Eclipse of the Heart - By Carly Carson Page 0,8

rein it in. "If I don't mind the emotional ball and chain." He showed his teeth in a deliberately fake smile. "I have more cash than I do caring. You might as well know that right up front."

"You also have a lot more cash than sense if you think I care about your checkbook or your emotional state," she shot back.

He had to hide an unexpected smile. "Look. I don't know what your game is here. If you're trying to play a reluctant virgin role, drop it now. I like my women to be experienced and adventurous. Not dowdy and innocent."

"And I," she retorted, "like my employers to be intelligent and law-abiding."

"Law-abiding?" His anger turned to cold fear. Had he been a victim of a vice-sting?

She raised her eyebrows and tilted up her chin. "You've never heard of sexual harassment?"

Instinctively, he turned and strode away from her. His mind clicked furiously through this new puzzle. He was used to manipulative women, but this was a first—an accusation of harassment. His first thought was his lawyer. His second—the discreet agency he used. He needed facts. If she wasn't playing a role, why was she looking so shocked? Maybe he'd been crude to use the "f" word, but she'd annoyed him with her posturing.

He'd been wanting her since the moment she walked into his office in that drab outfit, the hot kiss had further inflamed him, and it was time to get down to business.

"Excuse me." He grabbed his phone from the bar, and scrolled down for the agency's number.

Cleo Shipley answered on the first ring. She knew everything there was to know about customer service, and she certainly knew he was one of her best clients. Not that he'd ever had her, but he didn't have any illusions about where she'd started either.

"Did you send me a job candidate yesterday?" he asked, dispensing with any courtesies.

"How are you, darling?" Cleo's sultry tone invited him to undress her. She never wasted an opportunity.

"The candidate," he repeated. "It's important, Cleo."

"Of course I did. She told me you had already filled the position."

"Shit." He couldn't stop the word from escaping.

"I was disappointed, Logan." She was smart enough to keep accusation out of her tone. "I thought we had an exclusive arrangement."

"Be grateful for small favors, Cleo. I've got a woman here and she's threatening legal action. You don't want to be caught up in that."

He clicked off, tossed the phone back on the bar and faced the woman he'd expected to be bedding by now. Had she set him up?

"Let's talk." He used the tone he saved for those tough business adversaries he'd mentioned just ten minutes ago.

Amanda raised her chin. "Who is Cleo?"

He looked down at her. "How did you end up in my office yesterday?"

Her lips tightened to a thin line. "I'm the one who's been accused of selling my body. You answer my questions."

"If you weren't in my office interviewing for a job with me, why were you there?"

"I was interviewing for a job!"

"Okay." He grabbed at his patience. This was not what he'd been fantasizing about for this evening. "What job?"

"Director of Entrepreneurial Services."

"Jesus." The anger drained out of him. "Damn fool of an assistant."

"You mean Twinkletoes?"

He almost smiled again. Rosie did have a tendency to acquire nicknames due to her outlandish outfits.

"She's filling in for my regular assistant who's having surgery this week."

"I was early for my appointment." Amanda paused, as if trying to remember. "When I left, there was another woman in the waiting area. A redhead." She eyed him. "With a skirt as short as her legs were long. She must have been your potential—how shall I put it?" She smiled with all venom and no humor. "Your floozy?"

"Jealous, are you?" The words slipped out and instantly, he wished them unsaid. The momentary triumph that had lit her eyes disappeared in a flash. Instead, she looked like a five-year-old who'd discovered she was left off a birthday party list.

But she recovered quickly. "Do I look like someone who wants to be mistaken for a bimbo?" She gestured to herself. "There is nothing provocative about me!"

"Now on that point, I must disagree." As smoothly as that, he'd become the hunter again. He felt the instinct to chase fire up his bloodstream. Not that he'd let her know it.

"Business suit," she said. "Sensible pumps. A boring hairstyle."

He looked at her hair. Of all the things to mention. Yeah, he’d rather see it hanging down, but a man didn’t reject