“Don’t tell me that,” he muttered, his expression pained as he yanked a hand through his hair.
“Tell you what?” she asked. “That you’re the first man I’ve—”
“This isnota conversation we are having,” he interrupted.
Her brows gathered. “Why not?”
“Because this,”—he gestured between them—“will not happen again.”
“Won’t it?”
“No,” he said emphatically.
She sighed. “That’s a pity, as I’ve already put it on your schedule.” Lifting her arm, she mimed writing in the air with a pen. “Ravish Miss Thorncroft at five o’clock.”
Kincaid’s mouth twitched.
Joanna stared, stunned at what she was seeing.
Was that—was that an actualsmile?
A trick of the light, she decided when he scowled and stalked across the room to pour himself a glass of water from the pitcher on the windowsill. After quenching his thirst, he turned to face her. A storm cloud on the brink of releasing a torrent of rain and booming thunder would have appeared less ominous.
“MissThorncroft—”
“Mr.Kincaid,” she quipped.
“This is not a joke.”
“I never said it was.” Kneeling, she began to gather the books they’d knocked down during their moment of passion. As good a way as any to describe what had occurred between them, she supposed. And no matter what Kincaid claimed to the contrary, itwasgoing to happen again.
Sooner rather than later, if she had anything to say about it.
“Why don’t you like me?” Clutching a dictionary to her chest, she sat on her haunches amidst a pool of skirts. “I understand I can be somewhat vexing at times—”
“Somewhatvexing?” he said incredulously.
“But we’ve never argued or spoken unkindly to each other. Why, then, do I find myself the constant recipient of so much…” She searched for the right word. “Antagonism?”
“Miss Thorncroft, all wedois argue,” he said, leaning back against his desk.
“That’s not true,” she protested.
He lifted a brow. “We’reliterallyarguing right now.”
“You’re trying to change the subject.”
“No, I am trying to avoid the conversation altogether.”
She rested her chin on the spine of the dictionary. “Why?”
“Because it’s not one we should be having.”
“Why?”
A muscle ticked in his jaw. “Because you are my employee,andmy client, and our relationship is already complicated enough. I do not dislike you, Miss Thorncroft. Neither do I like you. I…I feel nothing towards you. As it should be.” He crossed his arms. “Which is why these discussions of an intimate nature serve absolutely no purpose.”
Joanna slowly rose to her feet as a spark of anger ignited within her belly. Despite their short acquaintance, she’d already come to several conclusions in regards to Kincaid’s character. She knew he was cold. Occasionally even callous. But he was also compassionate. Dedicated Protective.
