A MAN CALLED BLUE by EC Sheedy Read Free Book Online Page B

think it's everything." She felt muddled, unable to explain her anxiety in concrete terms and vaguely guilty because she couldn't. She was so tired.
    "You're right. It's not. Particularly when you're dealing with a Gus Hallam."
    "You know him?"
    "A thousand of him."
    "And you don't trust him?"
    "Do you?" he shot back.
    She hesitated. "No. No, I don't." She knew it shouldn't matter. Josephine believed that if you only did business with people you trusted, no business would get done. Simone was uncomfortable with that, had no taste for pawing through people's motives, lifting them like scales to expose hidden agendas, then manipulating them for profit.
    "Then chalk up some points for your instincts. If this was my baby, I'd be poking at it with a mighty long stick."
    She straightened away from the sofa. "Then help me, Blue. I need someone who'll... keep things quiet. Stay. I'd like you to work with me on this." She ventured a brief smile."Please."
    Blue knew he was being had, but couldn't do a thing about it. One tiny smile, a few soft words, and he was a goner. She looked exhausted, worn out by jet lag and a long evening. He'd started out wanting a level playing field, what he got was mushy ground somewhere in the vicinity of his heart.
    She held out her hand. "Three weeks, that's all I'm asking. For me and for Nolan."
    Blue frowned, not missing the hint about his promise to Nolan. He looked at her outstretched hand, so small and soft. The silk of a web. Once he connected with it, what then? Oddly indecisive, he rubbed at his beard-roughened jaw, then looked into the searching eyes of the woman holding that hand out to him. Her smile was gone, replaced by a look at once earnest and uneasy as she waited for his answer.
    You're a damned fool, Bludell.
    He took her hand, expecting the hard practiced executive handshake. Women, he'd noticed, were getting good at cracking hand bones when they shook these days. Not Simone. Her grip was firm but feminine, her hand delicately structured and surprisingly cool. His own warmed as it closed over hers.
    "Three weeks," he agreed. "But I do it my way."
    She cocked her head, showing a hint of suspicion. "Should that last remark worry me?"
    "That depends on how much you like to worry."
    She appeared to consider his cryptic answer, then smiled again, a tentative tilt of her lips that yanked hard on the deeply buried cord linking his chest and another anatomical region too personal to mention, and while he didn't like the idea of any strings at all, the feeling intrigued him.
    "Thank you," she said, carefully pulling her hand from his. "Nolan will be pleased."
    "I'm not doing this for Nolan."
    He could see her tense. "Why are you doing it?"
    "Aside from the fact a beautiful woman asked me to, I'm not sure—yet. Maybe it's the opportunity for advancement."
    "Opportunity?"
    "I figure if I do a good enough job, I'll get to move up the corporate ladder." He took a step toward her and watched her grip tighten on the back of the sofa. He took another step, and she straightened to face him, now a wary doe. He touched her cheek, traced his index finger along her jaw to the fullness of her lower lip, then stopped. "And the way I see it, that ladder will take me straight to the top." He brushed a kiss across her lips, forcing himself to hold the line. "I think I'd like the view."
    He moved away. "I usually start at six-thirty, but jet lag takes a toll, so let's say eight. I hope that's not too early for you."
    Breathless, Simone watched him saunter from the room. If what went on between them tonight was about winning and losing, the first point was definitely Blue's. Carefully, assessingly, she touched her lips. Blue's butterfly kiss lingered. She hadn't imagined it.
    * * *
    "...Nine o'clock. Your coffee is..."
    Simone roused herself to half-awake, before burrowing back under the covers to avoid the voice dragging her into the day.
    Nine o'clock!
    She bolted upright as Mrs. Dreiser pulled back the drapes