His Girl Friday (6 page)

"Uh, Dina, that isn't ham," she said.

The younger woman frowned, glancing from the ham she was slicing to the cake she'd handed her cousin. She could feel her face flaming.

"It's my dull life making me crazy," Danet a sighed. She took back the cake and offered the sliced ham. "Maybe I do need to kis Norman and see if he turns into a prince."

"That's frogs, not iguanas," Jenny corrected. "But you could use a prince," her cousin added. "A nice tal one who'l treat you like royalty. You'd look right at home in a cottage with a white picket fence and pret y lit le girls playing around your skirts."

"We both used to dream about that, remember?" Danet a recal ed with a smile as she paused long enough to heat up some spinach quiche for Norman and put it in his dog dish. She wondered if anybody made bowls for iguanas. She glanced at Jenny, noticing the withdrawn, sad look on the older woman's face. "Jenny, what's wrong?"

"Nothing," Jenny said quietly. "I'm just tired." She caught the other woman's curious look and smiled. "Nothing's wrong, real y. How are Uncle Rob and Aunt Helen?" Danet a al owed herself to be sidetracked, reluctantly. "Mom and Dad are fine," she said. "They're organizing a youth program back in Mis ouri that caters to teens on the edge of drug addiction, and they said that your mom is taking up break dancing."

Jenny laughed. "So she wrote me. I hope she doesn't break anything doing it. It's so nice to be home, Dina," she sighed. "Even if it's only for a night." And it was barely a whole night; when Danet a woke, Jenny was already gone. The twin bed where Jenny had slept was neatly made, and there was a note on it, a very brief one, saying that Jenny had to catch an early flight and would write.

Danet a fed Norman some bananas and avocado and leftover spinach quiche and went to work worrying. Something was going on, and judging by Jenny's look and distracted presence, it was something big.

Jenny had worked on that hush-hush project for the past few months. Her mother, who was Danet a's Aunt Doris, and Danet a's own parents had been uneasy about her taking the job. But Jenny wasn't a homebody, and she seemed to thrive on the excitement.

The thing was, nobody knew or understood what Jenny did. And maybe it was bet er that way.

Danet a had an office full of people as the day began, which gave her the advantage of not having to spend any time alone with the disturbing Mr. Rit er. After yesterday, she had every intention of walking wide around him. She could have choked herself senseles for let ing him get that close, for let ing him see how vulnerable she was. But he was, again, al busines , even if she did feel the heat of his gaze more often than usual as the day wore on. Lunchtime came, and Danet a got her purse to run down to the smal Chinese restaurant at the corner and get the takeout she'd ordered. She usual y ate at her desk except when one of the women from the other offices in the building invited her to join them, and that wasn't too often these days. It seemed that everyone was suffering from work pres ure.

"Can I bring you anything from the Chinese place?" Danet a asked Cabe politely, pausing in the open doorway of his office.

"No, thanks," he said with forced indifference. He was stil having hel trying to keep his distance from her after yesterday. "I'm taking Karol to lunch." She nodded and started to leave, stopped by his curt, "Dan?"

She turned, grateful to hear even that hated nickname if it meant he was mel owing a lit le. "Yes, sir?" His blue eyes narrowed and with helples fascination he studied her slender figure in the gray crepe dres . "You've been very quiet today.'

"I've been busy," she said. "And I didn't get much sleep last night."

He scowled. "Why not?"

He had no right to ask, but the answer popped out automatical y. "I had company. Wel , until just before dawn,„ anyway," she began, wondering how much she should tel him about Jenny. r

The look on his face was almost comical. It seemed to actual y pale. He sat Up, his expres ion going from mild surprise to anger in the space of seconds. "I thought one-nightstands weren't your style."

"One-night. . Oh, I see. No, not a man," she blurted out. "My cousin, Jenny."

He made an odd gesture with one hand, looking as surprised as she felt, because the question shouldn't have been asked or answered. His eyes caught hers and held them, and that long, sweet electricity flowed between them as potently as it had the day before. Her smile faded and she felt her heartbeat racing in her throat as his eyes darkened. She saw the muscles in his firm, stubborn chin clench as he stared back at her with blue lightning flashing in his eyes, as if he were struggling for control. In fact he was, but before he could move or speak, Karol walked in, wearing a light colored, gauzy dres with a matching ribbon in her long, silky blond hair. Cabe got to his feet with quiet grace, tearing his eyes away from Danet a and forcing a smile for Karol as she joined them.

"Wel , wel , what a pret y decoration for my office," he murmured, his voice fal ing an octave as Karol nodded and smiled coolly at Danet a before she walked past her to Cabe.

"You flat erer," Karol said.

"I wouldn't cal it flat ery," Cabe returned. Danet a was beginning to get under his skin in a big way, and he couldn't have those long, soulful looks coming at him day after day without doing something about her. He had to show Danet a that she meant nothing to him, for her own sake. He could hurt her badly if he let this go any further. He couldn't afford the luxury of get ing involved with a naive lit le virgin who didn't know beans about men or life. And there was one sure way to do that, he thought with sudden insight.

—'He reached out to Karol, caught her close and bent to kis her with fierce, rough ardor, right in front of a shocked, embarras ed Danet a.

"I'd bet er go," Danet a stammered, managing somehow to drag her eyes away from them and creep out the door without anyone noticing. Al the way down the elevator, and to the restaurant, she couldn't get the sight out of her mind. It hurt, and she didn't understand why. Cabe, with that beautiful woman in his arms, his mouth so violently hungry on hers, his arms corded around her, pres ing her to every lean inch of his powerful body. Danet a almost groaned out loud at the memory, wondering how it would feel to have him treat her that way. She had to stop this, she told herself firmly. She was let ing his charm blind her to what was underneath it. Karol was just a conquest, like al his other conquests, and Danet a's parents hadn't raised her to be just a name in some man's black book. She deliberately took her time get ing back to her office, so that Cabe and Karol were gone when she returned with her lunch. She was sit ing behind her desk halfheartedly picking at her Moo Goo Gai Pan when Ben Meadows peered in the door, his blond head gleaming as he grinned at her.

"Al alone?" he murmured. "Unprotected?"

"Not real y," she replied with a mischievous smile. "I'm armed with deadly kung fu chopsticks. Ha!" She made a mock lunge with one.

"You wouldn't real y at ack a hardworking sales manager, would you?"

She shook her head. "Want some Moo Goo?" she offered.

He made a horrible face. "I won't eat something with a name like that."

"It's just chicken and oriental vegetables in sauce, and it's delicious."

"That's what they told me about spinach quiche," he said with a glare. "Anyway, how about a nice leisurely lunch in an expensive restaurant with white wine and fat ening des erts? On me," he added, smiling hopefully.

She studied him curiously. He wasn't bad looking, and he was much closer to her age than Cabe. A nice, steady man who never chased women, who was very quiet as a rule and never made trouble. She liked him, although she didn't know him social y. Not for lack of effort on his part; he was forever asking her out and she was forever refusing. But since Cabe had said that about her refusing Meadows because she had a crush on her boss, she changed her mind. "I'd have loved to," she said with a smile. "But I'm almost through now."

"Tomorrow," he said quickly. "How about tomorrow?"

"I'd love to, Ben," she replied. "Thank you."

"Great. . I.. oh, no," he groaned. "Wait a minute, I have to be out of town until Wednesday. So how about Thursday?" he altered the invitation hopefully. She smiled. "That would be fine, Ben," she said softly.

He grinned. "Thursday, then. We'l go somewhere fancy, so dres for it, okay?"

"Okay!"

He went down the hal whistling, and Danet a finished her lunch, hoping she hadn't made a bad choice. He'd only been with the company a month or so, but he seemed very nice, and it would do her good to go out for once. Sit ing at home was suddenly appal ing.

Cabe didn't come back until wel after two-thirty, and he looked disheveled. It didn't take much imagination to figure out what he'd been doing with his lady friend. Danet a spared him one quick glance and then got on with her work, giving him pleasant, polite answers when he asked questions, doing her job and trying to camouflage the hurt he'd inflicted.

Cabe had noticed that wounded look and nodded to himself with grim, guilty satisfaction while he tried to reas ure himself that he had a noble excuse for his actions. Karol didn't like to be mussed, so he'd mussed himself to appear as if he and his lady had done more than eat and talk for two hours. It had worked, if Danet a's expres ion was any indication. Now she'd get the idea and her crush would die a natural death. That was neces ary, he told himself. He didn't want to hurt her any more than he already had. If only there hadn't been such pain in those soft gray eyes. . He groaned out loud. Hurting her was the last thing he'd wanted to do, but he had nothing to give her. A brief affair was the only thing he had to offer, and that would be cruel in the extreme. Danet a deserved so much more than his raw desire. But she was vulnerable and so was he. He'd have succumbed to those soft, soulful looks eventual y, so he had to stop them. Now he had, but it gave him no pleasure. He couldn't even bear to look at her. He wondered sometimes what she'd think if she knew the truth, knew how alone he real y was, how few women there'd actual y been in his life. The playboy image was very useful in its way. It kept serious contenders from get ing too close to him, from seeing that he was every bit as fastidious in his private life as the ice-cold Karol. Actual y Karol was a busines acquaintance who'd had a raw deal with men and wanted no intimate complications. She and Cabe dated to protect each other, and it was working very wel . Thank God there would be no more temptation from Danet a. He hadn't realized just how badly he'd wanted her. Thank God Ben had interrupted them, or anything might have happened. As it was, he could pretend that it had been a momentary lapse, but he had to make sure it wasn't repeated, ever. Danet a had gotten the idea, though, and it showed when she left work at quit ing time.

She finished at five and despite the fact that she was usual y the last one out of the office, she left on time without bothering to say goodbye to Mr. Rit er. She spent an uncomfortable evening in front of the television, the silence broken only by the occasional and rare movements Norman made as he moved from the radiator to his paper in the bathroom and back again.

She fed him and wondered what Cabe would think of him. She already knew that her boss was afraid of nothing in the world except snakes. She frowned. Technical y Norman was a reptile, even though he had legs. Would Mr. Rit er be afraid of him? Maybe someday she'd find out.

"I don't suppose iguanas turn into princes, Norman," she sighed, watching him scramble onto the radiator and sprawl as if he were boneles . He glanced at her indifferently and closed his eyes. "Oh, wel ," she confes ed, "even if you were a prince under a spel , I'm not kis ing you. Although," she murmured darkly, "I'd rather kis you than Mr. Rit er. At least I know where you've been."

That set her off, as she remembered his father's comment about Karol. She laughed al the way to bed, trying her best to put the sight of Karol in Cabe's arms out of her mind. She didn't sleep wel that night, and only the thought of a luxury lunch with Ben Meadows kept her going for the next two days. That, she thought, would show Mr. Rit er that she wasn't dying of unrequited love for him.

Cabe himself was quietly polite, except to glance at her from time to time in a brooding way, as if he were worried about something. The rest of the time, his blue eyes smoldered as they slid with pointed appreciation over her soft curves. She ignored his scrutiny. Probably he was afraid that after he'd kis ed Karol so ardently, Danet a's heart was broken and she was going to jump off the roof or something and embarras him. Wel , once she went out with Ben, he'd be reas ured and things would get back to normal, she told herself. Meanwhile she'd dres ed to the hilt for Ben's sake, and she looked even bet er than she had the day she and Cabe had gone out to Mr. Deal's oil rig. She'd left her curly permed light brown hair long and wavy around her shoulders and down her back. She'd put on more makeup than usual, emphasizing her long lashes, her big gray eyes and her exquisite complexion. She wore a red lipstick that highlighted her mouth, just the shade to match her sexy red-and-white shirtwaist dres . It was a clingy fabric that lovingly outlined her high, full breasts, smal waist, flaring hips and long, sexy legs. She wore red high heels that gave her even more height than usual. It had both disturbed and unnerved her that Cabe had hardly been able to take his eyes off her al morning. And when Ben came to pick her up for their date, he just stood in the doorway and sighed, smiling at her dreamily.

That amused her and she laughed, the sound pleasant and musical. Cabe Rit er came out of his office in time to see her face, and something explosive flashed in his blue eyes.

"Do you need something, Ben?" he asked pointedly, because he didn't like the way Ben was looking at her—not one bit.

"No, Cabe. I came to pick up Danet a for our lunch date," the younger man said pleasantly, too intent on her to notice Cabe's shocked expres ion turn suddenly to anger. "I'l have her back by one sharp, I promise. Danet a, shal we go?"