Reckless Seduction

Reckless Seduction
Gwynne Forster

Saving the world one kiss at a timeHaley Feldon’s work with the United Nations means everything to her. She cares more about social progress than filling her social calendar. But that doesn’t stop media mogul Jon Ecklund from pursuing the elegant beauty. Jon’s used to getting what—and who—he wants. And he’s not going to let anything get in his way of knowing Haley.But pain from her past—and a surprise from her future—threaten to destroy everything they’ve started to build. Now Jon’s on a mission to open Haley’s heart…if only she’ll let him.

Saving the world one kiss at a time

Haley Feldon’s work with the United Nations means everything to her. She cares more about social progress than filling her social calendar. But that doesn’t stop media mogul Jon Ecklund from pursuing the elegant beauty.

Jon’s used to getting what—and who—he wants. And he’s not going to let anything get in his way of knowing Haley. But pain from her past—and a surprise from her future—threaten to destroy everything they’ve started to build. Now Jon’s on a mission to open Haley’s heart…if only she’ll let him.

She put her empty glass on the grass beside her, leaned over and stroked his hair.

“I’m counting on your good judgment.”

“Be careful, Haley. I’ve made mistakes, and because I’m still human, I may make some more.”

“Not to worry,” she said, still stroking, “I’ll keep you out of trouble.”

“Yeah. Just like you did the other night when we went to dinner.” She stretched out beside him, and he needed no further invitation. For the first time, she looked up into his face while lying supine, and frissons of heat plowed through her.

“Kiss me. Open your mouth and kiss me.”

She gently pulled his tongue into her mouth and gripped his shoulders, asking for more, wanting him and relief from the tension stirring in her. He kissed her back, then stopped, took her hand and locked her fingers through his. “I haven’t felt this content in years. I love being with you, Haley, and I want us to spend as much time as possible together. Can we?”

“I enjoy being with you, Jon, but let’s take it one day at a time.”

“If that’s all you can give me now, I have to accept it. But I want more. Much more.”

GWYNNE FORSTER

is a national bestselling author of forty-four works of fiction—thirty-four romance novels and nine mainstream novels, including her latest, When the Sun Goes Down. She has won numerous awards for fiction writing, including a Gold Pen Award and an RT Book Reviews Lifetime Achievement Award, and has been inducted into Affaire de Coeur magazine’s hall of fame. A demographer by profession, she is formerly a senior United Nations officer, where she was chief officer in charge of research in Fertility and Family Planning studies. Gwynne is author of twenty-seven publications in demography. She holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in sociology and a master’s degree in economics/demography. As an officer, first for United Nations and later for the International Planned Parenthood Federation of London, England, Gwynne traveled and/or worked in sixty-three countries. She lives in New York with her husband, who is her true soul mate.

Reckless Seduction

Gywnne Forster

www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)

My sincere thanks to my beloved husband and stepson for their unfailing support and encouragement.

Contents

Chapter 1 (#u697868c4-9700-5cdf-901e-4545eadfef36)

Chapter 2 (#u6f83a496-197d-577c-9a6b-c0cf8acc6bc0)

Chapter 3 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 4 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 5 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 6 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 7 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 8 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 9 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 1

Haley Feldon stepped out into the late summer sun, grateful for the trees that shaded New York City’s East Sixty-Fourth Street. She both loved and hated New York City, but if her dreams were ever to have the slightest chance of materializing, it was where she had to be.

She’d had a difficult meeting with Tom Brennan, one of her backers, that morning. The conceited old coot never missed an opportunity to remind her of his wealth or to mention his generous contributions to the numerous foundations that depended upon him and others like him to finance their philanthropic work.

As she walked swiftly down Second Avenue, Haley sighed. She hated having to work with Brennan, but their meetings were unavoidable. As founder and president of the International Institute for Social Progress (IISP), she devoted herself to projects that improved the lives of poor women and children. Her immediate goals were to improve educational opportunities for children living on reservations and to establish a program to reduce pregnancies and school dropouts among teenage girls in New York City.

She was determined to make a difference. Unfortunately, her work brought her into contact with men like Brennan, because making a difference cost money. And funding for projects like the ones she envisioned for IISP was hard to come by.

Haley glanced at her watch and saw that she had about an hour before her appointment with Nedia Edstrom, head of the United Nations Conference on Social Change. That would give her time for coffee and a few minutes to focus on the proposal that she was presenting to Nedia. Inside the United Nations Secretariat Building, she took the escalator to the second floor and walked down the heavily carpeted corridor toward the North Delegates Lounge. Walking toward her was the tall, sandy-haired man she seemed to glimpse almost every time she came into the Secretariat Building. Elegant and well-built, he exuded an aura of power, strength and pure animal magnetism.

Her response to him always astonished her. How could she react this way to a man she had not even met? Haley was sure that he had his share of female admirers, but she was definitely not going to become one of them. She vowed she wouldn’t even though, or perhaps because, he showed up regularly in her dreams and often interfered with her daytime thoughts, too. No, she didn’t fool herself. She was acutely aware of him, even if she always tried to pretend that she wasn’t. It had gotten so bad that she looked for him every time she entered the building. And she knew that she flushed whenever she saw him. What was it about him? she wondered.

Not to mention she’d caught him looking at her on numerous occasions. She’d always looked away before their gazes could connect. In spite of her natural reserve, she almost hungered to know him. Yet, because she sensed that he represented a danger to her, she usually avoided him. But she wouldn’t be able to avoid him today—not this time. Today, he was walking directly to her.

Jon Stig Ecklund leaned back in the chair in his office in the United Nations Secretariat Building. The main office of Ecklund International Syndicate, Inc. (EIS), his family’s international satellite network, occupied three floors of a large building on Madison Avenue. Jon preferred to use this smaller office at the UN when he needed privacy or solitude for his work.

He didn’t enjoy being alone, but sometimes he needed absolute quiet to hear himself think. Yet even in the solitude of this smaller office Jon was finding it hard to concentrate today. He pushed back his chair, walked out of the office and headed to the North Delegates Lounge for a drink and a break. He took the escalator to the second floor and started for the lounge. It was then that he saw her.

He had seen her at a distance so many times that he felt as if knew her. Actually, he did know her, because she had spent many hours in his dreams. Her beauty intrigued him. Her regal bearing, long jet-black hair, olive complexion and soft brown eyes bespoke of mixed heritage. And with her tall, perfectly proportioned figure and lovely face she could have been a fashion model. Yet he knew instinctively that there was more to her than beauty. He’d once seen her in the dignified Delegates Dining Room daintily plucking raspberries from her plate and eating them one by one with her fingers. He guessed that she was at once respectable and sassy. She exuded calm coolness, yet Jon wondered if she hid fiery passion beneath her cold facade. He was drawn to her like a moth to fire.

Dammit, he wanted to know her. But she never gave him the opportunity. Every time he managed to get close enough to speak to her, she bolted like a skittish colt. He was fast losing patience with that game. She was an enigma that he was going to solve…and then forget.

Haley wanted to turn around and go the other way, but it was too late. He was looking directly at her, and her usual calm deserted her. He was handsome. No, he was beautiful. And he was tall, maybe six feet four or five inches. Not many men towered over her, but his height dwarfed her five-ten frame. So this is how dainty felt, Haley thought.

He seemed to pause in his approach. Was he going to speak? She realized she’d never heard his voice. Now she was dying to know if his voice matched his smooth masculine good looks.

Jon held her gaze until he was abreast of her. “Good morning.” He said it softly, as if not to frighten her, but she didn’t respond. She saw him open his mouth, and in an act of uncharacteristic cowardliness, she glanced away. The moment passed. She wasn’t sure whether she walked faster or slower, but when she passed through the lounge and reached the coffee shop, she had strength only to find a table and sit down. She hugged her stomach, calming herself. She knew something else about him now. He had blond hair and long eyelashes that half hid a pair of piercing, fern-green eyes—beautiful eyes. She wanted to kick herself for not speaking to him.

Resuming his normally brisk stride, Jon promised himself that no matter where he saw her again or who she was with, he was going to speak to her. The thought that he would finally settle something that was definitely getting out of hand lightened his mood.

He walked on, mulling over his encounter with the woman. Who the hell was she? What was it about her, a woman of whom he knew absolutely nothing, that made him feel so empty, so lacking in something that he could not label but that was so vital it gnawed at him? He released a long sigh. He wanted her out of his thoughts, out of his mind. He didn’t need this aggravation, this teenage craving for something he shouldn’t want and couldn’t get. Having given himself that stern lecture, he quickened his steps to the lounge. He’d have a vodka.

“Haley Feldon! Haven’t seen you in ages. How’s the institute going? I heard that you’d delivered a first-class lecture down on Capitol Hill. Do you think you stand a chance of introducing some new life into the secondary school programs for Native American children on reservations? Can I get you an espresso?”

Haley’s face creased into a big smile at the sight of her old friend. “Hello, Nels. It’s good to see you. How is Isabella? Are you two still an item? And yes, I’d love an espresso.” And thank you for distracting me, bringing me back to earth.

“Say, why were you sitting with your back to the entrance? Are you hiding from someone?”