The Cinderella Deal by Jennifer Crusie Read Free Book Online Page B

looked down at her, fed up. “Trust me. If I acquired a taste, you’d let me indulge. I’m irresistible.” He met her eyes, ready for battle, and she smiled at him, that bone-melting smile. Combined with the surge of adrenaline he’d gotten from rescuing her from Howard and the surge of lust he got every time he looked down her dress, her smile wiped all thought temporarily from his mind and breathing was suddenly difficult.
    “Don’t do that,” Linc said.
    “Don’t underestimate me,” Daisy said.
    “That would be a mistake,” Linc agreed, and got in the car without looking at her again.
    On the plane the next day, Linc was relieved to see that Daisy was a different woman. She sat quietly in her white dress with her ankles crossed and her chin down, and she didn’t say a word. During the takeoff, she’d held his hand, and he’d though that it was a nice touch until he noticed her hands were like ice and her knuckles were white. She was cutting off the circulation to his fingers.
    “Are you scared?”
    Her voice was only one notch above a whisper. “I hate flying.”
    “Why didn’t you say so?”
    “One thousand dollars.”
    “Flying is statistically safer than driving, so you can relax.” Linc pried her fingers loose. “Concentrate on the money. Your rent is paid, by the way. I sent it directly to Guthrie so he wouldn’t evict you while we were gone.”
    Daisy clenched her hands in her lap. “I know you paid it. He called.”
    Linc winced. “I should have thought of that. I suppose he thinks I’m keeping you. Did he threaten to evict you for immoral behavior?”
    Daisy shook her head a little. “No. I’m not sure, but I
    think he offered to take over for you if things didn’t work out between us.“
    “What?”
    “I think he propositioned me. I’m not sure. He hems and haws a lot.”
    “The creep.” Linc took her hand again and thought about what louses men could be to defenseless women like Daisy. “Would you like me to break his fingers?”
    Daisy rolled her eyes at him. “Linc, he knows you’re not my brother from New Jersey.”
    “I’ll break his fingers anyway, the old goat.” Linc was outraged. Poor Daisy. She was such a nice kid.
    He stopped. The story was working. Daisy wasn’t a nice kid; she was a hippie from hell. But she had even him thinking she was a sweet little thing. He looked down at her. She did look sort of gormless, sitting there with one hand curled in her lap, the other crushing his again whenever they hit an air pocket.
    “Did he upset you?”
    “Guthrie?” Daisy shook her head and loosened her grip. “Oh, no. I just don’t like flying.” After a couple of minutes during which no air pockets attacked the plane, she peered up at him. “How about you? Are you nervous about the speech?”
    “No.” Linc thought about the speech and the party afterward and shifted in his seat.
    “Well, then, what are you nervous about?”
    “What?”
    He looked down at her, annoyed, but she met his eyes calmly, and he realized he wasn’t breathing again. He drew in a deep breath through his nostrils, and Daisy said, “I hate it when you do that. If you don’t want to talk to me, don’t, but don’t flare your nostrils at me like William F. Buckley—”
    “What? I’m not flaring my nostrils—”
    “—because that’s just rude.”
    “—I’m breathing.”
    Daisy didn’t look convinced, so he went on. “When I get tense, I hold my breath. It’s a bad habit, so I concentrate on breathing deliberately through my nose to make sure I don’t pass out.”
    Daisy blinked at him. “You’re kidding. You forget to breathe?”
    Linc turned away to look out the window. “It’s a very common reaction to stress.”
    “I didn’t think you even had stress,” Daisy said. “It doesn’t seem in character.”
    “It isn’t,” Linc said shortly. “That’s why I breathe. Can we talk about something else?”
    “Sure.” Daisy cocked her head at him. “If you’re