Corporate Affair by Unknown Read Free Book Online Page B

Hutton for luring you up here!"
    Kalinda froze. David’s name was like a dash of cold water in her face. Slowly, with a gathering sense of amazed confusion, she lifted her head. What was she doing? This was utterly insane! She hardly knew this man and here she was making love to him as if he were a lover of long-standing!
    Mutely she met his eyes, knowing he was at once aware of the self-disgust in her own bleak gaze.
    "Kalinda?" he whispered pleadingly. "What’s wrong, sweetheart?" His hands encircled her waist, holding her in place above him. "Stop looking at me like that. I’m not going to hurt you."
    "I… I know," she managed, struggling to bring her reeling senses back under control. "But I never meant… I didn’t mean to get involved like this again today. I don’t understand what you do to me, but it’s all wrong! We’re all wrong. We… we don’t belong together…."
    Painfully, she tried to separate herself from him, thrusting a hand through her hair to sweep it back from her face. She sat up with the greatest care, as if the movement was incredibly difficult. His eyes never left hers and she saw dismay and a growing coolness begin to wipe out the passion that had looked out at her from the hazel depths.
    "Damn it to hell," he muttered, his hands still on her waist "It was Hutton’s name that did it, wasn’t it?
    What a fool I am. You’d think a man would know when to keep his mouth shut!"
    In spite of the charged atmosphere, Kalinda knew a rueful spark of humor as she listened to him condemn his own stupidity. "I’m sorry, Rand. I should never have let things go this far. I honestly don’t know what got into me."
    He regarded her with a narrowed, seething glance. "You’ve been a chief executive officer for so long you automatically accept the responsibility for whatever happens around you or to you, right? I’ve got news for you, darling, I was involved in this, too! In fact, I started it!"
    He sat up, releasing her to rake his hand impatiently through his thick, tousled hair. "And it’s all my fault it’s ground to a premature halt!"
    "For which I’m very grateful," she flung back, stung by his scathing tone. "I have no intention of being a one-night stand for you, dammit!"
    "And I have no intention of letting you be a one-night stand for your ex-fiancé!"
    "How many times do I have to tell you, that’s not the way it’s going to be? I’ll be in charge tomorrow night and I know exactly what I’m doing!"
    "The hell you do! You’re so blinded by your memories of that bastard you can’t see the stupidity of your own plans! If you ran Brady Data Processing with that degree of insanity, you would have lost it to bankruptcy long ago!"
    "What do you know about running a company into insolvency?" she gritted tersely. "Don’t talk to me about how to run my life or my business. We live in two separate worlds and you aren’t in any position to give me advice!" She leaped to her feet, madly straightening her clothing and frantically trying not to cry. Why the threat of tears? She wished desperately she could figure out why this man had such an incredible affect on her. It made no sense at all!
    He stood up beside her with a quick grace and caught her wrist "Kalinda, I’m sorry," he muttered.
    "Please believe me. I never meant to shout at you like that. But it’s so damn frustrating…."
    "A man your age must know how to handle a little masculine frustration by now!"
    "I’m not talking about the way you just frustrated me physically," he rasped, giving her a small shake.
    "I’m talking about how frustrating it is to try to make you see reason. You can’t go through with your plans for tomorrow night. It’s too dangerous." His voice lowered gruffly, persuasively. "Please give me a chance to make you change your mind. I meant what I said a little while ago. Give me one night and I can make you forget him."
    "Your ego is as vast as David’s!"
    The moment the words left her mouth Kalinda could have