Between The Sheets. Jeanie London

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Between The Sheets - Jeanie  London

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fact that he’s out-of-house, I see their point. The guy’s positioned to do a lot of damage.”

      “Do you think Wilhemina’s made a mistake?”

      “I’ve been married to her sister for thirty-five years. Trust me, that one doesn’t miss a trick.” He shook his head decidedly. “But even so, I’ve been looking into this guy’s history the past few days and Holt’s MO doesn’t jive by a long shot. He’s got references up the wazoo and he’s considered one of the top marketing consultants nationwide. Big-name corporations are lined up for his services.”

      “Then she wants you to find out who’s sending these posts?”

      “No.”

      “No?”

      “Wilhemina has decided to buck the board on this but she’s up against a time limit. Holt will be moving his base of operations out of corporate headquarters to conduct marketing studies around the country. She needs to cover her ass—and his, too—while he’s out on the road. This is where we come in.”

      We. That one word and the way John leveled a steely gaze her way shot April’s internal alarm system into the red zone. “But you just said her in-house security is investigating and they’ve exhausted the computer angle.”

      “I’m pulling you off the computer.”

      April knew what was coming next and launched into evasive maneuvers to avoid yet another lecture about how twenty-five-year-old women should be out living life, rather than viewing it through a flat-screen computer monitor.

      “I’m an investigative researcher, remember? I’m supposed to work behind a computer.”

      “You’re an investigator. You call yourself a researcher, but I don’t have researchers on my payroll. Only investigators.”

      “But that’s what I do. I investigate through the computer. Some agencies would call me an information specialist.”

      “You work for my agency, April. I employ investigators who can work behind a computer and in the field.”

      Could she help it that she was more comfortable with binary and circuitry than she was with English and humans?

      John heaved a sigh that drove the alarm indicator in her head right off the gauge. The man was gearing up for an argument. She recognized the raised brows, the stiff neck and the squared shoulders as surely as if the word A-R-G-U-M-E-N-T had been tattooed across his forehead.

      She took a judicious step back. Unfortunately, her sweater caught the edge of his in-box as she did. John came halfway out of his chair in a vain attempt to catch it, but the whole tray toppled off the desk with a clatter.

      “No, no, don’t get up,” she said, sinking to her knees to collect the scattered papers. “I’ve got them.”

      She could feel his gaze on her as she gathered the various documents and envelopes and quickly restacked them. By the time she returned the tray to his desk, her cheeks were hot and John was watching her with an expression of resignation that only made her blush burn hotter.

      Backing away to minimum safe distance, she took a calming breath and another crack at appearing nonchalant. But John still looked resigned, which meant he wasn’t buying her act.

      “Do you know what a nibbie is, April?”

      A nibbie? Definitely not the question she’d expected. A change of tactic, then, so he could try to make his case for getting her off the computer. “Yes.”

      “Would you mind explaining the term to me?”

      “Nibbies are teeny-tiny tufts of fabric that ball up on sheets. It’s a casual term. You might have heard them called piles or pills.”

      He shook his head. “These…nibbies are a big deal?”

      “To some people, I guess.”

      “Well, I suppose that fits. Wilhemina made a point of saying that whoever I sent needed to know what a nibbie was. She called me obtuse when I told her I didn’t know what she was talking about.”

      Under any other circumstances April would have smiled at John’s indignation. Most people wouldn’t consider calling the man anything but sir. Then again, most people weren’t his wife’s sister, a formidable woman who was more than up to the task of handling her sister’s equally formidable husband. But April couldn’t even rally a grin. She’d walked right into this one.

      “Sort of like the Princess and the Pea,” he said, grinning at his own cleverness, which in April’s mind only supported the accusation of obtuseness.

      She only shrugged, afraid to open her mouth and step in any further. Personally, she couldn’t see what the big deal was. She’d never noticed whether she slept on sheets with nibbies or not. The only time she was horizontal in a bed was when she was fast asleep, unconscious of nibbies, piles or pills. Unconscious enough to be unaware of anything else that might take place in a bed, either.

      He leveled that steely gaze on her. “Sounds to me like you’ve got a good bead on the subject. You’re the right person for this case.”

      “And what exactly is this case?”

      “Inside surveillance.”

      A moment passed before she managed to speak past the alarm shrieking in her head. “Inside surveillance? You want me to go…undercover?”

      “As Rex Holt’s in-house marketing assistant.”

      Undercover? A laugh sprang unbidden to her lips, along with a denial that she managed—barely—to squelch before it actually popped out of her mouth. Good thing, too, because butting heads with John would only make him dig in his heels.

      She started to pace. She didn’t sit still well on the best of days, but with John springing fieldwork, no, undercover fieldwork on her…

      Glancing at the most recent Mooney family portrait that included a stoic John, a smiling Paula, their daughters, sons-in-law and seven grandchildren, she clasped her hands behind her back and forced herself not to pace, although the urge to move was physical.

      She was manic at the best of times but when she got nervous…April Stevens aka April Accidentally had learned to curtail her actions rather than risk knocking anything else off John’s desk, or heaven forbid, the étagère, which housed all sorts of sentimental items.

      John knew more about her than anyone on this planet. Surely he could be reasoned with. “Wow, real undercover work,” she forced herself to say lightly. “Why don’t you take the case? You live to go out in the field and it’s been a good year since you’ve gotten out of this office.”

      “Aside from the fact that I don’t know a damned thing about nibbies, I promised my wife that I’d get you out from behind the computer. She said you’ve been holing up since you and Jeff broke up. She thinks you’re pining.”

      “I’m not pining.”

      Man, she should have known she’d wind up back here despite diversionary tactics. The planets must be aligned, because short of quitting her job and moving to Canada, April couldn’t

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