Flash

sense of timing. But with this woman he was wary of trusting his instincts. They were giving him dumb instructions. For example, right now he wanted to sink his fingers into her hair to see if the buried red fire there actually gave off heat. Logic told him it would be an extremely bad move. But everything that was male in him was urging him forward to disaster.
    There was too much going on beneath the surface of his own reactions. Stuff he did not yet understand. A potential firestorm. An accident waiting to happen.
    For a heartbeat, instinct warred with common sense. Instinct won. Which only went to prove that modern man was not nearly as evolutionarily advanced as he liked to think, Jasper decided.
    Still, some small portion of his brain was working well enough to search for safe camouflage.
    "This is not a good place to talk about such a, uh, sensitive matter," he said.
    She slanted him a faintly derisive look. "Have you got a better place than the offices of Glow, Inc., in which to discuss Glow company business?"
    He held onto his patience with an effort of will. "I've got a meeting with the R&D people in ten minutes. I'm sure you have a busy schedule today, too. Why don't we conduct the rest of this conversation over dinner tonight?"
    She blinked a couple of times, as if he had just suggested that they take the next shuttle to the moon.
    "Huh?"
    Not the most flattering of responses, Jasper admitted. But for some reason it gave him hope. Maybe she was as unsure and cautious about what was going on between them as he was. Maybe she wanted to tread warily.
    Then again, maybe she was totally unaware of the silent thunder and invisible lightning that he saw snapping in the air between them.
    At least it was not an outright rejection, he told himself. He sensed that he had better move quickly.
    "A business dinner. A restaurant won't work. We need some space. I've got a lot of paperwork you'll want to see. Reports and printouts. That kind of thing. How about my place on Bainbridge?"
    "Your place?"
    He was moving too fast. He could see the deer-caught-in-the-headlights expression in her eyes.
    "No" He tried to appear as if he were mulling over the practical aspects of the situation. "Forget Bainbridge. Your office would probably be best. I'm going to be working a little late this evening."
    "So am I," she said very quickly.
    "Fine." He nodded once. Another executive decision made and executed. "I'll pick up some take-out and meet you at your studio."
    "A working dinner ?"
    "You said you wanted to be kept in the loop, didn't you?"
    "Yes, but—"
    "In the meantime, I would appreciate it if you would keep your concerns about Melwood Gill's transfer to yourself. I'm sure you understand that it's absolutely essential that you and I present a united front to the employees of Glow, Inc."
    She blinked again. "A united front."
    He got to his feet and made a show of glancing at his watch. "Sorry to rush you out of here, but I can't put off the meeting with the R&D people." He smiled. "You know how it is."
    "Oh, sure. Right." Like an automaton, she turned toward the door.
    "I'll be at Light Fantastic at seven," he said again, very softly. "That will give us plenty of time to go over those reports."
    She glanced at him over her shoulder. He saw immediately that the disoriented look had vanished from her eyes. In its place was a sardonic gleam.
    "I'll check my calendar when I get back to my office to see if I'm free this evening," she said coolly. "I'll give you a call sometime this afternoon and let you know."
    She sauntered into the outer room and closed the door very quietly but very firmly behind her.

    Dinner with Jasper Sloan. Her hand froze on the doorknob for an instant. For some reason she found the basic concept hard to grasp.
    A working dinner.
    Okay, she could handle that. She knew how to do a business dinner with a man. On a good night she could even do a social dinner with a man, although she did not do a great many of those these days.
    She gave herself a small, mental shake.
Snap out of it. We're talking take-out here, not the end of civilization as we know it
. She made herself let go of the knob.
    Rose looked up as Olivia went past her desk. "Well? How did it go? Is he really going to fire poor Melwood?"
    Automatically, Olivia gave her aunt a reassuring smile. "Of course not."
    "Hmm." Rose narrowed her eyes, not entirely convinced. She slanted a long glance at the closed door of Jasper's office.
    Olivia had great