She didn’t have to tilt her head upward very much to give the impression she could stare him down. She was a tall woman, probably five-nine to his six-one. Even in jeans and a T-shirt, she had a kind of grace and elegance he found very attractive.
When she added a ferocious frown to the silent treatment, he stopped the wayward thoughts and suppressed a smile. Now wasn’t the time. Okay, he could concede she had a right to be angry, at least from her point of view.
From his, it was a different matter. Based on all the company records he’d read during the two months prior to entering negotiations to buy the firm, he’d been prepared to be impressed upon meeting the financial guru. That was an understatement.
While he’d known about the clarity of her thinking, the ideas she’d developed and the sheer business acumen for one of her age and experience, what he hadn’t known, hadn’t even considered, was the physical package that went with the brilliant mind.
That sweep of hair, those big brown eyes, the tawny skin with the natural blush across the high cheekbones—
She gave a soft snort of exasperation, turned the key in the lock and sailed out the door before he’d quite got his thoughts in order.
Bringing himself back to the situation at hand, Lance hurried to catch up with her as she made a beeline toward her car.
“I want to explain something to you.”
“Explain away,” she invited airily without slowing her pace. As they neared the vehicle, she clicked the button on her key chain. The doors unlocked.
She turned to him when she stopped beside the modest car, the bright April sunlight filling her face until she seemed to glow from within. Her eyes were dark at the outer edges, he saw, but golden around the pupil. Her hair was a very dark brown, nearly black in hue. It lay against her shoulders in a smooth, shiny curtain.
He found he wanted to touch it. To touch her.
“What is it?” she demanded, interrupting the images running through his mind.
“No one’s going to lose his or her job,” he said, surprised and a little irritated at the persistent track of his wandering thoughts.
“Right.”
This was said with such sarcasm, it made him smile. Her lips whitened as she pressed them together, probably to hold in other, more scathing words.
“It’s true. If the employees are capable and reliable,” he added, qualifying the statement, “then they’ll have nothing to fear.”
“For how long?” She hooked her hair behind one ear and tilted her head to the side as she perused him. “How long until you sell the profitable operations and close down the rest, selling off the plant and equipment to the highest bidder so that there’s nothing left of Heymyer Home Appliances? Except the name, which you can also sell since it has an established reputation in the market.”
“There are no plans to do that.” Although he did have plans concerning the place, he wouldn’t discuss those with her until he was sure she was on board. She had to agree to stay and work with him first of all.
“Fine. I’m sure you’ll make the place a huge success.”
“As you’ve tried to do for the past three years,” he added softly.
She stiffened as resentment flared in her eyes and was gone, then she stared at him, her face a careful blank. “Not me,” she denied. “I just kept the books.”
The ensuing silence hummed like busy bees around them as they sized each other up. Around them, the desert bloomed from recent spring rains, filling the air with the pleasing aroma of sage and cedar and hidden woodland flowers along the riverbanks. The world seemed fresh and new. From the company’s vantage point near the forks of the Colorado and Gunnison rivers, he could hear the muted roar of the merging water. It added a pleasing ambiance to a day that had started off triumphant and now was merely trying.
Heymyer had been on target when he’d said the CFO was headstrong.
Lance was willing to let her have her way…to a certain extent, the limits being that she cooperated rather than hindered his efforts to come out of this deal with a viable, profitable company.
“I expect to see you in the office at eight in the morning,” he told her, his tone harder.
“Sorry, but I no longer work here.” She opened the car door, nearly striking him in the chest.
He sidestepped, then moved forward so she couldn’t close it. The heat from their bodies radiated over each other, making him once more aware of her in a physical way.
He sensed the merging of their individual energies and felt it as a mighty force, like the joining of the two rivers. “I don’t accept your resignation.”
The eyelashes swept up and he caught the golden sparkle as anger flashed anew. She was all fire and brilliance, he mused, like a perfectly cut gem. He wanted to capture that fire, to claim that brilliance.
For the benefit of CCS, of course.
When he was involved with business, no other aspects of life entered into it. Passion was part of his personal time and not on his corporate agenda.
However, his body reacted with a sudden, sharp and unexplained need that surprised him. The hunger held passion, yes, and other things mixed in with it, things he couldn’t name, things that ignited from the sparks thrown off by this very bright, very alluring woman.
Her gaze didn’t waver. “You can’t force me to stay.”
“I know,” he said quietly. “I’m asking you to.”
That caused her to blink. “No.”
He shrugged and stepped back one pace as she slid into the driver’s seat of the wagon. “So it was a lie.”
“What was?” Her manner was wary.
“All your concern about the place closing and people losing their jobs.”
“No. It wasn’t. I do care.”
“Then stay and help me make it a successful operation. James said you had plenty of ideas. I want to hear them.”
She laughed, a sudden, sexy sound that had his insides clenching up. “He called them dingbat notions. Still want to hear them?”
“Yeah.” He stuck his hands in his pockets and rocked back on his heels as he smiled at her, one cohort to another. “I believe we can turn this company around and make it one of the best in the country. How does that sound to a CFO with bulldog tenacity, or so James warned me, and lots of ideas?”
Wariness returned. “Great. If you mean it.”
“I do.” He held out his hand. “Deal?”
She held both hands up, palms out as if to hold him off. “What deal?”
“You’ll stay for a minimum of six months, and work with me to put the company back on track.”
“As CFO?”
“Maybe,” he answered.
She put the car key in the ignition. “I don’t play games,” she said coldly.
“Sorry. Truly,” he added at the dismissive glance. “I’m serious. You’re a valuable asset to the company, but I’m not sure yet just what the new job titles will be. For now, you’re still the CFO. So, will you come aboard?”
He found himself anxious for her reply. He was banking on her already considerable investment of time and energy in the company, and also her curiosity about him and the future, to convince her to stay. He knew the moment she decided in his favor by the slight smile that curved her lips, displaying two barely discernible dimples in her cheeks.
“Yes. I will.” She held out a hand. “Six months…and