An Indecent Proposal (Landon's Legacy 1)
Angelica pushed back her chair and stood up. “I’ll be sure to keep your advice in mind. Now, if that’s all—”
“You’ll have to do more than keep it in mind.” Cade rose to his feet, frowning. “If you abuse that hand, Angelica—”
“I’ve no intention of abusing it, I assure you.”
“No. The nurse won’t let you, even if you wanted to.”
“Nurse? What nurse?”
“Do you have a phone directory? I’m sure it won’t take me long to make arrangements.”
“Dammit, Cade, what are you talking about?”
“Well, it’s obvious you can’t be on your own just yet. And I told you about Emily.”
“So?” Angelica clasped the blanket at her right shoulder and looked at him.
“So,” he said with a little smile, “I’m going to call an agency and hire someone to—”
“You will not!”
His smile tilted. “Angelica, don’t be stubborn. We’ve agreed, you won’t be yourself for a few days.”
“We did not agree that I needed a baby-sitter!”
Cade put his hands on his hips. “That’s nonsense! I’m simply trying to—”
“You just can’t help yourself, can you? Any time the opportunity presents itself, you try to take over!”
“Angelica, dammit, don’t be a fool.”
Angelica lifted her head in defiance. “Goodbye, Cade. Thank you again for all your help. I’ll be in touch.”
He stared at her for a long moment and then he began to laugh. “You’ll be in touch? Haven’t you got our roles reversed here, lady? I’m the one who’ll be in touchwhen I need a report, or a file, or any one of a hundred things from that closet you call an office.”
She flushed. “Thank you for reminding me that I’m only here to serve you, Mr. Landon. Don’t worry. You’ll get whatever you want when you want it.”
Cade strolled across the room and looked out the door to the patio. The toaster was lying where he’d tossed it, blackened and dead. He swung toward Angelica, who was looking at him with all the disdain she could manage.
“How?” he said pleasantly, and smiled.
“How what?”
He tucked his hands into the back pockets of his jeans. “How will you see to it that I get whatever I need when I need it? Emily won’t be at her desk, remember?”
She’d forgotten about Emily being out with the flu. But she didn’t say that; she simply lifted her shoulders in a nonchalant shrug.
“I’ll manage.”
“How?” he repeated. “You’re going to have to figure out a way to get yourself dressed, and showered, and fed, and to work. I don’t suppose your car is an automatic, is it?”
She flushed again. “Suppose you get to the point.”
The point, he thought, as he looked at her. What in hell was the point?
He’d made up his mind to put an end to the game, to demand proof of the supposed verbal contract between her father and his, then get out of here and let Landon Enterprises’ legal staff do its work, but—but…
He took a deep breath. “Here’s the point,” he said brusquely, taking her elbow and herding her toward the stairs. She tried to pull free but he held on to her so that she had no choice but to let him lead her up the steps with him. “You’re right about it being nonsense for me to hire a nurse.”
They reached the landing, and now he was leading her to her bedroom.
“Well,” she said crisply, “I’m glad you’ve come to your senses. Of course it would be nonsense. I don’t need a nurse.”
“Exactly. What you need is to be in a situation that’s convenient for the both of us.”
“I agree. And…” She spun toward him as they stepped into the bedroom. “What do you mean, convenient for both of us?”
Cade pulled open the door to the wardrobe and peered inside. “My God,” he said, shaking his head, “it looks as if you’ve cornered the market in tweed!”
Angelica’s cheeks reddened. “Dammit, Cade—”
“Does that dress button?”
“What?”
He yanked a black wool dress from its hanger. “Does it button?” he said impatiently. “You know, do you get into it by just slipping your arms into it.”
“Well, yes, but—”
She gasped as he tugged the blanket from her. “Here,” he said crisply, and held out the dress. “Put this on.”
She wanted to say no, to tell him what he could do with the dress—but that would have only left her standing before him in her underwear. She hissed a word at him that made him laugh while he helped her into the dress, but she slapped his hand away and fumbled the buttons closed on her own.
Barefoot, her hair streaming down her back, she confronted him.
“All right,” she said. “What’s going on here?”
“I’ve just faced facts, that’s all. I’ve realized that—unfortunately for us both—I’m dependent on your assistance.”
“Well, that must be painful to admit!”
“I’ve also realized that, left to your own devices, you’ll probably bring your house down around your ears.”
“That’s ridiculous.”
“And then there’s the problem of me sitting around, tapping my toes while I wait for you to get yourself to the office.”
“Why don’t you just tell me the bottom line, Cade?”
“I’d rather start at the top,” he said with a little smile. “The first item on the agenda is breakfast. Bacon, eggs, a gallon of coffee—and a handful of aspirin.” He plucked a pair of shoes from the bottom of the wardrobe and put them at her feet. “Can you get those on without help?”
“Don’t talk to me as if I were four years old,” Angelica snapped as she slipped her feet into the shoes. “I understand now. You’re so worried about me making it to the office that you’re going to take me there yourself.” Her smile was edged with frost. “How generous.”
“I’d hardly expect you to go to work today.”
“Then why—”
“Today, you’ll just take it easy.” He took her arm. She stiffened and tried to wrench free, but his fingers clamped down on her wrist. “We’ll go to my hotel, check you into my suite—”
“Are you crazy?”
“You can nap the afternoon away while I catch up on paperwork.”
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“You are crazy,” she sputtered. “I’d never—”
“It’s a big suite, Angelica. Did I mention that? Two bedrooms, two bathrooms—”
“It could be the size of Buckingham Palace and I wouldn’t share it with you!”
Cade’s smile vanished. “Perhaps you’ve forgotten that you work for Landon Enterprises.”
“That doesn’t give you the right to order me to move into your hotel room!”
“I just explained that you’ll have your own room and your own bath.”
“I don’t care! I’m not going to do it!”
“That’s your prerogative—in which case, I’ll do what’s best for Gordon Oil.”
The way he said it made her heart skip a beat. “Meaning?”
“Meaning, you’ll stay away from the office until that hand is completely healed. I’ll continue you on salary, of course.”
“Dammit, Cade, what’s the rest? I can hear that brain of yours clicking, I know you’ve got something else in mind.”
“Well, since you’ll be incapacitated and since Gordon Oil can’t operate itself, I’ll have to put someone in charge.”
“What?”
“You heard me.” His voice hardened. “I’ll need someone responsible at Gordon’s, and it wouldn’t be logical or even possible to hire the proper individual on a temporary basis. I’m afraid I’ll have to let you go.”
“No! The verbal contract—”
“Assuming there is one, it would be rendered null and void by your inability to fulfill your role as director.” The lie was so logical, and fell from his lips with such authority, that it might as well have come from a lawyer, he thought proudly.
“But,” she said, “but…”
But if Cade forced her out of the company, what chance would she have of getting back in?
She stared at the handsome face, the polite smile, the dark blue eyes that mocked her.
“Why are you doing this to me?” she whispered.
“I’m not doing anything to you, Angelica, I’m simply protecting Landon’s investment. I’m suggesting a practical offer of assistance. If you choose to refuse it…”
He shrugged and smiled politely. Angelica fought for control, knowing that to slap that arrogant smile from his face would only be self-defeating. When she finally spoke, her voice trembled with anger.