The Cowboy's Temptation Page 0,56

the hostess her name and was immediately led to a table where Jim was seated, nursing a gin and tonic.

“Hello, Elissa. It’s good to see you!” he said and kissed her cheek. Elissa immediately wanted to rush to the ladies room and scrub her cheek. She didn’t want his touch and felt dirty now that he had touched her.

“What would you like to drink?” he asked as the waiter approached their table.

“I’ll just have water, please,” she said smiling up to the waiter.

“Why not have a glass of wine? Relax before you head back to the office and get back into the swing of things,” he suggested.

“I guess I should start this whole meeting by telling you that I’m not coming back.”

Jim’s expression showed that he didn’t really believe her. He probably thought she was negotiating for a better salary or portion of the proceeds of her client sales. “You can’t be serious, Elissa. You’re one of the best. Come on back and discover where your true talents lie.”

Elissa shook her head. “No. Thanks. I discovered a lot about myself while I was gone.”

“What did you learn?” he asked, leaning back in his chair and looking at her with a patronizing stare.

“I learned that there are a lot of things that are more important than making money. That I’m a very good cook. I also watched a foal being born and watched the sunset from the horizon.”

Jim shook his head, chuckling derisively. “Don’t give me that. I saw the look on your face the first time you closed a million dollar deal. You were thrilled.”

“Sure I was. It was very exciting. But I’ve done that. I’m ready to move on to something different,” she said, leaning back in her chair and imitating his patronizing attitude. She wasn’t going to be intimidated by him anymore. He wasn’t her boss and therefore, her career didn’t hang in the balance if she did or said something he disliked. It was a liberating feeling, considering herself his equal.

“I don’t believe you,” he said and smiled, showing as many of his capped teeth as possible. “You’ve been gone for only a month and, although you look fantastic, I’ll bet you’ll want to be back here in New York in less than a year.”

Elissa smiled and shook her head. “No, I can’t ever imagine needing to come back and do this kind of work again. I like numbers, so I’ll continue to work with them in some capacity, but I can’t imagine any circumstance that would push me back into brokering deals again.”

Jim raised one eyebrow at her dismissive tone. “Elissa, you’re a wealthy woman now because of those deals. Don’t throw away a lucrative career on a whim,” Jim said, leaning forward, actually taking her comments seriously finally.

Jim smiled patronizingly but, to Elissa, he looked more like a shark showing off his chemically white teeth to her. “Tell you what. Let’s have lunch, not talk about business at all. You can tell me about Texas and all the silly country things you’ve been doing for the past month. After lunch, we’ll go back to the office and we’ll sit down with the other partners and see what we can do to tempt you. How does that sound? You’ve got me in a tough position. All of your clients are clamoring to have you back and making money for them. You’re in high demand.”

Elissa shook her head yet again. “Jim, I don’t really want to go back to the office and there’s really nothing you can say that would tempt me back to this lifestyle.”

She started to stand up but he grabbed her arm and forced her to sit back down in the chair. “Don’t you dare leave me like this,” he growled at her. A moment later, he smiled again, knowing that people at the neighboring tables were starting to stare. The smile remained in place, but his fury showed in his eyes. “You’ll eat lunch and we’ll head back to the office to discuss the issue.” With that order, he motioned for a waiter to come take their order.

Elissa was furious. She was not going to stay and eat with this disgusting man, no matter what threats he threw at her. Calmly but with as much conviction as she could convey to the man, she said, “Jim, I’m getting up to leave now. Don’t touch me again or I’ll make a scene.”

Elissa stood up and swiveled on her heel, leaving the restaurant on shaking