Can't Buy Me Love. HEATHER MACALLISTER
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Название: Can't Buy Me Love
Автор: HEATHER MACALLISTER
Издательство: HarperCollins
Жанр: Современные любовные романы
isbn: 9781474018609
isbn:
“So,” she said back. He was going to be trouble. She could tell already.
“Long time no see.”
“Commencement.” She’d stared at the back of his head two rows ahead and alternated between fury and heartbreak. But she’d recovered.
“So how have you been, Alexis?”
“Good. I’ve kept busy.”
“You’re being overly modest. The mere mention of your name strikes fear into the hearts of small-business owners everywhere.”
Was that a compliment, or not? And did she care? “I’ve heard your name bandied about, as well.”
“I’ll bet you have.”
“Usually ‘that damn Dylan Greene.’ You should change your letterhead to D. Dylan Greene.”
He laughed. “Yeah. Vincent has had to restructure a couple of deals when he couldn’t break one of my pre-nups.”
“Actually, I did the restructuring.” Hours and hours and hours of restructuring.
“You get to do the dirty work, huh?”
Alexis folded her hands on the table in front of her. Gripped her knuckles, actually. Hard. “I get the experience.”
“Which you are now throwing away.”
Alexis drew a deep breath. So much for their stilted little conversation. “Watch it, Dylan.”
“I am watching it.” He pushed back from the table and stood. Shoving his hands in his pockets he walked over to the huge windows looking out on the Colorado mountains. “I’m watching a woman throw away her career. What happened to you, Alexis?”
2
ALEXIS WAS INSTANTLY ANGRY on so many levels, she could barely respond. “Are you married, Dylan?”
“No.”
“Been married?”
“No.”
“Given birth?”
He leveled a look at her.
“Anyone given birth on your behalf?”
“Not that I am aware of.”
“So you really don’t know what’s at stake for women who have children? Things are very different for men and women.”
“No duh.”
“Ooh. Like the technical lawyer-speak, Dylan.”
“I’m not speaking as a lawyer. It’s against the rules.”
“Then what are you speaking as?”
“A friend.”
“I think not.” She’d been aiming for matter-of-fact, but had hit snippy.
He smiled. No grinned, damn it. “You’re still mad at me.”
“I am so over you.” She was. She was.
“You’re still mad. Yes, you are.” The grin widened. “I must be a better lover than I thought.”
Typical. “I’ve had worse,” she told him. “And I’ve had better. You’re somewhere in the middle. Average.” Honestly, never tell a man he was the worst lover you ever had, he wouldn’t believe it. But mediocre? Now that really got to him.
“And how does Vincent rank?”
She couldn’t believe he’d asked that. “You’re not the first to imply that Vincent must have selected me to be on his team because I slept with him, but you’re the most unexpected. That was unworthy of you, Dylan.”
He blinked. “I wasn’t impugning your legal skill.” Watching her carefully, he continued softly, “You’re marrying the guy.”
“Yes.”
“So it’s a safe assumption you’ve slept with him.”
They stared at each other and Alexis knew that she must not look away. Didn’t dare blink. She was good at this game. Her eyes were so dark people remarked on them. She used cosmetics to emphasize them and she practiced chilling expressions that revealed nothing.
However, eyes were one thing. The blush she was horrified to feel creeping up her throat was something else. She, who could bluff anyone, could not bluff Dylan.
She blinked.
And he pounced. “You’ve never slept with the guy.”
Alexis darted a look toward the doorway. How mortifying if Vincent or Margaret caught them discussing such a subject. “That—is—none—of—your—business.”
Dylan sat on the edge of the table. “But I’m fascinated by your logic—or the lack thereof. What the heck are you doing, Alexis?”
“I’m thinking with my head and not with my heart. ‘If more people thought with their heads instead of their hearts, we’d be out of a job.’ You said that.”
“I did. Go on.”
“Well,” she deliberately lowered her voice, injecting a sultry quality, “you know that first, wonderful rush of passion, when two people can’t get enough of each other, when they’re blind to anything else about each other as long as they can be entwined for hours and hours…?”
His eyes had darkened. Alexis thought he might even be drooling. He nodded and swallowed.
Deliberately breaking the mood, she sat back and threw up her hands. “It never lasts. And then you’re stuck with what’s left. And you look around and think, ‘Ick. I can’t live with that. What was I thinking?’ And then you realize you weren’t thinking. You were seduced by the sizzle. This time, I evaluated the rest of the man first. And he’s some man.” She gave Dylan her best seductive smile. “I’ll fire up the sizzle later. And you know I can.”
For a moment, she would have sworn that she had him, then he said, “Better make sure you’ve got some good wood.”
“Don’t be crude.”
“Hey, I’m just saying that if you want little sizzlers, you’re going to have to build the campfire with something.”
“And explain to me why you care about my campfire?”
He reached toward her and she thought he was going to touch her. She just stopped herself from flinching as he tapped the contract before her. “I want to know if successful career women selling themselves as high-priced wives is the new trend.”
“You’re СКАЧАТЬ