“Let me try this again,” she said, drawing a deep, calming breath. “I need someone to pose as my steady boyfriend and escort me to a party.”
He stared at her, the enjoyment of the previous moment fading from his expression. “I don’t run an escort service.”
The disapproving edge to his voice was enough to alert her she’d crossed a professional line with him. “Of course you don’t,” she amended hastily. “I never meant to imply that you did, but isn’t it at all possible that I could hire you for a few hours? You do hire out by the hour, don’t you?” The words, once they were out, sounded like an indecent proposal.
He shook his head, his dark hair gleaming from the low lights in the lounge. “I’m really sorry,” he said, his voice filled with genuine regret, “but I can’t help you out. I make it a rule never to mix fantasy with reality.”
She found his comment odd, but didn’t have the time to worry about what, exactly, he meant. She bit her bottom lip, realizing she had no choice but to put her pride on the line.
Taking a swallow of her sparkling water to ease the dryness in her mouth, she met Austin’s gaze. “I’m embarrassed to have to admit this, but I told my boss that my boyfriend’s name is Austin McBride.”
Austin’s dark eyebrows rose in surprise, and a grin quirked the corner of his mouth. “Really?” he drawled.
She held up a hand, certain he was writing her off as a basket case. “I know what you’re thinking—”
“You have no idea,” he murmured, his low, amused voice stroking along her nerves. Seeing the mischievous glint in his eyes, she decided maybe she didn’t want to know what he was thinking.
Hopelessness settled over her. Could this meeting get any worse? she wondered, dragging her hand through her loose hair to pull it away from her face. She’d failed in her attempt to proposition Austin for an evening, and even her humiliating admission about blurting out his name to Louden hadn’t swayed him.
As much as she hated to admit it, she needed Austin McBride. Her career at Sharper Image depended on him. Only he could knock Louden down a peg or two. And having Louden witness the sexual chemistry between them would be a bonus, too. One night, five hours max. A few tender touches and intimate glances, and once the Christmas party ended they’d go their separate ways.
It was the perfect arrangement.
But first, she had to convince Austin. “Maybe I should explain my situation from the beginning, so my request for your services makes sense.”
“Please do.” After taking a drink of the dark liquid in his glass, he reclined back in his chair, clasped his hands over his flat stomach, and regarded her with rapt curiosity.
She glanced around the lounge to make sure they didn’t have an audience, and was relieved to find the excitement caused by Austin’s appearance had subsided. Returning her attention to the man next to her, she forced her thoughts on business. “I started with Sharper Image, the company I’m currently working for, a little less than a year ago. I was hired as a layout assistant, and within six months was promoted to a graphic designer position with my own accounts.”
“Do you like your job?”
Austin’s unexpected question threw her concentration off stride and the genuine interest he expressed warmed her. Nobody ever asked her about her job, whether she enjoyed it or hated it. When she’d enrolled in college, her brothers and parents hadn’t taken her goals seriously, and wrote off her dream of becoming a graphic designer as a hobby. They’d hoped her engagement to Bartholomew Winston would settle her down, but that brief period in her life had only served to make her realize how important her independence was to her, and how badly she wanted to make it on her own.
The disappointment of their daughter embracing a career over marriage was still a sore spot with her parents. Talking about her job and how much she relished the mental stimulation and challenges wasn’t something the older Spencers encouraged when she visited, and so Teddy had learned in order to keep peace, she kept quiet.
“I love my job,” she told Austin, taking advantage of his interest. “Especially the creative freedom I have as a graphic designer. I design letterheads, logos, brochures and develop advertising strategies for businesses and corporations. I’ve got a flawless record with Sharper Image, and my reviews have been glowing. Recently, the position of senior graphic designer became available. Considering my experience, degree and performance the past year, I’m a prime candidate for the promotion.”
She paused for a moment, making sure she still had Austin’s attention. “This is where it gets tricky. Louden Avery, who is my boss and creative director over my department, sees me as a candidate of an entirely different sort. Ever since I started at Sharper Image, he’s made a few comments that leave me feeling uncomfortable. A few months after I was hired, I told him I had a steady boyfriend, thinking he’d lose interest. He backed off for a while, but it hasn’t lasted.”
Austin’s gaze flickered to her left hand, which rested on the armrest nearest him. “So, you don’t really have a boyfriend then?” he asked, looking back up at her.
She recalled the odd comment he’d made last night, about having to explain the Stetson to her boyfriend, and realized the ring on her finger had given him the wrong impression. “No, no boyfriend. The ring is merely a diversion, but it’s losing its credibility. When Louden pressured me about bringing my elusive boyfriend to the Christmas party and demanded a name, yours was the first one I came up with.”
He smiled. “I’m flattered.”
Hope bloomed within her. “Flattered enough to stand in as my date Saturday night?”
Indecision touched his expression, and before he could succumb to his reservations, she reached out and grasped his hand, stopping just short of dropping to a begging position in front of him. She was desperate, yes, but she didn’t want everyone in the Frisco Bay to witness her despair. “One night, Austin, please? I’ll pay you enough to make it worth your while.”
A young woman at a nearby table turned and looked at them, shock and curiosity brightening her eyes. Belatedly, Teddy realized how incriminating her words had sounded.
Teddy glared until the woman turned back to her own companion. So much for being discreet! Before the night was over, word would probably spread through the Frisco Bay that Teddy Spencer had propositioned her cowboy. She hadn’t said what that one night entailed, but knew the other woman was thinking along the lines of sex. When Teddy returned her gaze to Austin, silent laughter glistened in his eyes.
“Please,” she begged in a low whisper.
“Let me get this straight,” he said, leaning forward so he could brace his forearms on his knees. In the process, he switched the position of their hands, so hers was enveloped in the warmth of his. “If I decided to do this, you’d expect me to act like your steady boyfriend?”
She nodded eagerly and dampened her bottom lip with her tongue. “Yes.”
His fingers drew lazy, sensual patterns on her palm, sending scintillating tremors up her arm. That frisson of awareness settled in the tips of her breasts, tightening her nipples into hard, sensitive peaks. “And give everyone the impression that we’re intimately involved?”
The sensations he was evoking were as intimate as anything she’d ever experienced. He stroked softly between thumb and index finger, a skillful caress that made her pulse race. “Ahhh, yes,” she managed to say, though she sounded as if she was out of breath. “The, um, more people that think we’re intimately involved, the better.”
The corner of his mouth kicked up in a seductively wicked smile that matched his deep, rich voice. “You want Louden Avery to have no doubt in his mind that we’re a couple well and truly committed.”
“Exactly.” Unable to stand his provocative caresses any longer she gently withdrew her hand from his. “One night should do it, as long