Anne Stuart - Cold As Ice

Harry’s laugh was warm and appealing, and Genevieve was beginning to see why people found him so charming.

People magazine hadn’t lied—he was gorgeous. Deeply tanned skin, clear blue eyes with laugh lines etched deep around them, a shock of sun-streaked blond hair that made him look like Brad Pitt in his seedy mode. He radiated warmth, charm and sexuality, from his broad, boyish grin to his flirting eyes to his rangy, well-muscled body. He was handsome, charming, and any warm-blooded woman would have been interested. Right then, Genevieve couldn’t have cared less.

But she had a job to do, and she knew that one of her unspoken orders was to give this very important client anything he wanted. It wouldn’t be the first time she’d considered sleeping with someone for business reasons. She knew perfectly well what that made her—a pragmatist. She’d avoided it so far, but sooner or later she was going to have to be less fastidious and more practical. If it turned out that she had to sleep with Harry Van Dorn just to get some papers signed and get out of there…well, there were plenty of more onerous duties she’d had to perform while at Roper et al. She could perform this one if she had to.

But she knew the drill. They weren’t going to get to the business she’d brought until the social amenities were covered, and with Texans that could take hours.

“You mustn’t mind Peter,” he repeated. “He’s an Aries, with a very auspicious birth chart or I wouldn’t keep him around. April twentieth, as a matter of fact. He’s too damn gloomy by half, but he gets the job done.”

“Has he worked for you a long time?” she asked, wondering when Harry was going to take his hand off her knee. Good hands—big, tanned, perfectly manicured. There could be worse hands touching her. Like the slimy Peter Jensen’s.

“Oh, it seems like forever, though in fact he’s only been with me for a few months. I don’t know how I managed without him—he knows more about me and my life than I do. But you know how men like that are—they get a little possessive of their bosses. Look, I don’t want to spend the afternoon talking about Peter—he’s about as interesting as watching grass grow. Let’s talk about you, pretty lady, and what brought you here.”

She started to reach for her briefcase, but he covered her hand with his big one and gave an easy laugh. “To hell with business. We have plenty of time for that. I mean, what brought you to an oldfart law firm like Roper and company? Tell me about your life, your loves and hates, and most of all tell me what you want my chef to prepare for dinner.”

“Oh, I can’t possibly stay. I have a plane to catch to Costa Rica.”

“Oh, but you can’t possibly leave,” Harry mimicked her. “I’m bored, and I know your associates would want you to make me happy. I won’t be happy unless I have someone to flirt with over dinner. Those oil wells aren’t going to dry up overnight—nothing will happen if I don’t sign the deeds of transference till later. I promise, I’ll sign your papers, and I’ll even see that you get to Costa Rica, though why you’d want to go to that pesthole is beyond me. But in the meantime, forget about business and tell me about you.”

Genevieve let go of the briefcase, and after a moment he let go of her hand. She should have been uneasy, but he was such a simple puppy dog of a man, wanting someone to play with him, throw a ball for him, that she couldn’t feel edgy. He was harmless, and she could play along for a while. As long as he didn’t start humping her leg.

“Whatever your chef cares to make,” she said.

“And what do you drink? Apple-tinis, right?”

Any kind of martini made her stomach turn, though she’d downed more than her share of them in order to fit in at the requisite social functions that Roper sponsored. Cosmopolitans were the worst, and everyone assumed she loved them. Her Sex and the City persona must have been very effective.

But he was one of the ten richest men in the western world, and he could get anything he wanted. “Tab,” she said.

She’d managed to throw him. “What’s Tab?”

“A hard-to-find diet soda. And not that revolting energy drink version. Never mind, I was just kidding. Whatever you’re having.”

“Nonsense. Peter!” Harry barely had to raise his voice. His assistant entered the room so silently he only increased her feeling of uneasiness. “I need you to get some kind of soda pop called Tab. Apparently it’s what Ms. Spenser drinks.”

Jensen’s colorless eyes slid over her. “Of course, sir. It might take an hour or so but I’m certain some will be available.”

“That’s fine, then. The original—not any newfangled crap. Ms. Spenser is staying for dinner, of course. Tell the chef I want him to do his very best work.”

“I’m afraid, sir, that the chef has left.”

It was enough to wipe the charming smile off Harry’s handsome face. “Don’t be ridiculous. He’s been with me for years! He wouldn’t take off without warning.”

“I’m sorry, sir. I have no idea whether his reasons were professional or personal, I simply know he’s gone.”

Harry shook his head. “Unbelievable! That’s the fifth long-term employee of mine who’s left without notice.”

“Sixth, sir, if you count my predecessor,” Jensen murmured.

“I want you to look into this, Jensen,” Harry said in a dark voice. But then his sunny smile took over. “In the meantime, I’m sure you can find someone to take Olaf’s place and rustle up something wonderful for me and my guest.”

“Certainly.”

“I wouldn’t want to put you to any trouble in the midst of such a domestic crisis,” Genevieve interrupted. “Really, you could just sign the papers and I’ll take off—”

“I wouldn’t hear of it,” Harry said grandly. “You traveled all this way just for me—the least I can do is feed you properly. See to it, Peter.”

She watched Harry’s assistant disappear with a twinge of regret. There was no getting out of this. At the very least, however, she had little doubt he’d manage to scare up both Tab and a five-star chef—he had that kind of machine-like efficiency down pat. And Van Dorn was turning up his Texas charm—in a few minutes he’d no doubt be talking about his dear old pappy—and she might as well lean back and make the best of it. At the very worst she was going to be bored to death, but there were worse ways to spend an evening.

Peter Jensen could move with frightening efficiency, even in the guise of the perfect executive assistant. It had taken him longer to get rid of Olaf than the others, and he was afraid he was going to have to use force, but in the end he’d done his job and the chef had decamped in a righteous snit.

Not that Peter would have minded using force. He did what he had to do, and he was very well trained. But he preferred subtlety, and brute force left bruises and bodies and too many questions. In the end Olaf had left, Hans was primed and ready to step in, and they were just about to make their well-planned move.

The girl, however, was a problem. He should have known Harry’s law firm would send someone young and pretty to keep him happy. They didn’t know enough about Harry’s complicated appetites to realize anyone would do.

The papers she brought with her were another question—were they simply an excuse or a clue to something more important? Harry hadn’t seemed the slightest bit interested, but then, Harry wouldn’t.

He had to get the woman off the boat, fast, before they could put their plans into motion. They would get the go-ahead in the next few days, and he didn’t want any stray civilians to get in the way and complicate things. The assignment was relatively simple— nothing he hadn’t done before, and he was very good at what he did, but timing, as always, was everything.