She tried to reach under the desk to grab something, preferably Ben's hair. But he stayed out of reach, and short of falling to her knees and taking him to task, she knew she was at his mercy.

He must have known it, too.

He stroked her with an expert's ease, pulling out, then sliding deep, his thumb finding the secret nub.

She felt hot and tight, and at the same time he kissed the inside of her knee.

"God," she whispered, her eyes closing.

"What?"

She jerked to attention. "God, this is fascinating stuff."

She would have sworn she heard Ben chuckle.

Andrew looked more grim by the second. But he didn't give up and go away. He launched back into his

recitation of facts.

Ben launched two fingers, sliding deep, then deeper. Unable to help herself, she widened her knees. He

kissed her inner thigh like he was doling out points for being a good girl-or being a bad girl. Damn, damn . . . ahhh, when his finger found the sweetest spot.

He'd pay for this dearly, she promised herself.

He slid and stroked, making her body hum, the tiny hairs on her arms standing on end as vibrations sang

through her flesh. She forced herself to look at Andrew as he went on and on about who knew what at

this point. What little part of her brain had been functioning gave up completely.

Ben nipped and kissed her skin as his fingers brought her higher. Sensation seemed to consume her, pooling between her legs. She felt the beginning of the tremors, starting deep, swelling, teasing until she thought she couldn't bear it another second. Then finally the intensity came rushing forward like an avalanche.

Her mouth fell open and she bent partially over the desk the minute her body orgasmed, the sweet rolling waves washing over her. She was afraid she might have moaned.

Andrew stopped speaking, then he stood. "Are you all right?"

"What?"

He grimaced. "I'm not sure what is wrong with you. I was trying to do this the nice way. But since you clearly want to play games with me, I'll lay out the hard, cold truth. Unless you can provide some quality programming that brings something different to this market, then you provide no added value to KTEX

that I can see. And regardless of what Sterling Prescott said, I'll have no choice but to let you go."

Her mind reeled in time with her body. And then she realized that Ben must have heard, because she could feel that he was trying to push her away.

This time she did reach under and grab something. "No," she bit out.

"No?" Andrew gasped.

"I wasn't talking to-" She stopped, then shook her head.

"Mr. Prescott said you had to stay. But it's my job to turn KTEX TV around. Or I get fired."

She had to fight to keep Ben down. "I can deal with this," she stated, no longer caring.

Andrew pushed out of his seat. "You can deal with this? How? Can you honestly say that you can bring

in something that looks more like New York produced it rather than El Paso?"

"Yes," she said before she could think.

He studied her, then nodded. "I hope you can." He stopped at the doorway. "Let me know when you

have something on tape."

Then he left.

Ben started to come out, but Zelda entered with a tray of tea things.

"What happened to the nice man?" she gasped.

"He had to go."

"Oh, madre mia." She tutted, then left again, the tray in hand.

This time Ben did come out, stretching and groaning.

"Are you okay?" Julia asked, thinking of his wound for the first time.

"I'm fine." His dark eyes narrowed with a barely contained anger. "Though I wish you'd let me have

a piece of that guy."

Everything rushed in on her. She was utterly spent. Physically and mentally. She felt unsettled, and the precarious footing she'd had in this new world got even more precarious. She hated this new vulnerability

she felt-combined with this rugged man being protective. She had never relied on a man. And she never would.

"I don't need you to defend me, Ben. And I certainly didn't need you playing fast and loose with my

body."

Ben stared at her hard for long seconds before he grabbed his jeans, pulled them on, then headed for the door. At the last minute he stopped. "My guess is that you need a little bit of both."

Then he was gone, walking out on her. She had to stop herself from running after him-not to punch him, but to throw herself in his arms and have him tell her everything was going to be all right.

She sat down and curled her fingers around the arms of the chair instead.

Chapter Nine.

"Are you sure you want all these strange guys coming to your house?"

Kate Bloom sat in Julia's kitchen with a cup of tea in front of her, her froth of soft dark curls framing her face, her mouth agape after Julia told her of the plan for her show.

Julia laughed and squeezed Kate's hand. "I can handle a few strange guys."

"True. If anyone can, it's you."

They sat for a few companionable moments, each sipping her tea. Julia looked at her dear friend. While

Kate still wore the same conservative clothes and her hair was still the same, there was something different about her.

"Love suits you," Julia said, realizing that was the difference.

Kate smiled dreamily. "Yeah, who knew?"

Julia laughed, then grew serious. "I take it everything is still going great with Jesse?"

With her elbow planted on the table, her chin cupped in her palm, Kate sighed softly. "Yes, it's still going great." She looked around, then leaned closer, her voice lowering into a stage whisper. "The other night, Jesse pulled out all those idiotic sex games you sent over for the sex products show you forced me to do."

Great. Sex talk.

Julia held back a wince. "Oh, wow." She tried to sound enthusiastic.

"Oh, wow is right. Who knew sex could be so fun?"

Kate laughed. Julia tried to do the same. But they had been friends too long for her to hide anything

from one of her best friends.

"What's wrong?" Kate asked.

"Nothing."

"Jules? Spill."

Julia set her cup down and grimaced. "I'm thrilled that you and Jesse are doing great. But right now, with me having to work so hard to change, just mentioning sex is like talking about a big fat slice of chocolate cream pie in front of a woman who's on a diet."

"Oh, I forgot!" Kate leaned closer, her eyes glittering. "How's the resolve going when you have that big strapping hunk of man living under the same roof with you?"

"Hey," Julia barked, but she was smiling as well. "Shouldn't you be apologizing for talking about sex in front of me?"

"Sorry. There. Now tell me, how's it going?"

Julia rolled her eyes. "Great. Fine. Nothing is going on."

Kate raised a brow.

"Okay, maybe I had a little setback in the resolve department." She glanced at the closed kitchen door,