She looked at his handsome face, and the same old shiver went through her tummy. Why did she have to be attracted to him? Wasn’t attraction supposed to be based on respect and liking, more than chemistry? She didn’t know Neil that well, but she didn’t like him, so it wasn’t logical the way her body responded whenever he walked into the room.
“Yes?”
“We should talk about what happened eleven years ago. Get everything said and out in the open.”
Her pulse surged. “That isn’t such a good idea.”
“Why not? Haven’t you wondered what would have happened if we hadn’t stopped that night?”
Only about a million times.
Not that it would have made any difference. According to the office gossip she couldn’t avoid, Neil’s idea of a long term relationship was a weekend in the Bahamas.
“There isn’t any point in discussing it,” she said.
“It’s getting in the way of us working together.”
“No, it isn’t,” Libby said.
It was true.
Their disastrous date, embarrassing as the memory might be, wasn’t the real reason they didn’t get along.
“Then what’s the problem?” Neil’s gray eyes had darkened, and his gaze moved deliberately over her. “Is it because I called you the virgin queen? I’ve never apologized for that, and I am sorry.”
He sounded sincere and Libby couldn’t control the flush rising in her cheeks…or the instinctive warmth sliding through her veins. “That has nothing to do with it. There are lots of reasons we don’t get along, but it’s mostly because we’re poles apart in the way we look at life.”
Because I’m a small town country girl and you’re a big city snob, she added silently. She didn’t like cities, fast nightlife, or the high-stakes gambles that Neil O’Rourke thrived upon. Dealing with Neil was like dealing with unstable dynamite—no matter how careful you were, in the end you got burned.
“Maybe. But there’s still an attraction between us.”
“I’m not attracted to you,” she denied instantly. “And if you’re attracted to me, it’s only because I said no. If we’d slept together I would have been old news before the week was out. You have the staying power of an amoeba.”
“Really? I’m told I have more stamina than most men.” His tone was so outrageously suggestive she wanted to scream.
“And like most men, all you ever think about is sex. If you ever had an honest-to-God tender emotion for a woman, I think you’d jump off a building just to get rid of it. Now get out.” Libby slammed the door behind him and stormed back to her desk.
Men.
They were the rottenest, most unreasonable creatures imaginable. She didn’t know why a woman would bother with them, except they were necessary to keep the human race going.
Chapter Two
Neil couldn’t keep a grin from splitting his face as he strode away.
Libby might be an innocent, but that unexpected temper was priceless. Of course, he shouldn’t have said he was still attracted to her. It just made things more complicated, but it was entertaining watching her blush and react so strongly.
No matter what she claimed, he wasn’t attracted to her just because she’d refused him. Absolutely not. He had his moments he wasn’t proud of, but he wasn’t that shallow and immature. He could keep things under control without actually doing anything about it.
“Any messages?” he asked his secretary.
“They’re on your desk, Mr. O’Rourke.” Margie turned back to her desk, avoiding his gaze.
He hesitated. “Is something wrong?”
“No, of course not.”
Neil waited, then decided not to say anything else. She was new and apparently having personal troubles, but he didn’t want to make either of them uncomfortable by asking too much.
“Thank you. I have an appointment with Libby Dumont at one this afternoon. Keep my schedule clear.”
“Yes, sir.”
Going into his office, he tossed the bed-and-breakfast file on his desk. “B and B’s,” he murmured, shaking his head as he swiftly scanned the pages.
After several hours of making notes and jotting down figures, Neil got up and stretched, realizing he’d worked through lunch again. He had to admit the bed-and-breakfast project had some interesting aspects, but what still boggled his mind was that Kane had promoted Libby Dumont. Vice president? She might be all right in a division that handled corporate giving, but new developments?
His brother was going soft in the head. Beth was a great wife and sister-in-law, but if that’s what falling in love did to you, the rest of the world could keep it.
Love did strange things to people.
Restless all at once, Neil paced around the room, then stood at the window and looked out at the Puget Sound. It was a rare, cloudless day in Seattle, the sun shining brightly on the water. A ferry chugged away from the shore, with seagulls soaring and swooping in the air above.
He usually tried not to think about how his father had given up the work he cherished—handcrafting fine wood furniture—to take a higher paying job in the forest industry. A job that eventually killed him, just to support a growing family.
There were too many tradeoffs to love and marriage, and Neil knew he was too selfish to make them. It was better to be honest with himself, than to get married and end up in a bitter divorce, making everyone miserable.
The phone on the desk rang. It was Margie, telling him that Libby was waiting for their appointment.
“Tell her to come in.”
Libby walked inside with an I’m-going-to-be-nice-to-the-jackass-if-it-kills-me expression on her face.
“Good afternoon, Mr. O’Rourke.”
He looked at her narrowly. That “Mr. O’Rourke” nonsense would have to end. Sooner or later he’d get her to call him Neil. It was a challenge, and he loved challenges.
“Good afternoon, Miss Dumont,” he mimicked back. “You do know my first name, don’t you?”
“Of course,” she said evenly.
“Then use it.”
“I’m not the only employee who calls you Mr. O’Rourke,” Libby murmured.
Neil frowned. Come to think of it, she was right.
“But just your subordinates,” she
