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lack of fear of him, not to mention the future of her job. Jared's fierce temper was a well-known fact around Fernwood. He walked over to his desk and perched his hip on the edge.
    "There have been people fired for a lot less," he began quietly. "You know that, don't you?"
    "Yes." She wasn't about to apologize for her words, especially since they were the truth. Jared never saw any need to make excuses for his actions and she didn't feel she should either.
    Jared shook his head, allowing a faint smile to c urve his lips. "You've got guts, Alex. No one has ever had the nerve to tell me off the way you just did."
    "Perhaps if more people had, you wouldn't be the ego tist you are today," she continued recklessly.
    Preferring not to challenge her remark, he changed the subject.
    "Rashid Kalim displayed a more than passing interest in you, and I wouldn't be surprised if you hear from the man," he said in a deceptively casual voice. "Think you could put up with going out with the man, not to mention his entourage? He likes his bodyguards by the gross."
    Alex shook her head, the dark hair swinging silkily against her cheek. "No, thanks."
    "He's an extremely wealthy and powerful man." He dangled the gold carrot in front of her.
    "So are you, but I wouldn't care to have you as a steady diet."
    Jared blinked at this bit of biting honesty. He had never come across a woman who refused to succumb to his charms. The thought that Alex was immune rankled. He slowly straightened up and walked over to where Alex stood until his body was only inches away from hers.
    "The navy certainly added iron to your backbone, didn't it?" He spoke softly. "I wonder if there's anything else in that body that doesn't quite go with the image?"
    Alex was totally unprepared for Jared pulling her into his arms and his mouth descending to hers. Any protest she might have made was smothered by the probing thrust of his tongue and the tightening of his hold on her body.
    Disjointed thoughts ran through her brain, gauging her own reactions to this unexpected attack. Her traitorous body had already melted against Jared's hard form while her arms slowly rose to circle his neck. His hands moved up and down her spine in a caressing, yet sensual, motion, then settled at the base and below to cup the firm, rounded buttocks and lift her into the cradle of his hips and feel the potent rising of his own desire.
    Alex couldn't remember a man's kiss firing her the way Jared's was. Before, she had always prided herself on the ability to handle over amorous men, but not even during her marriage to Dennis h ad she felt such a crazy, mind- searing experience. Right now she wanted nothing more than to loosen Jared's tie and unbutton his shirt so that she could discover the silky warmth of his bare skin. She wanted to bare her own skin and feel the electric current flowing between them until they exploded in multicolored sparks.
    "Ah, Alex," Jared rasped, his open mouth moving moistly over her face and circling the outline of her lips. His teeth gently pulled on her lower lip and drew it into his mouth. "So beautiful."
    His ragged words swiftly brought her back to reality. Alex's arms dropped and she quickly stepped away from the circle of Jared's potent force. It took some doing, but she soon had her breathing under control and the face she showed him betrayed none of the tumultuous thoughts running through her mind. What didn't make her feel any better was that Jared had taken that time to compose himself also. In fact, he seemed to be in better control than she.
    "I hadn't realized there could be so much dynamite in that compact body." His mocking words hit her with the force of a rock slide. "I'm surprised the navy didn't make use of you as a secret weapon."
    Alex's first instinct was to wipe the mocking smile off Jared's fade, then she quickly restrained herself. That was what he expected her to do and she wasn't going to give him that satisfaction.
    "We're going up to Pradera