Rescuing Diana Read Online Free Page B

Since both of them were busy building their respective companies, they didn’t get a chance to talk very often anymore. When they did, though, Dan usually talked about how business was, not what it was.
    Unfortunately, too, Adam hadn’t been exaggerating very much on Monday when he’d said he barely knew where a computer’s “on” switch was. He did know that—but only on his firm’s two computers. His partner had had to teach him how they worked. If the smallest thing went wrong, though he was instantly yelling for help. Without fail, the damn machines always beeped like crazy and acted as if he’d just taken an ax to them. There were times when he wished he had.
    When Diana continued to look expectantly at him, he asked, “What am I supposed to do as this Sir Morbid?”
    “Not very much,” she said, giving him a wry smile. “I won’t have you jousting with windmills, I promise. The computer just needs your face.”
    “The computer needs my face?” he repeated in confusion. It sounded as if he were about to be the computer’s next meal.
    “Right.” She pulled a chair in front of the sliding doors. “I have a certain face in mind for each of the characters in my newest game, but I’m lousy at drawing faces freehand on the computer. They all wind up looking like Richard Nixon.”
    Adam chuckled.
    “So what I want to do is take some pictures that I can sort of enhance.” Straightening, she tapped her finger against her chin for a moment. “Now, where did I put that armor?”
    “Armor!” he exclaimed, wondering what he’d gotten himself into.
    “You’re a knight of the Oblong Table, so you’ve got to wear some armor, and I can’t draw that any better than I can draw faces. Aha!”
    As she walked across the workroom to get Adam’s costume, Diana breathed an inward sigh of relief. She was grateful to put a little distance between them. Ever since he’d walked in the front door, her body had acquired that odd tenseness she’d first felt on Monday, and her stomach had flip-flopped every time she’d looked at him. More and more she was aware of Adam as a man … and of herself as a woman. She decided she’d hidden her reaction to him fairly well. He hadn’t seemed to notice anything wrong with her. But she’d never get through the afternoon if she couldn’t control her emotions. Darn it, she thought. Surely what she knew about him would have killed any attraction to him.
    Concentrate on the task at hand, she told herself as she reached a desk on the far side of the workroom. If her disturbing thoughts continued she’d probably do something idiotic, and that would only confirm the unflattering image she was certainAdam had of her. She knelt down and pulled a large costume box from under the desk. On top of the desk was Charlie, the computer that controlled her house’s elaborate burglar-alarm system. It had seemed appropriate for her modern armor to guard its more ancient version.
    Flipping the lid off the box, she motioned Adam over. “It’s just the helmet and breastplate. I got it from a costume shop in Berkeley. I hope it fits. It’s only a medium.”
    Squatting down on his heels next to her, he touched the glistening metal. “Good Lord, Diana! This is real!”
    “Well, it is steel,” she said, suppressing her laughter. “But it’s as thin as paper and very lightweight. You’ll look wonderful, Adam. Go ahead and put it on.”
    “Not until you tell me exactly what you’re going to do,” he said sternly.
    “For goodness sake! You don’t have to act as if I’m asking you to sack Camelot!” she said indignantly, glaring at him. “I’m only going to take some pictures of you in the armor.”
    “No sword fights with a fake dragon?”
    “Not even a princess to kiss.”
    The change on his rugged features was instant. The suspicion was gone, and in its place was mischievous amusement.
    Almost in awe Diana stared at him. It was as if she had unknowingly challenged him in some