Maverick / The Playboy's Passionate Pursuit. Emilie Rose

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      “Not too well,” she said, deliberately grinning back at him. “You’re not easy to read.”

      “Don’t feel bad,” he said, growing serious. “I can’t figure you out, either. You’re sure not what you appear to be.”

      Bri raised her brows. “How do I appear to be?”

      He studied her a moment. “My first impression of you was of a beautiful woman, very well dressed, well-bred and educated.”

      Despite her suspicion of easy compliments—the SOB had been extremely easy with them—Bri felt her cheeks grow warm, flushed not only by his words but by the open admiration in his eyes. “I—I don’t know—”

      Tanner silenced her with a quick shake of his head. “Don’t get all flustered. I doubt you’ll be as pleased with my opinion of how you’re different from my snap impression.”

      Bri raised her mug to her lips to sip at the hot brew, looking relaxed, while in fact she was steeling herself for whatever he said next. “Go on.” How in the world she had managed a cool tone, Bri hadn’t a clue.

      “I think you have been spoiled rotten,” he said with blunt honesty. “You want what you want, when you want it. I read you as self-centered, self-confident and too damned sure of yourself.”

      Why Tanner Wolfe’s assessment of her personality should hurt her, she couldn’t imagine, but hurt it did, like the very devil. Odd, usually she wasn’t so sensitive to anyone else’s opinions of her. Since the episode with the silver-tongued weasel, she thought she had grown a thick skin.

      “Now you want to take a shot at me?”

      “Of course,” Bri said. “But first I’d like to know how you managed to come to that conclusion in such a short time with me.”

      “Easy.” Tanner laughed. It sounded relaxed, genuine. “I recognized the traits because they’re very similar to my own.” He paused to laugh again. “The only difference is I’m not beautiful.”

      Two

      “You’re spoiled?” She couldn’t help laughing, thinking he was wrong on one point. He was beautiful, just in a different, masculine way.

      “Sure,” he answered, laughing with her. “I have great parents. While instilling morals, values, ethics, good behavior and good housekeeping skills into their sons, they also spoiled the hell out of us. In a good way,” he quickly added, grinning.

      “You have two brothers, both older than you, right?” she asked, although she knew the answer.

      “Yeah.” He nodded. “Justin’s the oldest, now thirty-two. Then Jeffrey, thirty. And lastly, yours truly, twenty-nine.” He grinned again. “There’s also a slew of cousins.”

      “So I’ve heard.” She grinned back at him.

      “How old are you?”

      Well, no one would ever accuse him of being hesitant. The thought brought a smile to her lips. “I’m twenty-seven.”

      “You’re too young to risk your life traipsing around in the mountains, looking for a killer.”

      Bri rolled her eyes while heaving a sigh. “I believe we’ve already plowed that field, Mr. Wolfe. I’m going, period.”

      “I know, but I had to try one more time.” His sigh was heavier than hers. “And the name’s Tanner. It would get pretty tiresome hearing Mr. Wolfe over and over for who the hell knows how long.”

      “Okay…Tanner,” she agreed. “My friends call me Bri.”

      “That’s too bad.” He smiled at her startled look. “I like Brianna better. It’s a lovely name and fits you perfectly. Like you, it’s classy.”

      Bri grew warm with pleasure. He thought she was beautiful and classy? Though many men before him had called her beautiful, his compliment left her speechless for a long moment. Finally she found her voice, if rather weak and a bit breathless.

      “Thank you,” she murmured, feeling herself grow warmer. “That was very nice of you.” Oh, gag me, she thought, disgusted with the inanity of her response.

      “You’re welcome.” Tanner’s lips twitched, betraying his urge to grin.

      She didn’t blame him. She joined him, laughing easily at herself. “Pretty lame, huh?”

      He shook his head. “No, surprising. I would have thought you’d be used to compliments.”

      “Well, yes,” she said. “But—”

      “But what?” His eyes gleamed with a teasing light.

      “Oh, let’s just forget it,” she said, certainly not for a moment about to admit he flustered her simply because she felt a physical attraction to him. A strong attraction.

      “Why?”

      “What do you mean, why?” She frowned. “Because it’s getting silly, that’s why.”

      “Too bad.” He sighed. “I thought it was just getting interesting.”

      Bri rolled her eyes. This man is impossible. Gorgeous, sexy as hell, but impossible. “I think it’s time to get down to the business at hand.”

      He gave another, deeper sigh. Boy, this guy was some actor, Bri thought, struggling against the urge to laugh, amazed at how much she was enjoying their banter, not to mention his company, his appeal. No, let’s not go there again, she told herself. As they were going to be spending a lot of time together, it would be in her best interest to avoid thinking about his appeal.

      “Are you sulking?” she asked after several long moments—moments in which she had thought about nothing but him.

      He smiled. “I never sulk. Children sulk. And, just on the odd chance you hadn’t noticed, I’m a man, not a child.”

      “Oh, I’ve noticed,” she said, thinking she had noticed too damn much.

      He smiled again. “Oh, I’ve noticed you, too.”

      His smile was an invitation to sheer temptation. Pull it together, Bri told herself, fighting to control her rapid heartbeat and leaping pulse. You’ve had one go-round with a sweet-talkin’, overconfident type. That encounter was one too many.

      But Tanner was an attractive, sexy man. And she was every bit as susceptible as any other normal woman. Why did the devil have to look so angelic?

      Tanner smiled—a devilish, suggestive and too damned appealing smile.

      Now Bri not only felt warm, she felt hot all over. And tingly. And funny inside. Stop it, she told herself. As if that helped.

      “Uh…um…business,” she said, stumbling a bit over her words—something she had never done. “I really think it’s time to get down to business.”

      “Too СКАЧАТЬ