too stubborn and opinionated for subtler tactics,” Bram said.
    “Sounds like somebody else I know,” Beth observed innocently.
    Bram ignored that “The old man actually did me a favor,” he went on, as if she hadn’t spoken. “I got a chance to get out and see the world, and acquired a finer education than he could have bought for me at an Ivy League school. I’ve often thought that I should thank him.”
    “Did you ever discuss it?” Beth persisted. “Did you ever talk to him about why you left?”
    Bram’s expression hardened. “We don’t talk about anything but the business. He prefers to leave the rest of it in the past, and frankly, so do I.”
    “But don’t you see that you’ll never be comfortable with each other until you settle your old differences? My father is dead, Bram, and believe me, I wish every day that I had tried to make peace with him. We just glossed over those old wounds and let them fester.”
    “You mean like the wound I inflicted when I seduced you in his den?” Bram asked.
    “You didn’t seduce me,” Beth answered in a low tone.
    “I would have,” Bram countered. “If your father hadn’t arrived when he did you would have lost your virginity to me that night.” He smiled sadly. “Instead I left you to a stranger’s hands.”
    No, you didn’t, Beth thought.
    “I hope the experience was good for you,” Bram added.
    Beth said nothing.
    “Many times I’ve wished that it had been me,” Bram concluded. “That is just one of a long line of my regrets, but I think it sits at the top of the list.”
    Beth realized that he had had two stiff drinks on what was probably an empty stomach. He was doubtless a little drunk; he didn’t open up easily, and he was revealing a little too much for total sobriety.
    “I think I’d better be going,” she said nervously. “It’s getting late.”
    He saluted her with a glass that contained only ice cubes. “Forgive me. I’m bringing up a sensitive subject. I don’t mean to drive you out the door.”
    “You’re not. I have to get home. Mindy’s husband is bringing over a potential client tonight, somebody in real estate who needs a lawyer to do closings and title searches, that sort of thing.”
    “Who?” Bram asked suspiciously.
    “Jason Raines. He and his brother own Raines Realty.”
    Bram nodded, grimacing. “I know him. He’s a stiff.”
    Beth