Double Dealing (14 page)

He would tell himself he had only to take her to bed in
order to handle her. Samantha groaned at the thought. Gabriel Sinclair was a
highly successful businessman. The last thing he would probably be interested
in doing was business with a woman who was so obviously at the mercy of her own
passions. Men like Sinclair didn’t make their mark in the world by involving
themselves and their money with women who didn’t have as much self-control and
hard-edged business sense as themselves. Hadn’t he admitted that his
relationship with the last woman he’d backed financially had been purely
business? Sinclair was the kind of man who would keep the worlds of sex and
business clearly separated.

By succumbing so easily to his advances last night, she had
proven to him that she wasn’t good business partner material. Damn it to hell
Now what was she going to do?

Samantha was aware of a terribly trapped sensation. It was
hard to even think clearly. There had to be a way out of the mess she had
created. There had to be. Surely all these months of planning weren’t going to
go down the tubes just because she’d gone crazy last night? How could she
regain Sinclair’s respect for her as a potential business partner?

“Samantha?”

She jumped a little at the sound of his voice as he came
through the bathroom door, Panic seized her. “I’m taking a shower,” she
snapped. “I’ll be out in a few minutes.” Out and running, she added silently.

Was that what she was going to do? Run?

“There’s no rush,” he drawled softly, pulling aside the
shower curtain to gaze at her with remembered satisfaction. “I’ll join you.”
Then he was inside, reaching for her with lazy hunger.

She moved away at once but not before his palm had slid
lightly over the dusky rose of one nipple, eliciting a tingling awareness. “I’m
through,” she announced quickly, trying not to look at the hard planes and
angles of his body.

“No, you’re not,” he countered gently, snagging her wrist.
His mouth edged upward at the corners as he regarded his captive with
anticipation. “I’m going to scrub your back for you.”

“Gabriel, I don’t feel like playing any more of your bedroom
games,” she informed him rashly.

His eyes narrowed. “Games?” he repeated far too softly. For
the life of her she couldn’t read his expression. Her chin came up disdainfully
as she slipped her wrist free of his grasp and stepped outside the shower. “What
do you call little one-night flings?” she asked with a false nonchalance.

He held aside the curtain and eyed her coolly. “You mean
little flings like last night?”

The question sounded dangerous to her oversensitive emotions.
But she clung to her chosen pose of casual insouciance as if to a lifeline.
Wrapping a towel quickly around herself, she started out of the bathroom. “What
else?” She shut the door firmly behind her and then raced across the room for
her clothes.

A sense of control began to reassert itself as she dressed.
The jeans and the rakishly styled white pirate shirt with its drawstring collar
and wide-cuffed, full sleeves helped provide a feeling of being more in charge of
her chaotic emotions.

Samantha grabbed at the sensation and deliberately began to
build on its foundation. Last night had been just a one-night stand.
Regrettable, perhaps, from a business point of view, but certainly not a
devastating experience. Was there any possibility of convincing Gabriel of
that?

One thing was crystal clear. She had to get out of his home
today. Staying here would be incredibly stupid. She was packing her suitcase
when Gabriel emerged from the bathroom, a towel wrapped negligently around his
waist.

“Going somewhere, honey?”

She could hear the steel underlying the question, and it
stiffened her resolve. “I have business to attend to, Gabriel, remember?” she
forced herself to drawl lightly, stuffing a shirt into the suitcase without
bothering to fold it. “I’m going back to Seattle.”

He stood filling the bedroom doorway, watching with disapproving
eyes as the unfolded shirt was crushed beneath a pair of wadded-up trousers.
Samantha could almost feel him itching to take the suitcase out of her hands
and repack it properly. Everything would be neatly folded and carefully tucked
in, she thought with a fleeting amusement which died quickly.

“Your business was with me,” he murmured, following the
movements of her sloppy packing as if fascinated.

“It would probably never have been a satisfactory partnership,”
she informed him gruffly. “You’re too neat.”

“What the hell’s that supposed to mean?”

She’d managed to startle him with that comment, Samantha
realized, the knowledge restoring a bit more of her sense of command. If she
could put him off-balance even a little bit this morning, there might be a chance
of salvaging something from the operation. The first flicker of hope darted
through her brain as she turned a brilliant smile on her nemesis.

“It means just exactly what it sounds like. There are two
kinds of people in this world, Gabriel. People like me who do things in what
seems a slipshod, casual, intuitive manner to your sort. And there are people
like you who do everything carefully, neatly, with great attention to detail.
Making a partnership work between the two types was probably a hopeless idea
from the start. “

“Is that so?” he murmured very politely. “Does that mean you’ve
decided to give up your plans for taking on the Buchanan Group? You no longer
want my financial backing?”

“You sound pleased by the idea,” she challenged.

He watched her for a moment and then shrugged. “I’ve had my
doubts about the project from the start,” he admitted.

“I know! You made them abundantly clear.” She couldn’t quite
hide the angry movement of her hands as she crammed the last of her clothing
into the suitcase.

“Honey,” he began persuasively, “the basic concept of what
you want to do isn’t bad. It’s a little reckless, perhaps, but feasible. It could
be done. But it takes a certain kind of person to pull off a stunt like that.
Even if I gave you the money, you’d still have to figure out a way to deal with
Buchanan if he gets nasty when he finds out who’s standing in his way. I don’t
think you have any idea of the kind of pressure a man like that brings down
when he wants.”

If Gabriel only knew just how well she understood Drew
Buchanan! “You think I’ll buckle under pressure? Give in when the threats
start?” she demanded.

He frowned. “It’s a rough business going up against a corporate
s-s-shark like Buchanan.”

“I can handle it.”

“Honey, you’re an information broker, not a power broker!
You think you know all about the inside workings of the corporate world because
you study them every day in your line of work. But there’s a hell of a difference
between studying that world from the outside and actually being on the inside.
Buchanan is as ruthless as they come. Hell crush you.”

“Ah, and then you’d lose all your money, is that it?” she
goaded.

“You envisioned me as a silent partner, as I recall,” he
retorted. “Which means that you’d be the one trying to deal with Buchanan. And
from what I know of you, Sam, I’d have to guess that yes, I probably would wind
up losing a lot of money.”

“I’d pay you off whether or not I make a killing in Phoenix!”

“With what? A lifetime subscription to your computerized business
information service?”

“You’d get your money, one way or another, Gabriel,” she
said stonily and slammed the suitcase shut. The lid didn’t close properly
because a sock was sticking out on the side. Ignoring it, Samantha forced the
latch shut.

“Does it occur to you that I might be concerned with something
other than losing my money?” he gritted.

“No,” she said savagely, glancing around the room to see what
she’d forgotten. She nearly always forgot something when she packed in a hurry
like this.

“How about the fact that I don’t particularly relish the
idea of seeing Buchanan use you to mop his office floor?”

Her hairbrush. She’d forgotten her hairbrush. It was sitting
on the dresser. Samantha started toward it resolutely. “Gabriel, you seem to
have gained a somewhat false notion of my personal stamina and fortitude. I can
only assume the impression stems from last night…. “

His expression eased as she turned to face him, hairbrush in
her hand. “Last night I saw the softness in you, sweetheart,” he allowed
gently. “You’re a creature of beauty and energy and incredible passion. You
took my breath away when you surrendered in my arms…. “

The hairbrush seemed to leave her clenched fist of its own
accord, hurtling across the room toward Gabriel’s head. He barely ducked in
time. It struck the bathroom door behind him and clattered harmlessly to the
floor. For an incredulous instant he stared down at it and then lifted
unreadable eyes to her face as she glared furiously.

“I did nothing of the kind,” she snapped. “I went to bed
with you. Women do that sort of thing these days, you know. They go to bed with
men when they feel like it. It is a simple case of indulging in a little
harmless sex. It’s your male ego which chooses to view what happened last night
in terms of dominance and submission, surrender and victory. That not the way
it looked from my side at all! Don’t you dare try to guess what my behavior
outside of bed is like based on my behavior in bed! Is that clear?”

“Am I allowed to make judgments about your behavior outside
of bed based on this little scene you’re conducting this morning?” he shot back
coldly. “Because if I am, I would have to conclude that you are an emotional,
unpredictable, excitable female.”

Samantha played the only card she had left. Drawing herself
up to her full height, she stalked across the room and reached down to grab her
suitcase. “I shall have to take care not to give William Oakes the same bad impression,
won’t I?”

“Samantha!”

She was halfway down the hall and would have been a lot
farther but for the heavy suitcase when he caught up with her. Gabriel’s hand
clamped down on her shoulder, halting her in midstride and spinning her around
to face him.

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” he rasped.

“Guess,” she invited succinctly.

“You’re going to contact Oakes? Ask him for financial backing?”

“You’re very shrewd,” she mocked, aware of the rock-heavy
weight of his hand on her shoulder but refusing to acknowledge it, “for a
businessman.”

“I’ve told you to stay away from him. He’ll take everything
if the deal goes through, and God help you if he loses money on it!”

“You’re starting to sound a little emotional, yourself, Gabriel.”

“Damn it, Samantha… !”

“Three days, Gabriel. That’s how much time you’ve got. Three
days to cut yourself in on my deal or forget about the whole thing. Are you
really going to stand by and watch Oakes make all that money with me?” she concluded
interestedly. “Because we are going to make a pile, Gabriel. Who knows? Maybe I’ll
learn a few things from William Oakes in the process. He’s good. As successful
as you are, according to the computer. But with any luck he’ll be more inclined
to stick to business instead of giving in to his masculine cravings. I must
prefer to do business with men who aren’t emotional, unpredictable, and at the
mercy of their baser instincts!”

Wrenching herself out from under his hand, she dragged the
heavy suitcase down the hall and out onto the front patio.

“Samantha, you’re not going to manipulate me, damn you!”
Gabriel stalked along behind her, brows set in a rigid line over blazing hazel
eyes.

“I wouldn’t dream of trying to manipulate you,” she scorned,
shoving open the wrought iron gate. “I’m just a poor, soft, brainless little
female. How could I dream of trying to manipulate a powerful, successful man
like yourself?”

“You know damn well you’re trying to manipulate me!” he
gritted as she opened the car door and slung her suitcase into the backseat. “You’re
trying to threaten me, trying to force my hand. Samantha, I don’t let anyone
get away with that.”

She slid an icy glance up at his tightly set face as she dropped
into the front seat of the car and slammed the key into the ignition. “I
believe you,” she told him simply.

“Then don’t try your luck!”

“Wouldn’t dream of it,” she drawled, switching on the engine
and throwing the little car into gear. “All I’m doing is offering a
straightforward business proposition. Three days, Gabriel. That’s how long you’ve
got to consider it. After that I’ll contact the next name on the list. Oakes.
With any luck he doesn’t have any weird idiosyncrasies like running around in
his front yard wearing nothing but a towel!”

The neatly raked gravel in the drive flew from beneath the
sporty car’s tires as Samantha sent the vehicle charging back toward the main
road. She didn’t even glance in the rearview mirror as she departed.

Gabriel stared after her, fighting a silent, savage, internal
battle. She was gone. Just like that. He’d staked a claim on her last night.
She couldn’t just leave like this! Didn’t she realize that Samantha belonged to
him now.

The urge to go after her—and drag her back by her hair if
necessary—was astonishing in its strength. It took the full force of his will
to bring the seething emotional tide under control. What was the matter with
him? He’d never been like this over a woman. Dazedly he stared down at his
shaking hands.

Three days.

The little witch would do it, too. She’d go to Oakes with
her crazy proposition. And Oakes would find a way of turning the whole thing to
his own advantage. He’d use her.

Three days.

How did she dare to lay down an ultimatum like this to him?

“S-s-
shi
…!” Gabriel gave up the
attempt and strode back to the house thinking darkly of the buckwheat pancakes
and the fresh papaya he had been going to serve Samantha this morning.