Free Stormy Challenge by Stephanie James, Jayne Ann Krentz Page B

them are there?" he demanded interestedly.
    "Will you be serious?"
    "Anything you say. I am hereby seriously asking you out to dinner tomorrow night,"
    he said at once. "Seven o'clock okay?"
    "I haven't even said I'll go out with you!" she blazed, thoroughly irritated now.
    "You didn't give me all this trouble during our two days at the beach," he complained on a note of smothered laughter. "Can't you close your eyes and imagine yourself back there, B.C.?"
    "B.C.?" she questioned warily.
    "Before Contract."
    "You're an idiot," she sighed.
    "But a lovable one," he argued, bending his head to drop a feathery kiss on her nose.
    "Besides, it takes one to know one. Come on and I'll get your bags out of the car."
    Twenty minutes later, Leya watched from her screen door as the sleek black car pulled away from the curb and thought herself extremely lucky to have rid herself of Courtland Gannon Tremayne so easily. It could have gotten nasty, she reflected uncomfortably as she turned away and locked the door behind her. Fortunately, he had convinced himself that she would be dutifully waiting at seven o'clock tomorrow night to go out to dinner with him and that seemed to satisfy him. His good-bye kiss had been short and fierce.
    And what would happen, she wondered with grim interest, when he arrived and found her gone? Because she certainly didn't intend to go out with him the following evening. She needed time to think.
    Automatically, she dialed her brother's number to let him know she was back in town.
    "I thought you were going to stay for a few more days," Keith responded a moment later, sounding vastly surprised. "What happened? Weather turn too bad? A volcano erupt?"
    That last guess wasn't far from the truth, Leya reflected wryly. It occurred to her she wasn't sure yet how much she wanted to tell Keith. Her pride was at stake here. Did she really want to admit to him what a fool she had been? And then there was the fact that Keith sounded so happy to know she'd signed the contract. Did she really want to ruin his working relationship with Court before the partnership had had a fair chance? What if Court turned out to be the salvation of Brandon Security after all?
    "After I'd made up my mind about the contract, I saw no reason to hang around,"
    she told him evasively, not wanting to acknowledge the fact that she was making excuses to herself. Why was it so difficult to take a hard stand against Court Tremayne? Why was she trying to find a reason to give him a chance?
    "Court was a little upset when you failed to show up for the meeting he'd planned,"
    Keith went on with a chuckle. "I was a bit worried that he might rile you when he finally found you but I gather everything went okay. He's a great guy when you get to know him," he assured her enthusiastically. "I'm going to learn a lot from him."
    Leya couldn't think of an intelligent response to that comment, so she mumbled something noncommittal and largely inaudible.
    "Say, as long as you're back early," her brother continued, "you might want to drop by Sue's tomorrow evening. She's giving a cocktail party and said to be sure and extend the invitation to you if you got back into town in time." Susan Adams was a mutual friend of long standing.
    Leya didn't hesitate. It was the perfect answer. Now she had an excuse not to be at home for Court tomorrow night! "I'd love to. Thanks for telling me. What time?"
    "Six-thirty or so. It's a buffet, so we won't starve," he told her cheerfully. "I'll see you there. And Leya?"
    "Yes, Keith?"
    "Thanks for signing that contract." The phone clattered into the cradle.

    For a long time, Leya sat silently beside the phone, gazing with unseeing eyes out over the cheery clutter of her living room. The inside of her home, as friendly as the outside, reflected its owner's lack of concern for unnecessary order. Leya's financial accounts for her bookshop were accurate to the penny, but the interior of her home was warm and delightfully chaotic. The