The Bronzed Hawk Read Online Free Page B

and meet me downstairs in the foyer?”
    Doll. If there was one endearment she hated, it was that one, Kelly thought. Why had she accepted the date with Simon, anyway? His athletic, blond good looks now appeared a bit too obvious and wholesome and his charm much too facile and slick.
    “That’s a good idea, Kelly,” Paul said, his thin, intelligent face flushed with rage. “I’ll join you in a minute.” The entire mix-up was really more his fault than Simon’s, Kelly thought disgustedly. If he hadn’t looked so hungry and generally uncared for, she would never have invited him to her apartment for a home-cooked meal when he’d dropped into the office the previous week between assignments. Paul was a well-known journalist, but he usually looked as rumpled as an unmade bed, and he had the soulful eyes of a hungry spaniel.
    Kelly shook her head. There was really no usetrying to shift the blame when she knew this awkwardness was the result of her own blasted absentmindedness. Simon hadn’t been in his office in the afternoon, and she had been so busy making arrangements that she had forgotten to call him at home to cancel the date. And she had completely forgotten about the date with Paul. They had arrived simultaneously at her front door five minutes ago. Not only had she not been able to get a word in edgewise to explain that she couldn’t go out with either one of them that night, but they had become so antagonistic that she was afraid they might come to blows at any moment.
    “Look, there’s something that I’ve got to explain to both of you,” Kelly said desperately.
    “I—”
    “You’d best stay out of this, doll,” Simon said, placing his hands on her slender waist and shifting her to one side. “Don’t you worry your pretty little head about a thing.”
    She could have slapped his smug, good-looking face. Pretty little head, indeed!
    “If you’d listen to what I have to say,” she saidangrily, “you’d see just how ridiculous you’re both acting.”
    They both stared at her in surprise mixed with resentment. She could almost feel the shift of antagonism from each other toward her. Well, why not? She certainly deserved it, and it was far better that they be angry with her than attempt to mutilate each other.
    “You both have a perfect right to be irritated with me,” she said earnestly. “And I hope you’ll believe—” Her abject apology was interrupted by the strident buzz of the doorbell, and she sighed in profound exasperation. She didn’t even have to glance at the clock to guess who was at the door. All she needed was another domineering man on the scene!
    And Nick O’Brien looked a thousand times more dangerous than the other two men put together, she thought as she opened the door. He was dressed in black; tight black jeans, long-sleeved black sport shirt, and black suede desert boots. He had all the sleek, dangerous litheness of a panther. Well, she was in the mood to let the intimidating Mr. O’Brien do his stuff.
    “Hello, Nick,” she said breezily, stepping aside to let him enter. “I’m not quite ready.” She strolled jauntily past Paul and Simon, who had turned distinctly menacing looks on the new arrival. “Entertain yourselves, won’t you?”
    She closed the bedroom door behind her and leaned on it for an instant, her head cocked to listen for any outbreak of actual violence. She breathed a sigh of relief when she heard only the low murmur of voices. She felt a twinge of guilt as she hurried into the bathroom to tidy her hair and grab her toothbrush and face cream from the vanity shelf. It was not exactly fair of her to leave O’Brien in this tricky spot, but she’d had more than enough of coping with unreasonable males for one evening. Besides, he
had
offered to rid her of Renwick’s presence if he was still there when he arrived. As a matter of fact, it had been more of a threat than an offer, she thought, grinning impishly. He had said that he liked