Dancing in the Dark (6 page)

“This isn’t.” He sighed. “I know how it must look after that kiss. But I promised it wouldn’t happen again. And it won’t … unless you want it to.”

“I’m reminded of your little problem with the word no.” She smiled sweetly. “Is this one of those times?”

“No.” He grinned. “See? I’m getting better. Honestly, Charity, this really could be the big break we need.”

“Does Mary go?” she asked.

“Absolutely. How can you do a presentation without the tech?”

“I wondered if you had figured out a way.”

“I’m no fool.” He relaxed. “Feel better now?”

“I suppose.”

“By the way, you’re doing the presentation.”

She gaped at him.

He raised his eyebrows, surprised that she looked so astonished at the notion. “Do you have a problem with that?”

“No.” She blinked. “No. I didn’t expect to do it. I just assumed you would.”

“Why?” he asked, puzzled. “You’re the one putting all the materials together, so you’re the logical one to speak about it. You
have
done one before.”

“Of course,” she said smoothly. She got up from the chair. “If there’s nothing else …?”

He couldn’t think of a thing. Dammit. He stood. “That’s it. I’ll set it up for Friday. Can you be ready, or is that too soon? Or do you have a class?”

“Ahh … I think I can be ready by then. My classes are Tuesday and Wednesday nights.”

“Okay. Thanks for understanding the necessity of this meeting.”

She nodded and walked to the door.

He hurried after her. “Do you want me to help you with the specs?”

“No, I think I can manage.”

“I could come over—”

She whipped around. “I don’t think that’s a good idea, do you?”

“Probably not,” he admitted. “At least not according to your philosophy of men and women in the
workplace. Of course, we’ve already established that’s not my philosophy.”

“True. But no more impromptu tours.”

She didn’t quite look him in the eye when she said it, and he wasn’t sure that meant any wavering on her part. He wasn’t about to press it at this point, either. He was circling in on his prey too nicely to scare her now. “No more tours. But I know you’re doing this in your off-hours and you might need help. I assure you I can be a perfect gentleman if it’s necessary.”

“I’ll keep it in mind.”

She left him on that note. He sighed happily, watching her walk away. She was going to Boston with him. Anticipation raced along his veins. Granted, he’d have to maintain his distance, but they would be out of the office and the town. What that could short-cut in the end was worth the suffering. Very well worth it.

If he didn’t drown himself in cold showers in the meantime.

Unfortunately, Jake didn’t feel quite so pleased with himself that night when he called Charity.

“Are telephones off-limits?” he asked without any greeting or identification.

She chuckled. “It depends on how long you keep me on the line … and what you have to say.”

“I won’t keep you long.” He took a breath and plunged in. “We’re set for Friday on that presentation with DGF. Ten in the morning. So we’ll fly out after work on Thursday—”

“Excuse me?” Her tone was sharp. “Thursday?”

He sighed. “Somehow I knew you’d have this reaction. It’s too tight to try to get up there that early
on Friday. Flying in Thursday night makes sense so we’ll be fresh in the morning. And in case of delays. You know, you’ve been acting like I’m going to throw you down and jump your bones any second.”

“That’s a wonderful euphemism for sex. My personal favorite. I can’t tell you the images it conjures up.”

“Charity—”

“I’m not accusing you of anything. Actually, I’m flattered that you find me attractive. Maybe under other circumstances I would be interested, but I’m sorry. I’m not …”

Just what he wanted to hear, he thought in disgust.

“… And you seem to be pressing the issue—”

“I’ve set my sights on that secretary in accounting, okay?” he said, desperate to say anything that soothed his damaged ego. If that was what she wanted, then fine. “The one with the blond hair and the great body. Your message finally got through loud and clear. Now that that’s out of the way, use your common sense. You know it’s logical to go up on Thursday. That’s when we’re going … unless you have some legitimate reason to reschedule. But it will still be an overnight deal.”

There was a long silence on the other end. So long, in fact, he thought they’d been cut off. Finally, she said, “I’ll be ready.”

“Good.” Relief washed through him. The circle had just tightened a little more. “Tell Mary. Do you think she’ll have any problem with Thursday?”

“It wouldn’t matter if she had. The king has spoken.”

Maybe he’d been more firm than he’d intended,
Jake thought. “Charity, if the date is a problem, we can reschedule it. I don’t want either you or Mary unduly inconvenienced.”

“I’m sorry. My remark
was
uncalled for. Thank you for calling.” She hung up.

He took the receiver from his ear and glared at it. He really had been too strong. He thought about calling her back and apologizing but decided not to. He’d just be his normal sweet, businesslike, platonic self the rest of the week, and she’d realize she had nothing to fear from the trip.

Damn, but he hated platonic.

The blonde in accounting walked by.

“He’s got to be kidding,” Charity muttered, eyeing the overfluffed hair with corkscrew waves. It was a dye job or Robert Brown wasn’t the head of the history department at B.U. The woman looked as though she hadn’t eaten anything more than a carrot in the past five years. And she was a triple-A no-threat in the bra department too.

What did she care what Jake was doing? Charity asked herself after the blonde disappeared around the corner. She ought to be grateful he’d finally gotten her message and given up.

She ought to, but she wasn’t.

She’d made a fool of herself on the telephone the night before, and she wished she had it to do all over again. Why had she jumped to conclusions? Okay, so she’d out-and-out panicked at the thought of going away on a business trip with him. She’d been on them before—playing secretary, of course,
at the presentations. It was part of the job. And he’d given her a wonderful opportunity by turning the presentation itself over to her, acknowledging her as a major player. She’d never done the presentation before. If only she had kept her mouth shut last night, she might have saved face. And she could have continued the flirtation with him. The truth was, she’d been enjoying it.

Now the blonde would be having all the fun. And she bet it wouldn’t stop with flirting. Not with that bim—

“Don’t you have work to do?”

Charity glanced up to find Dave standing over her desk, hands on his hips, glaring at her. Ever since he’d been at that all-male meeting of Jake’s the previous week, he’d been on a testosterone high. And there’d been another meeting at lunch that day. She pointed to the papers on her desk. “I am working, Dave.”

“You’ve been getting away with murder around here,” he said. “I’ve had enough of it. In fact, the sales department is about to find things are going to be different. No more goofing off, especially you women.”

Charity sat up straight, not sure she’d heard him right. “I beg your pardon?”

“You’re always away from your desk. All of you are.”

“Dave, you know a lot of our job entails coordination with other departments.”

“And all of you goof off when you do.” Puffing himself up one last time, he turned away and stalked into his office.

“Son of a—” Charity muttered. Furious, she did the all-American thing and got up and went to the ladies’ room.

Inside, women were slamming their pocketbooks down on the countertop. Hers joined the others. All of the women were muttering vindictives at their male managers. Even the blonde from accounting. Clearly, all the men had come back from Jake’s latest meeting with machismo flowing through their veins.

What the hell was he doing to them?

“You’re in Room 567, Mr. Halford. Ms. DeMario is in 568 and Ms. Brown is in 569.”

Charity sighed with relief as the desk clerk handed out the room keys, plastic magnetic cards imprinted with the lock solution. Jake, she noticed, merely smiled, and Mary took her key without a blink. Mary was an older woman, with a husband and two grown children. She had gone back to school for engineering and taken several detours before winding up as a computer technician. Not the usual young male who favored that career choice, she was always interesting to take to presentations. First, she surprised the suppliers, then she dazzled them. Charity was more than pleased that steady, staid Mary would be between her and Jake that night.

She avoided Jake’s eyes as they rode up in the elevator, then walked along the corridor of the fifth floor. He had been the perfect gentleman on the plane, calling her Ms. Brown all the time. Actually, he’d chatted more with Mary than with her during the flight. She wasn’t sure whether to be aggravated
or not by that. Logic told her not, but silly jealousy wasn’t listening. Why was she so bothered by him?

She could feel his presence, looming and intriguing, just behind her right shoulder as they walked, and she knew the answer. She liked him. Worse, she was attracted to him. Good thing she wasn’t going home with them tomorrow afternoon. She was staying on and having dinner with her parents, then taking a late shuttle home. The less she was around Jake, the better.

Mary stopped at a door. “Here I am.” She turned to the left and inserted her card in the door slot.

“I’m here,” Jake said, turning to the right. Charity glanced up sharply at his door number, positive he had the wrong room. He didn’t.

She looked around wildly, at her key number and at the sea of doors, terrified her sudden sure feeling was about to become harsh reality. It did.

Her room was directly next to Jake’s.

Jake shut his door, tossed his two-suiter on the bed, and began to chuckle. He noticed the adjoining door to Charity’s room and roared outright. Fate, he thought happily. It was complete serendipity that he was in an adjoining hotel room with Charity. Her face had been priceless when she’d realized it.

Nothing had changed, though, he reminded himself. He still had to be a gentleman on this trip. He’d promised. His amusement immediately faded. Charity’s needs and his needs weren’t matching up quite as he’d expected. Or at least not as quickly as he’d hoped.

And he couldn’t let her go. The moment he’d kissed her, he’d known it. She had felt something special too. He had tasted it in her response, felt it in her body. For most of his life he’d listened to women. For once, all he was asking was for one to listen to him.

He wondered if Charity intended to visit her parents while she was in town. He would very much like to meet them himself. From her description, they sounded exactly the opposite of their practical, no-nonsense daughter.

He had to come up with a plan. Unexpected and disarming. Maybe the short-term sacrifice now would ensure the long-term goal later. He grinned and started to plot.

Dinner went well.

Charity frowned as she shut her hotel room door. Jake had been Mr. Business all through the meal. He’d treated her charmingly and politely. Mary couldn’t possibly have guessed from his actions that he’d ever shown a personal interest in her. In fact, Charity herself couldn’t even tell! Not once, not by one little look had he acknowledged her on a more intimate level.

He must be really hooked on that blonde from accounting, she thought, and shuddered. If he could change affections that fast, then she ought to be grateful there was only one kiss between them. She could really have been hurt.

Scowling, she shoved away the thought that she already was hurt. The adjoining door, which had nearly sent her bolting out of the room earlier, was staying closed that night. Sighing, she changed into her simple cotton nightgown, pulled the curtains shut on the night lights of the city, and settled in the double bed with her presentation notes for the morning.

Within a few minutes she was restless. She’d worked on the presentation every spare minute in the past four days, and if she looked at her notes again she’d run screaming into the night. She may run anyhow, she was so scared about giving the presentation. Who the hell was she to think she
could do it? Jake thought she could. The notion buoyed her, as it had all week. Still, rereading the stuff was only going to aggravate her already overly sensitive nerves. She tossed the papers aside, picked up the TV remote control, and began to flip through channels.

The telephone rang.

Charity jumped, her heart pounding. It was Jake. She was positive it was him, so positive she decided not to answer the phone. Immediately a voice inside her argued that it could be Mary. She might need an item she’d forgotten, or want to check on the specs for tomorrow.

The phone rang three more times.

Finally the thought of Mary won out, and she picked up the receiver. “Hello?”

“Hello.” The voice was deep and masculine and familiar—and soft with innuendo. It definitely wasn’t Mary asking to borrow a pair of panty hose.

She smiled wryly. “Hello.”

“What are you doing?”

“Watching television.”

“The ‘after-hours’ movie?”

She looked at the screen and chuckled. “
The Care Bears II: A New Generation
.”

“No wonder you’re so repressed. Turn on
Desirée’s Secret Dreams
, woman, and see what you’re missing.”

“I think I’ll stick with Good-heart Bear.”

“I will admit Desirée isn’t nearly as provocative as you.”

She found herself smiling again. The late hour seemed to dissipate all her reservations. “I thought you liked the blonde from accounting.”

“Who?”

“The blonde from accounting. That’s what you told me.”

He laughed. “I didn’t know there was a blonde from accounting.”

“What! Come on. You brought her up in the first place.”

“I just said that off the top of my head that day. You had dented my ego pretty thoroughly, remember? I needed some sort of male-soothing defense.” His voice held amusement and speculation. “Maybe I ought to go take a look at this blonde—”