His Girl Friday Read Online Free PDF Page B

for the record, Mis Marist, have you ever kis ed a man with your mouth open?"
    She went beet red and averted her face. "That's none of your busines !"
    "In other words, you haven't," he mused, chuckling gently. "Al right, chicken, run for it."
    "I don't need teaching!" she threw at him as she wrestled the car door open.
    "Oh, but you do," he replied softly, his hand preventing her from jumping out. "You don't know what I'd give to be your teacher," he added with narrowed, glit ery eyes. "But that would be disastrous for both of us. I'm too jaded and you're too pure. The best I could offer you would be a few hours in my bed, and I wouldn't insult you with that kind of proposition. You need a good, steady man to cherish you and give you children." He shrugged heavily, staring at the glowing tip of his cigaret e, and for a few seconds he let down his guard. "That would require a kind of trust I can't give a woman. I don't want to be vulnerable, Dan."
    "Nobody's asking you to be!" she said angrily, so embarras ed that she could hardly sit stil .
    He caught her eyes. "Are you vulnerable?" he asked quietly. "Was my father right? Don't you have a flaming, king-size crush on me?"
    "No!" she cried.
    There was a world of experience in his slow, knowing gaze. "Then why didn't you fight me?" he asked in a tone as smooth as warm honey. She darted out of the car and into the building so fast that she could barely breathe when she reached the office. The first thing she planned to do was type out her resignation. But when she opened the door, Eugene Rit er was sit ing impatiently in the waiting room, looking like a thundercloud.
    "What have you done with my son?" he demanded bel igerently.
    Danet a stopped short, her hair disheveled, her mouth red from the hard pres ure of Cabe's thumb, out of breath and almost shaking from what he'd said to her in the car.
    "On second thought," Eugene murmured thoughtfully as he studied her, "what has my son been doing to you?" Cabe came in the door behind her, looking smug and so damned arrogant that she could have thrown the typewriter at him.
    "Hel o, Dad," Cabe said absently. "Need something?"
    Eugene stared at his son, looking for traces of lipstick probably, Cabe thought amusedly. The older man's face fel . "Not real y," he said. "I wanted to know if you're coming to our anniversary party tomorrow night. Nicky's expecting you."
    Nicky? Danet a had heard that name once or twice. Was it a man's name or a woman's? Probably a woman's, she thought miserably.
    "I'm busy tomorrow night," Cabe said shortly. "I'm taking Karol to the bal et," he added, with a long, silent stare at Danet a's averted face.
    "So that painted woman is more important to you than I am," Eugene said angrily. "And what about Cynthia? Is she going to suffer for the rest of your life because I had the audacity to marry again?"
    Cabe turned on the older man, his eyes dangerous. "She'l never be my mother, and Nicky wil never be part of my family! Damn you, I loved my mother! You couldn't even get her in the ground before you had Cynthia in front of a justice of the peace!"
    "That's a lie and you know it," Eugene said in a surprisingly calm tone. "Cynthia did work for me while your mother was alive, but it wasn't until after her death that we fel in love. Nicky was a delightful surprise, not an accident, and I won't apologize for him. My God, boy, he isn't taking anything away from you! He doesn't even inherit anything except a share of my total estate. Cynthia and I agreed on that from the start! She's got money of her own to set le on him, in case you've forgotten."
    "I've forgotten nothing," Cabe told his father in a tone like shat ering ice.
    Eugene started to speak and then just shrugged, stuffing his hands into his pockets. "It wouldn't kil you to spend one night with us, al the same. It hurts Nicky that you ignore him."
    "I owe him nothing!"
    The older man grimaced and turned away.
    Cabe slammed his fist down on Danet a's desk,