Dangerous Magic by Stephanie James, Jayne Ann Krentz Page A

to know me, you acted oblivious to my bait.”
    “If you’re talking about the afternoon you called me into your office to discuss the career paths for the various members of my writing group…”
    she began heatedly, thinking of that short, businesslike meeting.
    “I am.” He smiled quirkingly. “You came totally prepared with case histories on everyone who reports to you, spent half an hour extolling their virtues, and left without even giving me a chance to get a word in edgewise.”
    “You’d made it clear you wanted a concise report, and that’s what I gave you!” she snapped, incensed.
    “I had intended,” he informed her dryly, “to extend the discussion through cocktails at my place, but you raced in and out of my office like a whirlwind. Then there was the morning I stopped you in the hall and suggested I get to know more about the writing group over lunch. I thought I was making progress until you showed up at the appointed time and place with the five writers you supervise.”
    Elissa reddened, remembering the occasion. “They were all thrilled by your interest,” she mumbled, her eyes lowering self-consciously to the knot of his tie.
    “Tell me something,” he urged, lifting her chin between thumb and forefinger. “You didn’t really misunderstand my invitation that morning, did you? You deliberately chose to interpret it as meaning I wanted to take the whole group out to lunch. Why, Elissa? I’ve seen you turn a corner at the end of a hall just to avoid having to walk past me!”
    “That’s not true,” she defended, thoroughly irritated at his perception and at herself for having allowed her instinctive avoidance response to show. She had found herself going out of her way to forestall small encounters, and she had purposely misinterpreted his invitation to lunch.
    Exactly why she had done so wasn’t entirely clear to her on the various occasions involved, but now she knew. Her feminine instincts had been working overtime, warning her of a new kind of danger in her life—
    warning her of a man who couldn’t be handled the way she automatically handled other men.
    “It is true!” he countered. “But why me, Elissa? Why haven’t I qualified for your magic circle? You didn’t even invite me to your last party even though most of the rest of the staff went, and I understand my predecessor always had a standing invitation to your parties.”
    “Don’t act as if you’re some poor waif from the storm to whom I’ve refused shelter and comfort,” she snarled, jerking herself away from his touch on her face and stepping a pace out of reach.
    “You’ve known from the beginning that even if you could succeed in charming me, you’d never be able to make the thorough job of it that you do on others, isn’t that right?” he pressed, closing the space between them but not touching her again. The gray flames of his eyes swept her outraged face. “You’d never be able to dazzle me to such an extent that I wouldn’t be aware of how little of you I was really getting. I’ll always know if I’m being short-changed, witch, and I won’t tolerate it. Wolves aren’t noted for taking less than their full share. And I do want my share, honey,” he added in suddenly cajoling tones. “I want to have your softness and your wide-eyed, fascinated interest and have you remember the way I like my drinks and all the rest. Surely you can understand that? I’m only a man, Elissa, and I want to be charmed like the others…”
    “Don’t give me that line,” Elissa grated furiously. “I’ve read Little Red Riding Hood!”
    “Then you know the wolf got everything he wanted in the end.”
    “This time the story is going to have a different conclusion, Wade Taggert!” she vowed, trying to stifle the leap of her pulses as she confronted this new and dangerous element in her life. It would be the height of folly to allow the intrigue of the situation to pull her under. She knew, deep inside, she