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forearm.
    “Tell him if he wants me to make the last bid, he must also let me make the travel arrangements for his mysterious Australian holiday.“
    Mandy gave her boss a blank look, then responded to a less-than-delicate push by hurrying down the aisle toward the stage while the audience continued its enthusiastic standing ovation for D. M. Sutter. Just as people were beginning to sit down again, Mandy walked up the stage steps in a subtle glitter of black beads and discreetly touched the auctioneer’s arm.
    “Message for Sutter,“ Mandy said quietly. “Urgent.“
    “It can’t wait?“
    “You know how it is with hard men,“ Mandy retorted. “You take ‘em where you find them.“
    The microphone picked up her words and relayed them all over the auditorium, much to the audience’s amusement. Mandy wanted to go through the floor but the boards were much too tightly fitted for that. Given no other choice, she brazened it out when Sutter hooked his index finger in an imperious, sexy gesture for her to come to him.
    “It’s not that he’s rude,“ Mandy said clearly, knowing the microphone would do the rest. “It’s just that none of the five languages he speaks is English.“
    Laughter echoed and reechoed through the auditorium. Sutter slanted Mandy a smile that was frankly dangerous as he crooked his finger again. Mandy knew better than to tease the tiger twice. She walked across the stage toward him, drawing on every bit of her insouciance to hide her underlying nervousness. Though the bodice of her dress was demure enough for a matron twice her age, the front slit showed glimpses of long, well-formed legs and inviting hints of thighs clad in the sheerest of black silk stockings. The rear view of Mandy was frankly breathtaking. Her back was shapely, smooth and defined by a faint shadow along her erect spine. The shadow deepened enticingly just before the fabric began again, clinging to her hips in a dark glitter of beads.
    Mandy was grateful not to be presenting Sutter with the costume’s back view. Even seated and wearing evening clothes, Sutter radiated the kind of raw physical presence that sent up warning flares telling her to beware of getting close. Yet there was no help for it. She had to get quite close to Sutter or run the risk of broadcasting every word of their conversation over the auditorium’s sensitive sound system.
    “You beckoned?“ she murmured, bending down until her mouth all but brushed Sutter’s ear. With each breath she took, the clean, male scent of him spread through her body, making her knees oddly weak. She swayed.
    Sutter’s hands snaked out with shocking speed, holding Mandy by the waist. His grip was powerful and his fingers were so long that they met in the small of her back. Male fingertips found smooth, naked skin, drawing a gasp from Mandy. The low cut of Mandy’s dress seemed to bother Sutter not one bit. There was strength in his grip but no sensuality. He moved his head sharply, seeking Mandy’s ear beneath the silken curtain of her chin-length hair. His breath was as warm as his words were cold.
    “Tell my sainted aunt that if Sissy buys me she finally will have succeeded in making me lose my temper.“
    Mandy had no trouble deciding that the “she“ referred to was Anthea, not the mysterious Sissy. The icy tone of Sutter’s voice and the steel quality of his grip on her convinced Mandy that the time for teasing the tiger was long past. There was only one way she was going to get beyond the reach of his powerful, unnerving presence, and that was to gather her scattering wits and tell the man what he wanted to hear.
    “I think Anthea already knows,“ Mandy murmured. “She said, quote, ‘Tell him if he wants me to make the last bid, he must also let me make the travel arrangements for his mysterious Australian holiday,’ unquote.“
    What Sutter whispered next into Mandy’s ear didn’t bear translating, much less quoting to his maiden aunt.
    “Is that yes