they all walked at once, Mulloney would have a devil of a time replacing them."
Not particularly mollified, Georgina managed a curt nod. "They would have to close the doors. The task will be persuading all those snotty department managers to join in. Peter pays them a little more and pats them on the back occasionally so they think they owe him their lives. If they don't stand with the rest of them, Peter will try to keep the store open with just their help."
"He can't," Janice announced decisively. At Georgina's questioning look, she explained, "We'll get the people in the back, the people you never see and don't know anything about: the seamstresses and hatmakers and storeroom clerks and delivery boys. Mulloney's doesn't buy everything ready-made. They sell service as well. If customers lose their favorite seamstress, they'll go where they can find her."
Georgina stared at her newfound partner in crime. "You have a devious mind, Miss Harrison. We're happy to have you on the team."
Chapter 19
"Georgina Meredith, I'm going to have to put you in chains. Now will you quit your meddling and go to bed? I'll be there just as soon as I get this last piece set."
"I'm not meddling. The story in this edition of your paper could blow up in both our faces if it's not done right. I have just as much right to go over it as you do."
The frightening part about it was that she was quite right. Daniel shoved his glasses back on his nose and glared at the back of her head. In the lamplight, Georgina's hair gleamed almost silver. She had stacked it untidily on top of her head after washing it earlier in the evening. Daniel had known Georgina had a penchant for anarchy from the first moment he had met her. He just hadn't known what it would mean to his own life. She was destroying every defense he had ever erected.
Reaching for the pencil behind his ear, he growled, "I've been doing this a lot longer than you have. Have a little confidence in me, if you please. You can go over it again in the morning."
The truth was that Daniel would prefer it if she would go on to bed now and be sound asleep before he got there. That reduced the temptation to a certain degree. She had worked as hard as he these last few days to put together this next edition, and he would be a heel to disturb her sleep. But she sure as hell disturbed his.
It was his own damned arrogant fault, and he couldn't blame Georgina for his predicament. He just hadn't thought his unwanted wife would cause him so much trouble. He wasn't like some men, thinking and dreaming sex day and night. He lived in his head as much as his body, and the two had got along well all these years. It had never occurred to him that his body would suddenly rebel and demand a satisfaction that his head told him he had no right to take.
Georgina yawned and stretched. Daniel knew damned well she wore only her chemise and drawers under that wrapper, and he had difficulty keeping his eyes from watching the folds of material gape at her movement. Now that he had some idea of what she kept so coyly concealed beneath all that material, he could think of little else.
In the midst of a fiery editorial he found himself wondering how it would feel to slip his hand beneath that cover of cloth over her breasts, and he frequently cursed himself for not having taken the chance when it had first been offered—as he cursed himself now for even thinking about it. It was perfectly obvious that Georgina didn't think of him in the same way that he thought of her.
It was almost a relief knowing that she would come into part of Hanover Industries in less than a month. He would hire a lawyer and see that she received her share of the profits. Then they could work out an annulment, and they both could get on with their lives. It was the only solution that might save his sanity.
Daniel held his breath as Georgina finally gave in to exhaustion, crossed the room, and pressed a simple kiss against his temple before retiring. It was those light, innocent touches that drove him into his worst frenzies. He wanted to grab her waist, pull her down on his lap, and make mad,