Show & Tell Read Online Free Page A

to no end, Knox nodded succinctly and wordlessly left her cubicle.
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    S AVANNAH HAD SILENTLY PRAYED that Knox would screw up and talk to her so that she could make good on her threat, but he didn’t. Per her instruction, he hadn’t said a single word to her until they boarded the plane. Since then he’d seemed determined to treat this assignment like any other, and even more determined to ignore the fact that she’d been an unwilling participant.
    A typical man, Savannah thought. If he couldn’tbuy it off, knock it down or bully it aside, then he ignored it.
    They’d flown out of O’Hare at the ungodly hour of five in the morning and would arrive in sunny Sacramento, California, by nine-thirty. At the airport, they would rent a car to finish the journey. The Shea compound was located in the small community of Riverdale, about fifty miles northwest of Sacramento. Barring any unforeseen complications, they should arrive in plenty of time to get settled and attend the Welcome Brunch. Classes officially started at two.
    A volcano of dread erupted in her belly at the thought, but rather than allow it to consume her, Savannah channeled her misgivings into a more productive emotion—anger.
    She still saw red every time she thought about Chapman’s hand in her humiliation. Quite honestly, she’d been surprised that he hadn’t taken every opportunity to belittle her in front of her co-workers—to make an example of her—and could only assume he acted on the advice of the paper’s attorneys. Chapman seemed the type to feed off others’ misfortune, and, frankly, she’d never liked him. She wasn’t the least bit surprised that Chapman had sided with Knox. Knox was the golden boy, after all.
    But the Phoenix had an unparalleled reputation, and she would have been insane not to accept employment at one of the most prestigious papers in the States. She had her career plan, after all, and wouldn’t let a little thing like despising her boss getin the way. Though she assumed he’d never give her a glowing recommendation, her writing would speak for itself.
    As for Knox’s role in this…she was still extremely perturbed at him for not taking no for an answer. Without a family or mentor to speak of, Savannah relied solely on gut instinct. She had to. She didn’t have a choice. In the absence of one perception, others became heightened, supersensitized. Just as the blind had a keener sense of smell, she’d developed a keener sense of perception, of self-preservation. When Knox had walked up and asked her to share this story with him, her knee-jerk gut reaction had been swift and telling—she’d almost tossed her cookies.
    Going on this trip with him was the height of stupidity. Savannah could be brutally honest with herself when the need arose and she knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that this attraction to Knox was a battle she could not win. If Knox so much as touched her, she’d melt, and then he’d know her mortifying secret—that she’d been lusting after him for over a year.
    Savannah bit back a wail of frustration, resisted the childish urge to beat her head against the small oval window. She didn’t need to be here with him—she needed to be back in Chicago. Investigating the missing maintenance hole cover Chapman would have undoubtedly assigned her next. Watering herplants. Straightening her stereo wires, her canned goods.
    Anything but being here with Knox.
    Though she’d been making a concerted effort to imagine him away from the seat next to hers, Savannah was still hammeringly aware of him. She could feel the heat from his body, could smell the mixture of fine cologne and his particular essence. The fine hairs on her arms continually prickled, seemed magnetically drawn to him. Savannah surreptitiously studied him, traced the angular curve of his jaw with her gaze, the smooth curve of his lips. A familiar