“No longer living.” She brushed a strand of hair out of her eyes. “But enough of that.”
She waited to see if he’d pry or not. Seconds ticked by.
“So what do you think now? Friends?” he asked at length.
“Oh, friendly colleagues at the very least.” She smiled. “Good night, Scott.”
She saw it in his eyes—he hadn’t missed that she’d finally called him by his first name and he liked it. And neither of them missed the connection in their gaze that lasted just a heartbeat longer than necessary.
“’Night, Alex.”
Chapter Three
“So, let me get this straight. You’ve been partnered up with a guy who’s gorgeous, smart, funny, sensitive, has a great career—and you don’t want to go to Colorado with him? Are you nuts?” asked Mary, chief instigator of the Date with the Living Dead.
Alexandra paused for a moment, not sure how to answer her friend on the other end of the phone. Mary always had a way of filtering out everything important, she thought. Just listen to her. She’d fixated on the one mention of Scott and ignored everything else Alexandra had just tried to tell her.
She sighed. “Leave it to you to turn the situation into a romantic intrigue. It’s just that I hadn’t planned on going away next week. It’s not that I don’t want to go.”
“So then you do want to go with him?”
Alexandra rolled a soft sound of frustration around in her throat. “We’ll lose the client if I don’t.”
“You actually like this guy,” Mary squealed into the phone. “That’s what it is. I can’t believe it.”
“I just don’t dislike him the way I thought I would. Ever since Duncan—”
“Ugh. Duncan again. For the last time, nobody is like Duncan,” Mary interjected. “The odds of you ever meeting someone that slimy again are ten million to one. Probably more. When they made him, the mold cracked itself in half just to get away from him.”
Alexandra couldn’t help but laugh. “I know. I know. But, I really thought Scott was coming here to take over my project and push me aside. Then I believed all these rumors about him. I really haven’t treated the guy very well.” Alexandra slapped her palm against her forehead, realizing she was about to let Mary draw her into yet another discussion about her love life. “Hey, Mary,” Alexandra continued, “I’ve got to get to the airport.”
“Way to change the subject, Ms. Alexandra. I’ll be waiting for an update when you get back. I have the feeling this is going to be one heck of a trip.”
Alexandra set the receiver back down on the phone. One heck of a trip? She didn’t know whether to dread it or look forward to it.
Lost in thought, she arrived at the airport before she knew it.
Alexandra had the window seat. She always liked to watch the buildings shrink away beneath her as the massive silver plane climbed in the sky. But now she was looking forward across all the seats before hers, watching the front of the plane in anticipation and searching the boarding passengers for a familiar face. Where was he? All she could see was a jumble of strange faces and their carry-on luggage.
At last she spotted Scott in the crowd. Freshly showered and impeccably dressed, the contrast between the Scott with whom she’d had dinner and this Scott was incredible. She’d nearly forgotten how striking he’d looked to her that first moment he stepped out of his BMW on the freeway.
He wore a gray sweater that somehow transformed the blue of his eyes to cobalt. Loose-fitting jeans flowed from his narrow hips down across long, muscular legs, all the way to a pair of polished black cowboy boots. Alexandra was glad Mary wasn’t there to see her expression as Scott shoved his baggage underneath the seat and sat beside her. In such close quarters, it was impossible for her not to catch the scent of him—a mix of dryer sheets, mild shaving gel and the naturally warm smell of his skin.
Oh, she was in trouble.
•
“’Mornin’, Sunshine,” he quipped as he settled into his seat. He tried not to look at her too directly. The top two buttons of her forest green blouse were undone, revealing just a hint of her curves. She was stunning in the soft golden light that came with the sunrise.
“Sleep well?” she asked.
“Great,” he lied.
In the middle of the night he had woken with a start from a dream so intense he feared he might blush if he met Alexandra’s eyes now. He hadn’t gotten back to sleep again before his four o’clock AM wake-up call started him on his way to the airport.
“Figures. I get here last, I get stuck with the middle seat,” he said. An enormous man squeezed into the aisle seat beside him, forcing him even physically closer to Alexandra.
“How much will you offer for the window seat?” she teased.
He gave a low whistle. “Mercenary to the core.”
He grinned wickedly, all lightness and liveliness. For someone who hadn’t slept, he felt strangely energetic all of the sudden.
“Look, there goes our office complex,” Alexandra pointed out as the plane lifted higher and higher. “And the Space Needle is way, way over there.”
Scott leaned over her to peer out the window. “Seemed even farther from the airport when I was driving for some reason.”
Alexandra turned her head away from the window to speak and found herself cheek to cheek with him. She looked as if all the blood in her body had just rushed to her face.
Scott leaned slowly back, realizing how dangerously close his lips were to hers, how their arms touched side to side on the armrest. “I’m sorry,” he whispered. “I think I invaded your space.” A whiff of the lightly exotic perfume oil she so enjoyed wearing filled his senses.
He watched Alexandra dig her long nails into her palms. She acted as if she had her whole world to lose just by liking him. It was a cardinal rule of business—never, ever become romantically involved with a co-worker. Somehow the man always outranked the woman, and somehow the woman was always the one to lose her job when the relationship soured. He’d seen it happen. But, he hadn’t made an overture at all, had he?
After a long pause she said, “I picked up the agenda for our Colorado adventure on the way here.” She handed him a copy, too careful not to touch his hand as she started to read down through the document.
Scott paraphrased, “Looks like we just get to hang out with the competition for the first night. Says that the next day each of the competing firms moves from a hotel up to individual cabins farther up in the mountains.”
“What was that?” Alexandra gripped the papers tightly. “That can’t be right. We were all supposed to be staying in Rio Safari’s private lodge.” She scanned frantically for more information. “Oh. Their waterline apparently froze and burst. The lodge is closed up tight.”
Scott read the guest roster. “You’re the only female on this list. They have you down as Alex Hunter, so I’m pretty sure some misguided travel agent didn’t realize.”
“That I’m a woman?” She chewed her lower lip. “I imagine these cabins have private bedrooms. We’ll be sharing the common areas for sure, but I’m sure we’ll be okay.”
“Why wouldn’t we be okay?” he asked with a smile. It was hard for him to imagine anyone might not realize Alexandra Hunter was a woman. He felt a thrill zap through his body as he noticed how nervous the usually poised lady seemed to be. Her fingers were literally crushing the papers she held.
“I mean I’m sure we’ll have privacy enough,” she said. “It’s a little awkward for a man and a woman on a business trip to be sleeping together in such close quarters, don’t you think?”
“You’re right,” he assured. “But I’m sure we’ll be fine.”
“Because you know,” she added, “I’d hate to contribute any to your sterling reputation.”
She gave him a playful eyebrow raise, reclaiming her composure as the flight attendant walked by selling cooled masks made of some type of gel meant to lull sleepy passengers back into dreamland. Considering his lack of sleep
the night before, Scott bought two and handed one to Alexandra. With the glare blocked from their eyes, they were both dozing before they knew it. Only his nearness to Alexandra kept Scott from falling dead asleep.
He wondered if she was usually able to even nap on planes, wondered if just maybe she hadn’t slept well the night before, either. Scenes from the day kept replaying themselves in his mind, and he just couldn’t seem to turn off his thoughts.
He’d bet she rehearsed lines she’d say when she finally got to meet Rio’s executive team. At one point she probably got up and reread her own proposal, as if she hadn’t memorized it word for word long ago.
Scott stirred before Alexandra, just as the plane started to descend. He almost wished her head had fallen against his shoulder like he always saw happen in the movies. But, she stayed politely in her seat, smiling softly even in her sleep. A long wave of hair had fallen down across her face and clung to the corner of her lips. On impulse, Scott reached across and gently pulled the strands back away from her face. Her hair felt like silk against his fingertips.
“What are you doing?” she asked calmly with her eyes still closed.
“I didn’t want you to eat your own hair,” he whispered. “I hear it doesn’t make for the most nutritious breakfast.”
“Such a thoughtful gentleman.”
She stretched with her arms high above her head, and he looked away quickly as the fabric of her shirt shifted subtly, almost seductively with the motion.
“Ready to intimidate the competition?” he asked. What was with him anyway? If he didn’t know better, he thought he just might start blushing himself.
“You bet.”
He’d never been so relieved or so disappointed to get off an airplane in his life, but good news greeted them at the reception desk. Having only just arrived, their odds had already improved. It seemed one of the other firms was conspicuously absent from the gathering. Its team, having been pulled away at the last minute to Houston, had sent a meager note of apology.
“You know what this means,” Alexandra whispered to Scott.
“Oh, yes,” he answered. “One down, one to go. Rio will let them give a presentation for legal procurement reasons, but they’re as good as out of the running. Rio wants to be the priority, and if a company can’t give that to them, then …”
“Exactly,” Alexandra agreed.
The desk clerk approached them. “Excuse me,” she said. “Three gentlemen from Zellez Corporation have already arrived. They’re waiting to meet you in the lounge.”
“That’s strange,” Alexandra told Scott. “There were only two enemy names from Zellez on the invitee list.”
“Maybe they’re overcompensating,” he only halfway kidded.
As they approached the lounge, all Scott and Alexandra could see at first were the backs of three men all dressed for winter, sipping coffee or hot chocolate in front of a roaring fire.
“Watch this,” Alexandra whispered to Scott. Straightening her posture and smoothing the front of her tan slacks, she strode confidently into the lounge with Scott not missing a beat at her side.
Two of the men rose instantly to greet her, obviously in admiration of her looks, her professional reputation, or both. She absolutely filled the room with her presence as she and Scott shook hands with the men.
Just as quickly as the confidence had surfaced, horror replaced it in her expression. The third man set his drink down quietly and stood a step behind his companions with his thumbs tucked casually in his pockets.
The Alexandra Hunter he knew didn’t choke under pressure. She certainly did not have attacks of shyness during introductions. Scott caught her look of panic immediately and extended his hand to the third man. “Scott Falconer, D. W. Songstram Corporation.”
The man with the sandy blond hair reluctantly shook Scott’s hand. “Duncan Phelps, vice president of business development and marketing, Zellez.”
Scott fought the urge to wipe his hand off on his jeans. The man was dressed in a tweed jacket and had a closely trimmed goatee and mustache. His tan skin and white teeth were falsely bright and Scott thought he looked like the womanizing professor version of one of those plastic dress-up dolls.
“Duncan, I’d like to introduce our star executive, Ms. Alexandra Hunter. She’s done wonders for the company as our vice president of marketing.”
Duncan smiled and returned his thumbs to his pockets. “We’ve met.”
Alexandra recovered herself. “Well, now there’s a face I didn’t expect to see here.” Her voice was exceedingly cordial and without a trace of real warmth. “Duncan, gentlemen, it’s been a pleasure. But unfortunately, I need to steal Mr. Falconer away to go over some boring details. You’ll excuse us?”
With her head held high, she led Scott away down the hall. “Thank you for the save back there,” she said as she fumbled with the key card to her room. Her face looked ghostly white and she breathed in one too many deep breaths to be normal.
Scott gently took the card from her shaking hand and held open the door for her. “That’s what friendly colleagues are for.”
Alexandra paced the room, and Scott wasn’t sure if she wanted to laugh, cry or scream.
“Ohhh,” she repeated a few times as she sat down on the edge of the bed and rubbed her temples with her fingers. “We have a big problem here.”
“Who was that guy?”
“How in the world did he make vice president? Do you know how hard I worked to be the youngest VP in D. W. Songstram history? He’s not much older than me and has half the accomplishments.” Alexandra jumped up and paced the floor. “Shouldn’t surprise me I guess. I’m sure his former employer gave glowing references. He did business just the sleazy way they liked it, after all.”
“Alex, how do you know him?” Scott rephrased the question to get her attention.
She turned to him, anger igniting her eyes. “That lowlife stole a bunch of confidential documents from me and the last company I worked for. He took client lists, patent pending information—he even got my personal notes. Scott, I shouldn’t even be telling you all this. I’m not supposed to say a word. The court order stipulated it.”
“We have to find a way to inform Rio. The man’s a felon.”
“No, no he’s not. Not technically anyway.” She sat back down on the bed. “Their lawyers were eager to keep the whole thing quiet and out of the courts. Duncan’s company agreed to return all of our property, terminate his employment immediately and pay a hefty settlement. In exchange, my company signed a gag order. Of course we’d have been able to testify in criminal court in spite of the gag, but the district attorney never looked at the case again. They felt there wasn’t enough evidence to pursue criminal charges. What a crock.”
“Had they bought off the D.A.?”
She nodded. “I always suspected so. Of course, we’ll never really know, will we? All we can do is guess.”
Scott ran his hand through his wavy hair. “So the gag order holds and we can’t say a word.”
“Not unless we want him to sue David’s company and both of us personally.”
Scott put his hand on her shoulder and squeezed it gently. “We’re a stronger team than they are anyway. We’ll win on our qualifications and that glorious proposal you put together, and no matter what Duncan Phelps does, it won’t matter worth a darn anyway.”
Alexandra breathed out the last of her stress and Scott was suddenly very aware that the two of them were sitting on her bed alone together in her room, and that he had his hand resting comfortably on her shoulder. It would be so simple to lean closer and …
“Don’t worry, Alex. Schmucks like Duncan Phelps always get what’s coming to them in the end.”
“That’s exactly what I’ve been telling myself for the last three years.”
He pulled his hand away. “I’d better go see if my room looks as good as yours does.”
He already knew it wouldn’t even as he stepped into the hall. In fact, it couldn’
t look half as good—Alexandra wasn’t in it.
Chapter Four
The next morning came soon and before they knew it, a snowcat driver was busy tossing their luggage into the cab of the vehicle. “Bet you folks are surprised to see this contraption. Most people expect a little fancier ride on their way up to the Rio Cabins.”
“I thought we’d just take a truck or something. Are the roads really that bad?” Alexandra asked the driver as they started to bounce along ruts in the snow.
“Nah. They’re fine for this time of year. The cabins are about six miles past the last plowed road so it’s a little hard for anything else to make it up there.”
“Can we ski or snowshoe back out?” Scott asked.
“It’s a long way, but you could. Nobody’s ever tried it I don’t think. Have to be in darn good shape. Otherwise, I’ll be back up in a couple days to bring you all back. I’ve got to make another trip in a bit to haul the guys from that other firm up here. Can’t fit everyone in the snowcat at once. So now’s the time to holler if you left anything at the hotel. Anyway, I think you’ll have a good time,” he continued. “Mac Stevens has a private ski lift and groomed slope up behind the cabins. You can cross-country ski or go snowmobiling if you want. It’s a great place to get away.”
Safe at the cabins, Scott and Alexandra watched the driver pull away and disappear in the distance. “Remember that horror movie where the family is supposed to spend the winter in the haunted hotel and the man goes nuts and tries to chop up his wife?” Alexandra asked with one long stream of breath.
“Yeah, so?”
“I’m pretty sure that hotel was just over those hills.” She watched nervously as the last puff of exhaust from the snowcat evaporated far away down the road.
“Try to find a bright side.”
The snow was deep and still falling rapidly. Alexandra shivered. “Well, at least I don’t have to drive in this foul stuff.”
“That’s the spirit.” Scott laughed and flung a lump of snow in her direction.
“Don’t you dare, Falconer. I’ll report you to the company president. I know him personally, you know.”
A Cowboy in Disguise Page 3