The Cutting Edge by Linda Howard Page B

fired. Andafter talking with Brett the day before, Perry Smitherman had been a basket case. “Perry…is something going on in the bookkeeping department? Is it Perry?”
    Instinctively he moved to cover his slip, though he was uneasy at how swiftly she’d picked up the correct thread. “No, nothing like that,” he murmured, distracting her by bending down to kiss her. He held her mouth under his, leisurely tasting her, until the growing tightness of his body warned him to slow things down.
    The ploy had worked, almost too well. She was clinging to his shoulders, her soft body pliant against him. He could have her now, he realized, and groaned aloud. The temptation was too great. Despite his concern for her, despite the fact that he needed to check in with Evan, he wrapped his arms around her and lifted her off her feet. Instantly her slender arms wound about his neck, and she began kissing him fiercely as he walked back to the bedroom with her dangling from around his neck.
    * * *
    E VAN TRIED B RETT’S hotel room again, and again there was no answer. Frowning, he dropped the receiver back into its cradle. It wasn’t like Brett to disappear when there was work to be done, or not to let someone know where to reach him. Brett was a hard man to know, but when it came to work, he was utterly dependable. This was the first time in Evan’s memory that Brett Rutland hadn’t been there when his job called for him.
    Well, there was no point in worrying about it. Brett could take care of himself, and there was work to be done. Evan began going over the computer printouts again, straining his eyes at the difficult print. The ribbon on the printer needed replacing, too, which madehis job that much more difficult. He still had that nagging feeling that he was missing something, something so obvious that he should have seen it from the beginning. One of these accounts was bogus; it had to be. But he’d spent hours tracking the accounts down, and so far every one of them was legitimate; he’d been systematically checking them off his list. It should be getting easier, like the last pieces of a jigsaw puzzle, but it wasn’t working that way. Nothing seemed wrong, yet he couldn’t shake the feeling that something was, if he could only see it.
    Damn! The print swam before his eyes, and he squinted to refocus his gaze. He was going to go blind before this was over.
    The phone at his elbow rang, and he snatched it up. “Evan Brady.”
    â€œFound anything yet?” Brett’s raspy voice growled in his ear.
    â€œNothing. I was beginning to think someone had taken out a contract on you. I’ve been trying to get you all day.”
    â€œNothing like that. I’m in my room now; I’ll be there in a minute, as soon as I take a shower. Is there any coffee ready?”
    Evan reached over and lifted the pot that he’d had brought up some time ago. Nothing sloshed. “I’ll call room service.”
    Brett hurried through his shower, well aware that he’d spent the day making love instead of working as he should have been doing, but he just hadn’t been able to walk away from Tessa. She was wildfire, burning through his veins, out of control. The way she respondedto him drove everything else out of his mind, until nothing else mattered but having her again, fusing their bodies as tightly as he could, wiping out the separateness of their beings. When he’d left she’d been asleep, curled on her side in exhaustion. He’d straightened the tangled sheets and pulled the covers up over her bare shoulders, fighting the urge to get undressed again and crawl into bed beside her. She was the most powerful distraction he’d ever seen, but he had work to do, even if he was a little late in remembering it.
    After putting on khaki pants and a blue pullover knit shirt, he went to Evan’s hotel room and rapped on the door with his