Causing a Commotion Read Online Free PDF Page A

skin inside out with the merest of glances spelled nothing but constant headache. Had she known who he was this afternoon?
    The taxi had to have been a set-up. Lord only knew it was the kind of thing Maxwell would pull. It had been a meeting with Maxwell that sent him rushing across the city to begin with. Of course he’d been set up.
    “She’s smart, witty, beautiful, and has enough energy to add some life to the Colin Crandall Show,” J.P. extolled her virtues.
    How about adding treacherous and deceitful to the list? Colin mentally asked. And foot-stomping. She’d probably gotten a bonus for maiming him.
    “We’ll rename the show,” Maxwell announced, pulling Colin’s attention off the blonde. “A woman like that shouldn’t be stuck co-hosting a show that doesn’t cater to her needs.”
    “I am not co-hosting my show with that woman.”
    “I think we’ve already established that you will and the show needs a new name anyway. Something hip and attention-catching.”
    Colin’s mouth tightened into a firm line.
    Blondie watched him with the intensity of a cat toying with a crippled mouse. He was the crippled mouse. A position he hadn’t been in for years. Mainly because he’d been playing it safe, refusing to put himself on the line. Not for anything or anyone.
    The last time he had he’d awakened in a room with a dead actress.
    Colin shivered and refused to allow his mind to go there. The past was in the past, and he needed to deal with the present.
    Did Blondie know she had him by the balls? Was that her intention? To maim him with her killer shoes and then walk all over him by taking over his show? Was she hell come to make him pay penance for every sin he’d ever committed?
    He’d already paid. Paid dearly.
    “She said no?” This came from Maxwell, who managed to roll his tongue back into his mouth. Barely. “Why?”
    “Said she doesn’t want to be on a stuffy talk show.” J.P. seemed amused by Maxwell’s reaction. As if he expected such male foolishness when he pointed out the woman. “She’s right. She’d bore to tears if she had to sit through one episode of the Colin Crandall Show.”
    “Her brain would probably melt,” Colin muttered half under his breath.
    “You weren’t paying attention,” J.P. scolded. “The dumb blonde routine is just that. A ruse. She’s one of the brightest women I’ve ever met. You’d be wise to never underestimate her intelligence.”
    “If she’s so fabulous, I’m surprised you haven’t married her.” Once again sarcasm dripped from his words and perhaps he shouldn’t provoke, but, hell, he couldn’t seem to help himself.
    J.P. shrugged. “I asked, she told me to go jack off.”
    Maxwell burst out laughing, and although several yards separated them, the blonde arched a perfectly shaped brow. At Colin.
    She dallied with him, summoning him to play besotted male in her already full court. Hadn’t she taken the hint earlier in the day? He rarely dated, but he never dated actresses. Not since…well, not ever again.
    He turned away as he’d done in the taxi cab. Looking at her tempted a man to forget sanity and dive-in. Colin wouldn’t. Not with an actress and not with this woman invading his show in particular.
    Forget that she’d stolen his breath earlier in the day when she’d attempted to steal the cab they’d ended up sharing, stolen his breath tonight. She was the enemy, pure and simple. A hired enemy, but an enemy all the same.
    Maxwell slapped J.P.’s back. “Sounds as if you’ve picked a winner. Talk her into coming down to the network and we’ll see how she handles herself in front of the camera.”
    “What you see is what you get,” J.P. assured. “She’s dynamite in a sexy red dress. Explosive reactions are her specialty.”
    Maxwell and J.P. spoke for a few more minutes, but their words blurred in Colin’s mind. Blurred because he could feel a green gaze touching his back, assessing his stance and tuxedo-covered assets.