His Girl Friday by Diana Palmer

was sit ing behind her desk halfheartedly picking at her Moo Goo Gai Pan when Ben Meadows peered in the door, his blond head gleaming as he grinned at her.
    "Al alone?" he murmured. "Unprotected?"
    "Not real y," she replied with a mischievous smile. "I'm armed with deadly kung fu chopsticks. Ha!" She made a mock lunge with one.
    "You wouldn't real y at ack a hardworking sales manager, would you?"
    She shook her head. "Want some Moo Goo?" she offered.
    He made a horrible face. "I won't eat something with a name like that."
    "It's just chicken and oriental vegetables in sauce, and it's delicious."
    "That's what they told me about spinach quiche," he said with a glare. "Anyway, how about a nice leisurely lunch in an expensive restaurant with white wine and fat ening des erts? On me," he added, smiling hopefully.
    She studied him curiously. He wasn't bad looking, and he was much closer to her age than Cabe. A nice, steady man who never chased women, who was very quiet as a rule and never made trouble. She liked him, although she didn't know him social y. Not for lack of effort on his part; he was forever asking her out and she was forever refusing. But since Cabe had said that about her refusing Meadows because she had a crush on her boss, she changed her mind. "I'd have loved to," she said with a smile. "But I'm almost through now."
    "Tomorrow," he said quickly. "How about tomorrow?"
    "I'd love to, Ben," she replied. "Thank you."
    "Great. . I.. oh, no," he groaned. "Wait a minute, I have to be out of town until Wednesday. So how about Thursday?" he altered the invitation hopefully. She smiled. "That would be fine, Ben," she said softly.
    He grinned. "Thursday, then. We'l go somewhere fancy, so dres for it, okay?"
    "Okay!"
    He went down the hal whistling, and Danet a finished her lunch, hoping she hadn't made a bad choice. He'd only been with the company a month or so, but he seemed very nice, and it would do her good to go out for once. Sit ing at home was suddenly appal ing.
    Cabe didn't come back until wel after two-thirty, and he looked disheveled. It didn't take much imagination to figure out what he'd been doing with his lady friend. Danet a spared him one quick glance and then got on with her work, giving him pleasant, polite answers when he asked questions, doing her job and trying to camouflage the hurt he'd inflicted.
    Cabe had noticed that wounded look and nodded to himself with grim, guilty satisfaction while he tried to reas ure himself that he had a noble excuse for his actions. Karol didn't like to be mussed, so he'd mussed himself to appear as if he and his lady had done more than eat and talk for two hours. It had worked, if Danet a's expres ion was any indication. Now she'd get the idea and her crush would die a natural death. That was neces ary, he told himself. He didn't want to hurt her any more than he already had. If only there hadn't been such pain in those soft gray eyes. . He groaned out loud. Hurting her was the last thing he'd wanted to do, but he had nothing to give her. A brief affair was the only thing he had to offer, and that would be cruel in the extreme. Danet a deserved so much more than his raw desire. But she was vulnerable and so was he. He'd have succumbed to those soft, soulful looks eventual y, so he had to stop them. Now he had, but it gave him no pleasure. He couldn't even bear to look at her. He wondered sometimes what she'd think if she knew the truth, knew how alone he real y was, how few women there'd actual y been in his life. The playboy image was very useful in its way. It kept serious contenders from get ing too close to him, from seeing that he was every bit as fastidious in his private life as the ice-cold Karol. Actual y Karol was a busines acquaintance who'd had a raw deal with men and wanted no intimate complications. She and Cabe dated to protect each other, and it was working very wel . Thank God there would be no more temptation from Danet a. He hadn't realized just how