Free A Not-So-Innocent Seduction by Janice Maynard Page A

yourself.”
    Folding her arms across her chest, she regarded him with stormy eyes. “If you think I do this with everyone I fancy, you’d be wrong. I was serious about the four-year thing.”
    “Then why me?” It was a legitimate question, not false modesty.
    Her shoulders lifted and fell. “I don’t really know. Your brother looks a lot like you, but I didn’t get the urge to drag him into bed.”
    Liam was torn between relief and irritation. “Dylan says you want to play at his bar.”
    “Yes.”
    “And again, why?”
    “I enjoy music. Is that so hard to understand?”
    He knew she was hiding things about herself. And wasn’t trying very hard to pretend otherwise. A sense of foreboding overtook him. Though he claimed to be pragmatic, he did, after all, have several hundred years of Irish blood flowing in his veins. There was no denying the occasional frisson of gut feeling that guided his actions.
    “A man was here today,” he said quietly. “Looking for you . Or rather, Zoe Henshaw. Since Zoe is a fairly uncommon name, Pierre and I assumed he meant you.”
    She dropped abruptly onto the sofa...as if her legs had simply folded beneath her. Every ounce of color leached from her face. “Who?”
    “I don’t know. Pierre dealt with him. The man didn’t identify himself.”
    “What did Pierre tell him?” She looked as if the answer might be a knife to her chest.
    “That we had no guest by that name. Then the guy left. We take privacy very seriously here, Zoe. You’re safe. For however long you choose to stay at Silver Beeches.” He would have written the vow in blood if it could have removed the look of panic and despair on her face. “Talk to me,” he said softly. “I won’t betray your trust.”
    * * *
    Zoe read the sincerity in his face, the masculine urge to help. But she dared not let down her guard. “Thank you,” she said quietly, wondering if she was capable of standing up. “But I’m fine.”
    Her answer visibly displeased him. “Do you know who it was?”
    “No.” God, it horrified her to realize how easy it was to lie. But keeping her own counsel had been her only protection in the last year and a half. “Thank you for telling me.”
    She forced herself to rise and move toward the door. It was foolish to think she could afford a relationship with Liam Kavanagh, no matter how tempting he was. The only person she could trust, in the end, was herself. “I enjoyed the waterfall,” she said quietly, her hand on the doorknob.
    Liam remained where he was. Clearly, this time he had no plans to stop her. The inscrutable expression on his face probably meant he was relieved to have dodged a bullet. Zoe came with baggage. Most men wanted easy sex with no consequences.
    His nod was jerky. “My pleasure.”
    “Good night.” Out in the hall, she leaned her head against the wall, her heart beating wildly. The urge to flee was strong. But she had no vehicle. Taking the little Sentra was not really an option. Even if she left behind the money to pay for it, she would not have the title. Through the years she had done a couple of things she was not proud of, but she drew the line at stealing a man’s car. Even if it was a clunker.
    Being alone in the world had its drawbacks. She envied Liam his close-knit family. She’d never had that kind of support growing up, and as long as she forced herself to keep running, she would never have a shot at the kind of roots and permanence she saw in Liam.
    Wiping her damp eyes with the back of her hand, she sought out her peaceful room. With the door locked behind her, she took a deep breath. Tomorrow she would make a plan.
    * * *
    Liam paced his roomy apartment for an hour after Zoe left. Not only was he experiencing the aftereffects of their aborted intimacy, he was also worried. Deeply worried. Zoe was in trouble of some kind. Big trouble.
    It wasn’t Liam’s problem. He kept telling himself that, even as his brain wrestled with the question of how to