"There's nothing wrong, Rand. I just want to make it clear that I meant what I said yesterday morning about maintaining a... a businesslike relationship for a while. There's a lot we have to learn about each other...."

"You were upset about finding out about my past, weren't you?" he interrupted harshly. "But, honey, it's that past which is going to help your company. Don't you see?"

"I see. And I'm grateful. But that's not the point." She tried to speak rationally, keeping her emotions under control. But it was difficult with him looking at her like that, as if she really were more important to him than business.

He drew her to a halt on the path, turning her so that she had to face him. "Then what is the point, Kalinda? What are you trying to say?"

She faced him bravely. "Rand, I'm grateful for your help in this crisis. But, please, don't confuse your feelings about coming back to the business world with... with any feelings you might have for me!"

"What the h.e.l.l are you talking about?" he rasped, his hands tightening forcefully around her upper arms, his face darkening.

"Please," she begged earnestly, gray eyes wide with concern for him, "don't be angry. I'm just pointing out the obvious. You're finding it exciting to get your feet wet again in the world in which you were once so successful. It was very clear yesterday that you were enjoying yourself. And if it's what you want, then I don't mind having been the catalyst that drew you out of the mountains, really I don't..."

"Catalyst!"

"Yes! Remember how I asked you a couple of times if you were bored with your trout fishing and the little gallery? You denied it, but I think the truth is that you were getting restless. After a year and a half, you felt the urge to compete and win getting the better of you. When I came along representing a portion of the world you'd left behind, something clicked, didn't it? I became an excuse, a reason, for coming back to Denver and picking up the reins of business."

He stared at her. "You've got it all worked out, haven't you?"

"Is my conclusion so very far from the truth?" she whispered sadly. "Are you going to deny that you're enjoying yourself as you begin to wheel and deal again?"

"That's a very neat trap you've worked out, Kalinda Brady," he muttered icily, hazel eyes hardening as he surveyed her face. "I can't very well deny the fact that there is something in the business world which challenges and interests me. You saw me at work yesterday. I never stayed up half the night working on a piece of pottery!"

She nodded in mute understanding, trying to hide her unhappiness.

"And I'm not going to deny that I might have been growing bored with my lifestyle in the mountains. A year and a half of fishing and part-time employment can be a bit more than relaxing. It can make a man restless...."

"I knew it," she murmured, lowering her eyes as she listened to the confirmation of her fears.

"But you're caught in the trap with me," he went on relentlessly, lifting her chin with thumb and forefinger. "You made it very clear in a lot of little ways that you weren't interested in an affair with a lazy trout fisherman and pottery-maker! You wanted a man from your own world. Okay, you've got him. I not only understand and function very well in your world, Kalinda, I can dominate it if I wish. I'm giving you what you asked for in a man. Don't you dare try to back out of our deal now!"

Kalinda froze at the cold, hard edge in his voice. "We didn't have any sort of 'deal,' Rand!"

"We do now," he countered and crushed her lips beneath his own as if to seal it.

It was a harsh, ruthless, dominating kiss, with none of the warm, seductive persuasiveness she'd known in the past It was as if he was intent on letting her know that he could dominate not only the world in which she made her living, but Kalinda, herself.

His mouth moved aggressively on her lips, forcing them apart and giving her no option but to accept the invasion of his tongue. Desperately Kalinda tried to pull away, break the ruthlessness of the kiss, but he only wrapped his arms around her and forced her closer. In the chill morning air he molded her body to his own, letting his inner heat trap her.

When she tried to free her lips, he used his teeth to nip warningly and she crumpled against him at the first threat. He accepted the surrender as if it were his due, not taking his mouth from hers until she had stopped fighting him completely.

When at last he lifted his head to gaze forbiddingly down at her helpless face, Kalinda sagged in his arms.

He let her bury her face against his shoulder, holding her with bonds of steel.

For a long moment they stood silently. Kalinda knew she was trembling with reaction. Not just to the kiss, itself, but to all the male implacability that lay behind it. He did want her. Regardless of his other reasons for following her out of the mountains, he wanted her. Would that ever be enough?

"Don't fight me, Kalinda," he finally got out on a hoa.r.s.e thread of sound. "Please don't fight me!" He turned his lips into her hair, kissing her gently now, almost apologetically. She felt a tremor go through him and knew he was shaken by the moment.

"Is that a warning, Rand?" she managed, her words m.u.f.fled by the fabric of his jacket "Are you saying I'll get hurt if I don't go along with what you want?"

His grasp on her tautened. "I would never hurt you, honey. But I can't let you go, either. I need you too much!"

"Rand..."

She wasn't sure just what she was going to say under the tension of the moment, but whatever it might have been died in her throat as he gently set her a little ways from him and forced a quirking smile.

"Don't say anything more this morning, sweetheart For both our sakes, I think we'd better get back to business. Come on, let's go find ourselves some breakfast"

Without waiting for a response, he tugged her gently down the path.

The rest of the day pa.s.sed much as the preceding one. Rand was constantly on the phone to banks, old acquaintances who owed him favors, and people who knew an astonishing amount about the inside workings of David Hutton's fledgling empire. When he wasn't using her telephone, he was going through the endless paperwork generated by a thriving enterprise such as Brady Data Processing.

"You know, this whole thing is turning out to be quite an education," Kalinda observed truthfully at one point as they munched sandwiches and prepared once more to stay late at the office. "I'm going to be a much more aware businesswoman when this is all over!"

He smiled, a genuine flash of humor. "That's one thing that can be said about a company that gets caught up in a merger battle. Management is never quite the same thereafter."

"A matter of facing reality, I suppose," she nodded seriously.

He took her home that night around ten o'clock and he didn't try to invite himself inside. Kalinda thought he looked rather preoccupied, in fact, and wondered at his almost casual good-night kiss. But she didn't argue with it She knew she needed the time to herself.

But she came to no revealing conclusions as she lay alone in her bed. Instead, she found herself dreaming that Rand was beside her. When she went into work the next morning, she didn't try to deny her own eagerness to see him again.

He was there ahead of her, already on his second cup of coffee apparently and he looked up inquiringly as she sto6d in her doorway.

"I give up," he smiled. "Why the frown?"

"You're drinking too much coffee," she said with automatic concern as she walked into the room and seated herself behind the mahogany desk.

He glanced down at his cup in surprise. "An old habit, 1 guess."

"A little caffeine goes a long way. I think you should switch to tea."

He studied her determined expression for a long moment and then pushed aside his half-finished cup. "Whatever you say, boss."

That made her grin. "There's nothing quite like a truly deferential, obedient employee!"

"I'll make a bargain with you. I'll be deferential and obedient on the job if you'll be deferential and obedient after hours!"

"Facetiousness and flippancy in employees, however, is not condoned in the offices of Brady Data Processing!"

"I'll try to remember that. Now, suppose you pour me a cup of tea?" he suggested smoothly, eyes gleaming.

She thought about that. "If I do you're liable to get the notion you can manipulate the boss."

"The only time I intend to manipulate the boss is in bed," he growled, leaning forward with just enough menace to make her sit back in her chair.

"You have been up in those mountains too long," Kalinda complained, jumping to her feet and striding quickly over to where a pot of hot water simmered on a hot plate alongside a pot of coffee. "You've forgotten your office manners!"

"I'll rely on you to keep me in line," he chuckled as she returned with a mug of tea. He accepted it with a smile but there was something in his eyes that told her he'd meant what he just said. He'd rely on her to keep him in line? That didn't make any sense.

"What's the battle plan for today?" she questioned in a decidedly businesslike voice, eyeing him pointedly.

"Today we plan dinner," he announced, sipping the hot tea and watching her interestedly over the rim.

"Dinner!"

"Dinner at the restaurant where David Hutton will be dining tonight," he amended casually.

She stared at him. "But why?"

"Financial maneuvering is only half this battle," he explained calmly. "Psychology is a critical aspect, too."

"You want him to see you out with me?" she hazarded as his line of reasoning clicked in her brain.

"By now he knows I'm involved with Brady. Tonight he'll find out just how much."

"But why?"

"So he'll see that there's no point in trying to subvert me," Rand told her carelessly.

"Subvert you! Good lord! Rand, are you telling me he might try buying you off?"

"He already has. I got the call last night after I'd taken you home." Rand appeared totally unconcerned. "It's a logical step. I didn't talk to Hutton directly, of course, I just received a feeler from one of his higher-ranking employees."

"My G.o.d!" Kalinda shook her head, unable to believe it. "What... what did you tell the person who called you?" Somehow she had never envisioned such a ploy on Hutton's part. She knew such tactics were used but they had never impinged on her world. Kalinda found herself wondering for the first rime if sharks could be bribed.

"What do you think I said?" Rand muttered gruffly.

She stared at him, a.s.sessing, remembering, a.n.a.lyzing and finally came up with the only possible conclusion. "You told him no, of course."

"Why 'of course'?" he demanded interestedly, watching her intently.

"You would never break your word to us," she replied positively, relaxing slightly as she realized it was the simple truth.

There was a tension-filled moment as they sat regarding each other in silent understanding and then Rand smiled gently.

"Thank you, Kalinda."

She shrugged. She trusted him. There was nothing more to say on that subject "So why are we having dinner in the same restaurant tonight?"

"Because he'll try upping the offer again and again, thinking he only has to find the right price. I want to squash that notion flat I want to start closing doors on him as rapidly and as solidly as possible so that he begins to panic." Rand spoke intently, a frown of concentration creasing his forehead. "If we can turn the tables on him quickly enough, I think we can get him to withdraw the offer. He has to know we've got a whole series of options and we'll use every d.a.m.n one of them until he's out in the cold."

"Have we really got a whole series of options?"

"Yes, but most of them are expensive. It would be nice if we can kill his interest before we have to resort to them."

"What's the worst possible case?" Kalinda asked bluntly.

"A friendly merger with another company," he told her, not shielding the truth.

She groaned. "I was afraid of that. A white knight?"

He nodded, tossing down the stack of papers he had been reading. "That's what the 'friendly' company is usually called in cases like this. It can be done, Kalinda. I have contacts. We can find a friendly suitor for Brady Data Processing who will agree to merge with us on our terms. It's better than turning everything over to Hutton!"

"I know. But even in the friendliest of situations, Brady Data Processing will lose some of its autonomy."

"If it comes to that, we'll negotiate very carefully. But there's another option, I think. You have surprisingly good credit for a company this size. Your a.s.sets are solid and generally rather understated. I think, with a little fast talking, we might be able to get that line of credit expanded."

"For what purpose?"

"So that Brady can better Hutton's offer for its own shares," he said quietly.

"A tender offer for our own shares? That would be expensive," she whispered thoughtfully. "Credit costs a fortune these days. Interest rates are high...."

"I notice from your records that you've been shy of using bank credit in the past, Kalinda."

"I have an instinctive dislike of being in debt, I suppose," she admitted dryly. "A holdover from Dad."

"But borrowed money is the way big businesses are run these days. Brady is going to have to recognize that if it wants to stay compet.i.tive and autonomous." Rand spread out a financial report and began talking in detail.

Kalinda listened, fascinated with the expertise she was witnessing. Where would Rand Alastair have been today if he hadn't dropped out a year and a half ago? The thought crossed her mind that he might be the one trying to take over Brady Data Processing. She wouldn't have stood a chance!

Properly appreciative of the importance of fighting David Hutton on all levels, Kalinda dressed with care for the important evening. She chose a dinner suit of rich, printed velvet The small, shaped jacket fit over a softer velvet skirt and a silk blouse complimented the chic combination. Over it she flung a dashing sequined and fringed shawl. Hair sleek and held with a glittering comb, she looked sophisticated and elegantly sure of herself. Which was exactly the note she wanted to set in front of David, she told herself.

As she dressed she thought again of how close she had come to confronting him in the little mountain town. Even if Rand Alastair failed to save Brady Data Processing, she would always be grateful for his having put a stop to the ill-advised attempt at revenge. She didn't even want to think of all the disastrous complications that might have ensued. Somehow, she knew, David would have used the confrontation against her, perhaps to compromise her in front of her own staff. There was no doubt about it, she'd had a close call. What if Hutton had gotten word to Brady management that the company's president was secretly meeting its biggest enemy?

Her gray eyes were sparkling with inner excitement when she opened the door to Rand that evening. And as she took in the sight of him in a hand-tailored evening jacket and dark trousers, she acknowledged that the excitement she was feeling wasn't just for the adventure of combating David Hutton.

"We both look dressed to kill this evening, don't we?" she laughed as they stood admiring each other.

"Very appropriate," he murmured, taking her arm. "That's exactly what we're going to try to accomplish. A little killing."

"How did you know where David would be dining tonight?" she remembered to ask fifteen minutes later as Rand turned the Lotus over to a valet parking attendant and started her toward the expensive restaurant.

"I'm afraid I made use of your secretary," he admitted.

"George?"

"I can see why you hired him. George is a very competent person. He managed to get the information out of Hutton 's secretary without even giving her a clue about what was going on behind the scenes."

Kalinda had a mental image of George smoothly extracting the information he wanted and grinned. She was still smiling as they were shown graciously to an intimate table for two.

Rand saw Kalinda idly taking in the candlelit scene of white linen, shining silver and fresh flowers and grimaced.

"Please don't tell me Hutton used to bring you here a lot," he ordered gruffly, reaching for the wine list.

"He didn't The place wasn't open back then," she smiled obligingly. She thought fleetingly of the whirlwind courtship David had given her and resized with a start that the memory no longer had any power. She felt neither the flash of anger or the hurt she'd once known.