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nestled in Lauren’s arm.  For some strange reason she wanted to rip the bottle away and pour the remainder of the contents on the woman’s head.
    She didn’t know why, just that she wanted to do it.  Instead she smiled.  “No, not tonight, I’m going to go home and write that note.” And try and figure out where this sudden violent streak is coming from, s he thought. Lust for Jared Stone. The words slammed into her mind and she groaned, praying that wasn’t the reason for her odd behavior.
    True to her word, the moment Toreas was home she did as she’d promised. She wrote Jared a note.  She chose plain white stationary, the cheap kind she had stopped using eons ago. The ends were yellowed with age but she didn’t care. That was all Jared Stone deserved.
    Mr. Stone,
    I’m sorry that you’re the rudest person I’ve ever met, and that I allowed you to antagonize me to the point of violence. I’m also sorry that you appear to have nothing better to do with your time than to harass romance writers and readers. Perhaps you do this because you’ve never been loved. Could that be the reason, Mr. Stone?  Did some woman find your disagreeable behavior a real turn off? Are you more the villain than the hero? Think about it.
    As for our little mishap, I’ve assigned to myself ten percent blame as one of the responsible parties involved in your unfortunate incident. The other ninety goes to you.
    Sincerely,
    Toreas Rose.
    Toreas reread her note and laughed, knowing there was no way she could possibly send it. She pulled out another sheet of paper and wrote a real note of apology. It was short, quick and to the point. “ I’m sorry for my bad behavior. ” She shook her head and left the note on the table. She’d take the final step and put it in the envelope later. Right before she went to bed she could put it off no longer. She hastily grabbed what she’d written and without bothering to check, crammed it in the even more yellowed envelope and licked it shut, making a face from the awful taste of the glue.  “That’s as much of an apology as you’re going to get, Mr. Stone,” she muttered out loud.
    To her surprise she found herself caressing his name on the front of the envelope. She suddenly felt hot and found it hard to swallow. She pushed the envelope away from her.  Whatever you want, Jared Stone, you’re not going to get it .
     

 
    Chapter Three
    Jared Stone sat in his office reading his sudden influx of fan mail.  He would have to thank that Ms. Priss, Toreas Rose.  Prior to that, his fledgling career at a two bit independent station had been about to come to an end. Derrick wasn’t making enough money to keep paying him what he was getting. Now there was new blood and renewed interest. And with that interest new sponsors had picked up Straight Up—No Chaser .
    Heck, he’d only taken the job to get him out of Los Angeles.  What he knew about hosting a talk show was about as much as that Rose woman knew about romance. 
    She had been nothing like he expected. He had watched her from the moment she came on the stage. From the fury of her calls he had expected some Amazon to come storming out.  Instead, what he saw was a timid, mousy little woman who sat with her feet tucked under her and looked scared to death, as if she thought the camera was aimed under her skirt. True, he could tell that with major overhaul the woman would be a knockout. But he wasn’t looking for a knockout, he was looking to obliterate the romance writer. 
    Still, her golden bronze skin was the stuff millions of women spent tons of money and hours in the sun to acquire. Hers was natural, as was her hair that she was wearing in a throwback to the sixties.  On her the curly afro looked wonderful and she had to know that.  So he wondered at the contradictions in the woman. He’d looked at the way she tugged on her overly long skirt while glaring at the camera. He’d frowned at the hideous oversized sweater the woman