At the Tycoon's Command (4 page)

And it all felt very personal.

Her gaze made another sweep of the office area. It was the opinion of most of the people in town that Jared was nothing more than a playboy squandering the fortune he had inherited, that he was merely a figurehead providing a family member as president of the corporation. The real work was undoubtedly done by qualified people who were dedicated to their jobs. So why had he gone to all the trouble and expense of constructing an office wing, and what kind of work could he possibly have for her to do?

A frisson of apprehension darted through her body, an uneasy feeling telling her she might have made a bad bargain for herself in accepting his offer to work off the debt. She closed her eyes, and a mental image of Jared immediately popped into her mind. Once again the intensity of
his green eyes and his devilishly sexy smile assailed her senses. A little tremor of excitement told her Jared Stevens was the cause of her apprehension, not the Stevens–Donaldson feud, as she wanted to believe.

“I'm glad to see you're on time.”

Jared's smooth voice sliced through her wandering thoughts and startled her to attention. Her eyes snapped open. The sight that greeted her did nothing to dampen her aroused senses or stop her errant musings. He stood framed in the doorway of what appeared to be an inner office beyond the reception area. A shortness of breath caught her by surprise. He might not be the handsomest man in the world, but at that moment she couldn't imagine who would win out over him. With his head cocked to one side, his arms folded across his chest and his hip leaning against the door jamb, he looked like someone she wanted to get to know much better.

She took a steadying breath, then shoved the disturbing thoughts from her mind. True, she hadn't been dating anyone lately and had no special person in her life, but Jared Stevens was the last man she needed to be having desirous thoughts about. His family was responsible for the ruination of her grandfather and the bitterness that had controlled her father's life for as long as she could remember. Jared Stevens was the enemy. She could never let herself forget that.

“I try to always be punctual, Mr. Stevens.” She wanted to kick herself. The words sounded far too strained and definitely way too nervous. That was not the impression she wanted to convey, not the way she wanted to start the first day. She squared her shoulders and stood up. She had to project confidence, an image that said he may have coerced her into this ridiculous situation but he was not going to control her.

He leveled a sharp look at her, briefly making eye con
tact. “Call me Jared. Mr. Stevens was my father.” He chose to ignore her tone of voice and her blatantly obvious attempt to be disagreeable. If that was the game she wanted to play, she would find that she had more than met her match.

He straightened, slowly crossed the room and perched on the edge of the desk without taking his eyes off her. He had hoped she would have somehow changed since he had seen her so her presence wouldn't continue to pull at his senses, but no such luck. His pulse jumped and raced as he forced his breathing under control. She was every bit as beautiful as he had pictured her over the past few days, every bit as desirable as he feared she would be and definitely a huge temptation. He took a steadying breath. He had a busy workday ahead of him and needed to keep his mind on business. He didn't have time for personal thoughts of lust—at least, not at the moment.

He rose from the edge of the desk as he gestured toward the coffeepot sitting on the credenza against the wall. “Grab yourself a cup of coffee if you want, then I'll give you a quick tour of the office complex before we start work.” Kim poured herself a cup of coffee as Jared waited.

“This—” he walked over and opened a door that went to the outside “—is the entrance to this wing of the house and is used for the business offices. It's the door you'll use from now on rather than the front door to the house. As you can see, there's a driveway from the side street that goes past the garage and there are parking spaces right here by the door.” He handed her a key card. “This will open the side gate.” She stuck her head out the doorway and took a quick look around. He closed the door and headed in the direction he had come from a few minutes earlier, explaining as he walked.

“This room is the reception area where my summer as
sistant works. This—” he waved his arm as he stepped into a smaller room containing a table and six chairs “—is used as a conference room.” He continued through another door into the innermost room of the office wing with Kim right behind him.

“This is my office.” He reached across the desk, grabbed some papers and quickly shoved them into a file folder. Until—or maybe that would be
if
—such time as he could trust her with the details of his business dealings he wanted to keep certain papers away from her observation.

Kim surveyed her surroundings. It was a large office with a double set of French doors leading out to a patio, allowing him to come and go without anyone in the conference room or reception area seeing him. She stepped through the French doors. A chain link fence separated a large yard from the rest of the property. A doghouse just off the patio said it was a place where a pet could have lots of outdoor space without interfering with the rest of the property. About twenty feet away were windows that looked into a kitchen and another door into the house.

On the other side of the fence along the back of the house was a large deck next to a swimming pool and a hot tub. Beyond that the property sloped down to the beach and was enclosed by the same type of tall brick wall that surrounded the front of the property. A flower-lined path wound leisurely through the yard and past several trees to a gate leading to a private dock. Moored at the end of the dock was a gleaming white sailboat with bright blue canvas covers over the furled sails. Everything spoke of money and prestige, of a life filled with ease and comfort.

And it had all been stolen from her grandfather by Jared's grandfather. It should have been in her family.

“This is very nice, certainly quite luxurious.”

“Thank you. I only wish I could spend more time here
rather than at my town house in San Francisco, but that's where the company offices are and where I need to be most of the time.”

She clenched her jaw to keep her negative thoughts from turning into words as she returned to his office. She spotted the file folder on his desk. His furtive attempt to hide the papers had not escaped her notice. Were the papers something personal or business? A little wave of disgust rippled through her. It was probably another of the many shady business deals the Stevens family had been involved in over the years. She tried to muster her determination. One thing was for sure—there was no way she would be party to any of his underhanded dealings. If he thought—

“Do you get along with animals?”

His words grabbed her attention. She had been so absorbed in her thoughts she hadn't realized he had been talking to her.

“Uh…animals?”

“Yes. That's the first item on the list of things for you to do today.” He handed the list to her. “I don't expect you to use your own car to haul Lurch to the groomer. You can use one of my vehicles. The Ford Explorer is the one Lurch is the most comfortable in.”

“Lurch? The groomer?” She wrinkled her brow as she stared at the list without focusing on any of the words. A shrill whistle penetrated her confusion. She looked up just in time to see Jared whistle again, then a large dog with a huge head entered through the open French door and came loping across the office directly toward her. Her first thought was to get out of the huge animal's way, but she couldn't move fast enough. She stared, helpless, as the massive animal bore down on her.

Everything happened so quickly Kim wasn't sure of the exact sequence. The animal stood on its hind legs with its
paws on her shoulders. Whether the dog knocked her down or she stumbled and fell, she wasn't sure. A second later she found herself sprawled on the floor with an energetic Saint Bernard licking her face. She frantically tried to shove the animal away from her, but the more she squirmed the more the dog seemed to think it was a game.

Jared grabbed the dog's collar and gave it a gentle tug. The unmistakable sound of amusement surrounded his words. “Come on, Lurch. Let Kim up.” He let go of the dog, who gave Kim one more slurp against her cheek, then retreated to the other side of the room.

Jared reached his hand out to help Kim. She hesitated, then accepted his assistance. The moment their hands touched an unmistakable surge of sensuality traveled up her arm and infused itself through her body. He easily pulled her from the floor as if she weighed no more than a feather. She tried to remove her hand from his all-too-tempting touch, but he refused to let go. Instead, he pulled her closer to him until their bodies were almost touching. She looked into his face, and once again the intensity of his green eyes delved into the very core of her existence.

Jared continued to hold on to Kim's hand. As much as he wanted to kiss that delicious-looking mouth was as much as he knew he didn't dare make the attempt. His words came out much softer than he had anticipated. Even though he wanted to maintain an impersonal atmosphere, he was finding it difficult.

“Are you all right? Lurch didn't hurt you, did he?”

She eased her hand out of his grasp, leaving him with a sudden and unexpected sense of loss. He didn't know what disturbed him more, the loss of physical contact or the desire to have it back.

Kim tried to dismiss the unwelcome surge of desire that swept through her when he pulled her body close to his.
For a moment she thought he might try to kiss her, a situation that, to her surprise, wasn't an unpleasant notion. She tried to brush aside the unacceptable thoughts and cover her errant desires by adjusting her rumpled clothing. She attempted to wipe her face with her hands.

“What in the world was—”

“That was Lurch. Sometimes he gets a little rambunctious. He doesn't usually take to strangers, but he seems to like you.”

She looked at Jared as a combination of disbelief and outrage welled inside her. “That's Lurch? You expect me to take that huge beast to the groomer?”

“Watch what you say.” He feigned a worried expression. “Lurch is very sensitive.”

She shot him an angry glare, then stooped and picked up the list the dog had knocked from her hand and began to read. “Take Lurch to groomer. Pick up dry cleaning. Have Porsche detailed.”

The moment of desire that had assailed her senses quickly disappeared to be replaced by suspicion and irritation. She narrowed her eyes as she stared at him. “This is your idea of the type of work you expect from me? I thought you wanted a secretary for the summer, someone to do office work, not someone to run mundane errands for you and do menial little tasks.”

He adopted an attitude that was all business. “I don't believe there's anything in our agreement that specifically limits your duties to secretarial work.”

“But I assumed—”

Jared shoved a set of keys into her hand. “Lurch will never be comfortable in that little thing you drive. Take the Explorer. It's parked just outside the door.”

“Wait a minute!” She bristled at what she saw as his
take-charge attitude and controlling nature. “We need to talk—”

“You'd better hurry. They're expecting Lurch at nine o'clock.” With that, Jared turned and went into his office, leaving Kim standing in the reception room staring at his retreating form. It had never occurred to her to have the letter of agreement specify that her work assignments would be confined to office chores. She clenched her jaw in anger. He had planned this entire scenario just to embarrass her. This is what he had in mind all along. The situation would definitely require a conversation with her attorney about this unexpected turn of events.

She looked at the keys he had given her and glanced at the list again. On the back he had written the name and address of the dog groomer, the dry cleaner and the car detailer. She turned toward the dog, who was sitting next to the desk. Lurch looked at her with big brown eyes, his tail wagging and his muscles tensed as if it was all he could do to sit there quietly.

Some of the stress that had wrapped itself around her stomach started to loosen a bit. Now that she had gotten over the shock of the large Saint Bernard charging toward her, she had to admit to herself that he was a magnificent dog. “Well, Lurch, it looks like we're going to the groomer. Do you have a leash or something?”

The dog cocked his head and stared at her for a moment, then trotted toward Jared's office, his powerful wagging tail knocking over a wastepaper basket as he went. She looked at what were now her wrinkled and dirty clothes. If this was the way it was going to be, then jeans and a T-shirt would certainly be appropriate dress for the rest of the summer. It was apparent she wouldn't need to be concerned about maintaining an image in front of Jared's clients or
business associates or to be presentable for a business office.

A strange sensation washed over her. Half of it was resentment that he had purposely deceived her about her duties and relegated her to such an insignificant position, but the other half was relief. Even though she had been curious about the business holdings of Stevens Enterprises, she really didn't want to be involved in any of Jared's business dealings.

She tried to look at it in a logical manner. The thing for her to do was to make the best of a bad situation. Perhaps it was nothing more than a game of one-upmanship, his way of making sure she knew he was in charge. Maybe it was better this way. She would let him think he had the upper hand. If her summer job at Jared's involved nothing more than running errands, then that's the way it would be. It would certainly be an easy way to satisfy her father's debt and resolve the entire problem without involving an attorney or any more legal ramifications. It was a situation she knew she could live with for the three-month duration of the letter of agreement.