скачать книгу бесплатно
“He’ll fire me anyway, when the new code blows up tomorrow. But if I quit before then, he’ll think he forced me out.” Dana’s eyes narrowed. “I refuse to give him that satisfaction.”
“Well,” Arthur said quickly, “if you really want my opinion—”
“I might not need references. I know lots of people in this business. I could find a job, a better job, then tell McKenna what he can do with this one!”
“True. But—”
“But that would be giving in. And I won’t do that. I’ll never do that!” Dana seized Arthur’s hand. “Oh, I’m so glad I asked your advice! Thank you for helping me come to a logical decision.”
Arthur blinked. “Ah...you’re very welcome.”
“You’re wonderful, you know. You’re so clear-headed.”
A pink glow suffused Arthur’s cheeks. His fingers tightened on hers, and he leaned forward until his bow tie lay nestled among the daisies and tea roses that separated them from each other.
“Thank you, my dear.”
“Thank you.”
Beaming with delight, Arthur lifted her hand to his lips.
“Monsieur.” The waiter favored them with the hint of a smile. “Would you and mademoiselle care for some café and dessert? Some sorbet, perhaps, or an excellent tarte...”
“Nothing, thank you,” Dana said. She smiled at Arthur as she rose to her feet. “I feel rejuvenated, thanks to you, Arthur. And I’m really eager to get back to work.”
Cynthia was talking, something about a luncheon she’d attended with his mother. Griffin was trying to pay attention, but how could he, after that incredible display? The Bow Tie had kissed Anderson’s band, and she’d given him a thousand-watt smile in return.
Anderson rose to her feet. So did the Bow Tie. And they headed straight in his direction.
Griffin’s jaw tightened. He tossed his napkin on the table and shoved back his chair.
“Griffin?” Cynthia said.
Anderson was holding the guy’s arm as they came down the aisle, looking at him as if he were the only man alive.
“Griffin?” Cynthia asked, “are we leaving already?”
Griffin stepped away from the table, folded his arms and waited. The estimable Ms. Anderson was still chattering away, smiling brightly, her head tilted toward the Bow Tie.
Griffin felt a tightness in his belly. She had never looked at him like that. Not that he’d want her to, but still, it was infuriating. She’d given him the kind of look you gave tapioca pudding when you had it shoved in front of you. How come she was gazing at Bow Tie and damn near glowing?
“...Don’t know what I’d do without you,” she was saying. “You’re so good for me.”
They were going to walk right into him. Griffin almost smiled as he anticipated her shock. But at the last second, Bow Tie pulled his adoring gaze from Anderson’s face, looked up, and saw Griffin standing, immobile, directly in their path.
To say he blanched was to be kind. The guy turned as white as paper.
“Mr. McKenna!”
Anderson nodded. “That’s right,” she said. “That’s all you hear around the office. Mr. McKenna this and Mr. McKenna that, spoken in such hushed tones that, frankly, sometimes I just want to—”
“Now, now,” Griffin said coolly. His lips curved into a tight smile as she skidded to a dead stop not more than six inches off his chest. “Be careful what you say, Ms. Anderson. We’re in a public place, after all.”
Dana’s heart slammed into her throat. “You,” she croaked as she looked into the scowling face towering above her.
“Indeed, Ms. Anderson. What a small world.”
Dana’s thoughts were whirling. McKenna? And a woman who looked as if she’d just stepped out of the fashion pages? But that was impossible. She’d chosen this restaurant with such care! McKenna wasn’t supposed to be here.
And why didn’t he step back? Why didn’t Arthur step back? Then, at least, she’d have room to breathe. She wouldn’t have to stand so close to McKenna’s hard body that she had to tilt her head at a neck-breaking angle just so she could look him in the eye.
“Introduce us,” Arthur hissed in her ear.
“Did you enjoy your meal, Ms. Anderson?”
“Dana,” Arthur whispered, “please. Intro—”
“What are you doing here?” Dana said.
Griffin’s scowl deepened. “Having lunch, Ms. Anderson. And you?”
“I don’t mean what are you doing here, Mr. McKenna, I mean...” God! What did she mean? Dana straightened her shoulders. “Excuse me,” she said coldly, “but I’d like to get by.”
“Oh, I’m sure you would.”
“Mr. McKenna. I am on my lunch hour.”
McKenna’s brows rose. “Is that a fact,” he said pleasantly.
Dammit all, why didn’t Arthur step back and give her some room? Dana shoved her elbow into Arthur’s middle and shot him an angry look, but he didn’t notice. How could he, when he was staring at Griffin McKenna with the look of a deer caught in the headlights?
Dana firmed her jaw, stepped back and planted her foot firmly on Arthur’s toes. That made him move, all right, not much but enough so that now she didn’t have to inhale faint whiffs of McKenna’s cologne with every breath she took.
“It is,” she said. “And now, if you’ll excuse us, Mr. McKenna, I’ll see you back at the office.”
Griffin nodded. “Indeed you shall, Miss—oh, sorry—Ms. Anderson.”
How could the man make the correction of her name sound like an insult? Dana’s cheeks burned as she maneuvered past him and headed for the door.
Arthur stepped in front of her when they reached the sidewalk.
“Why didn’t you introduce me, Dana?”
She glared past him, at the restaurant, as if McKenna might materialize at any moment.
“The nerve of him,” she said, “the damned nerve!”
“You should have introduced us. It was a wonderful oppor—”
“Did you see him? Did you see him?”
“Of course, I saw him.”
“Don’t be dense, Arthur. I mean, did you see him? The way he stood there, with that look on his face!”
“What must he be thinking? Common courtesy demands—”
“Courtesy is uncommon, Arthur, haven’t you figured that out yet?” Dana blew a strand of streaky blond hair out of her eyes. “And that woman with him. Miss Perfection.”
“Actually, I thought she was rather attrac—”
“The polite little smile. The perfect hair. The elegant suit. The la-di-da air.”
Arthur frowned in bewilderment. “La-di-da air?”
“So ladylike. So unruffled. So—so unthreatening, to the master’s masculinity!”
“Dana, really, I fail to see what you’re so upset about.”
“That’s just the point, Arthur. You fail to see, but that’s because...because...”
Because what? What was she so upset about? McKenna had been in the same restaurant as she’d been, he’d been having lunch with a beautiful woman. So what?
“If I have to explain it,” she said loftily, “there’s no point. Goodbye, Arthur. Thank you for lunch.”
She swept past him, chin lifted, and started toward the corner. Arthur stared after her for a couple of seconds before hurrying to catch up.
“Dana, my dear, let’s not quarrel.”
“We haven’t quarreled. I just don’t see how you can let yourself be taken in by Griffin McKenna.”
“I haven’t been taken in. I just...” Arthur sighed. “Never mind. Are we still on for dinner this evening?”
“Yes. No. I’m not sure. Why don’t you phone me later?”
“Dinner,” Arthur said more firmly than usual. “All right?”
Dana sighed. “All right,” she said. “I’ll see you at seven.”
Dave Forrester, who had not yet succumbed to his afternoon ration of vodka, was lounging in the doorway to Dana’s office when she returned. He greeted her with an enigmatic look.
“Had a good lunch, did you, Dana?”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
Forrester grinned. “Boss wants to see you.”
Dana didn’t reply. She turned and walked down the hall to McKenna’s office, telling herself as she did that she was not about to take any more nonsense from the man and telling herself, too, that it was a good thing she’d spoken with Arthur because now she was calm, she was very calm, and nothing Griffin McKenna did or said could get under her skin anymore.
Miss Macy greeted her with a look that mimicked Forrester’s. Were enigmatic looks the order of the day?
“Mr. McKenna is waiting for you, Miss Anderson.”
“It’s Ms.,” Dana said, and stepped into McKenna’s office. He was sitting behind his desk, looking the length of the room at her, like an emperor on his throne. “You wanted to see me, Mr. McKenna?”
“Shut the door please, Ms. Anderson.”
Dana complied, then faced him again. “Mr. McKenna. If this is about our bumping into each other at that restaurant—”
“Where you eat is no concern of mine. You may eat what you wish, where you wish, with whomever you wish.”
“How generous of you, sir,” Dana smiled sweetly. “In that case, what did you want to see me about?”
McKenna smiled, too, like a cat contemplating a cageful of canaries.
“You’re fired.”
“I beg your pardon?”
“Fired, Ms. Anderson. As in, clean out your desk, collect your severance pay, and don’t come back.”
Fired? Fired? Dana’s vision blurred. All the logic of the last hour fled in the face of Griffin McKenna’s self-indulgent smile.
“You can’t fire me,” she snapped. “I quit!”
Griffin tilted back his chair and laced his hands behind his head.
“Have it your way, Ms. Anderson. Frankly, I don’t give a damn, just as long as we agree that you are no longer in my employ.”
Maybe it was the way he said it, in that know-it-all, holier-than-thou tone. Maybe it was the insufferable smile, or the way he tilted back that damn chair. All Dana knew was that, suddenly, she’d reached the breaking point.
She stomped across the room, snatched a stack of papers from his desk, and flung them high into the air.
“You,” she said, “are a complete, absolute, unmitigated jerk.”
Griffin looked at Dana. She was breathing as hard as if she’d just finished a five-mile run. Her eyes blazed with green fire, and she looked as if she could happily kill him.
Something in his belly knotted. Slowly, his eyes never leaving hers, he kicked back his chair, rose to his feet and came around the desk.
“And you,” he said, “are a woman in need of a lesson.”
“In what?” Dana said furiously. “In the fact that the world is owned by men like you?”
A dangerous smile curved across Griffin’s mouth. For the second time in her life, and the second time that afternoon, Dana wanted to step back. But she didn’t. To give way would have been a mistake.
Standing her ground turned out to be the bigger mistake. It meant that when Griffin reached for her, he had no trouble pulling her straight into his arms.
“In the fact that women have their uses, Ms. Anderson,” he said, and then he bent his head, laced his fingers into her hair, and kissed her.
