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  His eyes swept the room and caught hers. She was the only one not looking at him with fear or lust. She met his eyes coolly and stared back at him, calculating. He was the enemy.

  He raised his eyebrows at her and moved his gaze on. Jane made a note. Emily looked at her pad. “He’s not stupid,” Jane had written, “but you can take him.”

  Emily shook her head. Jane’s one weakness was overestimating her.

  George leaned over to Emily. “What’s wrong with Jane? She looks funny.”

  “PMS,” Emily whispered back, and George nodded solemnly.

  Richard Parker looked up and frowned at them.

  George blushed.

  Emily raised her eyebrows at Parker.

  He looked startled, and then his lips twitched.

  Almost smiled there, didn’t we? Emily thought. You’re not so tough. Maybe I can take you.

  “I’ve asked you to meet with me today to discuss your past performance in budgeting your marketing campaigns,” Parker began. “It’s abysmal.”

  Several of the executives tittered and then fell silent. A few colored and looked away. Emily yawned and checked her watch.

  “Am I boring you, Ms. Tate?” Parker asked.

  “Not at all.” Emily smiled back politely. “I’m sure you’ll make your point soon.”

  George closed his eyes.

  “The point, Ms. Tate,” Parker said without raising his voice, “is that you all regularly exceed your budgets, thereby cutting into the profits this company could be making. You alone went over your budget on the Paradise account by almost thirty percent. That’s a lot of money, Ms. Tate. You may have thought there was no price too great to pay for Paradise, but I don’t agree. You could have cost this company a fortune.”

  Emily smiled at him again.

  “I could have, but I didn’t, Mr. Parker,” Emily said. “I made four million dollars for this company by having the guts to go thirty percent over budget.”

  “That doesn’t take guts, Ms. Tate. That just takes lack of control. That’s where I come in. I’m your control.” Parker’s eyes swept the room. “From now on all budgets go through me. So do all purchase orders, all payments. I’m the money pipeline. I’ll make sure you get the money you need for your projects. And I’ll make certain you stay within your budgets. Now, I’m sure you have questions about how this new procedure will operate, so let’s get started.”

  He sat down and leaned back in his chair while the others began a process of hemming and hawing and assuring Parker that they appreciated his help and were anxious to work with him.

  Jane wrote on her pad, “Don’t antagonize him.”

  Emily fumed, although she kept her face a mask. No price too great to pay for Paradise. Don’t get snide with me, buddy, she thought. I didn’t get where I am today taking that from anybody.

  And then she thought, yes, I did. I’m modest, cooperative and polite, and I regularly back down. I back down in front of George, who is an idiot, all the time. Then Jane and I sneak around behind his back and get things done the way we want. What am I doing confronting this guy?

  She watched him listening to Croswell from Research and Development. He was listening politely and nodding, and she wanted to throw something.

  He patronized me, she thought. He assumed he was right, and he didn’t listen, and he patronized me. He thinks I’m insignificant.

  Boy, is he going to pay for that.

  I don’t care how good-looking he is.

  Without realizing it, she’d let her eyes narrow as she looked at him, so that when he gazed idly around while he listened to Croswell’s drivel, he saw her look of undiluted antagonism. His eyes widened slightly, and then he grinned at her as if he was seeing her for the first time, a real smile that accepted her challenge and recognized her as an equal, sharing the absurdity of the moment and of his own new-kid-on-the-block power play.

  It was a killer smile.

  Emily narrowed her eyes even more. It’s going to take more than a smile, buddy boy. Hit me with another line like “no price too great for Paradise,” and I’ll wipe that smile off your face so fast you won’t know what hit you.

  Jane nudged her and she looked down at the pad. It said, “Why is he smiling?”

  Emily took the pad languidly and wrote, “Because he knows I’m angry, and he thinks it’s amusing.”

  Jane took the pad back and wrote, “Then he’s not as smart as I thought.”

  Emily nodded and turned her attention politely back to the group.

  “Any other questions?” Parker surveyed the table before turning to Emily. “Ms. Tate, you’ve been very quiet. Do you have any questions?”

  “No, I’ve found out all I need to know,” she said calmly.

  “Good. Do you have time to meet with me now?”

  “Now?” Emily raised her eyebrows. “I have a lunch meeting. I could possibly meet with you at two.”

  “Let me check my appointments,” he said. “I’ll have my secretary call yours.” He looked at Jane for the first time and stopped.

  What is she doing? Emily thought, not daring to look. She’s probably blacked out a couple of teeth and is now grinning maniacally at him.

  “Fine.” Emily stood so that she blocked Jane. “Anything else?”

  He stayed seated, watching her. “No. There’s nothing else.”

  “Thank you,” Emily said, and left with Jane clumping in her wake.

  When the door closed behind them, Jane stopped clumping and took off her glasses. “That was dumb,” she said flatly. “We get nothing by antagonizing him. What’s wrong with you?”

  “He’s arrogant,” Emily said, punching the elevator button.

  “Everybody in that room’s arrogant,” Jane said. “The only difference is that he has reason to be.”

  “What? You’ve fallen for that ‘hello, I’m God’ presentation he just did?”

  “He’s right,” Jane said. “We were over budget. We could have done the campaign for less. He could help you here.”

  “Whose side are you on?”

  “Ours,” Jane said. “First, last and always. I’m just not sure he’s not on our side, too.”

  They got on the elevator, and Jane handed the glasses back to Emily. “He likes you.”

  “Please.”

  “He likes you. I saw his eyes. Which are incredible, by the way. He likes watching you. He thought you were cute.”

  “Cute!” Emily exploded. “Cute!”

  “Make it work for you,” Jane said.

  “The hell I will. I’ll give him cute.” Emily stormed off the elevator and down the hall to her office, slamming the door behind her. A minute later, Jane came in with her coat.

  “Your lunch meeting is here,” she said. “You promised me Chinese.”

  * * *

  “YOU’D HAVE TO DO THE new campaign for less, anyway,” Jane said later over potstickers and sizzling rice soup. “The new stuff’s not as expensive as Paradise. Your profit margin’s lower.”

  “Not necessarily.” Emily spooned the hot soup carefully into her mouth. “We’ll sell more—to the younger woman who uses perfume more frequently. We’ll be fine. If I’m not forced to under budget.”

  “Give him a chance,” Jane said. “There’s no point in firing the first shot.”

  “I haven’t,” Emily said. “I’ve just made it clear that I’ll return fire.”

  Jane gave up for the time being. “Garlic chicken?”

  “Not if I’m meeting with Attila the Budget Hun this afternoon. Did Karen call?”

  “Yep. Two o’clock. His office.”

  “Of course.” Emily sighed. “I’d prefer neutral ground. From now on let’s make it the conference room. On our floor, not his.”

  “I’ll try,” Jane said. “Prawns?”

  “Yes,” Emily said. “I’m in the mood to crunch little backbones.”

  “Then we’ll go shopping,” Jane said. “I found this incredible pink lace bra and bikini—” She s