Cat 'N Mouse by Yvonne Harriott Read Free Book Online Page A

thought about his father since he left. Why memory lane trip? Must be the heat.
    Sam pushed thoughts of his father from his mind as Alexandria started toward the passenger side of the Land Rover. Halfway between the door and the SUV, she turned and waved to Prescott. Dressed in jeans and a white blouse, Princess looked subdued, nothing like the fashion diva that slammed her car into his. When their eyes met, hers lit up like fireworks.
    “Don’t bother,” she said when he moved to the passenger side to open her door.
    He shrugged. “Suit yourself.”
    “What do I call you?”
    She opened the door, saw the phone and cut her eyes at him. Picking up the phone, she tossed it in her purse. It was more like a suitcase with straps. She slid into the seat. No thank you for returning my phone. Nothing. Come on, did he expect Princess to thank him for the phone which she probably thought he stole.
    “Sam is fine.”
    “Well,
Sam
, here is my calendar.” She retrieved a black hard cover book from the bottomless pit of a purse and tossed it on the driver’s seat. “It has my schedule up to the end of the year. You can photo copy the pages for this week if you so chose. I want it back before the end of the day.”
    Sam was expecting some kind of electronic organizer or some high tech gadget, not a black book with yellow sticky notes hanging from every page. The book was as thick as the Moby Dick novel. He grabbed the book and threw it on the backseat. He said nothing because he wasn’t going to give it back until he was good and ready.
    “I’ve a dinner engagement at six o’clock tonight.”
    She pulled the seatbelt across her shoulder, snapped it into the buckle and put on her sunglasses, a fancy black pair that seemed to cover her entire face.
    That was it. Her orders. Well too bad. He was calling the shots. Not her, and he wasn’t about to be ordered around, not by
Her Highness
.
    “No. I don’t know where this
dinner engagement
is. How can I do my job—”
    “Do what you need to do, but I need to attend a dinner at six. You can wait outside in the car for all I care.”
    “It doesn’t work that way,
Princess
.”
    She turned toward him and said through clenched teeth, “I told you not to call me that.”
    “Fine. You want something from me, then you give me something.”
    “Excuse me?” She lifted her sunglasses from her face and rested them on her head.
    She did the neck bobbing up and down motion thing again and her hand automatically went to the button of her blouse. Fire blazed in her eyes. That set him off. Actually, it didn’t take a lot to set him off where she was concerned.
    “No need to look at me like that. Your virtue,” he gave that same look of contempt she’d throw his way, “is safe with me.”
    “How comforting. What do you want?”
    Sam picked up on the slight hesitation in her voice as she asked the question. He figured because of who her father was people were always asking her for handouts.
    “We’ll attend your dinner this time, provided you tell me who will be attending and where it will be. I’ll talk to Matt and if he knows them then you’re closer to going than you were a few minutes ago.”
    She drew in a sharp intake of breath, but didn’t say anything. Sam waited. He thought for sure he saw smoke coming from her ears. He pressed on because he had more to say while he had her undivided attention.
    “
If
I don’t think it’s safe, then we won’t go. My decision is final. As for all future engagements, you’ll tell me where they’ll be ahead of time and provide me with a guest list. If you cannot then your host will. No information, no engagement. If you’re in agreement, I won’t call you ‘
Princess’
any more.”
    She looked over at him as if considering his offer. For a minute he thought she was going to tell him to go to hell again. Then she lowered her gaze and said, “I’m having dinner with the Andersons. Matt knows them.”
    That surprised the hell out