Read none for Free Online Page A

keys into the air,
catching them with easy certainty. The small action had a familiarity about it
which once again brought back memories. Jed had come out onto the veranda of his
father’s house, tossing a set of keys in just that manner and indulgently
announced he was going to take her swimming over on the nearby Santa Cruz beach.
Lacey frowned, shaking off the memory of the happy day. Was he merely indulging
her once more today by agreeing to her strange requests? She didn’t like the
notion. It was far more reassuring to believe herself in control of the
situation rather than have the feeling she was being indulged.
    "Stop slanting me those assessing little sidewise glances," Jed ordered,
deftly moving the Audi out into Rodeo Drive traffic. "If you want to look at me,
go ahead and take an honest look. Will I do or won’t I?"
    Goaded, Lacey openly studied his hard profile. "I think you’ll do."
    "I’m so relieved."
    With a bland arrogance Lacey was forced to admire, he asserted his right to
some road space between a red Ferrari and a black Jaguar. Jed seemed totally
unintimidated by either vehicle.
    "How did you get hold of Jackson, anyway?" he asked mildly.
    "Your lawyer? His name was given to me by your father’s bank. I got the
bank’s name from some old papers of my father’s," she explained, her mind on her
future plans once more. "I reminded him of the debt and told him what I wanted
in exchange for not pressing for the money. He implied he would pass the
information along to Merlin. I assumed, of course, that meant your father."
    "And you thought the next thing to show up on your doorstep would be the
tall, dark male commissioned by my father to meet your, er, needs," Jed
concluded. "Instead you got me."
    "Which brings up the interesting question of why you?" she shot back sweetly.
"Why didn’t you simply instruct your lawyer to find a suitable candidate?"
    "Are you implying I’m unsuitable? Or am I simply not proving amenable
enough?" He grinned, glancing at her.
    "I was merely curious," she responded stiffly.
    "The reason you got me instead of the hired help is that I prefer to pay my
family debts in person," he condescended to inform her. "But if you’re worrying
about my lack of height…"
    "Forget it, I’ll wear flat-heeled shoes! I did it for my senior prom, and I
can do it for you."
    ‘Thank you for the offer, but you needn’t go to the trouble of changing your
normal shoe style for my sake," he chuckled.
    "You’re not intimidated by taller women?" she inquired drily.
    ‘There are other ways of dominating a woman besides towering over her," Jed
said with unnerving assurance. "And I’m blessed with all that natural machismo
style, remember? Now that you’ve made me over into the proper image, you’ll be
putty in my hands."
    "Are you trying to tell me that I’m going to suffer the same fate as Dr.
Frankenstein? Ruined by my own creation?"
    "No, no, no." He laughed outright. "What we have here is more a case of the
Pygmalion effect, I think. Like Henry Higgins in My Fair Lady, you’re turning me
into someone you really can fall for. Should be interesting to see what happens,
hmmm? Not many women get the chance to recreate the romantic fantasy of their
youth."
    For a split second Lacey simply stared at him, uncertain of just how much he
was truly teasing her. Surely that wasn’t downright unadulterated masculine
arrogance she was hearing? Or was it? Did he really think there was a chance
she’d get caught up in her own game? Perhaps he did. After all. Jed Merlin
couldn’t have any way of knowing how very serious this game was.
    "Don’t hold your breath," she advised caustically. "I have no intention of
getting myself seduced by a man who prefers to wear a beard, sloppy jeans, and
cowboy boots." Even if he does handle a car with the reflexes of a
professional racing driver , she added in silent acknowledgment of his skill
at the wheel. She wasn’t