Read Online The Cutting Edge by Linda Howard - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Linda Howard
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Damn her, why couldnât he stop thinking about her? She was just another woman, despite her laughing eyes and searing kisses. âWeâre missing something,â he muttered. âSomething is right here under our noses, and weâre passing over it.â
âA 747 could be under my nose right now and Iâd have a hard time seeing it,â Evan yawned, tossing his pencil down. âThis guy has to be a real genius. Why donât you just offer him a bonus if heâll tell us how heâs doing it?â
âYouâre pretty sure itâs Wallace?â Brett asked, slanting Evan a quick, hard look.
âItâs someone who knows how to play hardball with a computer, thatâs for sure.â
âTessa told me that he has a fortune in electronics in his apartment. He knows all the access codes; he can get into our computers any time he wants.â
âI checked the guardâs records, and he works late a lot of nights, but damn it, I canât find anything!â Evan said fiercely.
âItâs here; we just havenât matched everything up yet.â Brett got to his feet, moving restlessly around thehotel room. Damn, but he was getting tired of hotels, of living out of a suitcase. He wanted the crisp, clean air of the mountains, the wood-smoke smell of a roaring fireplace, the surging power of a horse beneath him. He moved his broad shoulders as if flexing against invisible chains, and the irritation of the job ate at him.
Evans rose, too, and stretched his tired muscles. âIâm calling it quits for the night. The weekend is ahead of us. I can do a lot more work then, when I donât have to spend the day pretending to study systems and options. Iâm making a quick trip back to San Francisco in the morning, but Iâll be back by Saturday morning at the latest. Do you need anything from the office?â
âNo,â Brett said absently, staring out the window at the sea of lights that stretched as far as he could see. Like New York, Los Angeles never slept. On the ranch, when night came, the livestock bedded down and so did the people.
After Evan had gone to his own room, Brett still stood at the window, but he no longer saw the lights. His body felt the pressure of her soft flesh against him, and his jaw tightened. He wanted her. He didnât even have to think her name; all other women became faceless, without identity, even sexless, when compared with her.
He gave the hotel bed a disgusted look, knowing that he wouldnât be able to sleep when he did finally lie down in it. His bed at the ranch was big and wide, and suddenly he pictured her in it, her soft dark hair spread across his pillow while she slept quietly, with the quilts pulled up over her bare shoulders to protect her from the frosty bite of the early spring morning. He shook his head to dislodge the picture, but it remainedwith him, and another disturbing image joined it: that of long winter nights, of making love to her in that bed, and knowing that the next night heâd have her again.
He scowled. He wasnât going to let her get to him like that. Heâd take her and then forget about her, because in the taking heâd find that she was just like all the other women heâd had and then forgotten.
CHAPTER FOUR
T ESSA WAS ALWAYS at her desk a little early, and today Sammy brought in a cup of coffee for her before it was time to start work. âI couldnât remember if you took cream and sugar or not, so I brought both,â he said, flushing a little as he dug in his pockets and produced two packets of sugar and a small plastic container of nondairy creamer, with a peel-off top.
She took the coffee gratefully; after lying awake half the night, sheâd overslept a little and had missed her usual leisurely breakfast. She felt more than a little bruised, and only the assurance of her mirror had given her the courage to face the day. She looked normal,
âA 747 could be under my nose right now and Iâd have a hard time seeing it,â Evan yawned, tossing his pencil down. âThis guy has to be a real genius. Why donât you just offer him a bonus if heâll tell us how heâs doing it?â
âYouâre pretty sure itâs Wallace?â Brett asked, slanting Evan a quick, hard look.
âItâs someone who knows how to play hardball with a computer, thatâs for sure.â
âTessa told me that he has a fortune in electronics in his apartment. He knows all the access codes; he can get into our computers any time he wants.â
âI checked the guardâs records, and he works late a lot of nights, but damn it, I canât find anything!â Evan said fiercely.
âItâs here; we just havenât matched everything up yet.â Brett got to his feet, moving restlessly around thehotel room. Damn, but he was getting tired of hotels, of living out of a suitcase. He wanted the crisp, clean air of the mountains, the wood-smoke smell of a roaring fireplace, the surging power of a horse beneath him. He moved his broad shoulders as if flexing against invisible chains, and the irritation of the job ate at him.
Evans rose, too, and stretched his tired muscles. âIâm calling it quits for the night. The weekend is ahead of us. I can do a lot more work then, when I donât have to spend the day pretending to study systems and options. Iâm making a quick trip back to San Francisco in the morning, but Iâll be back by Saturday morning at the latest. Do you need anything from the office?â
âNo,â Brett said absently, staring out the window at the sea of lights that stretched as far as he could see. Like New York, Los Angeles never slept. On the ranch, when night came, the livestock bedded down and so did the people.
After Evan had gone to his own room, Brett still stood at the window, but he no longer saw the lights. His body felt the pressure of her soft flesh against him, and his jaw tightened. He wanted her. He didnât even have to think her name; all other women became faceless, without identity, even sexless, when compared with her.
He gave the hotel bed a disgusted look, knowing that he wouldnât be able to sleep when he did finally lie down in it. His bed at the ranch was big and wide, and suddenly he pictured her in it, her soft dark hair spread across his pillow while she slept quietly, with the quilts pulled up over her bare shoulders to protect her from the frosty bite of the early spring morning. He shook his head to dislodge the picture, but it remainedwith him, and another disturbing image joined it: that of long winter nights, of making love to her in that bed, and knowing that the next night heâd have her again.
He scowled. He wasnât going to let her get to him like that. Heâd take her and then forget about her, because in the taking heâd find that she was just like all the other women heâd had and then forgotten.
CHAPTER FOUR
T ESSA WAS ALWAYS at her desk a little early, and today Sammy brought in a cup of coffee for her before it was time to start work. âI couldnât remember if you took cream and sugar or not, so I brought both,â he said, flushing a little as he dug in his pockets and produced two packets of sugar and a small plastic container of nondairy creamer, with a peel-off top.
She took the coffee gratefully; after lying awake half the night, sheâd overslept a little and had missed her usual leisurely breakfast. She felt more than a little bruised, and only the assurance of her mirror had given her the courage to face the day. She looked normal,
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