Seduced by Moonlight Read online

  Those he kept to himself.

  “All right, I won’t pry,” said Mildred, sounding disappointed in spite of her good intentions. “I just want you to be happy.”

  For some reason, when his mother told him she wanted him to be happy, the image of his moonlight angel appeared in Harry’s mind’s eye. He’d been thinking about her ever since he’d met her. And all of those stray thoughts devoted to another woman made him feel as if he were cheating on Marcia. What had Jimmy Carter called it, cheating in your heart?

  “I’m happy,” Harry told his mother.

  “Yeah, but you’re not married with children,” said Mildred sweetly. Harry figured she didn’t want to make him feel as if he weren’t on the ball. Susanne had four children and had been married for twenty-five years to a wonderful man, a dentist. He smiled to himself. The free dental work was only one of the perks his mother enjoyed as a result of her daughter being married to Dr. Kendall Welch. Four grandchildren! Harry didn’t think he’d ever be able to duplicate that. He would be happy with a son or daughter, maybe a son and a daughter.

  He laughed shortly. “Well, I’ve waited a little late to start having a big family.”

  “Nonsense,” said his mother. “You’re only forty-two. Men can father children for a very long time. Just marry a woman who wants a big family. Does Marcia like children?”

  “She’s never mentioned it,” Harry admitted. Come to think of it, Marcia had never mentioned a lot of things. She had told him nothing about her previous relationships and very little about her family and her background, except her professional background. It was as if her life began and ended with her job as a news anchor.

  Her choice of career didn’t matter as much to Harry as what she was truly like as a person. He realized that for the past three months, she hadn’t let him into her life at all. Not really. It felt as if they were just going through the motions of a dating couple. Going out when both of them were free. She had wanted to wait at least two months before they became intimate, which was fine with him. They’d made love twice.

  Even then Harry had felt as if she were holding back.

  On her end, Mildred waited for Harry to say something, but he was too intent on wondering why he was questioning everything about his relationship with Marcia all of a sudden.

  “Harry, I’m going to let you go,” she told him. “See you tomorrow night. Have a safe flight.”

  “Okay, Mom,” said Harry. “Love you.”

  “I love you, too, baby,” Mildred said softly.

  Harry closed the phone and put it back in his pocket. Unbidden, the image of his moonlight angel appeared in his mind’s eye once again. That golden-brown skin, those big brown eyes, well-shaped nose and sensual mouth. His mouth watered just thinking about her lips. And those legs!

  He felt a pang of guilt again. He was being silly. It wasn’t really cheating if you never saw the woman again, and he had no intention of ever looking for Cheri. Cheri. Didn’t that mean “dear” or “darling” in French?

  Picking up his pace, he resolved to put Cheri out of his mind and concentrate on Marcia. Marcia was accomplished and beautiful. Any man would be lucky to have her in his life.

  When he got to his suite he went straight to the refrigerator to get a bottle of water. He drank it, after which he went to the bathroom and turned the shower on.

  Harry spent more time here at the resort when there was construction going on as there was now. They were adding ten two-and-three bedroom, fully equipped condominiums to the resort. The condominiums would be available for leasing by people who wanted a permanent place to call their vacation home, like time-sharing. However they would also be available to those who wanted the extra privacy the condominiums would provide for a few days or a few weeks.

  When Harry didn’t feel the need to oversee new construction on the resort, he spent most of his time in Denver, where he owned a home on the outskirts of the city, and traveling. He was presently scouting out a location to build a second resort, this one in a warmer climate.

  Peeling off his sweats, jacket and athletic shoes and socks, Harry groaned a little. It was funny but while his body was in motion, his knees didn’t bother him, but as soon as he stopped moving, they started to ache, especially the right one, the one he hadn’t had surgery on yet. Football was a grueling game. He had abused his body for years and now he was paying for it. But he couldn’t complain. He had known what he was getting into when he signed his first professional contract. Football players were well-compensated for the abuse they took. What other reason would a completely sane man sign up for the torture?

  In the shower, he let the water sluice over his taut, muscular six-two, two-hundred-pound body. When he had been playing his weight had been around one-ninety but over the years he’d picked up ten pounds and, thankfully, not in the gut. His muscle bulk had increased due to weight lifting.

  At forty-two he was more at home in his body than at any time in his life. He was no longer that cocky young man who was so confident of his invincibility. Back then, he thought he could do any physical feat put before him. Today, he was just happy that he was healthy.

  After drying off, he dressed in a Hugo Boss dark gray striped suit, white silk shirt and dark gray silk tie, and put on a pair of black Italian wingtips.

  He liked to present the image of a well-dressed businessman when he made his rounds at the resort. Fully dressed, he went downstairs to the main dining room for breakfast.

  Breakfast at the resort was a ritual Harry had come to enjoy. At first, he wasn’t at all happy with all the interruptions. But now as a provider of hospitality he took it in stride.

  He was not seated at his regular table, a cup of black coffee before him, for five minutes before a couple of African-American women in their fifties sought him out.

  They were dressed in athletic suits and athletic shoes, both of them no taller than five-five, and both looked as if the athletic suits weren’t just for show. They were fit. One of the ladies had café-au-lait skin and wore her short red hair in a relaxed layered cut that complemented her square-shaped face. Her friend had medium brown skin and wore her graying hair in a short afro, just like his mother did.

  “Mr. Payne,” said the redhead, “we just wanted to drop by and let you know we’re really enjoying ourselves.”

  “Please sit down,” said Harry politely.

  “Oh, no, thank you,” said the one with the short afro. “Sister and I have a nine o’clock appointment to go hiking. That tall drink of water with the ponytail is going to take us into your alpine forest. I’m Adele Franklin and this is my sister, Marilyn Walker.”

  Harry smiled. Adele was talking about Terry Red Feather, one of their more popular guides, especially with the ladies. Terry was six-four and built. Because of his Native-American blood, he had reddish-brown skin and black hair that fell practically to his waist. Women guests got on a waiting list to have him guide them into the woods.

  “Terry’s a very good guide,” he assured the sisters.

  “Oh, he is?” asked Marilyn, sounding disappointed. “We were hoping he’d get us lost for a couple of days and we could have our way with him.”

  They all laughed.

  “Now, ladies,” Harry chided lightly. “Terry’s a good kid. He’s working on his master’s degree in psychology at the University of Colorado. Don’t scar the boy for life.”

  To which the sisters laughed even harder. “We’ll be gentle,” Adele joked. She took Marilyn by the arm. “It’s eight-fifty, sister. Goodbye, Mr. Payne. Wish us luck!”

  “Good luck,” said Harry. He figured Terry Red Feather was the one who needed luck.

  He picked up his coffee and took a sip as he watched the sisters hurry off. Nice ladies. A minute later one of the waiters arrived with his breakfast: scrambled eggs with cheddar cheese, a homemade southern biscuit and fresh fruit. He usually skipped meat in the mornings in favor of the protein in eggs. Although he wasn’t close to being a vegan—he still e
njoyed a juicy steak every once in a while.

  A few minutes later, Harry made the twenty-minute stroll across the grounds to the site of the new condominiums. Workmen—and women—were finishing laying the floors and installing cabinetry. The condominiums would have hardwood floors, Berber carpeting, flagstone and marble tile, granite countertops in the kitchen and all the appliances, including a refrigerator, cooktops, a microwave and a conventional oven, a dishwasher and a washer and a dryer. Harry believed in sparing no cost when it came to furnishing the resort and wanted the guests to experience luxury second to none so that they would always come back.

  What surprised him was that it was the little things that they raved about the most, such as the heated tiles on the bathroom floors. No stepping onto a cold floor for his guests!

  The foreman of the work crew walked up to Harry as soon as he entered the first condominium. Evan Calder had worked with Harry before and knew what to expect if the work wasn’t done right, and done on time. Harry knew that construction never went smoothly. He did not rant if supplies were hard to come by due to the recent building boom in the area. That was something Evan had no control over. What irked Harry was when a job wasn’t done to his specifications or if the cost went way over Evan’s estimate. Those were arguable offenses.

  Today, Evan had nothing but good news for him. The two shook hands, their normal greeting. Evan was a short, muscular African-American with a shaved head and a thick black moustache. “Hey, Harry, we’re actually ahead of schedule today. This unit is done and we should be finished in each of the units by quitting time on Friday.”

  The men were taking Thanksgiving off and returning on Friday morning. Harry also was taking Thursday off. He planned to be back by Friday afternoon to check on their progress.

  And the ribbon-cutting ceremony, just a low-key affair with local media and his staff, would take place on Saturday, after which photographers would be allowed inside the one furnished unit. The following week, the other units would be furnished, and then guests would begin moving in. All of the units were already booked for the next six months. Therefore it was vital that the workers finish on time.

  “Good, good,” said Harry, pleased. “I’m just going to do a walk-through. Have a great Thanksgiving. I’ll see you on Friday afternoon.”

  “Same to you,” Evan said, referring to Harry’s Thanksgiving well wishes. Then he turned and walked away, going to another one of the units while Harry stayed to painstakingly check his people’s workmanship by walking on the floors, opening and closing cabinets and generally going over every inch of the finished unit.

  An hour or so later, Harry left, satisfied that the work had been done to his specifications.

  That left nine more units to look in on, although he wouldn’t go over them as thoroughly as he’d done in the finished unit. That inspection would wait until Friday.

  When he walked into his suite two hours later, he was surprised to find Marcia sitting on the couch channel-surfing.

  It was only a few minutes after the noon hour. He knew she anchored the early morning news and then the five o’clock news. So for her to drive to Vail between the two shows was quite unusual. She’d never done it before.

  “Marcia?”

  She started as if she hadn’t heard him enter the suite. Rising, she smiled wanly at him. Her lovely golden-hued eyes looked at him with an expression akin to sadness. “Harry, we need to talk.”

  Harry went to her and kissed her on the cheek. This didn’t feel like a “kiss on the mouth” moment. He could feel the tension in the air. Marcia didn’t proffer her cheek as she usually did. When his hand touched her arm as he drew near he felt her stiffen.

  “What’s the matter?” he asked as he turned away from her and began removing his jacket. He put the jacket on the back of an overstuffed chair and regarded her with an inquisitive expression.

  Marcia fidgeted. She couldn’t stand still so she paced the floor. She would look at his ruggedly handsome face then look away as if the sight of him was painful to her.

  Harry tried to remain calm, but her behavior was bordering on manic. This wasn’t the cool, calculating Marcia who had been plotting to become the most important person in his life. That Marcia didn’t have a nervous bone in her body. This Marcia was nervous as hell.

  Harry sat on the couch and looked up at her expectantly. “You wouldn’t be here if you could have told me what you need to tell me over the phone,” he said calmly. “So let me have it!”

  His sharp tone made Marcia jump. She stopped pacing and looked him in the eyes.

  “Harry, I can’t see you anymore. Before you I was involved with LaShaun Gregory. We’ve decided to get back together.”

  “You never mentioned LaShaun,” Harry said, trying to maintain his composure. He didn’t know LaShaun well. He’d met him a few years ago. He knew he played for his old team, the Broncos, and that he was one of their highest paid and most prized players. But over the years Harry had not kept up with his old team like some of the other ex-players. In fact, he wasn’t an avid fan of football. The way he looked at it, that was his old life.

  Marcia went and sat beside Harry on the couch. She placed a hand on his muscular thigh and put on her most sympathetic expression. Harry swore he’d seen that same expression on her face when she was reporting on a catastrophe somewhere in the world.

  He realized that her emotions were as detached from him as when she was reading a news story from the TelePrompTer. “Did you ever care anything about me?” he asked, already knowing the answer.

  “I’m here to take my lumps,” Marcia said bravely. “I admit, I asked you out in the beginning because you were just the type of man who would make LaShaun crazy with jealousy. But I came to like you, Harry. Truly, I did.”

  Harry knew he was in the company of an actor when tears appeared in her eyes as she regarded him sadly. “I know you can’t forgive me right now because this is so new to you. But maybe in a few weeks you’ll come to realize that this is for the best.”

  Harry removed her hand from his thigh and rose, looking down at her with a smile on his lips. Suddenly, he laughed.

  Marcia looked personally affronted. She rose, too, and stared at him with narrowed eyes. “What is remotely funny about this situation?”

  “I knew there was something missing in our relationship,” Harry told her. “I just couldn’t put my finger on it. The problem was you were faking it from the beginning. To believe that after I overheard you telling your friend I was a momma’s boy I let that slide in favor of trying to hang on to what we had! I should have known, then, that your heart wasn’t in it. How could you resent a woman you’d never met?”

  He slowly circled her. “So, I was just a plaything, huh?”

  Lips pressed together in irritation at being called on the carpet, Marcia didn’t answer right away. A minute or so later, she sighed. “I was wrong to say what I did about your mother. I’m sure she’s a lovely woman. But I can’t regret what I did. LaShaun had it coming. He broke my heart. Come on, Harry. We had fun, you and I. The sex was great and now you’re free to move on to the next woman. I’m sure a multimillionaire like you isn’t going to lack for female companionship.”

  Harry wasn’t paying strict attention to what she was saying. He was walking across the room to open the door and hold it for her. “You bet I won’t.”

  Marcia walked through the door without another word.

  Harry closed it and laughed again. Talk about manipulative! He actually felt sorry for LaShaun Gregory.

  Chapter 5

  The drive to Vail on Saturday morning was a peaceful one. Danielle had the tendency to go to sleep minutes after leaving on a road trip. So the only company Cherisse had this morning was Ben Harper and the Innocent Criminals jamming on their Lifeline CD.

  Cherisse knew every song and sang along. The music helped to dispel the nervousness she was feeling about seeing Harry Payne again. Would he remember her? And if he didn’t should she remin
d him of their encounter on the balcony in the moonlight? She saw no reason she should. It would probably be better if he didn’t remember her. She had been attracted to him that night and if she wasn’t mistaken, he had been attracted to her.

  He had a girlfriend. She would feel very uncomfortable if he conveniently forgot that fact and started making passes at her. Worse, she would be mortified if she found herself still attracted to him in spite of it.

  She had to handle the situation with kid gloves. The thing to do was not to be alone with him. John Santiago had said Harry Payne would meet them in the lobby of the resort at one o’clock. He wanted to personally show them to their suite, and then he had arranged for them to tour the facilities. Later that evening, they were supposed to have dinner together in one of the resort’s award-winning restaurants. At Danielle’s urging, Cherisse had bought a new dress for the occasion. She had been reluctant to do so because, contrary to her daughter’s opinion, she already had perfectly good clothes in her closet, even if they didn’t have designer labels.

  Not many nurses could afford designer clothing.

  Cherisse checked the Cherokee’s clock—it was eleven-fifty and they were about twenty minutes from their destination. A few miles later, she took Exit 176 and was soon on Vail Road.

  “Danielle, wake up, we’re here,” she said just loudly enough so as not to startle her daughter.

  Danielle woke from her nap with a yawn and stretched. Blinking her eyes a couple times she looked around them. “Wow, this looks like a village in the Alps or something!”

  Indeed, Karibu Resort resembled a quaint Swiss village surrounded by majestic mountains. Any minute now, Cherisse expected to hear somebody yodeling. Contrary to the Swiss image, though, she’d read that Harry Payne had named the resort Karibu because it was the Swahili word for Welcome, join us! He wanted his guests, he said, to feel as though Karibu was their home away from home.

  When Cherisse drove up to the entrance, they were immediately set upon by an attendant, who ascertained their needs and then called for a bellhop to get their luggage and a valet to park the Cherokee in guest parking.