“You’re welcome,” he replied with mocking politeness.
She sipped her coffee, refusing to look at him. He was stirring his own absently. “You don’t have to be this way, you know,” he said quietly.
“What way?” Her defenses were up.
“All uptight, on guard, wary. I’m not going to rip your clothes off and ravage you on top of the table.” His mouth slanted into a wicked grin and a lid dropped over one eye. “At least not the first time.”
“Mr. Scott—”
“Okay, okay, I’m sorry. You’re so damned jumpy. Can’t you take a joke?”
“I didn’t think it was funny.”
“Then I’ll work on finding something to amuse you.”
She dropped her eyes in embarrassment. Suddenly she felt very young and very foolish. “I usually have a keen sense of humor, but you’ve put me on the defensive because of… of what happened this afternoon and …”
“And?”
“And the things you’ve said.”
When he didn’t respond, she raised cautious eyes. He was pondering her quietly. “When I want something I tend to go after it, full steam ahead and damn the torpedoes. I apologize, Hailey. I want you. You know that. But I’ve rushed you and I didn’t realize until now how impatient I’ve been or how crass I must seem to you. I promise to slow down, to give you breathing room.”
At that moment she felt her last defensive wall crumbling. The mellow glow in his eyes and the dulcet tone of his voice conquered her will as force never could have.
“Tell me about yourself,” he said quietly. “About your life prior to meeting me. You mentioned a sister. Does she live here?”
“No, in Nashville. She works for a recording company.”
“Doing what?”
“Clerical work.”
“Has she gone as far in her career as you have in yours?”
Hailey laughed softly. “I don’t mean to be unkind, but no, she hasn’t. She more than makes up for lack of brains, though. She’s very beautiful.”
“So you said before. ‘Ellen is the pretty one in my family.’ I’ll take issue with that later. What about your parents?”
“They’re not alive. I grew up in Knoxville. Both my parents became ill shortly after I graduated from college and began working as a service representative for the telephone company. I lived with them and took care of them. They died within months of each other. I sold the house, applied for the job at Serendipity, and here I am. Not very exciting.”
“You excite me.”
She had been staring pensively into space, but her eyes flew to his at his softly, seriously spoken words. The fire she saw smoldering in the gray depths gave credence to his statement.
“But to prove to you that I’m not the villain you’ve colored me to be, I’ll tell you more than you want to know about myself.”
He took a sip of coffee, asked the waiter to refill both their cups, glanced over his shoulder to see that Faith was safely engrossed in one of her games, and then spoke again.
“I led a very privileged youth. Prep school. Harvard business school. I was expected to marry well and I did. It would be difficult to determine who caused whom the most misery. Monica and I never had more than an affectionate tolerance for each other. After a year and a half, we were divorced.
“Faith was the only good thing to come out of the marriage. Since in those days it was rarely contested to whom the child should go, Monica reared our daughter. I devoted my life to building my father’s big conglomerate into a bigger one. When Monica was killed, Faith and I, who were only acquainted by short, hectic, weekend visits, were suddenly thrown together. We’re still feeling our way with each other.” He sighed heavily. “So there you have it—the life and loves of Tyler Scott.”
Hailey couldn’t feel sorry for someone who had grown up with every opportunity money can buy, yet hadn’t been happy even then. She asked the first question that came into her mind. “What was Monica like?”
“Physically? Blonde, beautiful.”
She suppressed a sharp stab of jealousy and asked, “Was she a good mother?”