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“No,” Emily said, with a guilty smile. It was too bad.
Thad was a nice man. He just wasn’t—he wasn’t—
“So,” Jake said, “did you hear what happened at the Bishikoffs’ the other night?”
He told the story but it wasn’t the same. He’d actually been there; he made the incident seem funny, even for the mouse.
“...grabbed the first thing I could find, which just happened to be the salad bowl, trapped the little guy in it, and took him away. The cat wasn’t very happy. Neither was the lady seated to my right because the salad ended up in her lap, but...”
She was laughing by the time he finished. Thad wasn’t. He sat beside her stiffly, his eyes fixed on his plate. Gradually, her laughter died. This was terrible. She’d agreed to dinner with one man but she was really spending the evening with another. Thad might be a pompous ass, but he deserved better than this.
“Thad?” she said softly. “Yes?”
“I’m sorry.”
Thad put down his fork. “I doubt it.”
“But I am. I didn’t expect Jake to—”
Thad swung towards her, eyes glittering. “I don’t like playing stand-in for another man, Emily.”
“Jake isn’t anything to me!” “I don’t believe you.”
“What would you like me to do? Sign an affidavit? Jake’s just my employer. He isn’t—”
“Sweetheart?”
Sweetheart? Emily looked at Jake. “What did you call me?”
“Ah.” Jake gave her a crooked grin and lifted their entwined hands to the top of the table. “Sorry. I know how you are about keeping things private.”
“Private?” Dammit, what was she doing, repeating his insane comments this way? She twisted her hand, tugged it free of his. “Really, Jake...”
“Really, Em.” Jake’s tone was soft, his smile pleasant but his eyes were dark, and narrowly focused on her face. “I think it’s time I took you home.”
“Are you crazy? You’re not—”
“Now,” Jake said coldly. “Right now.” He looked past her, at Thad. “Unless you have a problem with that, Jennett?”
Thad didn’t answer. His skin had taken on a pallor that showed through his out-of-season tan. Even the waiter, who’d been approaching with dessert menus, seemed frozen in place.
Emily flushed, dropped her napkin alongside her plate and rose to her feet. “It’s been a lovely evening but Mr. McBride is right. I have to get home.”
Jake rose, too, his actions as slow and deliberate as those of a panther. “The party’s on me,” he said. He pulled out his wallet and tossed a handful of bills on the table. Then he looped his hand under Emily’s hair, around the nape of her neck. There was nothing casual in it; it was the touch of a possessive male, and a look at Thad, staring up at them, assured Emily that she wasn’t the only one reading it that way.
“Em?” Jake said.
She thought of all the responses she could make, everything from calling Jake McBride a fool to slugging him, but making a scene would only make matters worse than they already were.
“Jake,” she said calmly, and she let him drape her coat over her shoulders, put his hand in the small of her back and guide her away from the table, through the restaurant and out the door.
“Taxi,” Jake snapped at the doorman.
“Not for me,” Emily said. She wrenched free of his hand and swung towards him. “Just who do you think you are?” she demanded, her voice quivering with rage.
“Did you expect me to sit there and let Jennett paw you?”
“He was not ‘pawing’ me!”
“Come off it, Emily. Or maybe you didn’t think I could see what was happening right under my nose.”
“Nothing was happening, except maybe poor Thad was trying to figure out what you were doing, elbowing in on our date.”
“Oh, give me a break! You were damned glad to see me.” “Only because you were better looking than that stuff on my plate!”
Jake glared at her. “You were glad to see me because I’m me, and you know it.”
“My God, you’re impossible! Six feet of outlandish ego.”
“Six feet plus,” Jake growled, and pulled her into his arms.
His mouth took hers with heat and hunger; his arms closed tightly around her. Emily made a little sound of indignation... and then she groaned, rose on her toes, flung her arms around Jake’s neck and kissed him back.
“Sir? Uh, sir, your cab...”
Jake stepped back, kept one hand on Emily and dug in his pocket for a bill with the other. Then he marched Emily to the curb but she’d recovered her equilibrium by then.
