Page 5 of Hawk and the Cougar

Chapter Two

The dark-haired beauty sitting beside Hawk did have lousy timing. They should be in a candlelit room, where they would dance well into the night before he took her back to his place to make love until dawn. But she’d picked tonight to accuse him of sleeping with her daughter. He preferred the mother. His cock pulsed with the erotic picture of the full-bodied brunette beneath him as he brought her to climax with sure, slow thrusts.

How badly had he screwed up his chances of getting her into that position? When he’d seen her in his class, he pegged her as Reid’s second attempt to buy him with a high-priced call girl. The half a dozen young women who had been at the one and only meeting Hawk had agreed to with Reid couldn’t have been more than twenty years old. Hawk had figured this woman was Reid’s response to Hawk’s comment that he didn’t rob the cradle.

Hawk looked at her, careful to keep his eyes on her face and not the breasts that strained against the white T-shirt she wore. “Who told you I have a…relationship with your daughter?”

She hesitated.

“Can’t be Emma,” he said.

“Why not?”

He returned his attention to the road. “She strikes me as an honest kid.”

She gave a deprecating laugh. “You’re good.”

“Emma didn’t say we were having an affair. Did she?” he asked.

He glanced at her again and even in the dim streetlight, discerned the tinge of red coloring her cheeks. He’d seen too many young female students vie for his attention to believe Emma Williams had lied about their relationship. Despite the fact she was only an undergrad, Hawk had already assigned her senior projects. Had the mother read more into his actions than enthusiasm on his part to take a talented student under his wing and advise her through the PhD process?

Hawk slowed and downshifted as he turned left into the building’s front parking lot. “When you get home, talk to your daughter. If there’s any further misunderstanding, come see me.”

“I’ll be seeing you, all right, in the dean’s office—then the police station,” she snapped.

The dean’s office would be for her daughter. The police station would be for nearly assaulting her. Yep, he’d screwed up.

“Where are you parked?” he asked.

“The north side of the lot. The blue Land Cruiser.”

He pulled the truck around and slipped into park behind the older Toyota. She reached for the door.

“I thought Reid sent you,” he said.

She looked at him. “Reid who?”

“Vance Reid,” Hawk replied.

Recognition flickered across her face. “The land developer?”

He nodded. “Those were his boys who nearly ran you down.”

She studied him. “What do they want?”

“They want me to say a dig outside Mesa is Navajo.”

“Why should he care about one more Navajo site?” she asked. “There are loads of them. And what’s that have to do with me?”

“Reid likes to sweeten the pot.” Hawk shrugged. “I mistook you for one of the sweets.”

She frowned, then her mouth dropped open. “Sweets? You think I’m a—” She clapped a hand over her mouth, and Hawk did a double take upon realizing she was stifling laughter.

“Most women would be insulted,” he said.

The hand dropped away from her mouth. “I am.” The obvious tightening of her lips against more laughter belied her words. “That’s a terrible thing to say. I don’t dress like a hooker.”

“I didn’t say hooker. High-priced call girl.”