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stood there with her back to the sink, her hands folded primly in front of her, gaze steady. She was so still, the pulse beating in her throat was about the only thing that confirmed she was a living creature and not just some figment of his imagination.
    Of course she was real. His imagination had never conjured up a woman this intriguing, or this hard to win over.
    He crossed his arms over his chest in a relaxed pose and went instinctively for the nerve that would bring Ms. Shaw out of her shell. “What are you afraid of?”
    Fire flashed instantly in her eyes. The lush, tempting little mouth thinned to a tight line. Color blushed across her cheekbones. Her hands knotted together as if each was keeping the other from gesticulating. “Nothing.” She bit the word off. “I’m not afraid of anything.”
    Erik ignored her denial and pressed a little harder on that raw nerve, willing her to come to life for him. “Afraid we might actually like each other? Afraid I might get a peek behind that armor of yours?”
    Her slender shoulders were rigid with the anger she was so visibly fighting to contain. She crossed her arms tightly against herself, but took an aggressive step forward and tilted her square little chin to a sassy angle.
    “I’m not afraid of anything, Senator,” she snapped, glaring up at him, eyes glowing like emeralds in the sun. “I don’t like being pressured and I don’t like being used. If it’s a prostitute you’re looking for, I’m sure you can find one. Even a Camelot like Rochester has hookers.”
    Her statement took him completely by surprise, asucker punch out of nowhere. Erik shook his head a little, as if the blow had stunned him. He took a half-step back from her, dropping his hands to the waistband of his slacks. “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”
    “Oh, come on, Senator,” Lynn sneered, letting her temper run off unchecked. She let go of herself emotionally and physically, her hands springing free. “I’m not naive. You want a few perks for your trouble. You scratch my back, I scratch your libido, right? Well, I’m sorry, but I won’t play that game.”
    Erik pulled back abruptly. He was a man who lived by what was perhaps an outdated code of honor, a man of his word, a man of integrity. The idea of a woman accusing him of something so low, so disgusting as sexual extortion was incomprehensible to him.
    He curled his hands into fists to keep from grabbing Lynn Shaw and shaking her until her teeth rattled. The anger that roared through him was enough to take his breath away. He stomped around the kitchen, turning back toward her twice and turning away again, still too furious to speak. He tried to tell himself he’d asked for it, prodding and pushing her to get a reaction, but that didn’t assuage his ego any. He had, after all, come here out of the goodness of his heart to save her, and this was the thanks he got!
    Finally, his temper erupted and he simply wheeled on her, backing her toward the counter.
    “I don’t play games, Ms. Shaw,” he said through clenched teeth, his voice as tight as piano wire. “I don’t expect sexual favors. Not to brag, but I hardly need to blackmail women to get them into my bed. I’m here because I believe in your cause. I’d be here if you were a frumpy little toad of a woman with B.O. and a big hairy wart on your chin.
    “But the cause has nothing to do with what goes on between us,” he whispered, leaning down close, hands braced on the counter on either side of her. “Do you understand me? What goes on between us—
if
anything goes on between us—has nothing to do with politics or Horizon House. It has to do with
us
. You and me. A woman and a man. Is that clear?”
    Lynn stared up at him, her eyes as wide as twin moons. Her heart was thumping like a trip-hammer in her chest. He was no more than a deep breath away, the scant space between them hot and electric with tension. His chest was heaving with the exertion of his