A negotiated surrender by Jayne Castle Read Free Book Online

fitting it into the lock. He eyed the huge bouquet as she carried it past him into the tiled hall.
    "No." Deliberately Calla didn't volunteer any further information.
    He followed her across the Spanish tiles into the white-walled living room. Hand-carved furniture from Mexico and some very fine Indian rugs set the gracious, southwestern tone of the decor. Slade, for all his earlier interest in the place where she lived, seemed oblivious to the cool, uncluttered interior. He watched Calla set down the bouquet on the small, round pedestal table, the surface of which had been inlaid with painted tiles.
    "So who sent the flowers, Calla?" he asked stonily, his hands thrust into the pockets of his slacks, his feet braced slightly apart. There was a grim, determined expression on the hard features and Calla smiled inwardly.
    "A friend," she said quietly, stepping back to admire the bouquet. She could feel Slade behind her, and took a certain pleasure in baiting him like this.

    "A male friend, I presume."
    "Yes."
    "Calla… !"
    "Here, read the note, if you're so curious," she offered with apparent unconcern. He took it from her hand with a suspicious look.
    "Congratulations on the coup," he read aloud, and frowned over the signature. "Gary?"
    "Gary Crispin," Calla confirmed lightly. "He knew tonight represented the end of the negotiations. He's very thoughtful." Feeling on top of the situation, she smiled brilliantly. "I'd offer you some coffee, but…"
    "Thank you," he said before she could finish, "I'll have mine black."
    She blinked, undecided about how to deal with the rudeness for a moment. Then she relaxed. What did a cup of coffee matter at this point? And she was enjoying watching him stew over the source of the flowers. Without a word she moved gracefully into the yellow and green kitchen, her bronze-toned hair gleaming in the overhead light.
    "Is this Crispin guy the reason you're so cool to every other male in sight?" Slade asked a little too quietly as he lounged in the doorway, arms folded across his broad chest.
    She could feel his eyes on her as she went about the business of making coffee.
    "Gary owns the dance studio where I take ballet lessons for exercise," she said unhelpfully.
    "He's a dancer ?" There was a note of disbelief in the gritty, rough voice.
    "He used to dance with a company back east before he moved out here and opened the studio." Calla nodded, pouring hot water over instant coffee. She certainly wasn't going to go to the effort of making the drip kind. Not for this man!
    "I see." There was a deliberate neutralness in his words.
    Calla glanced over her shoulder and saw the unworried, totally confident look on his face.
    "No." She chuckled with amused disdain. " I see. You're one of those typical macho types who automatically assumes all male dancers aren't all male, right?" She handed him a cup and saucer.
    "Well, honey," he said soothingly, taking the coffee from her hand and meeting her eyes with laconic humor. "Everyone knows male ballet dancers are…"
    "How fascinating," she interrupted guilelessly. "I would have thought a man of your experience would know better than to make generalizations about a group of men whose physical abilities are on a par with those of the most highly trained athlete."
    Suddenly the amber gaze flamed. "Are you telling me this guy is your lover?"
    At least that had driven the humor out of him, she thought in satisfaction as she walked wordlessly past him into the living room.
    "Surely you don't expect me to discuss something like that with you !" she charged aloofly, seating herself on the dark leather couch.

    "Why not?" he growled, flinging himself into the heavy wooden chair opposite and stretching out his legs.
    He looked like a sprawled panther, she decided. "When you're mine I sure as hell expect you to make it clear to other men!"
    Calla held back her temper with a supreme effort to ask politely, "If I tell you Gary Crispin is my lover will you leave me in