A Lyon's Share Read Online Free Page B

blizzard?" Joan chided. "We'd end up in a snowdrift!"
    "Do you mean—" There was a pregnant pause before Kay continued. "The two of you are stranded there at the office—alone?"
    "Oh, Kay!" Joan pressed a weary hand to her forehead. "Will you please not dramatize the situation?" She was having trouble enough with her own imagination without subjecting herself to Kay's.
    "It is just the two of you there, isn't it?" Laughter bubbled in the voice on the other end. "Thrown together by the elements!"
    "Will you stop it?" Joan demanded with an exasperated sigh. "Mr. Lyon is my boss!"
    "I bet you won't be calling him Mr. Lyon by tomorrow morning!" Kay laughed aloud.
    "For heaven's sake! For all the notice that Mr. Lyon pays to me, I doubt if he's even aware that I'm a member of the opposite sex. I'm his efficient and practical secretary. Having my company forced on him for a day isn't going to make him suddenly discover that I'm an alluring female." The outburst was more a reminder for herself than an attack on her roommate. "I have some letters to type now. I'll be home as soon as the roads are clear."
    Without waiting for a response. Joan hung up. Tension pulled down the corners of her mouth as she turned in her chair. Her downcast eyes caught sight of the brown trousers standing in front of her desk, and waves of crimson red swept into her face as she looked into Brandt Lyon's amused face and realized he had been listening. A muscle twitched near his mouth as if concealing a smile.
    "It's comforting to discover you're human, Miss Somers," he said quietly, and walked into his office while Joan was still searching for a response.
    There wasn't any need to watch the clock, so she ignored the movements of her watch as she typed the dictation she hadn't been able to do earlier that day. She had no idea what Brandt was doing in his inner office, undoubtedly working the same as she. Her unfortunate conversation with Kay kept playing back in her mind. She grew more and more uncomfortable at the prospect of facing Brandt when her words were probably still ringing in his ears. They seemed such a cry for his attention that she wanted to run and hide.
    With the headset covering her ears and Brandt's dictation occupying the rest of her thoughts, Joan didn't hear the connecting door open. The keys of the electric typewriter were racing across the paper. There wasn't a pause in the rhythm until a hand touched her shoulder. Her fingers crashed against the keys in surprise, jamming them against the ribbon.
    "I didn't mean to frighten you, Miss Somers!" His head was tilted curiously to the side, his gaze studying the apprehensively withdrawn look in her brown eyes as she turned sharply towards him.
    "Y-You startled me, that's all," she stammered.
    "I'm getting hungry and I thought you might direct me to the more edible items in the canteen. I hope you'll join me, Miss Somers."
    The light inflection he gave her name was a mocking reminder that he was aware of their status as employer and employee, and her sharp statement that she was his efficient and practical secretary.
    Her own brown eyes bounced away from the strong lines of his face as she nervously glanced at her watch. Half past seven. If only she could hope that the rest of the time could pass so swiftly!
    "Yes, I'm hungry, too," she answered, reverting to her cool professional voice in order to establish that impersonal business relationship she had once wanted to break down.
    Brandt stepped back and waited for her to straighten her papers before joining him. She tried to make her muscles relax as she preceded him down the corridor to the canteen, but she knew she was holding her head unnaturally erect, driven by a need to show him that she didn't really want his attention. Her replies were just as stiff as he attempted to make light conversation over their less than glamorous meal of sandwiches, milk and potato chips.
    Joan was rather thankful when he finally subsided into silence until