An Indecent Proposal (Landon's Legacy 1)

“Uh—uh…” Emily gulped audibly. “It’s not important. I, uh, I just wanted to—to tell Miss Gordon that—that I was going to take my lunch hour early today.”

“That’s fine,” Cade said, very coolly. “In the future, please check with me first.”

Emily nodded, then slipped out the door. As soon as it closed, Angelica spoke.

“You wasted your time,” she said coldly. “Nothing you can do will convince me that you’re in charge, not that—that disgusting demonstration of macho power or that remark you just made to Emily.”

Cade looked at her. A moment ago, he’d thought he might have found a real woman inside Angelica Gordon. But she was nothing but a cold-blooded, headstrong machine, driven by the need to succeed at any cost. As for Gordon Oil—she would rather ruin it than admit she couldn’t run it.

London, and Dumai, would have to wait.

CHAPTER FOUR

THERE was no sign of Cade the next day but Angelica wasn’t deceived. Maybe she’d scored some points in a verbal skirmish, but the war was far from over.

By late morning, after she’d taken her dusty copy of Management Psychology from the shelves and scanned the chapters, her dream of even a small victory had faded. Going head to head with a man like Cade Landon was just playing his game.

And he had all the aces.

Angelica closed the textbook, leaned her elbows on her desk and propped her head in her hands.

“I knew that,” she muttered wearily. “I knew that, but I let myself be drawn into an argument anyway.”

Damn! If that was the effect the man had on her—if he could get her so blazing angry that she forgot everything she’d ever learned—she was never going to be able to pull off this stunt.

She knew what had to be done. She had to be on her guard, keep from giving him any more chances to confuse her and push her around. The trick was to stay one step ahead of him, to seem to exercise her own power before he had the opportunity to prove his.

The intercom buzzed. Angelica picked up the phone.

“A.H.?” Emily’s voice was hushed. “It’s Mr. Landon.”

Angelica looked at the copy of Management Psychology and touched it gently.

“A.H.? Did you hear me?”

“Yes, Emily,” she said with studied calmness. “Of course. Tell Mr. Landon to come in.”

“I didn’t mean he was here, A.H. I meant that he’s on line one.”

Angelica nodded and steeled herself for the sound of Cade’s voice.

“Put him through, please.”

Emily cleared her throat. “He, uh, he doesn’t want to talk to you.”

“He doesn’t?” Angelica straightened in her chair. “What does he want, then?”

“He, uh, he wants me to fax some stuff to him at his hotel.”

“Stuff?” Angelica said carefully.

“Yes. Purchase orders, contracts, bills—that sort of thing.”

Angelica’s mouth thinned. “Well, you can tell Mr. Landon that he can take his requests and shove them…” She paused, swallowed hard and glanced at the psychology textbook sitting on her desk. “…and shove them into his briefcase,” she finished lamely.

“Uh-huh.”

“And Emily—I’m glad you had the presence of mind to check with me before doing anything.”

“Well, I would have, of course—but, actually, it was Mr. Landon who suggested it.” Emily gave an embarrassed little laugh. “He said that although he has complete authority, he wanted you informed before I followed through on his order. As a courtesy, you know?”

Angelica took a steadying breath. “Fax him whatever he wants,” she said. “Just keep a list of the items you provide him, please, so that I know exactly what—”

“Oh, sure. He already told me to do that, too.”

Angelica sprang up from her desk, knocking Management Psychology to the floor in the process.

“Thank you,” she snarled, and slammed down the phone.

A couple of minutes passed. Angelica sighed. She picked up the book, dusted it off and put it back on her desk. Then she stepped out of her office.

“Sorry, Emily,” she said. “I let my temper get the best of me for a couple of minutes.”

Emily shrugged. “You’ve been under a lot of stress, A.H. I understand.”

“I hope you do. That man, that Cade Landon…”

The telephone rang. Emily picked it up, listened, then put her hand over the mouthpiece.

“It’s the bank,” she whispered, and handed the phone to Angelica.

“Mr. Carruthers,” Angelica said warily. “How nice to hear from you. If this is about the installment that’s due on that note—”

But the call had nothing to do with the overdue payment. The banker explained that there was a Mr. Cade Landon in his office.

‘‘He seems to have the necessary authority to see copies of your bank statements, Miss Gordon. I, um, I thought you might wish to be made aware…”

Angelica put her fingers to the bridge of her nose and pinched lightly.

“Yes, I understand,” she said evenly. “Thank you for calling.”

By late afternoon, the phone was ringing off the hook. Emily’s throat rasped and Angelica’s head was pounding. The little office had never been besieged with so many calls before.

Apparently, Cade was putting in appearances everywhere, meeting with Angelica’s subcontractors, with her messenger service, with the small and large firms that supplied her with parts for the pumps and paper for the office and every damned thing in between.

Angelica looked at Management Psychology,still sitting on her desk but now buried under the seemingly endless list of files Emily had faxed to Cade.

Stay calm, she told herself. Don’t lose your cool. Be accommodating and businesslike and wait for the right moment to show him the graphs and pie charts and computer printouts that will surely make him understand why it’s going to take time to turn things around here.

At five, Emily announced that she was either coming down with the worst cold of her life or losing her voice completely. She was going to go home, brew a pot of tea and climb into bed.

“A good idea,” Angelica said wearily. “I think I’ll head straight for bed myself, pull the covers up over my head and sleep till—”

“Just be sure and set the alarm clock first.”

Angelica spun toward the door. Cade was standing there watching her, just as he had the first time she’d seen him, except this time his expression was grim.

“I’m off,” Emily said, her voice a hoarse squeak. She shot Angelica a quick smile and scurried past Cade, out the door.

“Well,” Angelica said, forcing a smile to her lips, “what a surprise, Cade. If I’d known you were coming, I’d have asked Emily to prepare coffee or—”

“I didn’t come here for coffee.”

Angelica’s smile wavered just a little. “No, of course not. But you’ve had such a busy day, I thought—”

“Tell me something, lady. Is there anybody in Dallas you don’t owe money to?”

Angelica swallowed hard. Be calm, she told herself, just be calm.

“I know it must seem that way,” she said ca

refully, “but that’s only because you’re not familiar with the oil business. If you were aware of its special problems and needs, you—”

“You’re up to those gorgeous eyes of yours in debt, sugar. Are you aware of that!”

Gorgeous eyes? Cade frowned. Why in hell had he said that? Dammit, his brain was probably fried, thanks to the hours he’d just spent staring at column after column of red ink.

Not that the woman had noticed his nonsensical slip of the tongue. She was too busy trying to control her temper. Her creamy skin was turning the same color as her hair, and the breasts she seemed so intent on disguising under yet another boxy suit jacket were rising and falling so quickly that it looked as if she’d just broken the record for the mile.

“I’m carrying some debt, yes. But—”

“But,” Cade said, “you’ve got half a dozen charts and printouts to explain the reasons for it.”

Angelica frowned. “Emily didn’t tell me you’d asked for copies of my audiovisuals.”

“Copies of your…” Cade began to laugh. “Damn, but that’s good! Your audiovisuals, hm? Oh, I like that. I like that a lot.”

Angelica’s spine stiffened. The desire to slap the arrogant grin from his handsome face was almost overpowering. She turned on her heel, walked to her desk and began stuffing things into her briefcase.

“I’d appreciate it if you’d get to the point. Why are you here?”

“Suppose I said I’ve come to give you one last chance to admit the truth, that there never was any verbal agreement between your father and mine? What would you say to that?”

“I’d say you were wasting my time and yours. Now, if that’s all you want—”

Cade’s hand dropped on her shoulder. Angelica caught her breath in surprise. He was such a big man, yet she’d never even heard his footsteps as he crossed the room. But she could feel him behind her now, feel the faint brush of his hard body against hers, the pressure of his fingers as he turned her toward him.

“You do know how to push a man, sugar,” he said softly.

She looked up. His eyes were narrowed, the irises enormous and black within narrow bands of deep blue. A smile so dangerous it made her pulse quicken tilted across his mouth.