Seduction by Design Read Online Free PDF Page A

electrifying. His eyes were sympathetic, but bold. His mouth …
    She didn’t sleep well at all.
    The next morning was filled with its share of minor catastrophes. A wallet was lost and immediately found. Hailey was tearfully, gratefully thanked for her able assistance. Numerous lost children were quickly reunited with frantic parents. The infirmary reported one scraped knee and a sinus headache. Hailey personally greeted the senior citizen group that was going to have a catered picnic lunch on the grounds, see all the theater shows, and ride only the carousel. On behalf of the panicky social director, it was she who placed the call to the caterer, who was running an hour late but would be there shortly.
    With all that activity, the morning should have passed quickly, but the hours dragged by with Hailey dreading her meeting with Tyler Scott more and more every minute.
    At twelve-thirty she put Charlene in charge and left the office. The weather was still hot and humid, but she slipped a white blazer over her green uniform blouse. In any event, she would appear professional.
    Harmon Sanders, general manager of the park, wasn’t in his office, but his efficient secretary greeted Hailey as she walked into the carpeted office. It seemed far away from the clamorous noise of the amusement park. “Hi, Hailey.”
    “Hello, Nancy. Where is everyone?” Usually the office was crawling with department directors competing for a minute with the general manager.
    “Everyone’s lying low because of…” Her voice trailed off, but she indicated the closed door with an inclination of her head. “Him,” she whispered. She crooked her finger at Hailey and leaned over the desk. “Can you believe that after three years, he suddenly decides to put in an appearance? Hailey, he’s absolutely gorgeous! Wait till you see him! My God, I nearly died when he walked through that door and calmly introduced himself.” She drew a deep breath, as though the memory of that moment still affected her.
    “He asked me to send you in as soon as you arrived. Are you ready?” she asked with a compassion reserved for the hopelessly doomed.
    “Yes,” Hailey answered with more composure than she felt. She walked to the heavy walnut door and turned the brass knob. Tyler Scott was leaning over a wide desk, studying a computer readout that cluttered its glossy surface.
    “Come in, Miss Ashton,” he said, though he hadn’t raised his head to confirm who had entered the room. How had he known it was she?
    “Your Chanel precedes you,” he answered as though he had read the question in her mind. He looked up at her from under the thick slash of eyebrows that bridged his forehead. “Sit down, please.”
    So his approach was to be friendly, not formal. He wouldn’t have remarked on her perfume if he intended to be formal. When had he gotten close enough to her to know the fragrance she wore? How had he become so knowledgeable about perfume? Her knees were trembling as she went to one of two deep leather chairs in front of the desk and sat down, chastely crossing her legs and tugging on the hemline of her skirt.
    His indignation over his rudeness on the telephone had been judiciously banked. What good would it do to antagonize him further? He was a cad, a chauvinist with a low opinion of women and a locker-room mentality. Nothing she would say could change that. It was far more prudent to ignore what he had said last night. She would keep the interview on a strictly professional basis.
    A full minute went by before he rolled up the computer charts he was reading and sat down behind the desk. Strange that he hadn’t assigned such a tedious task as going over statistics about Serendipity to a subordinate, but it was obvious that he had been working on them himself.
    The cuffs of his starched white shirt were rolled up to his elbows. A pair of gold cuff links—with his initials in lower case—lay discarded on the desk. His striped tie had been loosened