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started to speak, Lauren patted her hand. “Never mind. I’m going.” She picked up a bat, slung it over her shoulder and headed for the batter’s box, where she promptly wiggled her hips outrageously. Four pitches later she had drawn a walk. John grinned as he watched her sashay to first base.
    “Amazing,” Ford said, sitting down on the bench next to Emma. “I think your team definitely has an unfair advantage.”
    “We wouldn’t if men weren’t so predictable,”Emma retorted. “What are you doing here, anyway? Still stalking your prey?”
    “I prefer to think of it as interviewing my sources,” he countered. “It’s going to be a great story. Too bad you won’t be part of it.”
    “Be careful about libel, Mr. Hamilton. It can be a nasty business.”
    “I hardly think there can be anything libelous in reporting how several Winding High grads achieved success.”
    “I suppose that depends on how conscientious you are when you write your article.”
    “Do you have a lot of experience with libel cases?” he asked, studying her curiously.
    “No. It’s not my area of expertise, but that doesn’t mean I don’t understand the law.”
    “I’ll keep that in mind. Of course, that is a subject I wrote my thesis on when I got my graduate degree, so I have a working knowledge of the law as well. Perhaps we can compare notes sometime.”
    Refusing to admit that she was startled by his degree or his area of study, she frowned at him. “I wouldn’t count on it. Just be sure you keep your facts straight about my friends, and you and I won’t have a problem. Now, if you don’t mind, I have a game to play.”
    A smile tugged at his lips. “Why doesn’t it surprise me that they chose you to manage the team? Do you take everything you do so seriously?”
    “Pretty much,” she said, then added defensively, “I don’t consider that a character flaw.”
    “Not a flaw,” he agreed. “Just boring.” He glanced toward the ballfield where Lauren and Cassie were hamming it up in the outfield. “Now, take your friend Lauren. She obviously knows how to enjoy herself.”
    The observation rankled, possibly because it implied that he approved of Lauren more than he approved of Emma. She found it extremely exasperating that it mattered to her whom he preferred.
    “Don’t let her fool you,” she said tightly. “She’s a very smart woman.”
    “Did I say she wasn’t? You don’t have to hide your brains to have fun.”
    The remark hit a little too close to what Lauren had said to her. Emma was getting tired of everyone suggesting that she was leading a dull, predictable life.
    “I enjoy myself, Mr. Hamilton. Maybe it’s just that you don’t amuse me.”
    His grin spread. “Then I’ll have to work on that. Good luck with the game,” he added, then stood up and sauntered off.
    Emma stared after him, once again feeling more off-kilter than she had in years. It was definitely a good thing she was going back to Denver first thing tomorrow. She wasn’t sure she wanted to discover how effective Ford Hamilton could be once he set his mind to charming her.
     
    Emma Rogers was pretty much an aggravating pain in the butt, Ford concluded as he went off to find friendlier company. Even so, he couldn’t deny that she intrigued him—not as a woman, he quickly assured himself, but as a person. There was a distinction, though he was having difficulty pinning that down at the moment.
    At any rate, even while he sat with the men as they took their turn at bat, his gaze kept straying to Emma, noting the intensity of her expression as she watched her players perform in the field. Suddenly an image ofher in his bed, just as intent on their lovemaking, swept through his mind. Heat climbed up his neck at the improbable but thoroughly erotic fantasy.
    “What’s going on, buddy? You look a little flushed,” Ryan Taylor said, amusement threading through his voice.
    Ford forced his attention away from Emma and glanced at the