your stock-market account!"
"Shut up and listen to me, you little wildcat," he grated, getting slowly to his feet. The hazel gaze flickered as she automatically backed out of reach.
"Don't get the idea I'm a bigger fool than I've already shown myself to be!" Dara cried, her chin lifting defiantly. “Listening to you was what got me into this mess! I don't intend to listen to you again! Ever! I try to learn from my mistakes, Yale Ransom. And you can rest assured you've just taught me one hell of a lesson! Even I can't quite believe how I could have made such an idiot of myself!"
"Good God! You're really intent on playing the woman scorned this morning, aren't you? But I haven't scorned you, honey. Just the opposite!"
"You've treated me like a...a commodity you could buy or sell," Dara hissed. "Last night you felt like buying it. Who knows? Tomorrow you might feel like selling it! What will you do then? Try to find another female broker who seems willing to pay the price? Let me give you a word of advice. Find someplace besides a dingy truck-stop motel to 'finalize' the deal. And the next morning, refrain from talking about the bargain itself until after breakfast. Much more civilized!"
"The choice of surroundings was yours!" Yale suddenly snapped , his fists planted on his hips. He stood in front of her, uncompromisingly naked and intimidatingly male. The deep amber hair was ruffled in a rakish, dangerous-looking style and the hazel eyes gleamed with determination. The Southern accent had lost most of its polish.
"There certainly isn't much to your gentlemanly veneer now, is there?" Dara taunted, her rage threatening to overwhelm her. "I even get the blame for choosing a cheap, one-night-stand sort of motel! Well, I suppose that's the proper setting, after all. A one-night stand is certainly all this affair is ever going to amount to!"
"The hell it is! I've got news for you, Dara Bancroft! You handed yourself over to me, lock, stock and barrel, last night. It's too late now to back out!"
"Don't be so anxious to conclude the bargain," she warned scathingly. "If I ever get my hands on your account I'd pump every last dime into surefire losers! I'd take great pleasure in ruining you! You're damned right I'm feeling like a woman scorned, and just remember hell hath no fury like one! Give me a chance and I'll pay you back a hundredfold for what you did to me last night!"
"Your warning is duly noted," he drawled, stalking forward with slow, deliberate strides.
"Don't come any closer," she ordered seethingly , holding the sheet in place as she backed away. "I mean it, Yale! I don't want you touching me. Not ever!"
"But I'm going to touch you," he promised with silky menace. "Often and in the most delightful places. You belong to me now, temper and all. Like I said, I'm satisfied with the transaction, and I'll make sure you are, too...."
Dara came up against the wall, her eyes blazing as she realized she was trapped. "You really can't get it through that thick head of yours that I didn't go to bed with you in order to get your account, can you? Well, try writing it on the blackboard a few hundred times. Because I didn't! I don't want your account! I never cared one way or the other about it!"
"Too bad, because you're stuck with it," he gritted, his fingers curling over her bare shoulders. He pulled her away from the wall, close to his naked strength. "And believe me, I'll take every dollar you lose out of your soft hide." His mouth curled devilishly. "But I will also be very generous with my thanks for every dollar you make, too!"
"Take your hands off me!'
"I can't," he confessed almost ruefully. "I only have to look at you, and I want to touch you. Stop fighting me, honey. You know as well as I do that what we found together last night was very, very good. I'll admit we rushed into things, but—"
"We rushed into things!" she yelped, incensed at the blithe accusation. " I had nothing to do with it! You're the one who
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