Solace in Scandal

* * *

Elena’s breaths were short as she braced her hand flat above the lock on the door. Darkness peeked through the window panes and she yanked the short curtains into place. She backed away until she found herself in the bedroom. She tossed the yoga mat into the corner and began to pace about the room.

Alex Wolfe. The Ax. He was back. He was here. How could that be?

She dove for the bed, opened her laptop and quickly fired it up. It didn’t take long to find the story. It was the lead on every news site she opened. ‘Alex Wolfe Freed’ read the headline.

‘Good behaviour?’ she coughed. ‘Good behaviour?’

The man had been at the heart of the biggest Ponzi scheme in the past century. He and his grandfather – and her father – had lied to people, wiped out life savings and driven businesses into the ground. Hundreds of millions of dollars were gone. She pushed the laptop aside so hard it slid across the bed. She dove to catch it before it could tip over the edge.

‘That’s all you need,’ she reprimanded herself. That laptop held all the work for her dissertation, the doctoral degree that would help her support herself and her mother and get them out of this mess. Neither of them had the funds to buy a new one now.

She rolled off the bed and began pacing again but finally stopped and leaned against the doorjamb. She wasn’t a pacer; she did her best thinking when all was still. She needed to slow down and consider what this change in her situation meant.

Alex Wolfe had been released early from prison. He’d done his time and served his sentence. He was a free man, back on his own property. She stroked the door’s oak trim. This was his property.

She couldn’t stay here. There was no way.

But where would she go?

Another shiver went through her, significantly cooler than the one she’d felt outside under his watchful gaze. There was nowhere else she could find the peace to do her work. It had become impossible back in the city. Once her classmates at NYU had figured out who her father was, the attacks had been relentless. The harsh accusations, the scathing stares, the stalking by the press …

She moved to the living room, wrapped herself in the afghan on the sofa and huddled into its cushions. The leather was Wolfe property; the afghan was hers.

She never would have come here if she’d thought she’d cross paths with the man. He was supposed to be behind bars for another six months, and she’d thought that sentence was too lenient. Most people had agreed with her.

‘Damn overcrowding,’ she hissed. How could the prisons be overcrowded when people who should be locked up were still roaming around free? People like his grandfather Bartholomew.

Angry with herself for going down that path, Elena tugged the ponytail holder out of her hair and ran her hands through the long strands. She was scared, she had to admit it. What was she going to do? She wasn’t ready to go back outside that wrought-iron gate, back into the real world. It had chewed her up and spit her out. She’d come here looking for answers.

But she didn’t have them yet.

She glanced around the cottage. She’d grown accustomed to the quiet little place in the month she’d been here. The house was nicer than the one she’d grown up in, but that’s how the Wolfe family thought of it … as a bungalow. Yet it fit her needs. It had given her the seclusion she’d needed to lick her wounds and concentrate on her studies. Leonard had even given her free access to the library in the main house. She’d only ventured out to Bedford a few times for groceries or to the post office. She’d grown comfortable here.

She didn’t feel so comfortable any more.

She pulled the afghan higher around her shoulders. God, the man was something. Enigmatic and provocative. She hated to think what he’d be like up close. All that danger and power and mercilessness rolled into one.

She shifted on the sofa, rubbing her thighs together unconsciously. She knew she should run, but the way he’d looked at her …

What was she going to do?

This changed everything.

Chapter Two

Elena slid another box into the trunk of her old-model Malibu and wondered for the hundredth time if everything would fit. She’d been up most of the night worrying and packing. It was amazing how deeply she’d settled into the lake house in such a short time. She hadn’t collected much stuff, but it had expanded somehow. It was certainly strewn about. She was still finding NYU mugs in the kitchen and peppermint lipgloss in the bathroom.

She wedged the box tighter against one that was already stowed. The space was going to be needed. She hadn’t packed up the second bedroom yet, the one she’d used as her office.

Her heart dipped.

She hated the thought of leaving before she was done. She’d made so much progress here. Things were organised the way she wanted, and the solitude allowed her to concentrate. That might not sound like much, but putting together a dissertation was a major undertaking. Getting rid of distractions had helped, especially the kind she’d been facing.

She hoped another move wouldn’t set her back.

She rubbed her hand over the ache in her chest. She might be leaving, but she didn’t know yet where she was going. She couldn’t return to her apartment in the city. She’d broken the lease there when she’d left to escape the paparazzi. It was going to take time to find another place she could afford where she could have some semblance of privacy. If she didn’t finish her work on time, her PhD would be in jeopardy. That would affect her job offers and her ability to pay off her student loans.

She blew out a long breath. It was circular thoughts like this that had kept her up all night. She scowled towards the main house. And that was his fault. Her life was in turmoil again, all because an over-indulged rich man had charmed the legal system into going easy on him.

She found nothing charming about the situation whatsoever.

Wiping her hands, she turned back towards the lake house. She flinched when she heard someone coming down the hard-packed dirt drive. The footsteps were clipped and precise and heading straight for her. With the lid of the trunk lifted, she couldn’t see who was approaching but she had a good guess.

She braced herself.

‘Ms Elena?’

Her spine relaxed. ‘Leonard.’

The butler came to an abrupt stop near the taillights of the car. A frown settled on his face when he saw her half-filled trunk, and the expression deepened the age lines around his mouth. ‘You’re leaving?’

She gave him a sad look. ‘It’s time. I appreciate the hospitality you’ve shown me these past few weeks, but I can’t be a burden any longer.’

‘You aren’t a burden.’ He folded his hands together primly, but she could see how tightly he held them. ‘There’s no need for you to go.’

‘We both know there is.’ She nodded towards the second-floor balcony of the manor. It was empty now. It had been empty every time she’d checked it since she’d caught his intimidating boss watching her from that perch.

He followed her wary look. ‘Yes, Master Wolfe is home, but that doesn’t mean you have to leave. He gave his permission yesterday eve for you to be on the property.’

Elena regarded her old friend. She was sure that permission had come at a cost, but had it been for him? Or would she be paying? ‘That’s a kind gesture, but I can’t accept.’

She wouldn’t take charity from a Wolfe. She couldn’t stomach it, and she couldn’t trust it.

‘At least stay until your studies are complete. It would be a shame to throw everything into a tizzy when you’re so close to getting your degree.’

A tizzy.

Elena nearly laughed. Wasn’t everything in a tizzy already? Alex Wolfe had shown up on his doorstep when she’d expected him to be in a prison cell for another six months. She’d never dreamed he’d be walking around a free man. Or that he’d be watching her … ‘I’m not comfortable here any more, Leonard. You’ve got to understand.’

‘I do understand, dear, but I think it would be more uncomfortable for you outside the manor’s gates.’ Those hands that he kept so tightly clenched together finally separated, and one waved up the road. ‘They’re already here, Elena.’

They. She didn’t need more description than that.

The media.

Her head whipped around. From her vantage point down by the lake, she couldn’t see any difference. She wouldn’t have been able to tell anything was amiss from the manor either. The drive from the main gate was a good quarter of a mile long and lined by trees, yet she could picture the news vans parked along the shoulder of the main road. She envisioned their antennas lifted and all the reporters milling about. She was well acquainted with the scene, because the same thing had happened outside her apartment in New York.

‘You’re safer here,’ Leonard insisted. ‘The gate will hold them out and their cameras won’t be of any use with the woods blocking their view.’

But they would try. Tension grabbed the muscles between her shoulder blades. Like hungry rats, the news outlets would swarm the place. They’d scurry around looking for openings and bits of tasty info.

‘That won’t stop them,’ she said.

‘If they trespass, the Bedford police will respond. They’ve already been notified.’

So the police would drop everything to respond to a call from an ex-con, but they hadn’t done anything when she’d called them for help. Her hands clenched into fists at her sides. At its worst, she hadn’t been able to set foot outside her building without reporters and cameramen harassing her. One had even grabbed her in the stairwell, putting his hands on her and trying to stop her for an interview. Who knew that a pothead on the third floor would be more helpful than the NYPD?

The tension between her shoulder blades crawled up her neck. She didn’t want to go back to living like that. After that incident, she hadn’t been able to leave her apartment without fear. She’d been trapped inside, as much a prisoner as Alex Wolfe, only he’d had a trial.

‘How many are out there?’ she asked. Maybe she could just zip through.

‘Too many. The sheriff is already having to deal with the congestion. They’ve set up outside the main gate and down the road. You’d have to drive right through them.’

Elena looked at her white Malibu. It was nondescript, but on Wolfe property that made it stick out like a sore thumb. Even if she put on a scarf and sunglasses, they’d track down her licence plates before she made it to Bedford.

The thought made her queasy. They couldn’t catch her here. Not with him.

The tension swept outwards through her entire body. The tabloids would explode if they caught wind that she’d been a guest. The Bardot and Wolfe names were already twined in a sick, unbreakable knot. If they somehow put her and the younger Wolfe together?

She braced her hand against her car. Oh, God.

‘They don’t know you’re here. At least, not yet.’ Even Leonard’s hands were twisting together now, all semblance of composure gone. ‘It’s a big place. The grounds and the house are such that you wouldn’t have to interact with Master Wolfe if you don’t want to, although I think the two of you should commiserate. The press have villainised him even more than they have you.’

That’s because the man was a villain. Her only failing was genetic. She’d been born the daughter of a man without a conscience.

She turned towards the lake. No jewels gleamed from its surface today. If anything, the view was haunting. A morning fog clung to the low-lying regions. The mist hovered over the water like vapour rising off a cup of hot coffee, while trails of it wove through the trees.

It was as if even the grounds knew that the darkness had returned.

She let out a tight breath.

Would the situation outside the gates be even worse? It would be harsher, she knew. Inside the gates, there was quiet. Seclusion, even if it was in the belly of the monster.

‘Maybe I can leave late tonight,’ she murmured, fighting the decision she knew she had to make.

‘They’ll be here around the clock until they get what they want. You know that, and those individuals assigned to late-night hours will be even hungrier.’

Hungry for the illusive big ‘get’, only she had nothing to tell them. She hadn’t been involved. She didn’t know where the money had gone. She looked at those leaves still clinging to the trees, trying to withstand the weight of the dew that had settled on them.

‘All right, I’ll stay,’ she said quietly. She had no other choice. ‘But only until things settle down.’

Leonard’s shoulders relaxed and his hands loosened into their customary position. ‘Wonderful. You don’t know what a relief that is to me.’

He stepped up to the trunk. ‘Let me help you unload.’

‘That’s all right. I can do it.’

She didn’t want to make more work for him.

‘Nonsense.’ He’d already lifted the heaviest of the boxes from the trunk, and she stepped aside to let him pass.

Elena wasn’t sure she’d made the right decision. The manor looked as vacant as it had for the past month, but she could feel the new presence. The aura of the place had changed. The sleeping giant had awakened. She could feel it in the air; she could sense it in the ground beneath her feet.

Alex Wolfe wasn’t a person who could be ignored, but she was going to do her best to avoid him. She needed to avoid them all.

Movement caught the corner of her eye, and her head snapped around. A curtain in a far window of the mansion swayed before settling back into place.

A shiver ran through her, and she grabbed a box from the trunk. The weight pulled heavily at the muscles in her arms, but she lugged the clothing back into the cottage and set it on the floor near the door. ‘Over here is fine, Leonard.’

His white eyebrows pulled together. ‘Do you want Marta to help you unpack?’

‘No need.’ She nudged the box closer to the wall with her foot. Unpacking wasn’t part of her newly formed plan. She wanted to be ready to go, in case she needed to leave fast.

The butler finally bowed at the waist. ‘Then I’ll send her down with some hot chocolate for you.’

Elena did her best to work up a smile, allowing him that much. She knew he only wanted to help. Hot chocolate had been the treat he’d given her when she’d been young and in his care. ‘That would be lovely. Thank you so much, Leonard, for everything.’

By the time she’d lugged in everything from her car, Marta was on her doorstep with a warm mug of cocoa. Elena accepted it gratefully. It had always managed to soothe her, but fixing her current problems would be a challenge. She sipped at the sweetness as she looked out of the window to the lake. All was still out there. No breezes disturbed the haze, and the water looked like black glass. Deep and endless.

It gave off the oddest looming sensation.

She wandered over to the side window and peered up at the manor. He’d been watching her again. She’d felt it. The back of her neck had prickled, yet a warm spark had run through her veins.

A warm, pulsing spark.

She shook her head. This was wrong. All wrong. She couldn’t stay here, yet she couldn’t leave. She was locked in the wolves’ den, trusting the alpha male to protect her from the danger outside the lair.

It was insane. How had she gotten herself into this mess? What was she supposed to do now?

Jerking away from the window, she walked about the house. The mug cooled in her hands as she considered her options. There weren’t many. She found herself in the doorway to her office. Piles of paper were strewn about, notes were taped to the walls, and her laptop waited for power. She was so close to making a breakthrough, she could feel it.

Yet it was all so close to slipping through her fingers.

She rolled her tight neck. Alex Wolfe had ruined everything.

She slammed the mug down on the coffee table, pivoted on her heel and headed to the door. She’d found a sanctuary, but all she wanted to do right now was run.

‘Damn that man,’ she hissed.

Why did some people have it so easy, while others had to plod and fight?

Moving past the dock, she headed for the trail that rounded the far side of the lake. She’d taken it several times over the past few weeks. The silence and the remoteness might help calm her down, especially the remoteness.

She couldn’t shake the feel of him watching her.

The air was thick as she settled into a brisk hiking pace. There really was no air stirring today. The leaves weren’t rustling and the lake wasn’t lapping against the shore. It created an odd combination of serenity and foreboding. The mist in the air gathered around her, and it was only then that she realised she’d forgotten to put on a jacket. She wrapped her arms around herself and kept on going. The trees had closed in behind her and she could no longer see the manor bearing over her. Its overwhelming presence had disappeared.

With it, some of the tension left her shoulders.

Leaves crackled under her feet as she walked along the well-worn path, but even that noise was muted. The dampness coated the undergrowth, too. Lifting her chin, Elena inhaled the moist coolness. It was like a different world out here, and all of it was Wolfe property.

Maybe they really could avoid each other. The plot of land was huge, even for the wealthy who lived in this part of the state. Celebrities and politicians, writers and music-makers were all neighbours in this upscale New York county.

What must it be like to have that kind of wealth? To be able to live in a place that pushed the rest of the world away?

Who would risk all of this to take more?

She shook her head. Maybe she could hide away here for a little longer, at least until she had some answers and finished her dissertation. In the end, that was what was most important, her education. Her life plan. She doubted she’d ever be wealthy like this, but she needed to be able to support herself.

She ran a hand through her hair and found it heavy with dew. Out here, things seemed clearer. Calmer. Yes, she could do it. She needed to hunker down anyway. She’d dive into her work and ignore whoever or whatever was happening up at the main house. It didn’t concern her anyway.

At least, that was what she kept telling the reporters.

Movement suddenly caught her eye, cutting her thoughts short. She stopped in her tracks, all her attention focusing on her surroundings.

Had that been a deer?

She peered through the openings in the trees. The leaves that still clung to the bushes made it difficult to see. With the dreary day, everything was blending. After a few hopeful moments, she decided she’d missed the sighting and continued.

That was when she heard the rustling on the path ahead of her.

Or was it further up the hill?

She stopped again and tried to quiet her breaths. One thing was for certain, she wasn’t alone in the forest.

Listening hard, she picked up the gentle crunch of leaves and twigs against the softened earth. Her gazed darted around the area until she saw a figure moving through the trees. It wasn’t a deer. It was walking upright along what must be another path, higher on the hill. A man.

Her breath caught in her throat.

Someone was stalking around the property and, from the way he moved, he was up to no good. For a moment, he stepped into a space where the branches were bare and she could see him more clearly. He wore a fleece jacket with the hood pulled up over his head. His feet were swift and sure as he moved along the path with hardly any sound.

Elena took a step back.

Someone was trespassing. A photographer? A journalist? Something worse?

Her heart began racing.

Quickly, she evaluated her options. He hadn’t seen her yet, or at least she didn’t think so. She looked down at herself. At least she wasn’t wearing bright colours. She rubbed her hands over her arms. Goosebumps dotted every patch of exposed skin, and a shiver ran down her spine. She glanced back along the path. She could go back the way she’d come, but she was on the main hiking trail around the lake. If others were sneaking around in these woods, she might run into them.

Her teeth worried her lower lip. There was a fishing spot down on the shore not far from where she was. From there, another trail ran along the edge of the lake. She could move quickly there. It was the shortest path back to the cabin.

She watched the figure and the silent way it moved until the grey sweatshirt blended in again with the fog. Keeping her steps quiet and her breaths quieter, she took the fork in the path that would take her away from him. Only the way was slick. She slipped once and had to catch a sapling to keep from falling. By the time she made it to the clearing along the lake, her legs were quivering.

She stepped over a fallen log and bent at the waist to take a steadying breath.

It choked off in her throat when she realised she wasn’t alone.

The man with the hood stood lakeside with his back to her. As she watched, he side-armed a rock over the surface. It skipped three times before sinking into the dark depths.

Elena took a cautious step back and then another. She’d just about made her escape into the trees when the heel of her boot knocked against the fallen log. She tensed as the man turned.

And she found herself looking into Alex Wolfe’s silver-grey eyes.

She sucked in a surprised ‘Oh!’ but then her mouth snapped shut. Fight or flight? The question struck her like a blow on the chest, but she found she could do neither. Instead, her heart beat like a drum-roll as she stared into the face of the man she’d sworn to avoid.

She waited for him to say something, but he watched her as warily as she watched him. He was taller and bigger than her, by nearly a foot and way too many pounds, all of them muscle. He had the fleece zipped close, and it emphasised the lean mass of his body.

Elena’s mouth went dry. He was an impressive figure, yet nothing could have prepared her for the astuteness in those silver-grey eyes. It was like looking into the eyes of an actual wolf.

A hungry, sexual wolf.

Her entire body gave one delicious pulse. There was so much to see in those eyes. Hunger, anger, determination and desperation – but the emotions were there for only a moment. He blinked and, when he looked at her again, it was as if shutters had come down over his soul.

Only the hunger remained.

That was the one thing he couldn’t hide, and a muscle in his jaw ticked. He wasn’t happy to see her or he wasn’t happy that she’d seen him.

It was difficult to tell which.

She pressed her lips together, unsure of what to say. ‘Hello’ would just sound stupid. ‘I’m sorry’ was better, but she refused to say the words to a man who had more to apologise for than anyone she knew. In the end, she just nodded. She started to turn away, but he moved then, pushing off his hood.

His hair was mussed. Without the hood, the shadow of his dusty beard seemed darker. Those silver eyes were still bright, and that face … It was a face that had graced magazine covers from Fortune to Business Week to GQ, but if he photographed well, he was even more beautiful in person.

Her stomach squeezed, but this time the sensation was deeper and more resounding.

God, why did he have to turn her into mush? Why couldn’t he be smelly and hideous? It felt like a betrayal to be so attracted to him.

She wanted to step forward. She made herself take a step back down the trail instead.

‘Wait.’

Her gaze snapped up to his face. The word had been soft, but the authority made her even more aware of him.

He reached for the zipper on his fleece. ‘You’re cold.’

He shrugged the hoodie off his shoulders before she knew what he intended to do. Stepping forward, he held it out to her. She looked at the offering. It was such a simple gesture. Nothing flashy or inappropriate, but, like her attraction to him, she didn’t want it.