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“Jake,” she said pleasantly.
He blinked. She was smiling, smiling and hanging on to Thad Jennett’s Armani-clad arm. And Thad was beaming down at her.
“We’ve been looking for you.”
“Really,” Jake said, when he could find his voice.
“Yes.” She smiled at him, then at Thad, and just for minute, Jake wanted to pound his fist into Jennett’s slickly handsome face—but that would have been stupid because this was exactly what he’d hoped for, that Emily would meet some man to date.
“...waiting for you, when Thad came along, and...”
But not Jennett. Not without knowing more about hi Was he okay? Pete Archer was supposed to have been okay but look what had happened. The bastard had come on t Emily like an octopus.
“...that I had to wait until you...”
So, okay. Tomorrow, he’d do this the right way. He’d sit down, draw up a list of names. Guys he knew well enough to let Emily date them. It might take a while. He’d have t’ check their backgrounds, talk to people who knew them, talk to the guys themselves...
“...leave now, Jake, if you have no objection.”
“No,” Jake said. He smiled politely and reached for her arm. “No, on the contrary. I was just thinking the same thing. Let’s just get your coat and—”
“Oh, I didn’t mean I was leaving with you,” Emily said, with a brilliant smile. She looked up at Jennett, who smiled back at her. “Thad’s asked me to supper.”
“Supper?” Jake repeated, as if the concept was alien to him. “You, and Jennett?”
Jennett leaned forward, man to man. “Food’s not up to par tonight, Jake, not up to par at all. Looks as if UBS had to cut corners, to make up for that extra two mill a year they’ve agreed to pay me on my new contract.”
Jennett laughed. Emily smiled. Jake knotted his hands and jammed them into his trouser pockets.
“Thad? Would you get my coat, please?” Emily shifted closer to Jake as Jennett hurried off. ‘‘Jake, I want to be sure you understand that—that what happened in the elevator...” She licked her lips. “It was a mistake.”
“Says who?” Jake snarled, as all his good intentions flew out the door.
“Oh, come on. You know it was.”
“What I know is that going to supper with Jennett is a damn-fool idea!”
“It’s an excellent idea.” Emily touched his arm. “It was good of you to do what you’d said. Introduce me to a nice man, I mean.”
“Jennett? That’s your idea of a nice man?”
“Uh-huh. He’s charming.”
Jake’s mouth thinned. “What he is,” he said coldly, “is a one-man publicity machine. That smile’s as phony as a three-dollar bill. I’ll bet every tooth in his mouth is capped.” He clasped her elbow and pulled her towards him. “And I don’t know enough about Jennett to agree to a date.”
Emily pulled free of Jake’s hand. “Then it’s a good thing he asked me out instead of you,” she said sweetly.
“Dammit, Emily! You can’t go out with anybody unless I say you—”
“Ready?”
Thad Jennett smiled at them both as he draped Emily’s jacket over her shoulders.
“Completely ready,” she said, with a cold look at Jake.
Jake thought about answering. He thought about punching out Jennett’s lights. He even thought about slinging Emily over his shoulder and heading straight back to the elevator…
But he was a civilized man. And anyway, what did he care who his exec dated? Her life, and the men in it, were her business.
He got himself a drink, then scoured the room until he spotted Crystal.
“Crystal,” he called, and when she turned and smiled, he held out his arms in welcome.
CHAPTER FIVE
JAKE stood at the window in his office, sipping a cup of what was supposed to be coffee.
It smelled right. It even looked right. But if coffee tasted like this, the world’s tea-leaf growers would be billionaires.
He took another mouthful, shuddered and swallowed. This was what you got for relying on someone. It was Emily’s job to make the coffee. Every morning, promptly at nine, she brought him a cup.
But she’d come to work too late to do it yesterday. Jake shot a scowling look at his watch. And she was going to be late today, too. There was no excuse this time. No snow. No tangled traffic. No subway trains running late. He’d had to mike his own coffee and dammit, Emily obviously knew something about the coffeemaker he didn’t because the stuff she made never tasted like this.
“Never,” Jake growled, as he strode into his private bathroom and dumped the sludge down the sink.
