Flash

very small with the two of them in it. He felt as if he stood in the center of a small electrical storm. Invisible energy crackled in the air.
    Behind him he heard Olivia close the door. He glanced over his shoulder and watched her circle around behind her desk. As far as he could tell, she appeared blithely unaware of the sizzle in the atmosphere.
    He had to fight the urge to watch every move she made. Something about her fascinated him. Probably the fact that she owned forty-nine percent of his new company, he thought grimly.
This is business, not sex. Get the right message to the hormones before they do something really, really stupid here
.
    It had been sheer curiosity as much as his innate desire for information that had led him to stop at the Seattle Public Library before making his way to Light Fantastic today. He had found the year-old edition of
West Coast Neo
magazine and read the piece Crawford Lee Wilder had written about Logan Dane and his so-called Dark Muse.
    Wilder had got it all wrong, Jasper decided. Olivia Chantry was not an arrogant, imperious, ball-busting Amazon with predatory marketing instincts. She was a sharp, intelligent, vital woman who gave off sexual sparks.
    He swiftly reviewed the facts in the magazine article and compared them with the flesh-and-blood woman in front of him. He concluded immediately that Crawford Lee Wilder had probably been secretly intimidated by Olivia. The strength in her had obviously been more of a challenge than Wilder could handle. The journalist had taken his revenge by turning her into a notorious part of the Logan Dane legend.
    She was tall, Jasper noted. In a pair of heels she would look him straight in the eye.
    Her height and slender figure did interesting things to the long lines of her fluidly draped menswear-style trousers. The pale lime green linen shirt fell elegantly over small firm breasts.
    The sculpted line of her shoulders and spine, together with the easy, energetic way she moved, hinted at the benefits of a regular physical fitness routine. She might be careless about her filing habits, he reflected, but she looked as though she was highly disciplined about her workout.
    Goal-oriented
. Like himself, he thought
    Her interesting, fine-boned face was framed by glossy red-brown hair that she wore in a casual twist. The sleek designer frames of her glasses emphasized the perceptive awareness in her wide hazel-green eyes.
    Jasper sighed. He knew only too well that it was his dangerous lot in life to be attracted to intelligent women. The older he got the more pronounced the taste had become.
    "Sorry about the greeting you got when you arrived. We're a little busy at the moment." Olivia waved a graceful hand to indicate the busy scene on the opposite side of the windowed wall. "We've got four major events coming up in quick succession. One of them is a reception for Camelot Blue investors and clients."
    He inclined his head. "That explains the giant glowing blue sword-in-the-stone and the fake cave."
    "Uh-huh." She sprawled lightly in her chair. The casual pose belied the glint of wary assessment with which she watched Jasper.
    "What else is on the schedule?" he asked politely.
    "Let's see." She held up one hand and ticked off items on her fingers. "We've got the annual Silver Galaxy Foods Night event, which will be an overnight cruise this year. A fund-raiser for Eleanor Lancaster—"
    He raised his brows. "As in Eleanor Lancaster, the candidate for governor?"
    "One and the same."
    That event had to have been a major coup for Light Fantastic, he thought. The conventional wisdom and virtually every newspaper pundit in the state were busy predicting that Eleanor Lancaster would easily win the election. The event firm that produced her fund-raisers would be in a very nice position when the client became Governor Lancaster.
    "I'm impressed," he said.
    "Don't be." Olivia gave him a cheerful, conspiratorial grin. "I've got an inside track. My brother, Todd, is her policy consultant and speechwriter."
    "Convenient."
    She raised one shoulder in an elegant shrug. "Business is business."
    He wondered how far she took that bit of philosophy. What exactly
had
she done with the fortune in Logan Dane paintings that Crawford Lee Wilder claimed she had inherited after Dane got run over by a bull?
    "I think I've got invitations to every event you've mentioned so far," he said.
    "Planning to attend any of them?"
    "No. I don't get out a lot."
    Olivia looked amused.