Bride by the Book (Crimson Romance) Read Online Free PDF Page B

hugs. Yet, those feelings weren’t the same. She felt … helpless. She found herself paralyzed by an emotion she tentatively defined as a desire to stay right there.
    Her face was pressed against his chest. Angie felt the scratch of his white cotton shirt against her face and breathed in the scent of fresh starch mixed with a unique odor of male and spicy aftershave.
    She’d thought the scents of Arkansas roses and pine trees were the most invigorating scents on earth, but it seemed she’d been mistaken. This particular combination of scents made her feel strange, as if she wanted something badly, but she didn’t know what it was she wanted.
    What was more, she could hear his heart beating beneath her ear, a strong, steady, reassuring sound, and Angie discovered the sound gave her tremendous comfort.
    What she couldn’t understand was why this combination of scents and sound and feelings was creating such a clamor of longing and emotion inside her. Worse, she wanted him to hold her even closer. She wanted to
kiss
him.
    What, she wondered, did an ethical professional secretary do now?
    Withdraw her application so she could feel free to kiss him, thus losing a perfectly good job opportunity?
    Strive for high standards always
, her manuals said.
    Angie sighed. High standards were such a pain.
    Garner set her back on the chair, frowning. Angie glanced up cautiously. Garner’s face was set in the familiar, brooding expression once more. She rubbed her throbbing foot and noticed a patch of dirt decorating her formerly pristine white linen skirt.
    “You know, you really do need to do something about these books,” she said. Since she wasn’t going to get the job, she might as well let him know what he was missing. “They’re a menace to your clients. Besides, it’s a crime to treat valuable books like that. I’d have all those books on shelves by tomorrow afternoon.” She glanced down. “And just look at this floor. You ought to be ashamed of receiving clients in a room that looks as though it hasn’t been swept in a month.”
    Garner cast a glance at her white linen outfit. “Legal work generates a lot of dust, and I’ve been too busy to sweep lately.”
    She sneezed. “I’m surprised you haven’t succumbed to a major allergy attack.”
    “Uncle,” Garner said, grinning that sunrise grin of his. “The job is yours. If you want it.”
    “Of course, I want it.” Angie sneezed violently and dusted at her skirt. “Why do you think I’m here?”
    She was past caring about the bland facade the perfect executive secretary was supposed to maintain. That fall had done something to her attitude and made her revert back to type. She had better go home and get herself back into correct professional order before she showed up to assume her duties.
    “Point taken.” He hesitated, staring at her face. “Are you sure you’re over sixteen?”
    “I’ll have you know, I am twenty-si—seven years old. Furthermore, I am a graduate of Ca—Stanford University’s business assistant program. I have been out of school and in the job market for five years.”
    Garner actually took a few steps back. Angie almost bit her tongue in order to stop herself from giving him the lecture that wanted to burst forth about the length of her experience, including the truth she was determined to hide.
    “I believe you,” he said hastily. “It’s just that you look a lot younger than your age without your glasses.”
    “My glasses.” Angie looked around for them. She wasn’t used to wearing glasses and had temporarily forgotten about them. “They must have slid underneath something when I fell.”
    “Here they are.” Garner located the glasses in the rear corner of his office behind his desk. He studied the lenses a moment then brought them over and placed them in her hand. “Aren’t you going to ask me about the salary?”
    Angie stuck the glasses on her nose. “What salary are you willing to pay?”
    She didn’t care. She