Sinfully Sexy by Linda Francis Lee Page A

love to strangers. In this day and age
it was dangerous, though that
hadn't crossed his mind when his mouth had come down on hers.

All he had felt was sensation, heady and intense. But that didn't
explain how he had felt when she—Chloe—had walked into the conference
room hours later.

His body had recognized her before his mind had. The sizzle of
comprehension racing along his skin
had been like an adrenaline rush, followed by the gears in his brain
finding purchase when he saw
through the bangs and big glasses. The difference between the woman
last night and the woman this morning was that without the makeup and
extravagant hair, she was even more intriguing. He never would have
believed so much wildness could hide behind such a prim exterior. He
had nearly said something, an unfamiliar lightness flaring inside him.

But he had realized in the next second that she was praying he didn't
recognize her. Standing there, he could hardly get his head around the
idea that a woman didn't want him to recognize her. This after a
lifetime of women throwing themselves at him.

Which had thrown him, and too late he had realized they had mistaken
his identity.

He had no interest in sharing that with Ben, however, whose amusement
was equally as grating as
Chloe's reaction to him. God, what a mess.

To think he had brought Ben here to impress him, make him see that life
with Prescott Media could be exciting. That a job in the media business
could serve as a replacement for the life he had been living
here in El Paso that had somehow gone awry.

He glanced at Ben and wondered not for the first time if the youngest
Prescott would ever tell him what had happened.

"Damn," Ben said with a chuckle, "you've gotta love the whole mistaken
identity thing for a man whose power is derived from his name."

Every thought about his brother's past hardened into a knot of growing
frustration. "My power is not derived from my name."

Ben looked at him in wry disbelief. "Are we talking the same language
here?" He glanced at his watch
and shot him a teasing grin. "Though you better hurry up and fess up to
who you are, make your
lowball offer, and ruin these women's lives so we can make it to lunch
on time."

Sterling's jaw worked. "What are you implying?"

Ben only shrugged, crossing his ankle over his knee as he leaned back
with his arm lining the ridge of
the small sofa that looked even smaller with him sitting on it. "I'm
not implying anything. I'm stating the facts, just like they were
stated earlier. You buy and ruin." He shook his head. "Did she really
call you
a modern day robber baron?" He laughed.

Sterling glowered.

"Look," Ben said, "I get that you have a responsibility to our family.
Hell, I know Mother and Diana expect to be kept in the style they are
accustomed. And God forbid Dad runs out of money to buy those damn toy
soldiers. But the thing is, you don't even do the turning around part
yourself. You come in, and whether it's intentional or not, you ruin
people's lives. Then you bring someone else in to run things."

Sterling felt a vein drum in his head. He also noticed that the humor
in Ben's face wasn't more than skin-deep. The youngest Prescott might
tease, but he really was angry about the way Sterling did business.

Sterling felt both off balance and oddly defensive to be seen in such a
poor light by his younger brother.

"Face it, Sterling. Women flock to you and you succeed in business
because of your name and your money."

The words were put out there like a line drawn between them.

"That is not true. I succeed because of my skill. And I won't even
dignify the issue of women with any response at all."

Ben laughed out loud. "You might have succeeded because of skill years
ago, I'll give you that, but not anymore. Now you're everything that
woman said you are. Hell, you couldn't charm Chloe Sinclair and win her
approval if your life depended on it."

Sterling stood still, every muscle strung like a tight wire until he
felt