Business or Pleasure? by Julie Hogan

if you are. And don’t worry. After we have dinner with the Baldwins tonight, I’m going to go meet Troy and his friends so you’ll have some time alone right from the get-go.”
    By the time he turned around—and it didn’t take long—his expression had gone from merely cloudy to a full-blown storm. “You aren’t serious.”
    â€œSure I am,” she said, although she hadn’t given it much thought until he’d made that crack about staying out of each other’s way. The big jerk. “I figure I’ll be here for a few months. And I certainly don’t want to impose on you for my social life.” Even though she was pretending to examine the bedding, she chanced a glance at him through her lashes.
    Uh-oh. Tornado warning.
    â€œFine,” he said, his voice tight. She checked, but his posture and expression weren’t transmitting fine. “But if you insist on going, I’m going with you.”
    Annoyance prickled along her spine. If there was one thing she didn’t need, it was another big brother. And even if she did, Alec would not be on the short list of candidates. “No, thanks,” she said. If you come with me, I’ll just want to be alone with you. “I’d rather go by myself.”
    Exaggerated patience rang in his voice when he said, “Daisy, I’m responsible for you.”
    That sent her from merely annoyed to just plain mad in two seconds flat. What was it about her that made the men in her life treat her like she was a helpless child? More important, why couldn’t this particular man see her as a woman? After all, there was no difference between her and any of his bimbo girlfriends, and she didn’t see him following them around feeling burdened by responsibility.
    â€œThe hell you are, Alec,” she said firmly. “I’m a grown woman, going to a party I was invited to by a friend.”
    â€œHey,” he said with a shrug and a tone that brooked no argument. “Your friend invited me, too. And I’m going.”
    Daisy had to bite her tongue—literally—to keep from telling him where he really could go. So rather than say something she’d surely regret, she swept passed him, stormedoutside and grabbed Bam Bam’s carrier and the remaining bags. When she returned, Alec was setting up his laptop on one of the large tables in what had just become their field office.
    â€œThe front bedroom is mine,” she said, spoiling for another fight and wondering how he’d gotten so far under her skin so fast.
    â€œFine with me, but keep that cat in there. Cats and I don’t get along.”
    â€œThat’s a shocker,” she said with a sniff.
    She banged her bags into a wall or two in her haste to leave the room, but still heard him call after her, “Dinner’s in an hour.”
    â€œRight,” she mumbled under her breath. “Like I’m the one who’s late for everything.”
    â€œWhat?”
    â€œSure thing,” she sang out with exaggerated sweetness. And with that, she closed her door firmly, threw her bags on the bed, freed her agitated cat and wondered how on earth she could still be pining for someone who could make her this mad.

Four
    D inner with the Baldwins turned out to be just the distraction Daisy needed. The only thing that kept it from being perfect was that Virginia had seated Alec so close to Daisy that their elbows touched constantly, so close that the warm, spicy scent of him constantly sent her mind wandering. So close, in fact, that the heat from his body made her feel like scootching her chair away from him so she wouldn’t get burned.
    But she didn’t. She sat still, stayed focused on the conversation and forced herself to steal only sporadic glimpses of him out of the corner of her eye. He looked positively dishy in a dark-blue silk shirt and black pants. His mahogany hair was just unkempt enough to tempt her