Free The Cutting Edge by Linda Howard Page A

he’d been glaring at Sammy as if he’d like to take a swing at him, and poor Sammy wouldn’t even have an inkling of what was going on.
    Was Brett jealous? The possibility made her almost dizzy with hope. He had no reason to be, but wouldn’t jealousy signal that he cared more deeply for her than she’d thought?
    Tessa was good enough at her job, and disciplined enough, that she managed to be productive even though she kept one eye on Perry’s door, waiting for Brett to reappear. She was jittery and excited, and she smiled a little in amusement at herself, because none of her friends here would ever believe that Tessa Conway could be nervous over a man. The difference was that Brett wasn’t just a man, he was the man, and that was quite a lot of difference. Not even Andrew had ever made her feel the way she felt with Brett, and at the time Tessa had thought herself sincerely in love with Andrew. She was learning that there were many different degrees of love, and that the deep, hungry need she felt for Brett far surpassed anything she’d even imagined.
    At last Brett came out of Perry’s office, but he passed her without even glancing in her direction. Tessa felt a pang of unreasonable hurt; after all, she’d been the one who’d said that she would feel uncomfortable with office gossip, so Brett was only following her wishes in not making their relationship obvious. But she found that she still wanted something from him: a look, a smile, anything to reassure her that he didn’t feel as cold as he looked.
    Whatever he’d wanted from Perry, evidently Perry hadn’t found it to be a pleasant visit. Through the open door of Perry’s office, Tessa could see him pacing back and forth, alternately wringing his hands or shoving his fingers through his thinning hair. She’d heard thatBrett often had that effect on the executives and department heads who had to deal with him. There were two sides to his personality, and she felt a little disoriented because she couldn’t quite reconcile the coldly scathing executive who tore strips of hide off anyone who crossed him with the man of burning sensuality who kissed her with such sweet fire.
    How could she find herself so helplessly in love with a man she didn’t really know? He was a puzzle to her, his personality an intricate maze that she longed to solve, because she felt that her reward for finding the secrets of his personality would be a fiery love that would last a lifetime.
    By noon, the fact that Brett Rutland had had a private meeting with Perry was all over the office. “What’s going on?” Billie asked eagerly over lunch. “Is Perry in trouble?”
    â€œNot that I know of,” Tessa said, startled at the thought.
    â€œThen why did Rutland have a private meeting with him?”
    â€œNow, you know you’re always telling me not to get too friendly with people,” Tessa said innocently. “What was I supposed to do, go up to the man and say, ‘Mr. Rutland, honey, what are you doing in here?’”
    â€œNo one would be surprised,” Billie grumbled. “And the hell of it is, he’d probably say, ‘Miss Conway, honey, why don’t I take you out to dinner tonight and tell you all about it?’”
    Yes, he might say exactly that, Tessa thought, and smiled. She had to be a blue-ribbon fool, but she longed for the hours to pass so she could see him again, evenknowing that he wasn’t in the best of moods and that he was hard to handle even when he was feeling good. But she wanted to see him; she wanted to rest her head on his hard chest and soak up his nearness, like a flower soaking up the sun. She’d known him less than a week, but he’d embedded himself so deeply in her thoughts that it was difficult for her to remember how it had been before, when there had been no tall man with tawny hair and navy eyes who overshadowed every other man