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“I’m not getting into a cab with you!”
Jake muttered something, opened the door and none too gently pushed her inside, got in after her and gave the driver her address. The taxi shot off down the street.
“Damn you, Jake!”
“You ought to thank me,” Jake said coldly, “instead of cursing me.”
“Thank you?” Her voice rose shrilly. “For what, huh? For letting Thad think that you and I—that I...”
“You don’t give a damn what he thinks. Not unless you’ve lost all your common sense.”
“Don’t you get it? You made it look as if you—you had the right to—to—”
“I do have the right.” Jake shot her a quick look. “We agreed on that, remember? I’m going to find men for you to date, vet them, see if they’re a good match for you.”
“We didn’t agree. And even if we had, I don’t want you involved in my private life. Not anymore.”
“Forget the octopus on your plate,” Jake growled. “If I hadn’t turned up, you’d be dealing with a human octopus in another half hour.”
“You are beyond belief, do you know that?” Emily folded her arms and glared at him. “If Thad wanted to give me a bad time, he’d have done it last night.”
“I saw the way he was looking at you, as if his brand were stamped on your forehead.”
“And how do you think you were looking at me? When you announced I was leaving with you, when you—when you touched me that way. When you—when you kissed me just now...” Emily looked away from him and stared out the window. “This whole thing has gone wrong. You’re my boss, not my keeper.”
“Yeah, well, maybe you need a keeper.”
“You had no right to turn up at that restaurant.”
“Coincidence,” he said airily.
“Coincidence, my foot! I was on a date. A date, Jake! Do you understand the meaning of the word?”
Jake’s mouth thinned. She was right. She’d been on a date and, no, he hadn’t turned up by coincidence but what else could he have done? Emily had made him angry as hell earlier today, but that didn’t change the facts. One, Jennett had a reputation. Two, Emily was naive. And three—the biggest piece of the equation—three, it was his fault she was out with the guy.
He’d offered to introduce her to men but not men like Jennett. There were other guys out there, guys he’d be glad to introduce her to, and if he couldn’t think of one of them, well, that was only because he hadn’t had time to work on the problem.
Plus, Emily needed some pointers. She needed to know how to dress, how to look, how to handle herself in fast company, which was the kind she’d been with tonight. And he’d need time to teach her all that, every last bit of it...
The taxi jolted to a stop. Jake looked up. They were outside Emily’s brownstone, and she was half out the door.
“Wait for me,” he said to the cabby, and scrambled out after her.
“I do not wish you to see me in,” she said coldly, as she marched up the steps.
“I don’t care what you wish. I always see my...”
Jake frowned. Emily looked at him. “I’m not your anything, Jake, except your assistant.”
His assistant. Yeah, she was. And that was fine; it was all he wanted her to be. Still, he’d made a deal and if there was one thing Jake McBride always did, it was keep his end of a bargain.
“You’re right,” he said.
Emily’s brows lifted. “Well, well, well. Two apologies, in one day? Will miracles never cease?”
“I probably shouldn’t have shown up at La Gondola.”
“Probably? Try ‘definitely.’”
Jake ran his hand through his hair. “It’s just that I felt responsible.”
“I don’t need anybody feeling responsible for me. I’m a grown woman.”
“Yeah. But I said I’d introduce you to guys, and—”
“Are we back to that?” Emily swung away, took her keys from her purse and jabbed one into the lock. “You are hereby absolved from all responsibility for introducing me to men. Okay?”
“Not okay.” Jake caught her shoulders and turned her to face him. “It was a lousy idea,” he said roughly. “Me saying I’d introduce you to guys. You’re not ready for it. You were completely out of your league tonight.”
“Thank you for that generous assessment.”
“If Jennett sat any closer to you, you’d have been in his lap.”
“Only because you crowded your way in.”
