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to say, “You.”
    â€œMe?”
    â€œYes, you, Kelly. Let me remind you that I’m not your boss. I didn’t interview you, hire you or sign your contract. And that translates into my not being able to fire you. Only my father can do that.” Crossing his arms over his chest, he angled his head. “Now, you’re going to have to come up with another reason for rejecting my offer.”
    Bracing her hand on the door, she smiled. “That’s an easy one.” Without warning she closed the door and locked it. “Good night, Ryan,” she said loud enough for him to hear.
    Ryan stood motionless, staring at the door. She’dclosed it in his face. “Well, I’ll be damned,” he whispered.
    Kelly had called his offer to take her out a date while he thought of it as a meeting. Sean had come home that afternoon bubbling with excitement when he’d talked about his new school. It had been the most spontaneity he had seen in the child in over a year. He wanted to talk to Kelly about his son, but was he using Sean as an excuse to spend time with Kelly? In any case, meeting at her place was out of the question. The last thing he wanted was to generate gossip about the boss’s son coming on to the new schoolteacher. As it was, there was enough gossip circulating around Blackstone Farms to fill a supermarket tabloid.
    He chuckled in spite of his predicament. In that instant he realized he liked Kelly Andrews. He’d found her poised and beautiful. But he also knew she had a lot of fire under what she’d projected as a dignified demeanor.
    Unknowingly she had issued a challenge when she closed the door in his face. And Ryan Blackstone had never walked away from a challenge.

Chapter Four
    K elly hadn’t realized her hands were shaking until she picked up the telephone on the table beside her bed. At that moment she wanted to curse. She was pissed! And it wasn’t Ryan she was angry at. She had become what she detested most: discourteous and ill-mannered.
    Ryan had come to her, asking they go somewhere and talk. She hadn’t even asked him what he had wanted to talk about before she slammed the door in his face.
    Was she losing it because of an erotic dream?
    Dialing the area code for Washington, D.C., she waited for the connection. She smiled upon hearing her sister’s cheery greeting.
    â€œHi, Pam.”
    â€œHey, Kelly. I hope you’re calling to tell me that you have a date tonight.”
    She ignored the reference to a date. Even if she had gone out with Ryan she still would not have considered it a date. “I called to say hello to my big sister.”
    A groan came through the earpiece. “You called me last Saturday to say hello. What are you doing, Kelly? You’ve moved across the state and your social life hasn’t changed. I think it would’ve been better if you had stayed in New York where you at least had a circle of friends.”
    â€œMarried friends, Pamela.”
    â€œI know that, Kelly. But there’s always the possibility that they could’ve hooked you up with a single friend or relative.”
    â€œI can always stop calling you—”
    â€œI’m sorry,” Pamela said, interrupting her. “I just got off the phone with Mama and Daddy. They’ve begun an intense campaign to try to make me feel guilty because I finally came out and told them that Leo and I decided not to have children. I don’t know how much more of it I can take.”
    â€œTell them that you don’t want to discuss it.”
    â€œYou try and tell Camille Kelly Andrews not to say what’s on her mind.”
    Kelly smiled. Pamela was right. Camille may havebeen outspoken and opinionated, but she was also fiercely supportive of her daughters.
    â€œIf she mentions it to me the next time we talk I’ll be diplomatic when I tell her that you and Leo have a right to determine your own lives. That you’re