Free His Girl Friday by Diana Palmer

touching her shoulder lightly to awaken her. She opened her eyes and stared up at him blankly. Then she smiled, and it was like sunshine on a rainy morning. "Hi," she murmured.
    "Hi, yourself," he replied tersely. "God, what a headache you're going to have. Here. Sit up and drink this." She dragged herself up, facing him, her body stil feeling boneles . He had to help her hold the cup while she took several brief sips.
    "It's too strong," she complained.
    "It has to be," he replied. "I can't run the office by myself."
    She caught her breath. It suddenly dawned on her where she was, who she was, and what she did for a living. "Oh, I'm so sorry, Mr. Rit er," she blurted out. She colored violently. "Ben bought this expensive bottle of white wine, and I didn't real y want any, but it seemed impolite to say no when he'd paid so much for it."
    He scowled. None of this made much sense, least of al Ben's sudden interest in Danet a. Ben was the real playboy in the company, although he was relatively discreet. He liked the hard-drinking, hard-playing kind of woman, and Danet a certainly wasn't that.
    "Your parents should have encouraged you to date a few rakes while you were in your teens," he said unexpectedly, stil scowling as he studied her flushed face. "You don't have the experience to recognize one."
    She lifted her eyebrows. "Certainly I do," she said. "I work for one."
    He searched her soft, gray eyes but didn't smile. "The image is convenient," he said. "I encourage it. But don't make the mistake of thinking that I'm everything I seem to be." That didn't make sense. Of course, nothing else did, either. She sipped more of the coffee. "Ben's nice." He glared at her. "I gather he's the reason for the change from your regular uniform?" he asked, his blue eyes sliding down her body. "I don't wear a uniform," she protested.
    "Long skirts and granny blouses and your hair in a bun," he said curtly. "You never come to the office looking like you do today. Except once," he bit off, remembering too vividly the occasion.
    "I am aware that sexy women are endangered when in the company of rakes," she said with deliberate enunciation. "You said not to give you the wrong idea." "I said a lot of things," he replied angrily. "You were right about that," she said, wondering why he was so angry. "I don't do one-night stands, and you wouldn't want a secretary that you'd.. seduced. I only dres ed up for Ben today."
    He took a slow breath, his eyes holding hers. "Danet a, as difficult as it may be to convince you of this, I don't do one-night stands, either," he said quietly. "In fact, I don't sleep around. I never have."
    She stifled a giggle. "Sure."
    He raised an eyebrow. "Only a child like you would accept a facade like mine."
    "The way you kis ed Karol the other day was no facade," she shot back, outraged al over again at being an involuntary witnes to that ardent as ault. He watched her sudden color with interest. "I didn't say I was total y inexperienced. I just said that I don't sleep around."
    "Then why let everyone think you do?"
    His sensuous mouth curved up at one corner. "Because it keeps marriage-minded women out of my hair. No sane homebody goes after a playboy with happily ever after in mind."
    "No, I gues not." She wasn't sure if she was real y hearing this or if she was stil in an alcoholic stupor. She pinched herself and grimaced, just to make sure.
    "You aren't dreaming. Your head wil tel you that later," he mused. He brushed the untidy hair away from her face, his fingers slow and tender. "Did it bother you, watching me kis Karol?" he asked unexpectedly, and saw the answer in her expres ion.
    She finished her coffee with hands that tremored faintly. "I'm bet er now," she said. "I'l get back to work." But he didn't move, and she couldn't. His hand brushed her cheek, resting there while his thumb smoothed lazily over her soft lips. His blue eyes began to darken, to narrow. "Has a man ever twisted you into his body that way and put