A Contract Seduction. Janice Maynard

and took it to go.

      Lisette teased him. “I pegged you as more of a beer than lemonade guy.”

      He shrugged. “Can’t drink with the headache meds.”

      She winced. “Ah. Of course. Sorry.”

      Jonathan remembered a stretch of beach that was not particularly crowded. And this was the time of day that families headed inside to shower and clean up for dinner. As he suspected, there was plenty of open sand to be alone.

      He carried the chairs. Lisette brought the food and drinks. The tide was headed out, so they picked a spot near a tidal pool and set up camp.

      A light breeze blew in from the water. The sea was gunmetal gray, the sky streaked with golds and pinks, though sunset was a couple of hours away. Neither of them spoke as they opened their bags of food.

      Jonathan sat back with a sigh. He’d lived near Charleston his entire life. The water was a part of him. The sand. The steady inexorable pull of the tides. Why did he spend so much time inside working?

      It was human nature, he supposed, to take things for granted. After all, the sea would always be there. What had never occurred to him was that he wouldn’t. He was measuring his life in months now, not years. Soon the parameters would be smaller than that. Weeks. Days.

      Choking anger swelled in his chest. He didn’t want to die. It wasn’t fair. He felt as if he had only begun to live. But if he had to go, he wanted Lisette to protect his reputation and everything he had worked so hard to build.

      Beside him, she ate her meal in silence, her gaze trained on the horizon. What was she thinking?

      He had to speak his piece. But how? Even now, the words seemed ridiculous. Overly dramatic. By the way, I’m living on borrowed time. Thought you should know.

      Part of him wanted to take off running down the beach and never stop. Perhaps if he ran fast enough and far enough, the grim reaper couldn’t keep up. Perhaps this was all a bad dream.

      Lisette leaned forward and set her cup in the sand, twisting it until it stayed upright. She tucked her trash in the bag and sat back, eyes closed. “That was lovely,” she said. “I should have dinner at the beach every day.”

      “Not a bad idea.”

      The silence built between them, but it wasn’t unpleasant. The ocean lulled their senses, washing away the stresses of the day.

      Lisette reached out one leg and dabbled the tip of her sandal in the tidal pool, not looking at him. “So what’s this big secret? Talk to me, Jonathan.”

      His stomach clenched. His jaw tightened. “I have a brain tumor,” he said flatly. “Inoperable. Terminal.”

      * * *

      Icy disbelief swept over her body and through her veins as if she’d been doused with winter rain and left to shiver and convulse in a stark landscape. No. It couldn’t be true.

      Slowly she turned to face him. Her shaking hands twisted in her lap. “Are you positive?” It was a stupid question. No one tossed around statements like that unless they were sure.

      His bleak profile matched his body language as he stared at the water. “Oh, yeah.” His low laugh held no humor. “The latest test results came in this morning.”

      “I’m so sorry,” she whispered.

      “I don’t know how long I have,” he said. “And I don’t know what to expect. Which is why I’m having this conversation with you. I don’t want to tell my family yet. I thought you could be an impartial...”

      He trailed off, clearly searching for a word.

      “A friend? A colleague?” The impossibility of what he was asking staggered her.

      “You’re more than that,” he said huskily. “I trust you implicitly. I want to give you the authority to step in and make decisions if I’m having a bad day. I realize this is asking a lot of you, but I’ll change your title and compensate you accordingly.”

      “Shouldn’t Hartley be the one to fill this role?” She had never quite understood why he disappeared.

      Jonathan’s expression turned glacial. “My brother is gone and he’s not coming back. It’s not something I can discuss with you.”

      “But surely your other family members need to know. You can’t keep this a secret, Jonathan.”

      “I realize that.” His fists were clenched on the arms of the chair. “But I have to find the right time. I’ll wait as long as I can.”

      She wanted to argue with him. For everyone’s sake. But once Jonathan Tarleton made up his mind, you’d have better luck moving a giant boulder than changing his decision.

      The enormity of what he had told her began to sink in. Her heart was raw and broken. She loved him. That’s why she had planned to leave. How could she stay with him day after day and witness the unthinkable? It would destroy her. But how could she say no when he needed her?

      “I’d like to think about it overnight,” she said. “I’m not sure I feel comfortable trying to insert myself into company politics. There are a lot of people who won’t take kindly to this setup.”

      “I’m the boss. What I say goes.”

      “But what about the board of directors? And your father, Gerald? And what happens when you become too ill to work?”

      Her throat tightened with tears, tears she couldn’t shed. He thought she was an impartial bystander. How much more wrong could he be?

      “I need to walk,” she said.

      “Okay.” Jonathan stood as well, shrugging out of his sport coat and rolling up the sleeves of his crisp cotton dress shirt.

      They took off their shoes and headed down the beach. Jonathan matched his long stride to her shorter one, because he topped her by six inches. His chestnut hair was burnished by the setting sun. The dark brown eyes, which could be fierce or good-humored, were hidden behind sunglasses.

      His arms were deeply tanned, his hands masculine.

      He was a beautiful human being. It was almost impossible to imagine that vitality and charisma being snuffed out.

      At last, after half an hour passed, the tension dissipated and re-formed into something else. Awareness.

      At least on her part. Being with him like this was a physical pain. When had she first realized he was the one? Long before she became his assistant. The fact that he was completely out of her orbit had kept her crush in check. But working together day after day had turned her fluttery feelings into something far deeper and more real.

      She not only loved him, she admired and respected him. In a world where men in power sometimes abused their positions, Jonathan Tarleton had never treated his employees, female or male, with careless disregard.

      If he had any faults at all, and he surely did, the most visible was his careful aloofness. He kept to himself, never blurring the lines between his authority and those who worked for him.

      That fact made today’s revelations all the more stunning.

      They were walking shoulder to shoulder, so close she could have reached out and touched his hand. The beach was almost deserted now, the daylight fading rapidly as the sun kissed the water at the horizon.

      Taking a deep breath, she halted and waited for him to follow suit.

      He turned when he realized she had dropped back. “Time to go home?” he asked lightly.

      “I’ll do it,” she said recklessly. “I’ll do what you asked.”

      “I thought you needed to think it over.”

      She shook her head. “You and your family have been very good to me. It’s only right that I should return the favor.”