Love Songs by Barbara Delinsky Read Free Book Online Page B

brow rose. “You did pretty well in the cafeteria.”
    “That was a game. Tell me something concrete. Like … like…” she grappled with sanity, “… like what you do for a living.”
    “I thought everyone knew.” His dry statement puzzled her.
    “That’s the second reference you’ve made in the past few minutes to your family’s reputation. Is that bitterness I detect?”
    Alex thought for a moment, as though he had never been put to this test before. “Not bitterness. Let’s just call it … resignation. I’m the third generation of my family in this area. It’s often difficult to be preceded by someone else’s reputation.”
    “I’m sure you meet the family standards,” she offered in encouragement.
    His gaze sharpened. “I meet my standards, or, at least, I try to. But I like to be judged on my own merits, rather than those of my family. Do you come from a large family?”
    Alanna was unaware of his deftness in shifting the conversation back to her until well after she’d fallen into the trap. “No. I had no brothers or sisters.”
    “Are your parents living?”
    The painful memory forced her to avert her gaze. “They died years ago—my mother, when I was twenty, my father four years later.”
    “Then you’re alone?”
    She smiled thinly. “Alone … but not lonely, as the saying goes.”
    “You have friends?”
    “My share. Mostly my work keeps me occupied.”
    “Tell me about your work.”
    Enough was enough. “Uh-uh. I asked you first. What do you do—every day?”
    He looked at her evenly. “I head the Knight Foundation.”
    “Which means…?”
    “Which means that I have a finger in a lot of pies at any given time.”
    Alanna grunted. It was like pulling teeth to get the man down to specifics. Was he always this closemouthed? Or simply with her? As though sensing her frustration, he yielded to her silent plea.
    “Right now we’re in the process of merging one of our electronics firms with two others. By forming a larger corporation we will have access to a nationwide network.” The preoccupation of his gaze with her eyes suddenly ended. With slow deliberation he skimmed her neck and shoulders with his eyes, following the soft fabric of her robe to where her breasts swelled. Serious discussion was totally forgotten as Alanna felt the heat within herself begin to rise.
    “Do you … ah … do the actual … negotiating…?” She clutched at the conversation, fighting the honeyed currents which flowed around and about her.
    His voice was low and at seductive odds with his words. “We have legal counsel for that. But I have to be on top of the legal counsel.”
    Her whispered “I see” fell victim to the web of arousal his gaze spun. His fingers moved to her shoulders, their tips drawing tiny circles on the silken gown.
    “You look so pretty,” he rasped as those fingers rose to thread through the hair that fell by her cheeks. “Do you always wake up looking like this—or did you do it just for me?”
    “I didn’t know you would be here!” she cried weakly, her sense of reason suddenly shaky. As his arm moved slowly to draw her closer she grew aware of its sinewed length, bared as it was to the elbow by the robe that barely reached to his knees. It had been bad enough when he had been fully dressed; this was sheer madness.
    Alex had been right; she was different dressed like this. Her proper businesswear had been a shield, perhaps meager, but a shield nonetheless. In it she had known who she was and why she was here. Now she felt exposed—by far more than just the change of attire. Suddenly she felt unsure—and that made her angry. Moving quickly from his embrace, she stood.
    “I think I’d better go to bed.” Without looking back she crossed the floor and headed toward her room. She had not gone far enough, however, to miss his low-murmured “Chicken.” It stopped her in her tracks.
    Head low, she took a breath. On its own a smile stole to her lips. He