Free Dangerous Magic by Stephanie James, Jayne Ann Krentz

like to want a man so much that you couldn’t just walk away and close the door on him!”

Chapter 4
    « ^ »
    E lissa closed her eyes against the astounding presumption of the man who still held her pinned against the couch and then she let her lashes flutter open very wide. “You think you’re the man to keep me under control?” she drawled very coolly.
    “I want you, Elissa,” he stated categorically. “And that means I’ve got to control you, make you want me, or I’ll find my fingers very badly burned, won’t I?”
    “The experience of getting yourself singed might be quite salutary,” she offered bitterly.
    She saw the reluctant smile touch his eyes and the edges of his mouth.
    “I think I can take care of myself,” he promised meaningfully. She could feel the certainty in him. It had a palpable presence. He was so sure he’d win…
    “And what’s in all this for me?” she demanded a little too gently, feeling the rage mingle with the other new emotion she was experiencing tonight.
    Together they made a potent combination in her bloodstream.
    “Your career back on track,” he said immediately, not appearing the least reluctant to enumerate the material advantages of an association with him. “The challenge of finding out if you’ve met a man you can’t ultimately control. I’m counting on that as a lure as great as advancing in your job, by the way.” He smiled bleakly. “The temptation of discovering what passion can be with a man who doesn’t think of himself as merely a good friend, and…” He hesitated and then said with shattering callousness, “Perhaps a necklace or two thrown in on the side. Something to make up for the one you had to give up to June tonight.”
    It was too much. Elissa knew she could no longer resist the risk of trying to bring the pompous, overbearing Wade Taggert down into the dust at her feet. Never had she experienced such violent feelings toward another human being, but, then, never had she been treated like this, either! If there was any justice in the universe she was going to bring it crashing around his ears!
    But such a goal meant playing his repellent game very, very carefully, Elissa realized with surprisingly cold logic. She must lead him delicately, cleverly, to the point of final victory. And then hurl everything back in his face!
    The punishment of Wade Taggert would be a new adventure for her, Elissa thought as her pulses pounded in anger and excitement. It would take her far out of the normal, comfortable routine of her life. The man would be as dangerous as any of the strange beasts in her paintings, and she would have only herself to blame if she got in over her head.
    But the apology she had been seeking from him earlier in the evening had become a goal she couldn’t ignore. In fact, she decided boldly, an apology alone would not be enough to satisfy her newly awakened craving for revenge. Not nearly enough!
    “My career back on track…” she repeated thoughtfully, as if turning the idea over in her mind. “You give me your word to restore my promotion—
    or one equivalent to it, since you can’t very well take the job away from Evelyn at this point?” She moistened her slightly parted lips in a faintly provocative gesture, her eyes wide and interested. Elissa had never set out to play a femme fatale , but every woman had a few instincts to fall back on in a crisis.
    “Behave yourself and give me what I want, and I’ll take care of everything,” Wade promised with a pouncing effect in his voice. She could almost see his thoughts spinning out plans. He was so sure he had her, so sure that he’d found the key to her when he’d taken control of her future at CompuDesign.
    “I’m…I’m not quite certain if I can trust you,” Elissa hedged, allowing feminine caution to flicker in her searching gaze.
    “You have my word,” he told her arrogantly, as if that should be sufficient.
    “But I hardly know you,” she pointed out gently.