Now You See Her by Linda Howard Read Free Book Online Page B

Great. He was laughing again, and when she realized what she had just said, she wanted to bury her face in her hands. Instead she doggedly plowed on. “And then there’s Candra. She’s been good to me, promoting me when a lot of other gallery owners wouldn’t. Even though you’ve been separated for almost a year . . . Anyway, I don’t think it would be a good idea.”
    He didn’t say anything for a long time, just watched her with a completely unreadable expression on his face. “I’ll ask again,” he finally said.
    She wasn’t sure how those three words could sound almost like a threat, but they did. Richard Worth wasn’t a man who was used to being turned down “You do that,” she said, as the Mercedes slid to a stop in front of her apartment building. “And I’ll turn you down again.” She removed his coat and gave it back to him, and reached for the door handle.
    â€œDon’t be ridiculous,” he said, staying her hand. “There’s no point in getting wet. I have an umbrella, and I’ll walk you to the door.”
    â€œI can manage, thanks.”
    â€œWhat about your portfolio?”
    There was that, damn it. The rain was really coming down. She scowled at him. “You don’t have to look so satisfied,” she growled, knowing he had her.
    His mouth quirked as he reached for the umbrella. “Honey, you don’t have any idea how I look when I’m satisfied.”
    No, but she could imagine, and her mental image knotted her stomach. He bent his head and kissed her sulky mouth, the contact light and warm and devastating. “Think about it,” he whispered, then opened the door and extended the umbrella out, opening it so it provided a circle of protection. He climbed out and held it for her as she slid from the car.
    â€œThink about it,” she mimicked savagely, making him laugh. “Damn you.” She was so annoyed shedidn’t care that sliding across the seat made her skirt ride high on her thighs. Let him look; that was all he was going to do.
    Together they dashed across the sidewalk to the sheltered doorway. He took care that her portfolio didn’t get splashed, and she appreciated his concern, even though she wanted to give him a good swift kick. He left her there and strode quickly back to the waiting car. She didn’t wait until he left, but went inside immediately. He didn’t need any ego stroking, and she definitely needed to get back to her safe, isolated world, away from temptation.
    She needed order, not disorder; peace, not excitement. Most of all, she needed to paint. With a brush in her hand, she could shut out the world.

C HAPTER
    T HREE
    T hink about it. Well, she had. Despite her best efforts, and to the point where she was about to have a screaming fit, she had. With hours stretching before her in which she could paint, instead she continually found herself standing in front of the canvas with an idle brush in her hand while she stared off into space like some giddy adolescent. The problem, of course, wasn’t so much Richard’s attraction to her as her attraction to him. What disturbed her most was her inability to stop thinking about him. Other men had been distinguished by their total lack of distinction; she could put them out of her mind, if indeed they had ever entered it, and go on with her life as usual. None of them had ever tempted her. She couldn’t say that about Richard.
    She felt silly, obsessing about a man. Nothing wasever going to come of her attraction, she would see to that, so it was stupid to waste time mooning over him. Not that any other man would have had a better chance, but the fact that this was
Richard
kept stunning her over and over again, hitting her right between the eyes. Of all the men in the world she might have expected to appeal to her hitherto nonexistent libido, Richard wasn’t even on the list. Richard