Read Online Conflict of Interest by Jayne Castle - Free Book Online

altered tone of voice.
    „How dare you?“ she breathed, fighting valiantly for her self-control.
    He regarded her with a smug blandness that made her want to strike him. „Dealing with robots is easy for me. I’m an expert on the subject, remember?“
    „Of all the despicable, disgusting…“
    „Come now,“ he retorted bracingly, moving toward the chair where his jacket hung. „That’s no way to conduct a business discussion.“
    „Business discussion!“
    He nodded, shrugging into the jacket. „We still have business to transact, you and I’ll suggest tomorrow night. Dinner at my place.
    Agreeable? Knowing your abilities, I’m sure you already have my address. Shall we say seven o’clock?“
    „I have no desire to have dinner with you, Lang Sterling,“ she got out seethingly, searching desperately for a way to get a handle on the horribly deteriorating situation. She stood to lose all the ground she had so painstakingly gained and she didn’t know how to prevent the impending disaster.
    „Don’t you want to wrap me up in a tidy little bundle for your firm?“ he drawled, starting for the door. „I still have patents to sell and you still represent a firm which wants to buy them. Nothing has changed as far as I can see…“
    He was right, Kali thought frantically. And he was almost at the door. „Lang, wait!“
    He turned politely, one red-brown brow cocked inquiringly. He was so damn sure of himself now! Well, she’d managed him successfully last night and she could do so again. Things had gotten a bit rough this morning but that was hardly her fault. She’d done the best she could under the unexpected circumstance of finding Davis Wakefield at her door. In fact, her only tactical error was in having let Lang make her lose her temper. The situation was still salvageable.
    „If you really want to talk business, I’ll accept your invitation,“
    she said as coolly and calmly as possible.
    „I thought you would,“ he said easily, and turned back toward the door. „By the way, if you’re feeling a little annoyed at the moment, console yourself with the thought of how hard it’s going to be to get a taxi when I’m dressed like this at eight o’clock in the morning!“ As if that remark made him remember something else, he quickly checked his jacket pocket, drawing out a slim wallet and glancing hurriedly inside. „Well, at least you didn’t roll me for the credit cards. I appreciate that.“
    Speechless from her fury, Kali was forced to watch silently as the door shut behind him.

CHAPTER FOUR
    „He’s almost completely impossible, Mike!“ Kali tossed down the copies of Lang’s patents which she had been studying. The sheets of drawings and descriptions settled in disarray on her desktop.
    „Honestly, if it wasn’t for the evidence on those pages, you’d have a tough time convincing me the man had evolved more than two steps beyond an amoeba! He seems to run on dumb male instinct, an outdated sense of machismo, and an associated ego problem!“
    On the other side of the desk, Mike Jarvis smiled knowingly.
    „You’re the one who told me in the beginning that a creature with all those weaknesses should be easy to handle!“
    She glared at him, unable to conceal the unwilling spark of humor in her eyes as she considered the young man sitting across from her. „Just remember, Michael Jarvis, you can be replaced!“
    „No, no, Kali,“ he denied soothingly, blue eyes echoing her amusement, „you’re the one who can be replaced, remember? That’s why you hired me!“
    „There are a few drawbacks to modern, progressive management styles,“ she complained with a small chuckle as she picked up another folder labeled „Sterling.“
    Mike grinned back. At twenty-six his pleasant features and easygoing manners sometimes hid the razor-sharp mind and enthusiastic ambition. But Kali had spotted both in her initial interview. She had deliberately begun looking for someone who could be groomed