Flash

dryly.
    "I can do without the lecture on office management."
    "I'll save it for another time." He dunked the piece of biscotti into his coffee and took a large bite. "So you found a footprint on your floor this morning and leaped to the conclusion that I had been fooling around in your computer files? I'm hurt. Deeply hurt."
    Olivia did not understand the sudden change in his mood. Earlier on the phone he had sounded distant, cool, almost grim. But now he seemed downright cheerful, which did not make a lot of sense given the topic of conversation.
    It was almost as if he had gotten some good news since she had talked to him on the phone a few minutes earlier.
    "Don't pull the offended act with me, Sloan. You went home to Bainbridge and did some conspiracy theory work, yourself. You actually believed that I hired someone to search your study? Thanks a lot."
    To her astonishment, Jasper grinned fleetingly. "Great working relationship we've got here, Chantry. Lot of trust."
    His unwarranted amusement acted like a goad on her caffeine-strained nerves. "For the record, Sloan, if I had wanted to have your study searched, I might, just possibly, have agreed to have dinner with you while someone else did the dirty work."
    "Yeah?"
    "But I would never,
not in a million years
, have gone so far as to kiss you."
    He gazed at her very thoughtfully for a long moment. Then he inclined his head once in grave acknowledgment. "I'll remember that."
    She suddenly felt much too warm. She knew she was blushing, and the fact infuriated her. She rushed to get the subject back on track.
    "It must have been the blackmailer who searched our offices," she said briskly.
    "I'd say that's a safe bet." He munched biscotti with apparent unconcern. "Probably looking for something to use to carry out his threats against us."
    Olivia heard a soft tapping sound. She glanced down and saw that her fingers were doing a nervous little dance on the rim of her espresso cup. with a monumental act of will she forced herself to cease the nervous staccato.
    "One thing's certain," she said. "Whoever he is, he wouldn't have found anything in my office that would make me pay blackmail."
    "There was nothing for him to find in mine, either. But in the process he may have told us a little more about himself."
    She shot him a swift glance. "Such as?"
    "First, if you're right about the footprint, the gender question is resolved. It probably is a man we're after, not a woman."
    "Right." Olivia thought about it. "We also know that he's someone who feels very comfortable around computers."
    "And," Jasper added quietly, "we know that he must have followed me to your condo last night and figured I'd be there for a while."
    A chill zapped the length of Olivia's spine. "Gives me the creeps to think that someone is following us around."
    "Yes." Jasper finished his coffee. "And when we catch the sonofabitch, I'm going to make certain that he pays for that."
    The sudden shift to the dangerously neutral tone in Jasper's voice sent an entirely different kind of frisson across Olivia's nerve endings.
    She watched with fascination as he finished his coffee and picked up the used napkins, the stirring sticks, and the biscotti wrapper. He folded everything into a tidy bundle and tucked the little package into one of the empty cups. He then stacked the two cups neatly, one inside the other.
    When he was finished with the small construction project, he got to his feet and dropped the lot very neatly into a nearby trash can.
    He turned his head and saw Olivia watching him. One dark brow rose. "What is it?"
    "Have you always had this unnatural tendency toward order and neatness?"
    "You'll get used to it."

14
    « ^ »
    "Y es, Nina, I got your messages." Olivia did not look at the wastebasket, where she had tossed the last message shortly after discovering it on the floor. She smiled politely at her cousin. "I'm sorry I haven't been able to give you a call. As you can see, we're going a hundred miles an hour around here today. It's been like this for weeks."
    "I understand."
    Olivia sighed inwardly. She shouldn't have been surprised to find Nina waiting in her office when she returned from the Market a few minutes ago. She had been ducking Nina's calls for a week. It had been only a matter of time before her cousin confronted her in person.
    "What with all the changes going on at Glow," Olivia continued weakly, "I just haven't had a chance to give you a ring."
    "I know that Uncle Rollie's