LITMIR.BIZ

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and dizzy, but the steady pressure of his warm hand against the small of her back forced her into the living area of the apartment. She couldn’t help but smile as she noticed that he had set the table for two and pulled the slightly overcooked casserole from the oven. Candles graced the intimate table. The wine was poured. The meal was already served.

      “You did this?” she asked, surveying the table that he had set with enviable care. “And I slept through it?” Amazement was evident in her voice.

      “Surprising, isn’t it?”

      “That’s putting it mildly.” She shook her head in concentrated thought. “I’m normally a light sleeper,” she murmured as she walked into the kitchen.

      “That’s because you haven’t been keeping the right company.”

      “And just what is that supposed to mean?” she inquired cautiously as she put the finishing touches on the meal and placed the salad on the table next to the lasagna and warm bread.

      “Just that you’d probably sleep more soundly with me.”

      Her eyes jumped to his face as she took the chair opposite his at the table. She took a deep breath and decided that it was time to set him straight about her. Perhaps he had gotten the wrong impression and thought that she was somewhat promiscuous.

      She began slowly and deliberately. “Kane, I want you to understand something about me,” she requested.

      “Such as?”

      “Contrary to what you might think…” She struggled with her next words as they caught in her throat. “I don’t normally…I mean…” She shook her dark curls in frustration. “What I’m trying to say is that I don’t make a habit of sleeping with a man whom I barely know.” She watched for his reaction.

      “Oh?” His voice was interested, and he pushed his plate aside to give her his full attention. She saw no criticism in his misty eyes, only concern.

      “I hope that I haven’t given you the wrong impression about me….”

      “You mean because you slept with me?”

      Two dark scarlet points of color brightened her cheeks, but she bravely continued. “That’s exactly what I mean.” Her words were hushed, and for a moment she was forced to look away from him. When she brought her eyes back to his, she held his gaze steadily and her voice became coolly even. “I don’t really understand why I think that you have to know this, but for the sake of my own somewhat Victorian morals, I want you to realize that I don’t have casual affairs. In fact, other than my ex-husband, there has been no one. Until you.”

      “I know that,” he assured her in a voice as grave as the night.

      She fingered her wineglass and took a long swallow of the rosé. She studied the pale pink liquid and swirled it in the long-stemmed glass before continuing the conversation. “Then why did you ask me all of those insulting questions about Mitch?”

      At the mention of Mitchell Cameron’s name, a scowl darkened Kane’s features. Once again his face was guarded and his eyes became two silver shields. “I didn’t know you then,” was the terse reply.

      “And in just three days you know me well enough to evaluate my love life?” she returned, and heard the sarcasm in her voice.

      “I probably know a lot more about you than you think.”

      Her lilac eyes fastened on his, and a rush of indignation that she couldn’t conceal colored her words. “You haven’t been checking up on me, have you?”

      “No more than I have any other employee of the bank.” It was a lie and he knew it, but he couldn’t let her think any differently at this point. He hated himself for the lie, but he was trapped by the web of suspicions that plagued him and by the storm of emotions that captured him every time he looked into her eyes.

      “Then why all the insinuations about Mitch? Can’t you believe that a woman can make it on her own without sleeping with the boss?”

      He arched an expressive black eyebrow, and she felt immediately contrite. The question that was unspoken hung between them on a charged electric current. Unashamedly Erin answered it. “You know that I didn’t make love to you because of my job.”

      “Then tell me, why did you sleep with me?” he coaxed.

      “For the same reason that you slept with me,” she responded, lifting her chin proudly. “Because I wanted to.” His tight frown seemed to relax, and he took a sip of his wine as he surveyed her over the rim of the wineglass. His gray eyes concentrated on her. She seemed so honest. It was impossible to think that her beautiful face would lie. Why hadn’t she been truthful about her ex-husband? Erin O’Toole was an enigma, a ravishing, seductive enigma.

      Erin struggled with her meal. Why did she feel such an uncontrollable urge to explain everything to Kane? And why did she feel the need for caution? As she put aside her fork, she spread her hands outward on the table, her fingers reaching up in a supplicating gesture. “Mitch was my boss, and he was and is a very dear friend. No matter what he’s done, nothing will change that. But there was never anything more between us than personal friendship and professional respect for each other. Can’t you believe me?”

      “Of course I do—now,” Kane replied. “But you can’t blame me for my suspicions. Until I met you in the bank last Saturday, I didn’t know anything about you other than what was in your personnel file. I knew that you had been promoted rapidly—perhaps too quickly—and I wanted to know why. You have to understand that no matter how close you are to Mitch, he is a thief!” Kane’s cold gray eyes grew dark. “It’s my responsibility to the bank, the stockholders, the savings customers, everyone, to know everything I can about each employee. It would be ridiculous to think that I would rely on Mitchell Cameron’s judgment.”

      Kane’s words hit Erin like a splash of cold water. She was stunned, and her voice was brittle as she asked the question that was uppermost in her mind. “Are you trying to tell me that you don’t think I’m qualified for my position, that the only reason you could see that I would get the job was because I might have slept with Mitch?” she challenged, stricken at the thought.

      His voice was strangely devoid of emotion. “I’m saying that it’s difficult for me to believe that a thirty-two-year-old woman is second in command of the legal department of a major Seattle bank….”

      “And if I were a man?” she fired back at him, her eyes deepening to the color of a midnight storm.

      “Sex has nothing to do with this!”

      “Sex has everything to do with this,” she argued, slapping her palm against the table and rattling the silverware. “You seem to overlook the fact that I spent the last six years of my life in night school, for the most part doing postgraduate work in corporate law! If it weren’t for the fact that you bought First Puget Bank, I would probably be a practicing attorney today!”

      It was Kane’s turn to be angry and his words sliced through the air. “I don’t see how I could have possibly hindered your legal career! What does my ownership of the bank have to do with it?”

      Erin swallowed with difficulty and licked her arid lips. She tried to think calmly and took a long swallow of wine to quench her parched throat. Getting angry wouldn’t solve anything, she told herself, and giving in to her sometimes volatile temper would only hinder the situation. Carefully she explained her position. “There are several reasons that I haven’t been able to take the bar exam.”

      “And somehow they are all my fault,” he surmised.

      “I’m not blaming you,” she insisted, and began toying with her napkin. “First Puget was paying my way through school. Any class I took that pertained to my job was paid for by the bank. Other classes I paid for myself. That is—until the bank sale.”

      “You mean, until Consolidated Finances bought out First Puget?”

      She

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