Read Online Not the Marrying Kind (Destiny Bay Romances - Forever Yours) by Helen Conrad - Free Book Online

hired, so eager to please, that she'd done any job he suggested without a murmur of protest. Over time he got quite used to slipping all the dirty work her way. She'd known for quite a while that it was high time she made a stand. This seemed like a ready-made opportunity to show Jeff she wasn't going to put up with it any longer.
    “No way, Jeff.” Shaking her head almost violently, she began to back away from his desk. “You're the certified therapist.”
    He came toward her, brow furrowed. “But you signed for it.”
    She shook her head, refusing to be bullied. “I signed for you, though, and you know it.” She gestured toward the telephone. “Call the department if you want to get out of it. But don't throw him in my lap.”
    “Thanks a lot,” Jeff grumbled, giving it up. “Just remember this next time you want a favor from me.”
    She grinned at him, surprised it had been so easy. “I'll remember.” She slipped out of his office and stopped, feeling pleased with herself. Not only had she stood up to Jeff, she'd strengthened her resolve against seeing Michael again. Good for me , she thought.
    She gave a little dancing two-step in time to the piped-in music and walked across the hall toward her own office. As she passed Maria's desk her glance fell on a book of matches in the ashtray.  
    “Smoking again, Maria?” she asked teasingly, knowing the secretary fought a perpetual battle with cigarettes,
    Maria looked surprised. “What? Oh, no. Those are Mr. Hudson's.” She shuddered dramatically. “Get them out of here, would you? I hate to be reminded, especially at this time in the afternoon.”  
    Shelley obediently picked up the matches and put them in her pocket.
    Back in her office, she pulled them out again and turned them in her fingers, the bay vista grand hotel, Newport beach. Funny, Shelley thought, that was one of the hotels Robin had been talking about staying in.
    Robin had been relentless lately.   “You need to get away from this constant grind,” she'd argued. “You need to kick off your shoes and put on a bikini. Be a woman for a change!”
    And behind that, of course, Robin meant be a woman and find a man. She knew her friend worried about her. Robin had been her roommate in college, and they'd moved in together again only a few months before when Robin had separated from her husband of five years. He was on an engineering assignment in South America, but the split had come about more because of marital problems than because of job situations. Robin made no bones about needing a man in her life.
    Shelley's fingers tightened on the matchbook cover. Maybe she would go with Robin after all. The thought sent her pulse racing again.
    Was she crazy? Irrationally she began to laugh softly. Yes, yes, she was crazy. That was exactly it. She couldn't get the man out of her mind.
    She closed her eyes and leaned back in her swivel chair. She knew he was poison, and yet she also knew that he offered an excitement she wouldn't be able to resist.
    Well, never mind, she told herself. He hadn't shown any signs of wanting to see her again. And why should he?  
    Go with Robin , she told herself, and have a nice vacation . But don't expect to see Michael Hudson .  
    She turned to look at the picture he'd stared at on her wall. Pressing her fingers to her lips, she remembered the kiss they'd shared, and something inside seemed to curl at the memory, tightening so quickly that she gasped.  

      Michael Hudson was about to slip into the driver’s seat of his fancy rented car when he noticed a sign and hesitated.   He’d just finished up a bit of investigative work on a yacht here at the marina and was about to head home, but the name on the sign caught his eye.   Mickey’s on the Bay.   Where had he heard of that before?   Ah yes.   Something overheard in a restaurant a couple of days ago.  
    “You want to do business with the Carringtons?   Go hang out at Mickey’s on the Bay.”
    It was a