Strictly Business Read Online Free Page B

her business was ready to move up, and she’d been looking for the perfect job to put her over the edge. Mikaris was only building ten homes, five-acre farmettes actually, but the job had sounded perfect. And best of all, it would have been two professionals working together. He would customize the homes to the owners’ specifications, and she would customize the properties. She had known her background might hamper her, and she had asked Marty not to say anything, planning to tell Mikaris herself. After she got the job.
    Now, because of a dumb practical joke that had backfired, she’d lost the opportunity altogether.
    “Damn! The whole thing blown in one morning because of a silly joke,” she muttered to herself.
    She remembered how she had grabbed her dress and purse and run out of the room, leaving her shoes behind.
Real professional, Jess
, she thought in frustration. She’d stuck him with the hotel bill, too.
    He’d never subcontract the landscaping to her now. How would she ever explain the mess in one breath and persuade him she was a businesswoman in the next? And what about her unexpected yet strongattraction to Mikaris? She considered that and decided that being attracted to him might have complicated things a little, but she could have handled it. He was hard-edged, not at all the kind of man she usually gravitated toward, or ever thought she would be attracted to. And knowing what she knew about herself, she had no alternative but to ignore her attraction …
    Jess straightened, as a thought occurred to her. She was a mature woman, but she hadn’t been thinking like one. Why shouldn’t she keep the interview? She had simply been caught up in a practical joke between brothers. Granted, it was embarrassing, but it had nothing to do with the job. Granted, she found him attractive, but she had enough barriers erected to keep her in balance. It wouldn’t be easy to face him again, but she’d be a fool not to try. The MeadowHill project would make her name in landscaping.
    After all, what really mattered was that the man needed a landscaper. She was a landscaper, and a damn good one.
    Now all she needed to do was persuade Nick Mikaris of that.

Three
    Perched atop the unfinished roof of his model house, Nick watched a red BMW pull onto the construction site and stop next to the office trailer.
    Jess Brannen emerged gracefully from the car and into the cool April day. She was dressed in a cream-colored suit and sensible low-heeled shoes. She pulled a large portfolio from the car, then looked around the site, taking in the house whose exterior was nearly finished. Land had been cleared for four more. Leisurely surveying her, he had to admit that she possessed the best legs he’d ever seen. From under the hem of her skirt, smooth calves tapered into trim ankles …
    Suddenly, he became aware of whistles and catcalls from his workers.
    “Back to work, guys,” he ordered, not liking the way they were eyeing her. The male appreciation was instantly replaced by the racket of busy hammers and saws.
    As he climbed down a ladder, Nick admitted that he hadn’t expected her to keep the appointment, not after the other morning. He really ought to throw her off the site. Over the weekend he’d discovered a few disturbing things about Jess Brannen. She liked to involve herself in silly practical jokes. The one in Atlantic City was hardly the first. Her family was “old” Philadelphia money, something his lawyer, Marty Fitzgerald, had neglected to tell him earlier. And she’d only worked with single homes before, probably friends of her parents.
    Still, he hadn’t been able to rid himself of the vision of her as she’d been that morning. Dark, dark hair had tumbled about her shoulders, and translucent silk had barely hidden her delicious curves. She could easily drive a man to insanity … and satisfaction.
    She had thought he was gay.
    That irritated him beyond reason. He knew he shouldn’t hold the incident