Mexican Nights

Read Mexican Nights for Free Online Page B

Book: Read Mexican Nights for Free Online
Authors: Jeanne Stephens
to work now."
    Just like that? Work now—and later what? Terri was suddenly overcome with self-loathing. How easily she had melted. He only had to touch her, kiss her once. Well, it wouldn't happen again. Henceforth their relationship would be strictly professional. She would do her job—within sensible limits—but he might as well learn right now that she had no intention of being at his beck and call, even professionally, at whatever hour struck his whim.
    "I've made plans to spend the afternoon with Jack and Mike," she announced. "We're going sightseeing."
    A scowl drew two black brows together. "That will not be possible." The big-shot author was back, issuing orders. "I've sent Jack to the library and Mike is typing up some of my notes. It's a good time for you and me to go to Teotihuacán de Arista."
    Her chin jutted defiantly. "A good time for you, maybe. I have other ideas."
    He stood beside the bed, looking down at her with monumental condescension. "Of course, if you're not up to working today, perhaps yon should stay in bed and try to get your strength back."
    She threw aside the sheet and scrambled to her feet, blue eyes flashing. "I can work as hard and as long as you can—any day in the week!"
    "Good," he countered, striding for the door. "I'll meet you in the lobby in half an hour."
    He was gone. Terri snatched up the plastic tray cover and threw it at the closed door. "I won't be there for at least forty-five minutes!"
    Belatedly, she was amazed at herself. She was behaving like a shrew! No man had ever caused her so totally to lose her composure. No man but Derek Storm. She turned to stare at her rumpled reflection in the dresser mirror. It was as if a stranger stared back at her.

Chapter Three

    She tried on several outfits before she found one that seemed right. After what had just happened, shorts and halter left too little to the imagination. Besides, Derek would probably conclude that she chose them because he said he liked what she'd worn the day before. He would probably take it as an invitation to stare at her all day.
    On the other hand, a dress or even a skirt and blouse seemed impractical for climbing pyramids. Derek might think she was trying to impress him. The last thing she wanted was to give him any more ideas along those lines than he already had. After all, this was to be a working day
and
her relationship with the eminent doctor a working relationship.
    After discarding the third outfit, it dawned on Terri that some perverse corner of her mind seemed actually to be looking forward to the trip to Teotihuacán with Derek. Why else was she so concerned with what to wear when ordinarily she threw on the handiest halfway suitable attire? This traitorous thought was quickly banished, however. How absurd! She was no glutton for punishment!
    In the end, she wore lightweight khaki jeans with an elastic waistband and a bright orange knit shirt with cool scooped-out neck and tiny cap sleeves. Because she suspected they'd be hiking over dusty terrain, she decided against sandals in favor of rope-soled canvas shoes the color of straw.
    Glancing at her wristwatch, she saw that it had been forty-five minutes since Derek left her room. It would do Dr. Storm a world of good to cool his heels in the lobby for a while longer, she thought with a smile of satisfaction. Unhurriedly, she strolled into the bathroom.
    Before leaving her room, she transferred her billfold, comb, compact, and gloss stick to a corner of her camera bag so that she wouldn't have to carry her purse around all day as well as her photographic equipment. As a final delaying tactic, she called the hotel desk and left a message for Jack Ledbetter to contact her that evening.
    Poor Jack had been scuttled off to the library with such haste that he hadn't even had a chance to inform her of the change in the day's schedule. She didn't want him to think she was angry over the disruption of their plans for the afternoon, for she knew it had

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