“Jerry?” It’s Jax.”

“Well, hello little brother. For once you didn’t wake me up,” Jerry answered
gleefully. “Early night?”

“Early night,” Jax agreed heavily.

“You don’t sound too happy about it.”

Jax grunted. “If only you knew.”

“Maybe I do. The name Brenda Barrett ring any bells?”

Jax grinned and flopped down in a chair. “I should have know better than to tell
you anything.”

“Especially the name of the woman you’re spending your vacation with.” Jerry
hesitated for a second before continuing. “Vacation over with?”

“Not yet.”

Jerry recognized the steel in Jax’s voice. “Does she know that?”

“She knows...enough.”

“Except who you are?” Jerry sighed when Jax didn’t answer but knew enough
not to offer any advice. “Just how did you manage to meet her anyway? Did you
take a little stroll into the enemy camp one night?”

“No, she took a stroll down a deserted street and found me.”

Jerry whistled. “I think this is a tale I’d like to hear.”

So Jax told him--briefly--about how the game had started, but Jerry knew his
brother well and was able to read between the lines.

“Your trouble is that you can never walk away from a challenge. Someone
throws down a gauntlet, and you just have to pick it up.”

Jax ran a weary hand over his face. “And if I didn’t we wouldn’t have a
company.”

“That’s right. Somebody has to pick up the pieces.”

Jax didn’t answer so Jerry spoke again

“What are you going to do?”

“See it through to the end. I’m not a quitter. I started this and I’m going to see it
finished.”

Jerry tapped his fingers against the phone. “Wouldn’t it be easier if you just told
her who you were?”

“If you were her and I told you who I was, what would you think?”

“The obvious answer is she’d think that you used her to get inside the company to
get secrets and pick up strategies, but doesn’t that mean your selling her short?”

Jax frowned.

“She must be pretty smart if she’s where she is in her father’s company. Harlan
Barrett isn’t the sentimental sort. If she wasn’t pulling her weight, he wouldn’t
have her with him. You’ve been working there a couple of weeks so you’ve had
the chance to get to know the lady. She’s certainly gotten to know you, too,”
Jerry pointed out. “So it’s a judgment call. Would she believe your intentions
were honorable?”

Jax stroked his chin in silent and unconscious consideration. “At this moment.
Right now, if I told her, she probably would.”

“Then why aren’t you doing it? Why am I hearing this doubt in your voice?
Don’t you want to tell her?”

Jax sighed. “I do, but I can’t”

“Excuse me for being dumb, but why not?”

“Because I smell a trap. She’s being set up somehow. I can feel it, and if I’m not
there I won’t be able to stop it from being strung. And, if I tell her, I’ll have to
quit, leave her alone.”

“But how long can you stay? You’ve got a life, too, not to mention a company to
run. You’ll have to leave her sooner or later.”

“I know.”

Jerry hesitated. “Can’t you just warn her?”

Jax sighed. “She’s got a blind side. She trusts too easily, especially coworkers.
She thinks they’re all part of the same team.”

“That can be true...wait a minute. Is there something your not telling me?”

“Sonny Corinthos.”

“That name again.”

“Tell me what’s happening on the KLM takeover.”

Jerry shook his head even though Jax couldn’t see. “It’s getting pretty tight.
Some of the players have dropped out.”

“But not Corinthos.”

“No, he’s being pretty tenacious--and underhanded. He tried to sneak in the back
door the other day.”

“What happened?” Jax asked in alarm.

“I slammed it in his face.”

Jax grinned. “All right”

Jerry shrugged off the praise. “I think the deal’s going to pop within the next two
weeks. The board has stopped trying to row faster to save their ship. They’re
seriously starting to think about abandoning it instead.”

“About time.”

“For some it takes a while to see the light.”

Jax grunted. “Any meeting set?”

“No, they’re avoiding the face-to-face negotiations.”

Jax began to stroke his chin again in unconscious contemplation. “We need to
get inside. Get somebody’s ear.”

“Got anyone in mind?”

“How about a vice-president? You can invite one to lunch.”

Jerry considered. “It could work...as long as you pick up the tab.”

Jax grinned. “I’m paying, and we’re courting.” His eyes darkened and his grin
faded as he was reminded of Brenda. He was getting to be a pro at courtship.
“Bring a gift.”

“Like what, won’t that be seen as a bribe?”

“Something simple like a good bottle of wine, and take an extra one for the V.P.
to pass on to his boss.”

“Now that could seen as a bribe.”

“No, a peace offering. Tell them we want to talk, and make it clear we want to
come through the front door.”

“Understood.”

“Keep me advised.”

“You just keep yourself out of trouble.”

Jax hung up with a smile, but a frown quickly took its place. Things were really
starting to heat up, and when the meetings started, he couldn’t be doing two jobs
anymore. He would only be able to concentrate on one.

Getting to his feet, he headed to his bedroom thinking of Brenda. He was going
to see the game through to the end. He never did anything halfway, and he never
gave up before a job was done. When he started something, he went in
wholeheartedly and came out with whatever he wanted. And he wanted her.

He tossed his jacket into a chair. This time was going to be no different. He was
going to get what he wanted because he was going to win. Everything. And
everyone knew, even Brenda, that to the victor went the spoils.

***

Brenda left the elevator and entered the main office suite with a heavy heart. It
was Monday and the seemingly endless weekend was behind her, but an even
longer week lay ahead.

She’d waited helplessly and hopelessly both Saturday and Sunday for Jax to call,
but he hadn’t. And she hadn’t been able to call him. She didn’t have his number.
Information didn’t either, and getting the Human Resources director to go into the
office files on a weekend to get her an employee’s phone number without a bona
fide emergency just hadn’t been an option. Jax might not have to work with those
in her father’s company anymore, but she did.

Without asking Lilly, who mingled with company staff other than officers, Brenda
knew the rumor mill was working against her and Jax. The boss’s daughter and
her male associate. Sonny was the only one to actually voice his opinion about
the matchup, but it was an opinion that was, no doubt, shared by countless others.
Brenda didn’t want to give credence to anything anybody was saying by her
actions. That had left her to wait and hope he’d call. But he hadn’t. And now
she could only wonder if she would ever see him again and if she really wanted
to.

Could she trust her feelings? Did she love Jax or only who she thought he was?
Who was Jax McCarty? What was it he was, or thought he was protecting her
from? He said himself. But that didn’t seem reasonable. Or explainable. And as
long as secrets continued to be held between them, how could the two of them
hope to have a chance of forging a lasting relationship? And if Jax had chosen to
walk and stay away from her, did that mean he didn’t really want to try? Did it
matter to him how she felt?

Murmuring polite greetings to those she passed, Brenda followed the corridor
towards her office and braced herself to see his empty desk. It was impossible to
be prepared to find it vacant. Facing the fact that he was gone and she’d never
have any answers, only questions, about what might have been left her numb.

With a hurried good-morning, she rushed past Lilly and into the sanctuary of the
room with her name on the door. Alone she could hope to find solace and refuge,
but inside she wasn’t by herself. Somebody was at her desk. And when she
entered, he turned to look up to meet her startled gaze.

“Jax.”

The word was sigh. It hit him hard, and the hope in her eyes made it difficult to
stand still. But he did. Somehow. “Your late.”

More surprised by him than his accusation, she moved around him to stand
behind her desk. Words bubbled in her throat, collided in her mind, but, too used
to decorum and manners and control, she held back feelings to give an
explanation instead. “It’s a bad habit I’ve picked up since moving to Malibu,
especially now that I have two children to look after.”

He grinned, but his fingers were itching. He wanted to touch not look, and he
wanted to decipher the emotions she was trying to hide behind that shield of
reserve she’d quickly put in place on seeing him. “How are Peter and Wendy?”

“They like my new furniture,” she told him, her smile still in place, but she hated
the polite conversation. She wasn’t saying what she wanted to and didn’t like
talking to him as if they were strangers. Instead she wanted to dive into to
undercurrents surging between them, but giving way to impulses was too new to
her yet. “They like it all...and my parents. They climbed all over both on
Sunday.”

“Really?” His smile was quick, but she couldn’t read what was in his eyes. She
never could.

“Since I finally had someplace for them to sit, I invited my mother and father over
for dinner,” she hastily went on when he didn’t say more. “I cooked.”

“I’m impressed.”

“Don’t be. I burned everything.”

“Maybe you should have ordered out.”

The laughter bubbled out, but her smile slowly faded as she met his steady gaze.
“I didn’t think you’d be here today.”

“I didn’t know if you’d want me to come.”

She shook her head in denial. “I did. I do.”

This time his smile warmed her to her toes. “Good. Because I think we deserve a
second chance.”

She held her breath.

“Don’t you?”

She looked away from her to her briefcase. It was the only way she could hide
her relief and the love she wasn’t sure he would take and that she wasn’t certain
was real. “I think so.”

“A little slower this time, maybe.”

She nodded and lifted her eyes to him again. “I like slow.”

“Then I’ll try to be patient.”

“And I’ll try to be understanding.”

His eyes darkened on hers. “I won’t tell you everything.”

“You don’t have to.” Her smile returned with a taunting twitch. “Yet.”

He nodded acceptance of her dare. “I like a determined woman.”

“I’ve been taking lessons from a determined man.”

“Anyone I know?”

The intercom on her desk went off, and Brenda jumped in surprise, glared at it
and then reached for it resentfully.

“Yes?”

“Miss Barrett,” Lilly’s voice answered. “Mr. Corintho’s--”

“Here to see you,” Sonny finished, striding through the open door and into the
room. He didn’t so much as look at Jax as he approached the desk. “You know,
Brenda, your new secretary seems familiar somehow. Has she worked here
before?”

The urge to protect swelled up, and Brenda shrugged noncommittally before
reaching for the folders Sonny held out to her. “Would it matter if she had?”

Sonny gestured carelessly. “Not really.” He pointed to the files. “The two
accounts that your father wanted you to take a look at for me. I appreciate the
help.”

Brenda glanced over at Jax, who rolled his eyes, but she accepted Sonny’s attempt
to pass the turnover as accounts off as his decision with a smile. “We’re on a
team, Sonny. We all work for the same company and for the same board of
directors.”

“Perhaps you’ll ask my advice this time, then?” Malcolm suggested with a
studious expression. “It might go better, and quicker if we work together.”

“Of course, it’s what I’ve wanted all along.” She weighed the papers in her hand.
The binders were thick. Heavy. They promised a challenge. She smiled. “I’ll
look them over and set up a meeting so we can go over them.”

“Alone?” Sonny pressed, finally sparing Jax a glance. “I think the two of us can
work things through without any outside help.”

“Absolutely,” Brenda agreed with a straight face, even though Jax’s eyes
narrowed.

“Later, then,” Sonny said with a wave and was gone.

“He--”

“Is someone we have to work with,” Brenda interrupted Jax. “You could work on
your diplomacy.”

“I’d prefer to practice my swing.”

She handed him a file. “Practice your reading instead. You take one and I take
one. We’ll exchange and then compare notes.”

“Yes ma’am.”

But the reading took longer than expected. It was an entire day before she got
through one file. The other went home that night and back to the office the next
morning before she finished it. She had no time to plot strategy with Jax because
Sonny called, anxious for the promised meeting.

She went and tried to listen with an open mind as he voiced his ideas. It was in
her to trust him, but he’d deceived her once. She couldn’t be sure he wouldn’t do
it again, but she was surprised by his candor...and by his voluntarily turning over
yet another account to her without her father’s prompting.

When she returned to the office after leaving Sonny, Jax was waiting. He rose
from his desk to follow her into her office. “How’d it go?”

Brenda sat back and shook her head. “Sonny was honest.” She shrugged. “He
just wasn’t much help.”

“Did you expect him to be?”

She bit her lip. “His approach is certainly different then mine and yours.”

“Only great minds thinks alive.”

She smothered the impulse to answer his grin with one of her own. Brenda
desperately wanted to ask Jax when they were going to spend time together again
after working hours, but she didn’t. She agreed to go slowly. It wasn’t her place
to push. Unfortunately. She tapped the new folder on the desk. “He gave me a
new file.”

Jax eyebrows shot up.

“Don’t look so surprised. Maybe he’s turning over a new leaf.”

If Jax had any doubts, he kept them to himself. “Want me to go over it?”

“No, let’s start on the other files first.”

He waved to the waiting table. “Now?”

She glanced at her watch. It was almost four-thirty. “It’s late.”

“I don’t mind working long hours.”

Her breath caught and her pulse started racing when his eyes fastened on hers.
“Neither do I.” But even though she followed him across the room to begin work,
once started, she found it difficult to concentrate on the job at hand with him
sitting beside her. With his jacket off, his tie loosened around his neck and his
sleeves rolled up, she could see the golden hairs curling softly along his forearms
and the tan skin that covered fingers that were long and strong.

“You agree.”

“With what?” she asked at the unexpected question.

“Do your figures match mine?”

“Figures?” she repeated, her eyes meeting his.

He tapped the paper lying before him with a pencil. “Figures.”

“Oh, oh course.” She quickly dipped her head to look at her own column of
numbers.

“Do you want to call it a night?”

“No, I’m fine,” she insisted, and glanced at her watch. “It’s only six. But what
about you? I don’t want to ruin any plans you might have.”

“I don’t have anyplace to go.”

His gaze fastened on her mouth, and she unconsciously licked her lips in
anticipation. “I don’t either.”

“Good.”

When he leaned forward, she did, too, but they jumped apart on a call.

“Brenda! Are you still here?”

“My father,” she murmured in apology.

Jax smiled ruefully. “We always seem to be getting interrupted. Someday you
won’t be so lucky.” He stood as Harlan Barrett entered the room. “We were just
calling it quits,” he told the other man, and reached for the suit coat he’d
discarded earlier.

Brenda got to her feet as well and watched her father glower at Jax before
scowling at her.

“Your dedication is admirable,” Harlan Barrett told her. “But don’t forget you’re
supposed to be at the house in an hour.”

“Oh, no! I totally forgot about the meeting!” she exclaimed. “I’ll call Mother and
tell her I’ll be a little late.”

“Please do,” her father growled. “I’d rather she be angry at you than me.” He
nodded to Jax as Brenda raced for the phone, but he didn’t stay as she dialed.
Instead he immediately went back out the door, leaving Brenda and Jax alone
again.

“Meeting for a benefit?” Jax asked as he watched her punch in the numbers.

“The auction,” she agreed, and straightened to wait for the ring.

“Ah, now I remember,” he acknowledged, straightening his tie and putting on his
jacket as he walked to her desk. “I’m supposed to be sold to the highest bidder.”

Her lips twitched as he stopped in front of the desk, and she barely heard the
phone start to ring at her parents house. “I think you’ll bring a fair price.”

“Just don’t forget to rescue me,” he admonished, and unexceptionally leaned
toward her to press his lips to hers for a brief, if searing, kiss.

The unexpected attack stole her breath and her reason and delayed her ability to
speak when the ringing stopped and someone answered. She finally managed to
stammer out hello as Jax strolled out the door with a wink, but she was still
thinking of him when she got to her car moments later. The single, perfect red
rose lying on the windshield saw that she keep thinking of him, too. All night
long.

To be continued...