smile in place. He was making a joke.
"My stock account," Yale explained easily, laughing at her incomprehension. "It's yours. I'm entirely satisfied with the transaction. At the moment, in fact, I wouldn't care if you lost all my money in the commodities market! As long as you're wilting to stand as collateral, naturally."
"Stop teasing me like that, Yale," she ordered carefully, some of the laughter fading from her eyes. "I'm not in the mood for that sort of joke. Not right now."
"What joke?" he demanded, shaking his head ruefully. "It's yours, honey, me and the account. I'm content with the deal and as far as I'm concerned it's all signed, sealed and delivered. I'll let you have the details you'll need to transfer it from my broker in L.A. on Monday. But right now we've got today and Sunday ahead of us to, uh, finalize the terms of our working relationship. What do you say we—"
"You're not joking, are you?" Dara pushed herself a few inches away from his chest, gray-green eyes widening as she stared down into his fiercely etched face as if she hadn't fully seen it until that moment.
"I never joke about money. Accountants rarely do!" he informed her loftily, eyes narrowing a fraction as he studied her tautening expression.
"Oh, my God!" she breathed as the full horror of the situation washed over her. He wasn't teasing her! He really believed she had slept with him in order to convince him to give her his account!
"What's the matter with you, litile tabby cat?" he rasped soothingly, stroking a rough fingertip down her cheek and into the curve of her shoulder. "I had the impression you were quite satisfied with last night's deal, too! In fact, I'd be willing to bet from the startled look on your face at one point that you hadn't known just how much pleasure you could find in your own body!"
"How dare you look so smug and self- satisfied! Who the hell do you think you are?" The words were tight, tense, barely audible.
Slowly at first the anger kindled. Fed by her own humiliation, it leaped to life, shattering Dara's conception of herself as a mild, easygoing person with an even temper. After thirty years, she was finally discovering the full significance of the red in her hair.
" Dara !" The command was given as if she were a fractious child. "Calm down...!"
"Calm down!" she blazed, pulling free of his hand and fumbling her way off the bed to stand beside it, glowering down at the man she had fallen in love with during the course of one wild night.
"Calm down! Don't you dare tell me to calm down! '
Yanking a sheet off the bed and leaving Yale's sprawling form nude in the morning light, she wrapped herself in some semblance of dignity. The gray-green eyes were almost completely emerald now and the sun seeping in through the crack in the curtains danced in the halfhidden fire of her hair.
"You are a bastard, Yale Ransom!" she proclaimed as if pronouncing a curse. "And I am a fool! I freely admit that! God only knows where I got the idea we could...could mean something important to each other. Believe it or not, I'm usually a better judge of men than this! I haven't made a mistake of this magnitude since I thought the man I was marrying was in love with me!'
" Dara , stop it! You're behaving like a shrew. It doesn't suit you, little tabby cat. Come back to bed and let me show you...." Yale stretched out a hand, groping for her wrist.
"Don't you dare touch me, you arrogant, lying, impostor!" She moved back out of reach.
"Impostor!" For some reason he seized on that, mouth hardening ominously as he slowly sat up.
"Yes! Impostor! Cheat! Opportunist! The language isn't rich enough to supply all the words I need to describe you!" she gritted furiously. "Oh, I knew you were something other than what you were pretending to be last night. I knew you'd been a lot of other things besides an accountant, but I never guessed you were the kind of man who would use a woman and then pay her off by handing over money or...or
"My stock account," Yale explained easily, laughing at her incomprehension. "It's yours. I'm entirely satisfied with the transaction. At the moment, in fact, I wouldn't care if you lost all my money in the commodities market! As long as you're wilting to stand as collateral, naturally."
"Stop teasing me like that, Yale," she ordered carefully, some of the laughter fading from her eyes. "I'm not in the mood for that sort of joke. Not right now."
"What joke?" he demanded, shaking his head ruefully. "It's yours, honey, me and the account. I'm content with the deal and as far as I'm concerned it's all signed, sealed and delivered. I'll let you have the details you'll need to transfer it from my broker in L.A. on Monday. But right now we've got today and Sunday ahead of us to, uh, finalize the terms of our working relationship. What do you say we—"
"You're not joking, are you?" Dara pushed herself a few inches away from his chest, gray-green eyes widening as she stared down into his fiercely etched face as if she hadn't fully seen it until that moment.
"I never joke about money. Accountants rarely do!" he informed her loftily, eyes narrowing a fraction as he studied her tautening expression.
"Oh, my God!" she breathed as the full horror of the situation washed over her. He wasn't teasing her! He really believed she had slept with him in order to convince him to give her his account!
"What's the matter with you, litile tabby cat?" he rasped soothingly, stroking a rough fingertip down her cheek and into the curve of her shoulder. "I had the impression you were quite satisfied with last night's deal, too! In fact, I'd be willing to bet from the startled look on your face at one point that you hadn't known just how much pleasure you could find in your own body!"
"How dare you look so smug and self- satisfied! Who the hell do you think you are?" The words were tight, tense, barely audible.
Slowly at first the anger kindled. Fed by her own humiliation, it leaped to life, shattering Dara's conception of herself as a mild, easygoing person with an even temper. After thirty years, she was finally discovering the full significance of the red in her hair.
" Dara !" The command was given as if she were a fractious child. "Calm down...!"
"Calm down!" she blazed, pulling free of his hand and fumbling her way off the bed to stand beside it, glowering down at the man she had fallen in love with during the course of one wild night.
"Calm down! Don't you dare tell me to calm down! '
Yanking a sheet off the bed and leaving Yale's sprawling form nude in the morning light, she wrapped herself in some semblance of dignity. The gray-green eyes were almost completely emerald now and the sun seeping in through the crack in the curtains danced in the halfhidden fire of her hair.
"You are a bastard, Yale Ransom!" she proclaimed as if pronouncing a curse. "And I am a fool! I freely admit that! God only knows where I got the idea we could...could mean something important to each other. Believe it or not, I'm usually a better judge of men than this! I haven't made a mistake of this magnitude since I thought the man I was marrying was in love with me!'
" Dara , stop it! You're behaving like a shrew. It doesn't suit you, little tabby cat. Come back to bed and let me show you...." Yale stretched out a hand, groping for her wrist.
"Don't you dare touch me, you arrogant, lying, impostor!" She moved back out of reach.
"Impostor!" For some reason he seized on that, mouth hardening ominously as he slowly sat up.
"Yes! Impostor! Cheat! Opportunist! The language isn't rich enough to supply all the words I need to describe you!" she gritted furiously. "Oh, I knew you were something other than what you were pretending to be last night. I knew you'd been a lot of other things besides an accountant, but I never guessed you were the kind of man who would use a woman and then pay her off by handing over money or...or
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