Be Mine

Sizzle by Jennifer Crusie

Business takes a backseat when successful ad executive Emily Tate meets Richard Parker. He’s an accountant who’s been sent to keep her in line and under budget in her ad campaign for a sensual new perfume called Sizzle. And if Emily’s not careful, she could well melt in Richard’s hands.

Too Fast to Fall by Victoria Dahl

For Jenny Stone, driving is her escape—from her past, her problems, her quiet life in Jackson Hole. But after Deputy Nate Hendricks stops her—again—for speeding, she could lose more than just her license. She could lose her heart. Nate seems to think that Jenny should replace her love for fast driving with something even more…heart pumping. And despite her need for speed, Jenny’s never been one for defying the law.

Alone With You by Shannon Stacey

When waitress Darcy Vaughan’s friend asks her to help out with the launch of a fledgling restaurant, she’s happy to oblige. Little does she know the owner is Jake Holland, the perfect guy who slipped through her fingers after their one night of passion. But for Darcy and Jake, one touch was just not enough.

Praise for the authors of

New York Times Bestselling Author

Jennifer Crusie

“Crusie has a gift for concocting nutty scenarios and witty one-liners… Genuine laughs.”

—People

“Few popular writers handle light romantic comedy as deftly as Jennifer Crusie.”

—Boston Globe on Bet Me

“Crusie seems incapable of writing a boring page, or one that’s not aglow.”

—Kirkus Reviews on What the Lady Wants

USA TODAY Bestselling Author

Victoria Dahl

“This is one hot romance.”

—RT Book Reviews on Good Girls Don’t

“Sassy and smokingly sexy, Talk Me Down is one delicious joyride of a book.”

—New York Times bestselling author Connie Brockway

“[A] hands-down winner, a sensual story filled with memorable characters.”

—Booklist on Start Me Up

New York Times Bestselling Author

Shannon Stacey

“Books like this are why I read romance.”

—Smart Bitches, Trashy Books on Exclusively Yours

“Shannon Stacey’s books deliver exactly what we need in contemporary romances…. I feel safe that every time I pick up a Stacey book I’m going to read something funny, sexy and loving.”

—Jane Litte of Dear Author on All He Ever Needed

“I’m madly in love with the Kowalskis!”

—New York Times bestselling author Nalini Singh

Be Mine

Jennifer Crusie

Victoria Dahl & Shannon Stacey

www.millsandboon.co.uk

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Table of Contents

SIZZLE

TOO FAST TO FALL

ALONE WITH YOU

SIZZLE

For Mary Beth Pringle,

who once told me that if I tried,

I could write anything.

So I did.

Contents

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER ONE

“BUT, I DON’T WANT A partner,” Emily Tate said through her teeth. “I like working alone.” She clenched her fists to pound them on the desk in front of her and then unclenched them and smoothed down the jacket of her business suit, instead. “I don’t need a partner, George.”

Her boss looked exasperated, and she automatically put her hand to her hair to make sure every strand was in place, that no dark curls had escaped from her tight French twist. Be cool, calm and detached, she told herself. I want to kill him for this.

“Look, Em.” George tossed a folder across the table to her. “Those are the cost estimates from your Paradise project and the final costs after you brought the project in.”

Emily winced and clasped her hands in front of her. “I know. I went way over. But we still showed a mammoth profit. In fact, Paradise was the biggest money-maker Evadne Inc. has ever had. The bottom line, George, is that we made money for the company.” I made money for the company, she thought, but I can’t say that. Be modest and cooperative, Emily.

“Yeah, we did.” George Bartlett leaned back in his chair, looking up at her.

I hate it when he does that, Emily thought. He’s short, fat and balding, and he doesn’t have a quarter of my brains, but he’s the one leaning back in the chair while I stand at attention. I want to be the one leaning back in the chair. Except I wouldn’t. It would be rude. She sighed.

“Listen to me, Emily,” George said. “You almost lost your job over this last project.”

“You got a promotion because of this last project,” Emily said.

“Yeah, because of the profit. If it hadn’t made a profit, we’d have both been canned. Henry wasn’t happy.”

Henry Evadne was never happy, Emily thought. It didn’t have anything to do with her.

George leaned forward. “I don’t want to lose you, Emily. You’re smart, and you have a sixth sense about marketing that I’d kill to have. But you screw up the financial side on this next deal, and no profit is going to save you, no matter how big.”

Emily swallowed. “I’ll bring it in under budget.”

“You’re damn right you will, because you’ll be working with Richard Parker.”

“Who is Richard Parker?”

“He’s a whiz kid from the Coast,” George said. “He did an analysis of the Paradise project. It’s in the folder, too. You ought to read it. He wasn’t too complimentary.”

“George, how much have we made on Paradise?” Emily demanded.

George looked smug. “Close to four million as of last month.”

“Then why am I getting whiz kids from the Coast and nasty reviews in my project folders? Where’s the champagne?”

George shook his head. “You could have flopped.”

“I never flop.”

“Well, someday you will,” George said philosophically. “And when you do, you better flop under budget. Which is exactly what Richard Parker is here to guarantee. You’re meeting him at eleven in his office.”

“His office?”

“Next floor up,” George said with a grin. “Two doors from the president. Nice view from up there, I’m told.”

“Why not my office?”

“Emily, please.”

“Is he in charge of this project? Because if so, I quit.”

“No, no.” George waved his hands at her. “Just the financial end. And you’re not the only one he’s working with. He’s financial adviser for all our projects. It’s still your baby, Em. He just watches the spending.” He looked at her closely. She’d made her face a blank, but she knew the anger was still in her eyes. “Emily, please cooperate.”

“His office at eleven,” she said, clamping down on her rage.

“That’s it,” George said, relieved.

* * *

EMILY SLAMMED HER OFFICE door and slumped into her rolling desk chair. Jane, her secretary, followed her in more sedately and sat in the chair across from her. She broke a frozen almond Hershey bar in half and tossed the larger piece to her boss.

“I keep this in the coffee-room freezer for emergencies,” she said. “And I’ve given you the biggest half. Greater love hath no friend.”

“How do you keep people from stealing it?” Emily asked, pulling off the foil.

“They know I work for you,” Jane said. “They know I could send you after them.”

“No, really, how do you do it?”

“I keep it in a freezer container marked ‘Asparagus,’” Jane said, sucking on the chocolate.

“And nobody asks what you’re doing with asparagus at work?” Emily broke off a small piece of the chocolate and put it on her tongue. The richness spread through her mouth, and she sighed and sat back in her chair.

“They probably figure I keep it for you—you’re the type who looks like you only put fruits and vegetables in your body.” Jane studied her. “How come you never gain weight? We eat the same stuff, but I’m fighting ten extra pounds while you look like you’re losing. And you’ve got nothing to lose.”

“Frustration,” Emily said, breaking off another tiny piece. “I’m working for narrow-minded patriarchal creeps.”

“In the plural?” Jane finished her half and checked the foil for crumbs. “Did George clone himself?”

“Evidently,” Emily said. “I now have a budget adviser to answer to. Some suit named Richard Parker.”

“Oooh,” Jane said. “Him I’ve seen. Things are looking up.”

“Not a suit?”

“Oh, yeah, but what a suit. Too bad I’m happily married.” Jane sighed. “Tall. Dark. Handsome. Cheekbones. Chiseled lips. Blue eyes to die for. Never smiles. The secretaries are lining up to be seduced and so are the female junior execs, but it’s not happening.”

“No?” Emily broke off another piece of chocolate.

“He’s a workhorse. All he thinks about is finance. Karen says he’s always still here working when she leaves.”

“Karen?”

“That tiny little blonde on the twelfth floor. She’s his secretary now.”

“Make good friends with Karen. We need a spy in the enemy camp.”

“No problem,” Jane said, licking her fingers to get the last of her chocolate. “She loooves to talk about the boss.”

“Good, good,” Emily said. “He could be a real problem for us.”

“How so?”

“He’s controlling the money.”

“And we’re not good with money.” Jane nodded wisely. “Good thing Paradise took off like it did. It’s been fun rising to the top with you, but I wasn’t looking forward to hitting the bottom together when we went sailing over the budget.”

“You wouldn’t have hit bottom,” Emily said. “George isn’t dumb. He’d steal you as his own secretary.”

“I’m not dumb, either,” Jane said. “You and I stay together. I knew when I met you in high school that you were going places and taking me with you. President and secretary of the senior class. President and secretary of student council. President and secretary of our sorority in college. I’m hanging around until you make president of this dump.” She threw her foil away and smiled smugly. “I’ve already made secretary.”

“You’re every bit as smart as I am,” Emily said. “Why don’t you let me get you into an executive-training program?”

“Because I’m smarter than you are,” Jane said. “I’m making more than most executives here right now, and I don’t have to kiss up to the boss. Are you going to eat the rest of that chocolate?”

“Yes,” Emily said.

“So I gather you slammed the door in honor of Richard Parker?”

“Yes.”

“I know how you can handle Richard Parker.”

“How?” Emily broke off another piece of chocolate. She wasn’t interested in handling Richard Parker. She wanted, in fact, to eliminate him, but she was always interested in Jane. She didn’t insist that the company pay Jane a lavish salary just because they were friends; she insisted because Jane had a lot of ideas and none of them were dumb. If Emily did get to be president, it would be due as much to Jane’s brains as to Emily’s.

“I think you should seduce him,” Jane said.

Emily reconsidered her thoughts about Jane not having dumb ideas. This seemed to be one.

“Why?”

“Because you need to get out more. You live in the office. You only stop by your apartment to shower and change. You don’t even have a pet, for crying out loud. I’m your only companionship.”

“I like it that way.”

“Well, it’s not natural. And it sounds like Parker is the same way. You could save each other. He’ll be grateful and fall in love with you, you’ll get married, and I’ll get to buy baby gifts, instead of accepting them from you. You’re not going to eat that chocolate, are you?”

“Yes,” Emily said, breaking off another piece. “How will marrying Richard Parker help me?”

“Sex always helps,” Jane said. “It’s like chocolate.”

“I need help at the office,” Emily said. “This guy is going to tie my hands.”

“Kinky.”

“Be nice to Karen,” Emily said. “This could get very dirty. Now go get Parker on the phone. I have an eleven-o’clock meeting with him, and I want to hear what he sounds like first.”

“A meeting, huh? Why don’t you change your look? Let that long dark hair down. Take off your suit jacket. Especially take off your glasses. You look like a bug.”

“I want to look like a bug. I have a hard enough time getting respect around here looking like a bug. If I start taking off my clothes, no one will pay attention.”

“Want to bet?” Jane looked at her boss. “If I had your body, I’d take off my clothes all the time.”

“You do take off your clothes all the time,” Emily pointed out. “Has Ben ever seen you clothed?”

“Certainly,” Jane said. “I was dressed for my wedding. You were there. You slapped the best man at the reception.”

“You never forget, do you?”

Jane got up and headed for the door. “I’ll get Parker. Don’t slap him. I’ll make friends with Karen, but we’ll get further if you seduce the guy.”

“Feel free to sacrifice my body for your ambitions,” Emily said as Jane went through the door.

“Our ambitions,” Jane said. “And I’ve seen him. It would be no sacrifice.”

* * *

“MR. PARKER ON LINE TWO,” Jane said in her secretary voice.

Emily picked up the phone. “Mr. Parker?”

“Yes?”

“This is Emily Tate. I understand we have a meeting at eleven.”

“Yes, Ms. Tate, we do.” He sounded bored but patient. She’d been expecting the high tight tones of a monomaniac; his voice was deep with a little bit of New York rhythm in it.

“Is there anything you’d like me to bring to the meeting?”

“No, Ms. Tate, I have everything I need. Is there anything else?”

Sorry, Emily thought. Taking up your time, am I? “No, Mr. Parker, there’s nothing else.”

“Eleven, then,” he said, and hung up.

Not good, Emily thought. Efficient and not impressed with her in spite of her terrific track record. Which must mean he was still hung up on the budget overruns.

Jane poked her head in. “Okay, so he’s not a charmer. But I still say go for it. Maybe he loosens up in bed.”

“Not a chance.” Emily hung up the phone. “He probably doesn’t go to bed. He probably sleeps standing up in a corner of his office.”

“Do you need me in the meeting to take notes?”

“No. Do you want to take notes?”

“Yes.”

“Then come along, sweetie, and we’ll have lunch at the Celestial afterward. We can discuss the situation.”

“Good idea.”

“And, Jane, try to pretend you’re really a secretary in there. He doesn’t need to know you’re the brains of our outfit.”

“I’ll stick a pencil through my bun and borrow your glasses,” Jane said.

“What bun?”

“I’ll have one by eleven.”

“This I’ve got to see.”

* * *

WHEN EMILY LEFT THE OFFICE at five to eleven, Jane really had pulled her hair into a bun. It was a terrible bun, with wisps of hair escaping and two pencils jabbed through it, but it was indisputably a bun.

“That’s really disgusting,” Emily said as they waited for the elevator.

“Wait.” Jane lifted Emily’s glasses off her nose and put them on. “How do I look?”

“You look like a bug with a very bad hairdo,” Emily said. “You look like Norman Bates’s mother as a young mental patient. You look like—”

The elevator doors opened, and they got on with several other executives. Emily glanced sideways at Jane and tried not to laugh. If things got really bad, she’d just look at Jane and feel better.

“It’s a good thing there’s only going to be the three of us in this meeting,” Emily whispered. “Anybody else would know you were up to something.”

Jane pushed the glasses up the bridge of her nose, sniffed and said loudly and nasally, “I just want you to know, Ms. Tate, that it is an honor and a privilege to work for you, and I really mean that from the bottom of my heart.”

“Thank you, Mrs. Frobish,” Emily said. “Your loyalty is heartwarming.”

“Do you have any of your chocolate left?”

“No.”

Jane sniffed.

The conference room was across from the elevator. Once inside, Emily realized she’d made a mistake. It wasn’t going to be just the three of them. There were six other executives in there, four of whom had brought their secretaries.

“What is this?” Emily whispered to Jane, frowning.

“I don’t know,” Jane whispered, “but I’m glad I’m here.”

“I am, too,” Emily whispered. “Guard my back.”

The door at the other end of the conference room opened, and Richard Parker came in, tall, dark and serious. And indisputably the best-looking man Emily had ever seen. Distinguished. Beautifully dressed. Powerful. And sexy, Emily thought. Definitely sexy. Every executive there except Emily stiffened in his or her seat. Every secretary there except Jane smiled warmly. For everyone there, Richard Parker radiated power and authority. For the secretaries and female execs, he also radiated sex appeal. The power and the authority were conscious, Emily decided; the sex appeal wasn’t.

He really is extraordinarily good-looking, Emily thought. Except for his height and that jaw, he’s almost pretty. Those electric blue eyes and long dark lashes. Not businesslike. How can I make that work against him? If he was female, it’d work against him.

His eyes swept the room and caught hers. She was the only one not looking at him with fear or lust. She met his eyes coolly and stared back at him, calculating. He was the enemy.

He raised his eyebrows at her and moved his gaze on. Jane made a note. Emily looked at her pad. “He’s not stupid,” Jane had written, “but you can take him.”

Emily shook her head. Jane’s one weakness was overestimating her.

George leaned over to Emily. “What’s wrong with Jane? She looks funny.”

“PMS,” Emily whispered back, and George nodded solemnly.

Richard Parker looked up and frowned at them.

George blushed.

Emily raised her eyebrows at Parker.

He looked startled, and then his lips twitched.

Almost smiled there, didn’t we? Emily thought. You’re not so tough. Maybe I can take you.

“I’ve asked you to meet with me today to discuss your past performance in budgeting your marketing campaigns,” Parker began. “It’s abysmal.”

Several of the executives tittered and then fell silent. A few colored and looked away. Emily yawned and checked her watch.

“Am I boring you, Ms. Tate?” Parker asked.

“Not at all.” Emily smiled back politely. “I’m sure you’ll make your point soon.”

George closed his eyes.

“The point, Ms. Tate,” Parker said without raising his voice, “is that you all regularly exceed your budgets, thereby cutting into the profits this company could be making. You alone went over your budget on the Paradise account by almost thirty percent. That’s a lot of money, Ms. Tate. You may have thought there was no price too great to pay for Paradise, but I don’t agree. You could have cost this company a fortune.”

Emily smiled at him again.

“I could have, but I didn’t, Mr. Parker,” Emily said. “I made four million dollars for this company by having the guts to go thirty percent over budget.”

“That doesn’t take guts, Ms. Tate. That just takes lack of control. That’s where I come in. I’m your control.” Parker’s eyes swept the room. “From now on all budgets go through me. So do all purchase orders, all payments. I’m the money pipeline. I’ll make sure you get the money you need for your projects. And I’ll make certain you stay within your budgets. Now, I’m sure you have questions about how this new procedure will operate, so let’s get started.”

He sat down and leaned back in his chair while the others began a process of hemming and hawing and assuring Parker that they appreciated his help and were anxious to work with him.

Jane wrote on her pad, “Don’t antagonize him.”

Emily fumed, although she kept her face a mask. No price too great to pay for Paradise. Don’t get snide with me, buddy, she thought. I didn’t get where I am today taking that from anybody.

And then she thought, yes, I did. I’m modest, cooperative and polite, and I regularly back down. I back down in front of George, who is an idiot, all the time. Then Jane and I sneak around behind his back and get things done the way we want. What am I doing confronting this guy?

She watched him listening to Croswell from Research and Development. He was listening politely and nodding, and she wanted to throw something.

He patronized me, she thought. He assumed he was right, and he didn’t listen, and he patronized me. He thinks I’m insignificant.

Boy, is he going to pay for that.

I don’t care how good-looking he is.

Without realizing it, she’d let her eyes narrow as she looked at him, so that when he gazed idly around while he listened to Croswell’s drivel, he saw her look of undiluted antagonism. His eyes widened slightly, and then he grinned at her as if he was seeing her for the first time, a real smile that accepted her challenge and recognized her as an equal, sharing the absurdity of the moment and of his own new-kid-on-the-block power play.

It was a killer smile.

Emily narrowed her eyes even more. It’s going to take more than a smile, buddy boy. Hit me with another line like “no price too great for Paradise,” and I’ll wipe that smile off your face so fast you won’t know what hit you.

Jane nudged her and she looked down at the pad. It said, “Why is he smiling?”

Emily took the pad languidly and wrote, “Because he knows I’m angry, and he thinks it’s amusing.”

Jane took the pad back and wrote, “Then he’s not as smart as I thought.”

Emily nodded and turned her attention politely back to the group.

“Any other questions?” Parker surveyed the table before turning to Emily. “Ms. Tate, you’ve been very quiet. Do you have any questions?”

“No, I’ve found out all I need to know,” she said calmly.

“Good. Do you have time to meet with me now?”

“Now?” Emily raised her eyebrows. “I have a lunch meeting. I could possibly meet with you at two.”

“Let me check my appointments,” he said. “I’ll have my secretary call yours.” He looked at Jane for the first time and stopped.

What is she doing? Emily thought, not daring to look. She’s probably blacked out a couple of teeth and is now grinning maniacally at him.

“Fine.” Emily stood so that she blocked Jane. “Anything else?”

He stayed seated, watching her. “No. There’s nothing else.”

“Thank you,” Emily said, and left with Jane clumping in her wake.

When the door closed behind them, Jane stopped clumping and took off her glasses. “That was dumb,” she said flatly. “We get nothing by antagonizing him. What’s wrong with you?”

“He’s arrogant,” Emily said, punching the elevator button.

“Everybody in that room’s arrogant,” Jane said. “The only difference is that he has reason to be.”

“What? You’ve fallen for that ‘hello, I’m God’ presentation he just did?”

“He’s right,” Jane said. “We were over budget. We could have done the campaign for less. He could help you here.”

“Whose side are you on?”

“Ours,” Jane said. “First, last and always. I’m just not sure he’s not on our side, too.”

They got on the elevator, and Jane handed the glasses back to Emily. “He likes you.”

“Please.”

“He likes you. I saw his eyes. Which are incredible, by the way. He likes watching you. He thought you were cute.”

“Cute!” Emily exploded. “Cute!”

“Make it work for you,” Jane said.

“The hell I will. I’ll give him cute.” Emily stormed off the elevator and down the hall to her office, slamming the door behind her. A minute later, Jane came in with her coat.

“Your lunch meeting is here,” she said. “You promised me Chinese.”

* * *

“YOU’D HAVE TO DO THE new campaign for less, anyway,” Jane said later over potstickers and sizzling rice soup. “The new stuff’s not as expensive as Paradise. Your profit margin’s lower.”

“Not necessarily.” Emily spooned the hot soup carefully into her mouth. “We’ll sell more—to the younger woman who uses perfume more frequently. We’ll be fine. If I’m not forced to under budget.”

“Give him a chance,” Jane said. “There’s no point in firing the first shot.”

“I haven’t,” Emily said. “I’ve just made it clear that I’ll return fire.”

Jane gave up for the time being. “Garlic chicken?”

“Not if I’m meeting with Attila the Budget Hun this afternoon. Did Karen call?”

“Yep. Two o’clock. His office.”

“Of course.” Emily sighed. “I’d prefer neutral ground. From now on let’s make it the conference room. On our floor, not his.”

“I’ll try,” Jane said. “Prawns?”

“Yes,” Emily said. “I’m in the mood to crunch little backbones.”

“Then we’ll go shopping,” Jane said. “I found this incredible pink lace bra and bikini—” She stopped and looked past Emily.

“Ladies.”

It was the Hun with George in tow. George would bring him here, Emily thought. Showing the new boss the best place to eat. I’ll bet he offers to pick up his dry cleaning later. She looked up and smiled tightly. “Mr. Parker. How nice to see you.”

“George assures me this is an excellent place to have a lunch meeting.” He looked at Jane.

“It is.” Emily turned her back and began spooning soup again.

Jane grinned at him. “Lovely meeting you again.”

“Oh, yes. You’re Ms. Tate’s secretary. Mrs. Frobish, isn’t it? I didn’t recognize you at first.”

“Well, that’s the lot of the secretary,” Jane said cheerfully. “Unrecognized, unrewarded, underpaid...”

“Hardly underpaid,” Parker said. “Your salary is part of the budget, you know. It’s very generous.”

“Actually,” Emily said, staring straight ahead, “she is underpaid. And I shall fight tooth and nail to stop any attempt to reduce her salary or to curtail her future raises.” She raised her eyes to Parker’s,

and the steel in her voice was also in her eyes.

“I have no intention of interfering with Mrs. Frobish’s salary,” Parker said, calmly. “A good secretary is worth her weight in gold.”

“Good idea,” Jane said. “I’ll take that as a basis for my next raise. Let’s have two orders of prawns now that I have a reason to gain weight.”

Emily thought about stabbing Parker with her fork but decided it would be too overt. Subtlety is the key here, she thought.

“I’ll see you at two, Ms. Tate,” Parker said, and moved on to the table the waiter was patiently holding for him, George toddling along in his wake.

“I thought you were going to stab him with your fork,” Jane said. “Bad move, careerwise, although as your friend I would have been touched.”

“I’ve got to stop hating him.” Emily stabbed an egg roll instead. “I’ve got to work with this overbearing, egotistical control freak.”

“See?” Jane said. “Already you’re speaking of him with warmth.”

* * *

THE UNDERWEAR WAS made of hot-pink lace embroidered with silver thread, and Jane bought it. The bra was just two large pink lace roses stitched into demi-cups, held in place with tiny pink satin ribbons, and the bikini was a strip of the same roses and ribbons. It was silly and luxurious and sexy and fun.

“Ben is going to love this,” Jane said. “Why don’t you get some and try it on Richard?”

“Richard who?”

“Parker,” Jane said patiently.

“He’d never go for it.” Emily looked at the price tag. “It’s not cost-effective. There are small countries that don’t spend this much for defense.”

“Defense is not what I have in mind.” Jane looked at herself in the mirror. “I’m planning on surrendering almost immediately and being invaded shortly thereafter.”

Emily sighed. “Sounds like fun.”

Jane pounced. “You buy some, too.”

“Why? There’s no one interested in invading.”

“Wrong. Croswell down in R & D still speaks of you with passion.”

“Croswell was a mistake.” Emily picked up a pink-and-silver lace bra and looked at it longingly. “If he tries to invade, I’m defending.”

“Then go back to plan A. Richard.”

Emily looked at the pink-and-silver lace and thought of Richard Parker. If he’d just keep his mouth shut, she thought, I could stand it. In fact, I’d be very interested. That long lovely body. Those crazy blue eyes. That classic, chiseled, supple mouth.

That mouth. The one that kept opening and accepting his expensively shod foot. “No price too great to pay for Paradise.”

“Hardly underpaid.”

“Not even if he was unconscious.” Emily put the underwear back. “Let’s go. I have a meeting at two.”

* * *

“I’VE LOOKED AT YOUR preliminary ideas,” Richard the Hun said. “You’re not being cost-effective.”

“Already?” Emily tried to stay calm. “I’ve barely started.”

“Rubies.” He tossed a folder across the table to her.

“Look, we marketed Paradise with diamonds. Very classy stone. But this new stuff is for a younger hotter market. So rubies. Still classy, but hotter.”

“Fine.” He shrugged. “Use paste.”

“This is for photographs.” Emily folded her hands calmly and clenched them until her knuckles went white. “We’re not studding the bottles with them.”

“Can you rent them?”

“Loose stones? I don’t know.” Emily tried to consider it, but she was against it. “We might be able to buy and resell. I don’t know much about gemstones.”

“Well, I know a little, and what you’re suggesting would tie up half your budget.”

“Gems are a good investment.” Emily deliberately unclenched her hands. “We wouldn’t lose money.”

He shook his head. “We’re not in the gem-investment business. Rent them.”

Emily shook her head. “We might need the same stones back again for later pictures. We couldn’t be sure we’d get them. Plus, we often use them in special displays at openings and benefits. We did this with Paradise, and it was very successful.”

He leaned back in his desk chair and looked at her steadily.

“Are you really serious about this, or is this just something you’re going to fight me on?”

Hasn’t he been listening to me? Emily thought. Do I sound like I’m playing games? “I’m serious. And I never fight just for the sake of fighting.”