Free High Stakes by Erin McCarthy Page B

then?"
    All she could manage was a nod.
    "I was born inBrittany , inFrance , you know." With that, he turned as if to leave.
    "Wait! Who are you? Why aren't you at Ethan's parties? And why did you draw that woman's blood like that?"
    One second he was three feet away, the next he was flush against her, his finger over her mouth. Her breath left her nostrils in startled gasps, blowing down on his flesh. His finger jiggled on her warm lips, tickling her.
    "Hush,Brittany . Use some sense about where we are."
    Then she was flying backward, wind rushing past her ears, eyes stinging,legs completely off the ground.

    Alexis opened the door to Ethan's polite request and glared at him. "I'm not wearing these pearls."
    "Why not?"He entered the room with confident strides and glanced at her chest, she hoped just to study the offending necklace.
    "I look like Barbara Bush. And no offense toBabs or anything, she seems like a lovely woman, but she has about forty years on me."
    The dress she was wearing was blue, and normally she thought it was flattering to her blond hair, but tonight she felt dowdy.Short-legged.
    "The pearls probably would look better with a black dress."
    And he was the fashion police? Hell if she was changing now. "Tough. This is the only evening dress I brought. I didn't know you all were so serious about this crap. This isn't Buffy the Vampire Slayer, it's more like The West Wing .Only withweirdos instead of actors."
    "I just meant perhaps we should change your necklace." He went over to the safe in the closet, looking damn dapper in his tux.
    Alexis grimaced at herself in the full-length mirror and sucked in her gut.Could you say pear} Ugh.Or Generated by ABC Amber LIT Conv erter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
    blueberry, given the color of her dress. And why couldn't her hair just once cooperate and lay down straight without frizzing? And why in the hell did she care?
    She was driving herself nuts.
    Ethan's fingers on the back of her neck didn't help either. Sometimes he moved too fast for her taste.
    She couldn't gauge his next movement. Now he was all fingers here, and touching there on the back of her neck, whisking off the pearls and draping her in diamonds.
    Hel-lo.Somehow it seemed like she should reject the necklace, given that it made her feel a little bit like a paid companion. But at the same time, she liked it. She liked the way his eyes changed to match the depth of the blue in her dress as he leaned over her shoulder, brushed her hair aside,watched her in the mirror for her reaction.
    Bad news, that's what EthanCarrickwas .
    "Since you're staring so intently, can I assume you like the diamonds?"
    "No. I was just trying to figure out which was more nouveau riche—the necklace or you."
    He chuckled. "Cute.Very cute."
    That was a word just made to irritate her. Cute was for puppies and bunnies and little things. So when his lips brushed the back of her neck, she cracked the side of his face with her knuckles.
    "Knock it off, Carrick." She stepped away from him. "Now let's go downstairs and get this farce over with."
    Ethan looked neither surprised nor upset by her backhand or her words. "You're quite skilled at this bossy girlfriend role."
    "Don't you forgetit. "

    Ethan smiled and greeted a South American dignitary whose title suddenly eluded him, and pressed the small of Alexis's back.
    "I'm AlexisBaldizzi, it's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Raul-Fortunato. Did you have a pleasant flight toNevada ?"
    "Absolutely."Mr. Raul-Fortunatobeamed.
    They chatted for a minute, Alexis wearing a serene smile and murmuring platitudes like she'd been born a politician's wife.
    Yet when Mr. Raul-Fortunatoleft them to join the other guests, Alexis muttered, "Freak."
    And for J. P.Montmarte , the French engineer, she shot, "Chez psycho," at his retreating back.
    "Stop it," Ethan told her. "Someone is going to hear you."

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    "What?" She