12
Mandisa walked slowly along through the open path that began in the back of Slade’s house. After two weeks at Havenheart, she’d become familiar enough with the land to walk unaccompanied on some parts of thegrounds.
She’d kissed a sleeping Slade this morning, pulling herself from his naked warmth to walk amongst the foliage. It was painful leaving him there, especially when her body wanted nothing more than to snuggle closer tohim.
Her mind had shaken her awake with an amazing idea that was scratching at the back of her consciousness. It was there, something brilliant, but she could only make out the blurry edges of the image rightnow.
This always happened when her chemist’s mind began to build something unique and beautiful. But she needed to work out the details by embracing solitude, freeing her mind from the need to think. Her skin prickling with creativity, she’d thrown on some walking clothes, grabbed her fully charged cellphone, and headed for the wild of Slade’sbackyard.
She walked until she reached the first line of trees in her sight. She pulled the cellphone from her pocket, opened a note-taking app, and used the phone’s stylus to write out plans and sketch designs for this new thing, coming together one component at a time in herhead.
She’d just saved her work to the cloud when an unknown number flashed on herscreen.
“Hello,” she answered with the slightest bit of annoyance in her voice. She wasn’t out here to talk to anonymous folks—she just wanted quiet. Unfortunately, her fear of missing out didn’t allow her to ignore notifications like ringing cellphones for verylong.
“Doctor Avery, this is Bull Hamilton. How are you doing thismorning?”
Mandisa released the breath she’d been holding while waiting for her caller to identify himself. That’s what happened with anonymous calls. They could be anything from a telemarketer to emergency services. Not knowing which she was going to get always kept Mandisa edgy until the anonymous caller made their identity and purposeknown.
“Mr. Hamilton, did we exchangenumbers?”
He laughed loudly, the sound making her skin prickle withrestlessness.
“Sweetheart, a man like Bull always knows how to contact a beautiful woman he has his eye on. I hope I’m not calling at a bad time, but I figured I’d better catch you before you get started with your busyday.”
She caught the sly reference to Slade’s flimsy excuse for refusing the man’s company during their last meeting. Bull obviously knew it was bogus, and he didn’t appear gracious enough to let it go,either.
“Is there something you needed, Mr.Hamilton?”
“I was hoping to invite you to dinner this evening. It would give me an opportunity to see how negotiations are going between our twocompanies.”
Negotiations were going great as far as she was concerned. She’d spent the better part of last night “negotiating” her way up and down Slade’s pole. She was certain he wasn’t referencing those particular events, so she forced her mind back on the conversation at hand, trying to keep her lecherous memories incheck.
“Slade has been very easy to work with. We’ve made a lot of leeway in the last two weeks. I’m looking forward to the culmination of dialogues nextweek.”
“Good, good. I’m glad to hear it,” he answered. “But I’d be remiss as the head of Logan Industries if I didn’t spend any time with such a valuable asset. I insist you have dinner with metonight.”
His words brought a chill to her. She didn’t like the weight he put behind the word “insist.” It made the hairs stand up on the back of her neck. It also made her want to ask him, “Who the hell you think you’re talking to?” She checked her Brooklyn long enough to attempt to feel thingsout.
Bull Hamilton was a very important man in the world she worked in. Having a bad interaction with him could cause irreparable damage to her reputation and her business. Two things she could ill afford to havehappen.
She smiled to herself when she heard her mother’s voice in her ear.Play the man’s game, but play itbetter.
Mandisa smiled as she pressed the phone against the side of her face. “We’ll be more than happy to have dinner with you, Mr.Hamilton.”
“We?”
“Yes, Slade and I, of course. This way you’ll be able to get a complete picture of where we stand rightnow.”
The pause filling the line told her exactly what she needed to know—she’d won this round. Bull found his voice a few moments later, agreeing to her suggestion and providing her with the address to the restaurant they’d be meeting at. She gave her salutations to the business tycoon and thought about what she wasdoing.
If history was any measure, Slade wasn’t going to be happy about this dinnermeeting.
Slade, big, burly and lovably loud. It was almost comical how those same qualities could probably be applied to Bull too. Maybe that was the problem between the two men? Maybe there was too much tension between them because they were soalike.
Mandisa rubbed her arms with her hands, trying to get rid of some of the chill Bull’s phone call had left her with. Slade was going to be pissed, but maybe this dinner was an opportunity for her to do some good with her remaining time inTexas.
Let’shope.
