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That would tell her that she ht be able to fool these idiots but she couldn’t fool hiht hadn’t stayed with her Was that her proble hies? Or was this payback for that little speech he’d ain, sometime?
Either way, she’d made a ht
He waited patiently while she spoke, keeping his expression neutral, his hands in his pockets so nobody would see he’d knotted them into fists Eventually she ran out of numbers, and she looked at Dobbs
“I’ative comments, sir,” she said, hat Slade knew the others would accept as genuine regret “Mr Baron’s design is excellent, I’o ahead with this project within the defined budgetary constraints” She looked at Slade “Unless,” she said politely, “I’ve …?”
Her s was impossible
The room was silent Dobbs and the other men looked from Lara to Slade
“Well, Mr Baron,” the chair his throat, “I’m sure you have some comment to offer”
Slade nodded “Yes,” he said evenly, “I do”
He walked across the roo a little to ained his composure When he reached the s, he took a deep breath and turned around Thehi anticipation to wary concern
“My co presentation” He flashed a quick smile around the table, one that made it clear he’d have offered siet all the way through her ABCs Slade looked at Dobbs and his s—but inaccurate Ms Stevens seems to be confused on several key points”
It took hiuments, actually, to reduce them to rubble In Lara’s zeal to run him out of town—and Slade was sure that had been her intention—she’dabout architecture And she sure as hell had underestimated him as an adversary
When he’d finished, the rooed the others in some kind of unspoken communication, then put his hands, palms flattened, on the table
“Well, Mr Baron, it’s obvious you’ve done your homework”
Slade sht that this was probably the first ti positive he could attribute to his old man, who’d done what he could to beat that philosophy into the seat of his pants
“Wantin’ ain’t enough, boy,” Jonas would say “You got to go in prepared to win
”
Well, he’d wanted to win this commission And he’d come prepared, not for a personal attack, which this da of bean counters It was just that he’d never expected the bean-counter to be a blue-eyed, strawberry-blonde named Lara
It made the victory he kneas his all the sweeter He’d have stood on his head, if that’s what it took, to teach her that she couldn’t make a fool of Slade Baron a second ti out of his bed that way, and it was time he admitted it
Dobbs pushed back his chair and stood, an obvious signal that theLara
“Thank you for your input, Ms Stevens You certainly raised some important issues and the board will take them under advisement”
Lara nodded stiffly “You’re welcome, sir”
Dobbs came around the table and clapped Slade on the back “I hope you don’t think our Ms Stevens gave you too difficult a time”
“No, not at all” He looked at Lara Her face was expressionless as, he hoped, was his He still couldn’t figure out why she’d tried to sabotage him None of the reasons he’d come up with really uy
Slade’s jaw tightened
Yeah, that would explain it She was seeing so proof of the fact that she’d once spent a hot night with a strange man
He looked at her left hand, and saw a thin gold band on her ring finger
Years before, when he was a kid, a bronc had bucked him off He’d hit his head, hard All Slade could ever recall of the incident was going down into a spinning whirlpool of darkness That was the way he felt now
Married Lara was married
He tore his eyes fros Okay, she wasto him What they’d shared had been sex, that was all, and it had happened a long tione his, and now she had a husband