Recluse

Wolfes of Manhattan Two

by

Helen Hardt

Dedication

For my readers

Book Description

A secret lies trapped in the deepest recesses of Roy Wolfe’s mind.

And it’s slowly drowning him.

When Charlene Waters’s boss married the new CEO of Wolfe Enterprises after a whirlwind romance, she brought her assistant along for the ride. Charlie now has a cushy new job at the billion dollar company, and she’s excited to begin her new venture.

Roy Wolfe is a recluse. He’s never taken an active role in his family’s business, and he has no desire to now. He’s only in the office to deal with the fallout from his father’s murder. He, along with the rest of his siblings, have all been implicated. Meeting Charlie Waters with the gorgeous silver eyes complicates things. Their chemistry is immediate and passionate, but he can’t be what she deserves.

Roy knows his father was hiding something even more sinister than his brothers and sister can imagine—something he witnessed years ago that he can’t bring to his conscious mind.

But he must—for Charlie, and for his family. Or they may all pay the ultimate price.

Also By Helen Hardt

Gems of Wolfe Island

Moonstone

Raven

Billionaire Island

Escape

Follow Me Series:

Follow Me Darkly

Follow Me Under

Follow Me Always

Steel Brothers Saga:

Trilogy One—Talon and Jade

Craving

Obsession

Possession

Trilogy Two—Jonah and Melanie

Melt

Burn

Surrender

Trilogy Three—Ryan and Ruby

Shattered

Twisted

Unraveled

Trilogy Four—Bryce and Marjorie

Breathless

Ravenous

Insatiable

Trilogy Five—Brad and Daphne

Fate

Legacy

Descent

Trilogy Six—Dale and Ashley (coming soon)

Awakened

Cherished

Freed

Blood Bond Saga:

Unchained

Unhinged

Undaunted

Unmasked

Undefeated

Sex and the Season:

Lily and the Duke

Rose in Bloom

Lady Alexandra’s Lover

Sophie’s Voice

Temptation Saga:

Tempting Dusty

Teasing Annie

Taking Catie

Taming Angelina

Treasuring Amber

Trusting Sydney

Tantalizing Maria

Standalone Novels and Novellas

Reunited

Misadventures:

Misadventures of a Good Wife (with Meredith Wild)

Misadventures with a Rockstar

The Cougar Chronicles:

The Cowboy and the Cougar

Calendar Boy

Daughters of the Prairie:

The Outlaw’s Angel

Lessons of the Heart

Song of the Raven

Collections:

Destination Desire

Her Two Lovers

Non-Fiction:

got style?

Praise For Helen Hardt

STEEL BROTHERS SAGA

“Craving is the jaw-dropping book you need to read!”

~ Lisa Renee Jones, New York Times bestselling author

"Completely raw and addictive."

~ Meredith Wild, #1 New York Times bestselling author

“Talon has hit my top five list…up there next to Jamie Fraser and Gideon Cross.”

~ Angel Payne, USA Today bestselling author

“Talon is a sexy, intriguing leading man and Jade, our lady left at the altar is a sweet and relatable girl you just want to hug. Together they build a steaming hot relationship you really root for from the first chapter!”

-CD Reiss, New York Times bestselling author

“Talon and Jade’s instant chemistry heats up the pages...”

~ RT Book Reviews

“Sorry Christian and Gideon, there’s a new heartthrob for you to contend with. Meet Talon. Talon Steel.”

~ Booktopia

“Such a beautiful torment—the waiting, the anticipation, the relief that only comes briefly before more questions arise, and the wait begins again… Check. Mate. Ms. Hardt…”

~ Bare Naked Words

“Made my heart stop in my chest. Helen has given us such a heartbreakingly beautiful series.”

~Tina, Bookalicious Babes

BLOOD BOND SAGA

“An enthralling and rousing vampire tale that will leave readers waiting for the sequel.”

~ Kirkus Reviews

“Helen gives us the dark, tormented vampire hero we all love in a sensual paranormal romance with all the feels. Be warned… The twists and turns will keep you up all night reading. I was hooked from the first sentence until the very end.”

~ J.S. Scott, New York Times bestselling author

“A dark, intoxicating tale.”

~ Library Journal

“Helen dives into the paranormal world of vampires and makes it her own.”

~ Tina, Bookalicious Babes

“Throw out everything you know about vampires—except for that blood thirst we all love and lust after in these stunning heroes—and expect to be swept up in a sensual story that twists and turns in so many wonderfully jaw-dropping ways.”

~ Angel Payne, USA Today bestselling author

WOLFES OF MANHATTAN

“It's hot, it's intense, and the plot starts off thick and had me completely spellbound from page one.”

~ The Sassy Nerd Blog

Helen Hardt…is a master at her craft.

~K. Ogburn, Amazon

Move over Steel brothers… Rock is everything!

~Barbara Conklin-Jaros, Amazon

Helen has done it again. She winds you up and weaves a web of intrigue.

~Vicki Smith, Amazon

Warning

The Wolfes of Manhattan series contains adult language and scenes, including flashbacks of child physical and sexual abuse. Please take note.

Prologue

Roy

The secret had lodged in my gut, always present, sometimes churning, and occasionally clawing its way up my throat as acidic bile, eating through my flesh.

For most of my life I’d ignored it. Not like I hadn’t had years to tamp it down, pretend it didn’t exist. Days had begun to pass where I didn’t think about it. Days turned into weeks, into months, eventually into years.

But always it was there, like a black cancer haunting me from the inside out.

Who to trust?

I was a recluse, never close to anyone, really—certainly not anyone in my family.

Flying to Montana to talk to Rock had been a mistake. I couldn’t expose my secret with his girlfriend there—his girlfriend who was a lawyer, for God’s sake.

Now I existed in a perpetual cold sweat, trapped in the ultimate mindfuck.

Help me. Please. Help me.

1

Charlie

My new employer was Wolfe Enterprises.

Seriously.

A new position, a new title, a posh new office, and a hefty raise in pay.

Life was good.

Moving over to the Wolfe Plaza Tower was easier than I’d ever imagined. Everything stayed. I gathered only my few personal items to take with me to my new office. Yes, I’d have my own office!

I’d been the assistant to Lacey Ward since she became an associate at the law firm. She hired me herself. I was fresh out of paralegal school and green as they come. That was six years ago. Lacey was the youngest attorney ever to make partner at our prestigious Manhattan firm…and now she was leaving.

For good reason.

Rock Wolfe was the CEO of Wolfe Enterprises. He was also Lacey’s new husband. They’d met, fallen in love, and gotten married in a span of a couple weeks. Why the rush? I didn’t know and I hadn’t asked. Lacey was my boss, not my friend. Not to say we weren’t friendly. I called her by her first name and we sometimes shared a drink after work, but we’d never be besties. We were just too different.

She was all business.

Which didn’t explain her behavior the last few weeks. A quickie wedding to Rock Wolfe was so not Lacey Ward. Er…Lacey Wolfe.

Definitely not. Neither was leaving the firm where she’d gotten her start to take a position with her new husband’s company. Her position? Special counsel to the CEO. My position? Executive assistant to special counsel to the CEO.

I loved working with Lacey, and truthfully, I would have followed her just about anywhere.

My generous six-figure salary? Icing on the cake.

Getting away from Blaine Foster? Sugary sprinkles on the icing.

Blaine, a senior partner at the firm, and I had dated a few times. He was old enough to be my father, for sure, but still a sexy silver-haired fox. Problem was, he’d gotten a little too serious with me a little too fast. I wasn’t in the market for a permanent relationship, especially not one with a man twice my age who already had grown children. I wanted children of my own…just not quite yet.

I swallowed as I entered the Wolfe Plaza Tower.

Oh. My. God.

If I didn’t know better, I’d have thought I was walking into a luxury hotel. Marble tile on the floors, walnut fixtures, and lush paintings on the wall. I’d always been interested in art, in fact had dabbled on my own. I’d considered studying art but had needed to get a marketable skill quickly to pay my bills. My mother couldn’t afford college, and my father was busy with second wife and new kids. I couldn’t afford a student loan payment and a career as a starving artist. Six months of paralegal school at a community college, and my fast and accurate fingers had earned me a job as Lacey’s assistant.

I strolled through the lobby of the building, eyeing the artwork. One painting in particular drew me in. It was oil on canvas, an abstract, but the darkness of the work immediately made my heart sad.

I wasn’t sure why. I couldn’t discern any actual images, but the dark reds and blues were twisted together in a corkscrew pattern that almost seemed like a crash into some secret madness.

“Wow,” I said out loud.

“What do you think?”

I jerked slightly at the low voice behind me. I turned and held back a gasp. The most beautiful man I’d ever laid eyes on stood a foot away from me, his dark eyes meeting my gaze. He was tall, almost a foot taller than I was. Thank goodness for stilettos. His nearly black hair was long and pulled back into a low ponytail. He wore a crisp designer suit but no tie, the top two buttons of his white cotton shirt undone. Dark stubble graced his jawline.

“Wow,” I said again.

“Thank you,” he said.

Warmth crept up to my cheeks. He’d asked what I thought of the painting, but I wasn’t responding to his query. The “wow” was all him.

“For…what?” I asked.

“For the compliment.”

“Oh. You mean…? I didn’t mean…”

He chuckled softly. “It’s mine.”

“What?” My thoughts were a jumble.

“The painting. It’s my work.”

I lifted my brow. This perfect human was an artist? I looked back at the painting for a signature. I didn’t see one, though there was a small symbol at the bottom, like a brand. “It’s fascinating.”

“It’s nice to find someone around here who appreciates art,” he said.

“Oh, I definitely do. I paint myself now and then, though I’ve never created anything so moving.”

“Where did you study?” he asked.

Warmth to the cheeks again. “I…didn’t. I mean, I didn’t go to college.”

He let out a soft sound that sounded almost like a scoff. “Most college art programs are overrated. The great ones aren’t teaching. They’re creating. You’re probably better off.”

“Hmm. I never looked at it that way.”

“What do you see?” he asked me.

“I’m hardly qualified to—”

“You’re looking at it. It means something to you. That qualifies you.”

I stood silently for a few seconds. How could I discuss this magnificent work of art with the man who painted it?

“Go ahead,” he prodded. “I’d really like to know.”

“It’s…dark yet beautiful. The way the brushstrokes—”

“Forget about the brushstrokes. Forget about the technique. Tell me what you see.”

“I see…secrecy.”

“And what do you feel?”

“I feel”—I forced my mind to conjure a word that defined the empty feeling—“wistful, I guess.”

“You guess?”

“No. Wistful is a good word. Almost sad. And I don’t want to feel sad, but when I look at it, I can’t look away. I’m mesmerized. I keep looking for a key.”

“A key to what?”

“I don’t mean a literal key. But there’s secrecy here. Like something’s hiding, and it wants to get out, but…” I shook my head. “I’m probably making no sense at all.”

“You’re making perfect sense. Go on.”

Oh, God. Why had I started this? This man was brilliant, and I sounded like a high school art student trying to impress a teacher. “I can’t find any more words. I’m sorry.”

“No need to be sorry.”

“Did I come anywhere close to what you were going for?” I couldn’t help asking.

“It doesn’t matter what I was going for. What matters is that you like it, that it evoked an emotional response in you. That means I did my job, at least as far as you’re concerned.”

“As far as I’m concerned?”

“Art, as you know, is subjective. What one person loves another might hate.”

“No one could hate this,” I said.

He smiled. More perfection. I didn’t come to work the first day at a new job to have my body react to the first man I met.

But boy, was my body reacting.

“You’d be surprised,” he said. “Though I’d rather someone hate it than be indifferent. Hate is still a powerful emotional response.”

I stared at him, willing my mouth not to drop open. His words rang so true, yet I’d never considered hate in that way.

I glanced at my watch. Crap. I didn’t want to leave this man, but—

“Uh-oh. I’m going to be late. Nice meeting you.” I turned and walked—

“There is no key.”

His voice. It permeated me as though it had come from within myself.

I looked over my shoulder to catch one more glimpse of the gorgeous artist with more talent in one finger than I’d ever have.

He was already gone.

Lacey stuck her head into my office. “Settling in?”

“Yeah. I still can’t believe I’m working here.”

“Believe it.” She smiled. “We’re all going to be working our butts off until Derek Wolfe’s murder is solved.”

“It’s crazy that all of you are implicated.”

“I know. It’s ridiculous. I’m finally able to sleep at night, as long as Rock holds me. I know I’m innocent, but how can I prove it when the videotape from my apartment is missing?”

“And the others?”

“All their fingerprints are at the crime scene.”

“Why is that even an issue? Especially for Fonda. She was sleeping with Derek, for God’s sake. Of course her fingerprints are there.”

“They’re not leaving any stone unturned, so it’s up to us to figure this out.”

“Us?”

“Yeah, Charlie. The Wolfes have sources the police don’t, and they have a vested interest in proving their innocence. I wouldn’t have taken Rock’s offer to work here quite so quickly if this other stuff weren’t going on.”

“But you would have eventually taken it?”

“I don’t know. I initially resisted. Corporate law isn’t my area, but I’ll learn quickly. And to tell you the truth, writing up trusts all day was getting pretty boring. Plus, I’m a Wolfe now. I need to be here to help Rock.”

I nodded. “Frankly, Lace, I always thought you were made for bigger and more exciting things than writing wills.”

“Yeah, well, corporate stuff will be on the back burner for now. Dealing with the fallout from Derek Wolfe’s murder isn’t exactly the excitement I banked on. It’s becoming downright scary.”

A shiver swept over me. I knew what I was getting into by following Lacey over to Wolfe Enterprises. She’d assured me I could stay at the firm and work for another attorney if I wanted to and there would be no hard feelings.

But I’d come along, and not just for the outrageous benefits. I liked working with Lacey, and I wanted to help her clear her name and all the names in her new family. Lacey wasn’t a criminal lawyer, and I had no experience in criminal law, but I was willing to learn. I was happy Lacey still wanted me to work for her.

“We’ll be in the conference room in fifteen minutes. I need you there to take notes. All the Wolfe brothers will be there.”

I’d just arrived, and this was my first day. I had no idea where anything was, how to use the computer system, nothing. But a meeting was a meeting.

“What about the sister?” I asked.

“Riley’s still missing.” Lacey sighed. “Rock’s really worried, and so am I. We’ll probably discuss that at the meeting.”

“Are you sure you want me there, then? It sounds personal.”

“Charlie, until we get all our names cleared, this is part of our business. I need someone I trust there, and I already okayed it with Rock. Be prepared to get very personal with the Wolfes.”

I nodded. I could do that. I could do whatever Lacey needed. I owed her a lot. I looked around my new digs. It wasn’t a corner executive office, but it was a room instead of a cubicle outside Lacey’s office, and it even had a window. I looked out at the early summer day. The rays of the sun shone over the city buildings. I smiled.

This would work out fine.

The boxes I’d packed up at the old office sat in the corner. Might as well at least make this seem like my office. I ripped the tape off one box with a letter opener I found in the top drawer of my desk.

The ding of my phone interrupted my task. A text from Lacey.

We’re meeting now. Come to the conference room.

Great. Where the heck was the conference room? I’d need a pad of paper and some pens. Where were they?

No worries. I’d take notes on my phone and figure the paper and pen thing out later. I still had no idea where the conference room was, though.

I raced out of the office, nearly losing my footing as one stiletto heel caught in the short pile carpeting. I held back a damn. Probably not a good idea to curse the first day on the job.

I bothered the first person I saw, a young man in a suit. “Excuse me, but this is my first day. Could you tell me where the conference room is?”

“Which one?”

Which one? I had no freaking idea. “The one where Rock Wolfe and his brothers are?”

“Probably their private conference room. Down the hallway to your right. The door should be open if they’re expecting you.”

“And if it’s not?”

“Then enter at your own peril,” he said ominously.

Not that he’d freaked me out or anything. I headed down the hall and turned right. The door, thankfully, was open.

I stepped inside and immediately met a dark gaze.

The artist from the lobby sat at one end of the conference table, flanked by his brothers.

Roy Wolfe. Of course. He was an artist, but was usually photographed wearing jeans and a T-shirt, his hair unbound and flowing over his shoulders. I’d seen him once before, at the reading of Derek Wolfe’s will. Why that fact hadn’t registered this morning in the lobby, I had no idea.

Yeah, I did. I’d been captivated by both him and the painting—so captivated that I was seeing him for the first time.

His lips turned upward ever so slightly.

And my pulse raced.

2

Roy

So the hottie from the lobby was Lacey’s assistant. Right, I remembered her now.

Which meant I couldn’t pursue her, of course. Not that I would have anyway. I wasn’t the pursuing type. My quick one-nighter with a server at a strip club in Montana a little over a week ago had been a fluke. That wasn’t me.

“Hey, Charlie,” Lacey said. “Everyone, this is my assistant, Charlene Waters. She goes by Charlie.”

“Hi,” she said timidly.

“Welcome,” Rock said. “Don’t let these guys overwhelm you. That’s Roy next to me and Reid across from me.”

Reid and I stood.

“Nice to meet you,” Reid said.

I simply nodded.

“Our sister should be here,” Rock continued, nodding toward Charlie, “but she’s still missing. That’s another puzzle we need to solve.”

“We won’t solve it,” Reid said. “Not unless she wants to be found.”

Silence for a few deafening seconds.

Then Lacey spoke up. “That’s Rock’s assistant, Jarrod, and, Reid’s assistant, Terrence.”

Rock had inherited Jarrod from my father, and Reid had always hired a male assistant. My younger brother was a known womanizer, and my father had taught him to always hire males for positions of trust to avoid any sexual tension and possible claims of harassment. Reid followed the advice, but not because our father had dictated it. He’d actually hired Terrence because he was the best qualified. At least that was what he said. I couldn’t care less, frankly.

I didn’t have an assistant because I didn’t actually work here. This was a meeting to discuss the fallout from our father’s murder.

I stayed quiet in these meetings. Right now, though, I was nursing a huge hard-on for the hottie with the light-brown ponytail. She looked adorably uncomfortable in her suit and stilettos. This was a girl who preferred yoga pants and tank tops, I could tell.

Her cheeks were painted a rosy pink that was natural, not the product of makeup. She had a fresh look that I found very inspiring. Most of her features, by themselves, were merely average—average-sized eyes, average nose, average chin, average light-brown hair. But her fine bone structure took all those average parts and put them together in a uniquely beautiful way, drawing attention to the silvery radiance of her irises. I could make her image come alive on canvas. Show the world what true beauty was, for she shined beauty not just from the outside, but from the inside as well. Through her appreciation of the finer things in life.

She appreciated art, and by only knowing that about her, I already knew so much.

She probably appreciated music, gourmet food, fine wine…

I wanted to know.

I wanted to get inside her head and find out everything about Miss Charlene Waters.

Shit. She was a “miss,” wasn’t she? Luckily, she was holding her phone and typing into it as Lacey spoke, so I discreetly checked out her left hand. No wedding ring.

Thank God.

Not that I was interested.

Except that I was.

I was so bad with women, and getting involved with someone who worked for the company wasn’t the smartest path.

But damn. I wanted this woman. Right here. Right now. If I could grab her and fuck her right on the oblong conference room table, I would.

How to approach her?

The Story Continues on BooksBarbecue!

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