At The Tycoon's Command

He saw the curtain at the front window move a little bit. Someone was watching him. Jared took a calming breath. He couldn’t put off the confrontation any longer. He needed to get the business resolved so he could be on his way to San Francisco and his female companion of the evening. He opened the car door, mindful that his every move was being scrutinized.

As he climbed out of the car, Kim Donaldson continued to watch him from behind the edge of the curtain. She had heard the car pull into the driveway but didn’t recognize the silver Porsche. Then the door opened and the occupant climbed out. A hard lump formed in her throat followed by a sinking feeling of dread. Jared Stevens in person. She had allowed her anger to get away from her earlier and said a couple of things she shouldn’t have. Honestly, Kim, when are you ever going to learn to think before speaking and keep your big mouth shut? She had no idea that her outburst with the attorney would produce such a quick, decisive and definitely unwanted response.

She swallowed the lump, took a deep breath and slowly exhaled. She had never met Jared Stevens, but she had seen him on a few occasions over the years when he had returned to Otter Crest during the summer. One such occasion had burned into her memory. She had been in high school. She had stopped to watch a softball game in the park and had immediately spotted one of the players dressed in cutoff jeans and a tank top. The physical attraction had been like a bolt of lightning.

Kim had fallen instantly in lust with the ruggedly handsome young man in his early twenties without even knowing who he was. The image had remained burned into her consciousness…the long legs, broad shoulders, strong arms and golden tan. Later she found out the man of her dreams was none other than Jared Stevens, Terry’s older brother—the one the residents of Otter Crest always referred to as a womanizing playboy. She had immediately dismissed any interest in Jared Stevens. Their families had been feuding for generations, and there was no reason to assume he was any different than his brother, who she knew for a fact was an insufferable jerk, but the enticing image had remained with her all these years.

She watched as Jared leaned across the car seat and grabbed his attaché case. His jeans, T-shirt and running shoes belied his position as head of a multimillion-dollar corporation. A wave of anxiety swept through her. Should she pretend no one was home? No, that wouldn’t serve any purpose. She had to face him if for no other reason than to reinforce her comments to his attorney. She had no intention of paying him one penny of a debt her father had long claimed didn’t exist. Besides, there was no way she could raise twenty thousand dollars even if she wanted to.

The ringing doorbell sent a nervous anxiety rippling through her body. She took another calming breath, but it didn’t help. She opened the door to her uninvited visitor.

“Kimbra Donaldson?”

His voice sent little shivers through her. It sounded every bit as smooth and sexy as he looked. The years since that day when she had watched him playing softball had only enhanced his appeal. What were then youthful good looks had matured into incredibly handsome features combined with a magnetic appeal that reached out and grabbed her on the most primal level. And his eyes…she’d had no idea they were such an intense green. They were the type of eyes that could delve into the very core of a person’s existence and uncover the innermost secrets hidden there. A sudden shortness of breath caught her by surprise. It was easy to see why so many women fell all over themselves in an attempt to get close to him. She shook away the unwanted thoughts and tried her best to rein in her rush of sensual excitement.

“Yes, I’m Kim Donaldson.” Calm down, breathe slowly. Her self-directed instructions were wasted when she saw his gaze travel from her face down her body to her feet, then slowly climb her bare legs to her face again. There was no mistaking the lustful look that darted across his face, a look that said he liked what he saw. It was the type of look that made her feel naked and vulnerable while at the same time promising untold pleasures.

If only she had known he was headed her way she could have changed from the blue T-shirt and white tennis shorts she was wearing and would have stuck her bare feet into a pair of shoes. If she had been able to change clothes perhaps she wouldn’t feel as if he was studying every curve of her body. A surprising jolt of excitement hit her—a sensation as disturbing as it was undeniably sensual.

“You prefer Kim rather than Kimbra?”

She nodded, words refusing to materialize.

“I’m Jared Stevens.”

She finally found her voice but couldn’t find a way of keeping her displeasure out of it. “I know who you are.”

A flicker of surprise darted across his face, then quickly disappeared. “You were rather rude to my attorney this morning. In fact, Grant said it was the first time anyone had ripped up a letter and thrown it at him. I’m afraid your actions have forced me to take matters into my own hands.” He stared at her for a long moment, then smiled…a devastatingly sexy smile that showed perfect white teeth in sharp contrast to the golden tan of his face. “I believe we have some pressing business to discuss.”

A quick intake of breath was her immediate response to his smile, his nearness and the overwhelming power of his masculinity. It took all her inner resolve to maintain a semblance of composure while responding to his words. “We have nothing to discuss.”

“We most certainly do, Ms. Donaldson.” He made another obvious visual survey of her physical attributes before regaining eye contact with her. “We have lots to discuss.”

The sparkle in his eyes intimidated her as much as it excited her. Her composure slipped away faster than she could keep hold of it. The last thing she wanted to do was appear in any way hesitant or unsure in front of Jared Stevens.

“May I come in?”

“Uh…” She tried to force some words, but nothing happened. She stepped aside and motioned him in, all the while berating herself for acting like some silly awestruck teenager. He was the enemy, not someone whose presence should render her tongue-tied.

She raked her fingers through her short blond hair, shoving it away from her face as she nervously cleared her throat. She gave it another try. This time the words managed to escape her throat in a businesslike manner.

“I don’t see what we have to discuss. You’re trying to extort money from me for a debt that doesn’t exist. My father was very emphatic about that. I also think it’s in very bad taste for you to swoop in like some type of vulture on the heels of his funeral to make your demands.”

Jared cocked his head and raised an eyebrow. A quick look of surprise covered his features. “Extort? That’s a rather harsh word to apply to an honest debt, one that’s five years past due. If you were five years late in paying a twenty-thousand-dollar debt to anyone else, they would have had you in court by now.”

She fixed him with a hard stare and blurted out the first thing that came to her mind. “If there was a legitimate debt, it would have been paid by now!”

He leveled a pointed look at her. Her blatant attempt at being as difficult as possible did not negate the obvious. Kim Donaldson was definitely a feast for the eyes, from the beautiful face to a body that would set any man’s pulse racing—including his. His gaze wandered to the soft fabric of her T-shirt and the way it caressed the curve of her breasts, to her sleek tanned legs extending from her shorts and the russet polish on her toenails. He pegged her height at about five feet seven, a good match to his six-one. Her stubborn determination and the fiery glints of anger sparkling in her blue eyes did not dissuade him from entertaining the numerous erotic thoughts that had been circulating through his mind from the moment she’d opened the door. He forced his thoughts to the business at hand.

“I don’t know where you got the impression that the debt isn’t legitimate. Your father signed a promissory note with Stevens Enterprises for twenty thousand dollars, payable in full two years from the date of signing. In exchange for the promise to pay, your father received exclusive use of one of our warehouses for that two-year period of time. Having a promissory note rather than a lease agreement was your father’s idea, an unusual request, which my father extended himself to accommodate. Shortly before the two years was up, my father died. Collection of the money due ended up in a state of limbo while the company changed from my father’s hands to mine.”

He placed his attaché case on the coffee table, then withdrew a file folder. “After taking over the company I was busy with several other matters, including restructuring part of the organization and developing new business areas. Three years passed before the now severely overdue note was brought to my attention. For the past two years my corporate attorney and your father had been going around and around about the principal amount due plus all the accrued interest.”

Kim folded her arms defiantly across her chest in an attempt to put up a staunch front, but listening to Jared’s description of the business transaction left her feeling a little uneasy and a lot uncertain. “My father’s account of the events differs quite a bit from your fanciful version.”

“My version is fact, and I have the appropriate documentation to back up my claim.” Once again he flashed a devilishly disarming smile. “If you have any proof of your father’s side of this, I’ll be happy to take it into consideration.”

Her anxiety level jumped up a notch or two. Jared was too self-assured, too smooth. She had never seen any paperwork relating to the matter. She only had her father’s assertions. A shudder of apprehension swept through her consciousness. What if her father really did owe Stevens Enterprises twenty thousand dollars plus all the accumulated interest? She would never be able to pay that off. There hadn’t been much money in her father’s estate, and most of that went to pay for his funeral. As for his other assets, she would need to convert them to cash to pay what she considered his legitimate debts. Her savings amounted to only a little over two thousand dollars.

She gathered her determination. He was just trying to bluff her, to make her believe he had some kind of tangible proof. She was not going to fall for his line. It was the way the high and mighty Stevens family had been treating her family for three generations.

“If you have this proof, then I want to see it now.”

“Of course.” His manner was almost condescending as he smiled at her again, a smile that spoke volumes—a smile that said he had not been bluffing.

Jared opened the file folder and handed her copies of a signed contract and a signed, notarized promissory note for twenty thousand dollars. She fought to keep her hand from shaking as she stared at her father’s signature. She carefully read both documents. It all looked legal and binding. A sinking feeling settled in the pit of her stomach. All her bravado crashed as the cold chill of reality sank in.

“I, uh, I want Gary Parker to look over these documents.”

“Is that your attorney?”

“Yes.”

“No problem.” Jared stood, picked up his attaché case and walked to the front door. “I’ll contact you in a couple of days to finalize the arrangements for the payment of the debt.”

Kim watched from the window as Jared returned to his car and drove away. It had been a very unsettling meeting, caused as much by the way he made her senses tingle as by the stressful outcome of their conversation. Why had her father insisted the debt didn’t exist when he had obviously signed a contract and a promissory note? She knew he couldn’t have already paid out the twenty thousand dollars to settle the debt. As executrix of his estate, she had been over his finances.

A hint of despair settled inside her as her gaze drifted around the living room of the old house, the house where she had grown up, the house where she had lived until seven years ago—the house where just yesterday mourners had gathered following her father’s funeral. Her father’s sudden death at the age of fifty-five from a massive coronary had come as a shock to her. She had always thought of him as being in good health. He had never mentioned anything about heart problems, but her conversation with his doctor before the funeral told a different story. Her father had known of his heart condition but had chosen not to follow his doctor’s orders.

She looked around the room again. It seemed like such a long time since she had moved from Otter Crest to accept her first job as an English teacher at a high school in San Francisco. In reality it had been only seven years, but it had been a very eventful seven years.

She had firmly established her career and earned the respect of her peers for her hard work and dedication to her teaching. She had twice been voted the most popular teacher by the student body of the school. The only downside had been her ill-fated engagement to Al Denton, a man whose idea of commitment to a relationship turned out to be that she was the one with the commitment and he was the one who could continue to date others.

Several months prior to the wedding, he’d changed. He had become overbearing, demanding, argumentative and controlling to the point where he made her life miserable. Whatever love she had felt for him quickly disappeared. She had broken the engagement, put the unfortunate experience behind her and gotten on with her life.

And now the past, in the form of Jared Stevens, had intruded into that neatly organized and smooth-running life.

She wandered into the kitchen and poured herself a glass of iced tea. How in the world could she ever pay off the debt, assuming it was legitimate? She didn’t even know the exact amount. All those years worth of interest on twenty thousand dollars would make the debt even more insurmountable.

She returned to the living room and sank onto the corner of the couch. She took a sip of her iced tea, then set the glass on the end table. Her stress level had already been up due to her father’s death, and now Jared Stevens had pushed it even higher. She leaned her head back and closed her eyes. A vivid image of Jared popped onto the screen of her mind—his handsome features, the sexy grin and the intensity of his eyes. She felt the overwhelming magnetic pull of his presence even though he was no longer there. Her heart beat a little faster, and her breathing quickened.

Kim’s eyes snapped open, and she sat up straight. She didn’t like the very disconcerting effect he had on her senses or the idea that there was something about him she found very appealing. Their families had been at odds for three generations. He was the last person on earth she should be having sensual thoughts about and definitely the last person she wanted or needed in her life.

Jared had spent an uneasy two days wrestling with his impression of Kim Donaldson. Thoughts of her had managed to intrude on the date he’d had following their meeting to the point where he had become distracted and couldn’t concentrate on his stunning and willing companion of the evening.

Kim was not at all what he had anticipated and certainly not his type. After what his attorney told him about the meeting with her, he had fully expected to run into a disagreeable female hellcat. But much to his surprise, what he found was a beautiful and desirable woman who had instantly grabbed him in a way no other woman ever had. She set his pulse racing and definitely stirred his libidinous desires. But there was something else about her, something he couldn’t identify. And it was that unknown quality that he felt sure was going to cause trouble of a kind having nothing to do with business.

He had given careful consideration to the fact that the debt might be beyond her means. If Paul Donaldson’s house was any indication of his financial status at the time of his death, then Jared doubted that there was enough money in the estate to satisfy the debt plus several years of accrued interest. The small house was neat and clean, but the structure and its contents did not have much value on the open market. And being a schoolteacher meant Kim Donaldson was not in an income bracket that would allow her to easily assume a debt of that magnitude without having planned for the expense.