Think About Love Read Online Free

doing her small part to give her orphaned niece a home and a loving family.
    When the waiter took away their plates—Samantha's almost untouched—Cal placed his elbows on the table.
    "I offered you a seat on the board today. Your reaction was less than enthusiastic. What's wrong?"
    She picked up her coffee and cradled the cup in her hands. "I—Just, not yet. I don't think this week is the right time."
    "Why?" His eyes were gray, too penetrating.
    "I need tomorrow off. I'd put it off until next week if I could, but I have no choice. I don't want you calling the lawyer to vest my shares and set up the board meeting and feeling annoyed with me for taking off tomorrow at the same time."
    She expected an immediate reaction, certainly questions. Not silence while he studied her for a few seconds, his eyes unreadable.
    "The open house is Friday, day after tomorrow."
    "I know, but everything's organized, delegated. I'll be in touch by cell phone to tie up any loose ends. I'll be back late tomorrow night, at work early Friday in time to put out any fires before the event starts at three."
    He studied her as if he could see beyond the calmness of her voice. "Personal business?"
    "Yes." His gaze was too intense and she said irritably, "The reason doesn't matter, unless details of my private life are a requirement of my employment?"  
    She flushed at the sound of her own words. "I'm sorry, that was nasty."
    "And unprovoked?"
    "Yes." What on earth was wrong with her? She'd done battle with Cal before, had always held her own, but this time she’d overreacted, before he even asked the questions. She supposed it was because, for the first time, the subject was her own personal life.
    "I'm sorry. You've never probed about my personal life."
    "It hasn't been relevant to your job until now. What's so urgent, Sam?" His eyes told her he knew he had the upper hand.
    "My grandmother is in the hospital."
    "Seriously ill?"
    "She says not. I wouldn't take off at a time like this if it weren't necessary."
    The frown lines radiating from the corners of his eyes told her he wasn't satisfied. "When do you leave?"
    "Early tomorrow." Had she told him she was leaving town? "I'll be back late tomorrow night."
    "Flying or driving?"
    She put her cup down on its saucer, the sound of china on china ringing between them like a warning bell. "Does it matter how I travel?"
    "Yes."
    She'd shared her ambitions with Cal, her ideas and plans for Tremaine's, but not herself. She knew he regarded her as an efficient mystery, knew he didn't understand how she smoothed the chaotic waters around him, but he respected her. She liked it that way, the balance of power even between them, her own feet firmly on the ground, immune to the winds of his forceful personality and volatile emotions.
    Nine out of ten women in her position would be overwhelmed by him, probably in love. Samantha was the tenth; she'd seen enough of passion and volatility to know the dangers. She admired him, loved working for him, understood him well enough to make herself indispensable professionally. But she wasn't tempted by his gray eyes, his love of a challenge, his waving dark-blond hair. She certainly wasn't about to let herself slip into some kind of "personal friends" situation that gave him a handle on her own vulnerabilities.
    "Why do you need to keep your travel plans secret?"
    "Why do you need to know them?"
    He looked as if he'd scented something intriguing and meant to explore it. "If I see news of an air crash on television tomorrow, shouldn't I know whether or not you were on the plane?"
    She swallowed hard, remembering endless hours after last December's air crash, watching CNN nonstop with Dorothy, keeping the phone lines clear because someone might call to tell them Sarah and Jonathan were alive and well.
    "Sam?"
    For heaven's sake, Samantha M. Jones, snap out of it!
    "I'm driving."
    He said nothing, just waited, until she added, "To Nanaimo."
    "Canada? You'll be driving north to