Men like that are dangerous. You could be hurt."
She shot him a glance over her shoulder. "I didn't give you permission to use my name, Mr. Martin. I'm Miss Hanover to you."
"I'll be damned if I will call a spoiled brat Miss anything." Daniel hurried down the courthouse stairs in her wake. "Go ahead and try to find out who owns ABC if you want, but don't do anything until you tell me. I can put it in the paper and not involve you at all. If all you want to do is help Janice and her family, that's the best thing to do. But if you're out to show the world what a wonderful person you are, then forget it. You deserve whatever happens."
He was striding down the street away from her before the last words were out of his mouth.
Georgina wanted to throw something at him. She wanted to screech and shout and tell him what she thought of men and their arrogant assumptions. And she wanted to grab his neck and hug him. He hadn't doubted that she could find out the owners of ABC Rentals, Inc. He hadn't told her not to find out. He'd told her he would print the story when she had it.
She really thought Mr. Daniel Pecos Martin the most original man in town—when he wasn't being a pig-headed jackass.
* * *
"Georgina Meredith, I have known you since you were in diapers, and I'm perfectly aware when you are up to something that you shouldn't be, so don't play Miss Coy with me, young lady. Why in the name of heaven do you want me to inquire about something so crass as a company called ABC?"
The haughty lady affecting a lorgnette and wearing her silvered hair stacked higher than seemed possible for normal human hair looked down her nose at her young guest on the other side of the tea table. Georgina merely smiled back. The mayor's wife played the royal lady every bit as well as Georgina played the young scamp. They understood each other perfectly.
"Because they own some property I'm interested in buying," she replied demurely. "I wish to surprise Peter with my economic expertise."
The older woman's face almost cracked a smile before she forced it into retreat. "Economic expertise, my foot and eye. You're up to no good, Georgina Meredith, that I can vouch. But it should be amusing to see what you do with the information. You do realize it won't be easy to persuade Harold to tell me?"
Georgina had anticipated that. It was tit for tat with Loyolla Banks. She sipped from her cup before replying. "I fully appreciate that, Mrs. Banks. I'm not certain how I can offer my gratitude. But I have met the most interesting person—I've been thinking he would make a delightful addition to a dinner party. He's from Texas, and his nickname is Pecos, and he's the most original person I've met in a long time."
Loyolla's eyes lit up like beacons. Georgina hid her smile. She knew the matron prided herself on introducing the original and the intellectual at her exclusive dinner parties. She had no idea how Daniel would feel about such an invitation, but she had no intention of telling him he was being served as the main course.
* * *
On Wednesday morning Georgina woke up with imps of hell tap dancing in her stomach. Today was the day Daniel's newspaper would come out—and her photographs would go on display in the glass kiosk Daniel had rented as a newsstand. She would learn once and for all whether Peter was willing to have her as she was, or if all he wanted was a smiling ninny to decorate his arm. She might be throwing away a certain future for an uncertain one, but she had to know.
And she didn't intend to sit around the house, waiting for it to happen. She already knew how the photographs had turned out. Now she wanted to see that newssheet as it rolled off the presses. Daniel could fire her all he wanted, but he couldn't stop her from showing up if she chose to. And she did.
Besides, she had a perfectly legitimate excuse to appear on his doorstep. The invitation to Mrs. Banks's dinner party lay right there on her desk. When Daniel understood that access to the information they wanted was dependent on his acceptance of the invitation, he would have to consent. And she would have to be the one to