Eclipse of the Heart Read Online Free Page B

anger
turned to cold fear. Had he been a victim of a vice-sting?
    She raised her eyebrows and tilted up her chin. "You've
never heard of sexual harassment?"
    Instinctively, he turned and strode away from her. His mind
clicked furiously through this new puzzle. He was used to manipulative women,
but this was a first—an accusation of harassment. His first thought was his
lawyer. His second—the discreet agency he used. He needed facts. If she wasn't
playing a role, why was she looking so shocked? Maybe he'd been crude to use
the "f" word, but she'd annoyed him with her posturing.
    He'd been wanting her since the moment she walked into his
office in that drab outfit, the hot kiss had further inflamed him, and it was
time to get down to business.
    "Excuse me." He grabbed his phone from the bar,
and scrolled down for the agency's number.
    Cleo Shipley answered on the first ring. She knew everything
there was to know about customer service, and she certainly knew he was one of
her best clients. Not that he'd ever had her, but he didn't have any illusions
about where she'd started either.
    "Did you send me a job candidate yesterday?" he asked,
dispensing with any courtesies.
    "How are you, darling?" Cleo's sultry tone invited
him to undress her. She never wasted an opportunity.
    "The candidate," he repeated. "It's
important, Cleo."
    "Of course I did. She told me you had already filled
the position."
    "Shit." He couldn't stop the word from escaping.
    "I was disappointed, Logan." She was smart enough
to keep accusation out of her tone. "I thought we had an exclusive
arrangement."
    "Be grateful for small favors, Cleo. I've got a woman
here and she's threatening legal action. You don't want to be caught up in
that."
    He clicked off, tossed the phone back on the bar and faced
the woman he'd expected to be bedding by now. Had she set him up?
    "Let's talk." He used the tone he saved for those
tough business adversaries he'd mentioned just ten minutes ago.
    Amanda raised her chin. "Who is Cleo?"
    He looked down at her. "How did you end up in my office
yesterday?"
    Her lips tightened to a thin line. "I'm the one who's
been accused of selling my body. You answer my questions."
    "If you weren't in my office interviewing for a job
with me, why were you there?"
    "I was interviewing for a
job!"
    "Okay." He grabbed at his patience. This was not
what he'd been fantasizing about for this evening. "What job?"
    "Director of Entrepreneurial
Services."
    "Jesus." The anger drained out of him. "Damn
fool of an assistant."
    "You mean Twinkletoes ?"
    He almost smiled again. Rosie did have a tendency to acquire
nicknames due to her outlandish outfits.
    "She's filling in for my regular assistant who's having
surgery this week."
    "I was early for my appointment." Amanda paused,
as if trying to remember. "When I left, there was another woman in the
waiting area. A redhead." She eyed him.
"With a skirt as short as her legs were long. She must have been your
potential—how shall I put it?" She smiled with all venom and no humor. "Your floozy?"
    "Jealous, are you?" The words slipped out and
instantly, he wished them unsaid. The momentary triumph that had lit her eyes
disappeared in a flash. Instead, she looked like a five-year-old who'd
discovered she was left off a birthday party list.
    But she recovered quickly. "Do I look like someone who
wants to be mistaken for a bimbo?" She gestured to herself. "There is
nothing provocative about me!"
    "Now on that point, I must disagree." As smoothly
as that, he'd become the hunter again. He felt the instinct to chase fire up
his bloodstream. Not that he'd let her know it.
    "Business suit," she said. "Sensible pumps. A boring hairstyle."
    He looked at her hair. Of all the things
to mention. Yeah, he’d rather see it hanging down, but a man didn’t
reject a woman for her hairstyle. Instead, he imagined pulling out whatever
pins were holding it in place, and shaking it down so it looked like he wanted
it to look. And