Meltdown Read Online Free PDF Page A

about a lost cause. The woman had ice water in her veins. Brains were all that mattered to her, brains she didn’t believe he possessed. He could just imagine what she thought of him—the boss’s none-too-bright son, good at golf and not much else. He’d faced that kind of prejudice before, but this time it bothered him. This time it hurt.
    The night wind, so sweet and fresh a moment before, had suddenly turned cold and indifferent. Chris pushed himself away from the back-porch railing and walked into the living room, closing the door behind him with a decisive metal click.
    It wasn’t fair. The future of Sheffield Industries was too important to be derailed by the prejudices of a temperamental scientist. A chance was all he wanted, one chance to prove he could make a difference. But he wasn’t likely to get that chance. Not while his father kept his conservative stranglehold on the company. And not while Melanie Rollins refused to give him the time of day.
    It wasn’t fair. And he damn well wasn’t going to stand for it. He walked over to his leather sofa and fell back into its well-worn comfort. For an instant he wished he had Miss Rollins there with him. He’d melt that glacial response of hers.
    He picked up the remaining scotch from the end table, and swirled the warm amber liquid around thecut glass prisms of the tumbler. Slowly and deliberately a resolution formed in his mind. Miss Rollins believed she’d seen the last of him. She was wrong. He’d tried the standard approach, and had met an icy wall of totally unjustified indifference. He had no choice but to try an alternate method.
    Part of Chris rebelled against the way his thoughts were turning, but he forced himself to ignore it. Sheffield Industries needed that computer.
He
needed that computer. Maybe he wasn’t the smartest person in the world. Maybe he didn’t have a wall covered with diplomas and an IQ in the stratosphere. But he excelled in other, less quantifiable fields.
    He brought the glass to his lips and drained it in a single, satisfying toss. Miss Melanie “Too bright to work with ordinary people” Rollins was about to get a personal lesson in those less quantifiable fields. People didn’t call him Casanova for nothing.
    Melanie stood at the bathroom sink, running cold water over her fever-hot wrists. She cupped her hands and brought a handful up to her face, splashing the icy wetness over her forehead, her eyes, her burning cheeks. She brought another handful to her lips, letting the chill slide down her tight, parched throat. It helped a little, but not much. She still felt as if she’d run twenty miles.
    He’d called. He’d wanted to work with her. Just the two of them. And she’d turned him down.
    She’d wanted to work with him. Just the thought of being in the same room with him dripped heat down her spine. But her first responsibility was to Einstein. And Chris’s words about climbing to the top, along with all the stories she’d heard at the office, convinced her that he would use and discard Einstein as surely as he used and discarded thewomen in his life. As he’d no doubt use and discard her, too, if he got the chance.
    There had to be other people at Sheffield who could help her, other people who would treat Einstein with the respect he deserved. As for Chris Sheffield—well, he’d shown his true colors. Why, to think he considered using Einstein’s soul as a marketing ploy … it was indecent! The man she’d been dreaming about for months was nothing more than a self-centered individual without an ounce of human compassion. Any feelings she might have had for him were history now.
    So why did she feel as if she’d just run a marathon?
    Because you’re a fool, Melanie Rollins. Because every time you think of him you start itching in places you can’t scratch, and burning in places that should have cooled out long ago.
    The lights flickered, breaking her concentration. “I’m not talking to you.”
    Again