The Bachelor Bid. Kate Denton

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СКАЧАТЬ might be tempted...with the proper incentive.” He grinned knowingly and, cupping her chin, pulled it toward him, his eyes growing smoky as his lips edged closer.

      Cara jerked back.

      “Don’t act so coy,” he drawled, the eyes now twinkling. “After all, you’ve been after me for weeks.”

      Was he serious or simply toying with her? Cara disliking both scenarios, shifted farther away, drawing Wyatt’s laughter.

      “I hope you’re having fun,” she huffed.

      “That I am.”

      “Well, fun or not, I don’t appreciate your conduct one bit.”

      “Maybe I merely wanted to see how far you’d go to please your boss...” Wyatt let the taunt hang in the air. He was still smiling.

      “Believe me, not that far,” Cara answered, staggering to her feet. Oh, what she’d give to swipe away that cocky grin of his.

      “Well, if you have a change of heart—”

      “You don’t quit, do you?”

      “Something we have in common.”

      “It’s the only thing.” Cara staggered off as fast as her wobbly legs could manage, feeling Wyatt’s eyes on her every inch of the trek to the parking lot. She crawled into her car and slammed the door. “That does it! I’m through with that...that exasperating man. Nothing’ll make me have anything more to do with him. Not even Brooke threatening me with insubordination.” Cara continued the ranting all the way home.

      

      True to her word, Cara remained steadfast against Brooke’s nudges all week, each time telling her, “It’s no use.” If it was to be a choice between appeasing Brooke or enduring another minute with McCauley, then Brooke’s happiness would have to be sacrificed.

      “You know I’m not free to handle this myself,” Brooke complained. “Am I going to have to assign it to someone else?”

      The moment of reckoning was at hand. “I suppose you are,” Cara answered evenly. “He’s resisted every single overture. My bag of tricks is empty.” Cara was not about to reveal Wyatt’s unseemly proposition.

      “But everyone’s tied up on the new project,” Brooke argued, unwilling to accept Cara’s throwing in the towel.

      Cara shrugged.

      “The programs must go to the printer,” Brooke whined.

      “Absolutely,” Cara said. “The auction’s only two weeks from tomorrow.”

      “We still ought to compile a bio, prepare some publicity on Wyatt, in case he relents.”

      “He’s not going to.”

      Steadfast or not, Cara’s patience with the subject had run its course. She’d love to have a punching bag with Wyatt McCauley’s image on it. And a dartboard with Brooke’s. The two of them had made her a wreck. One as overbearing as a rottweiler and the other as tenacious as a rat terrier.

      Brooke would probably still be hammering away about Wyatt the night of the auction. But at least she’d finally yielded to the reality that the programs couldn’t wait. They would be at the printer’s first thing Friday morning.

      On the way home that afternoon, Cara picked up her brother and sister from the university library, then stopped at Central Market for groceries. As she pulled into the parking space, Mark and Meg spotted a group of friends on the patio of the market restaurant and scurried to join them, leaving Cara to shop alone. She was weighing tomatoes when she felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned around.

      “We meet again.” It was Wyatt McCauley. “I’ve missed you,” he said. “Almost a week and no contact.”

      “I’m sure you’ve been waiting with bated breath.” She set the tomatoes in her shopping cart and began examining the bell peppers, doing her darnedest to ignore the man hovering over her.

      He picked up a large pepper and held it out to her. “This looks like a good one.”

      “I like these better.” Rejecting the proffered pepper, she bagged two others and moved to weigh them. Wyatt was right beside her.

      “Trying to snare another bachelor for the auction with a home-cooked meal?”

      Cara rolled her eyes and pushed her shopping cart away. Wyatt trailed behind her. “Are you a good cook?” he asked.

      Stopping the cart, Cara glared at him. “Now what are you up to?”

      “Nothing sinister. Just trying to learn more about you.” Wyatt’s expression was the picture of innocence. “As I said before, you’ve captured my attention. Surely you don’t mind my tagging along while you shop.”

      “But I do mind, so stop it,” she hissed.

      “No fun when you’re the one pursued instead of the pursuer, hmm?”

      “Is that what this is all about? Revenge for my bothering you? Then I apologize. I most humbly apologize. Now leave me alone.”

      “Have dinner with me.”

      “As you can see, I already have dinner plans.” Cara gestured at her half-filled shopping cart.

      “Change them.”

      “I can’t.”

      “Some starved guy waiting for you to fix his favorite meal?”

      “Matter of fact, there is.” My brother. Mark was a bottomless pit, always hungry. Thank goodness he and Meg were occupied right now. She wanted no spectators at this ridiculous scene.

      “Is he someone special?” There was pure seduction in Wyatt’s voice.

      “What’s it to you?”

      “Just sizing up the competition.”

      “Competition? Believe me, there’s no competition.”

      “That’s nice to know.”

      “Hold it. Let me make myself crystal clear. There is no competition because you are not in the running for anything involving me. Besides, you’ll never convince me you’re really on the level.” Cara selected three chicken breasts and waited for the butcher to wrap them.

      “It might be fun trying.” Wyatt draped an arm around her shoulder.

      “What’s with you?” Cara asked, shrugging free. “Friday you were brusque, Saturday offensive, and now, now... Your behavior is definitely worsening.” She pointed toward a nearby store employee. “Do I need to ask for protection against more harassment?”

      “Oh, I see,” he said with a knowing nod. “Okay for me to be harassed—at work no less, but when the tables are turned, the lady’s ready to scream ‘stalker.’ Is that how it СКАЧАТЬ