Free Asking For It by Alyssa Kress Page B

couldn't be gone that long. He had to make phone calls, resurrect the possibility of that big loan...get the engineers started on their final plans for the water's new channel.
    And Kate Darby thought he should agree to play camp counselor for two weeks, all for the benefit of a few rag-tag kids?
    Arms still crossed, stomach protesting, Griffith tapped the fingers of one hand on his upper arm. She was being outrageous. She had no right to ask him to put his life on hold for that long.
    But on the other hand, right or wrong, she could . Griffith's every attempt at escape had been foiled. Indeed, she'd twisted him handily into her grasp ever since he'd stumbled into her dining hall. Her needed camp counselor.
    In an odd way, Griffith had to admire the woman. She was doing whatever was necessary to keep the place running. If that meant entrapping a passing abducted businessman, so be it.
    He couldn't have done a better job himself.
    Not to mention, he could smell that roast beef.
    "Do I really have a choice?" he asked dryly.
    "You could always starve." She gave him a sweet smile.
    Griffith almost laughed. Oh, she was good. "Give me that roast beef." As he beckoned, his stomach rejoiced. "You just hired yourself one bad-ass camp counselor."
    She kept the plate out of his reach, frowning. "That kind of language isn't allowed."
    Now Griffith did laugh. Without agreeing to the rule, he beckoned again. Beggars couldn't be choosers, and Kate had just turned herself from a chooser into a beggar. "Give the food here, Kate." He shot her a look that, judging by the expression on her face, she understood quite well.
    Griffith smiled.
    The balance of power had just shifted.

CHAPTER SIX
     
    "Clever," Arnie told Kate.
    He'd caught Kate's little interaction with Griffith at the beginning of lunch. Kate had known he would. Seemingly oblivious, Arnie saw everything. Now with a smug grin, he lumbered to a seat beside Kate on the long table bench, just as sherbet was being passed out for dessert.
    "Very clever," he commended.
    Kate blinked. She wasn't sure if she had been clever, or remarkably stupid. Yes, she had a counselor now, she didn't have to send any kids home, but she also had that man underfoot...bothering her.
    "I'm not gonna ask for specifics." Arnie reached for a bowl of orange sherbet. "But I take it Griffith Blaine is now our third adult counselor?"
    Kate rubbed her fingers over the stem of her dessert spoon. "He agreed to take the job, yes." But she couldn't say she'd liked the smile he'd given her on his acceptance of employment. Sinister would be putting it mildly.
    Arnie barked a laugh. "Good work, sister."
    Had it been? Kate bit her lower lip and looked over the hall of talking, eating boys. Griffith's one eye was watching her. There was a knowing smirk on his lips.
    "Oh, this is gonna be fun." Arnie dug into his sherbet. "Yep. Very entertaining."
    Kate shot him a glance. "Oh, yes, very entertaining...if we don't get sued, or put in jail."
    Arnie laughed again. He did not appear to suffer from fear of bankruptcy or incarceration. Of course, he hadn't refused to let Griffith use his telephone. He hadn't refused to feed Griffith unless he'd taken the job.
    "I doubt that'll happen." Arnie stuck his spoon in the sherbet again. "But I think...things could get mighty interesting around here."
    Kate kept frowning at Griffith, who was still smirking. "Interesting?"
    Arnie inclined his head.
    It took Kate a minute, a long, bewildered minute, before she got it. Then she grinned. "Oh. Ha! You aren't imagining I could be attracted to that man."
    Arnie simply smiled.
    A rude noise came out of Kate's mouth. "Right. Of all men in the world, I'd be attracted to one who reminds me of Eric?"
    Arnie's eyebrows jumped. "He does?" Licking the sherbet off his spoon, Arnie turned briefly toward José's table, then shook his head. "Nah, I don't see it. Griffith Blaine doesn't look like a two-bit embezzler."
    "Eric wasn't two-bit," Kate reminded her