Girl Gear 6: Indiscreet Read Free Page B

irritated.”
    “Because of a pair of panty hose?”
    “No.” She was irritated because when it came to Patrick Coffey, she’d lost the disciplined control she’d spent a lifetime honing. “The caterer I hired for your New Year’s Eve showing lost her best cook to a competitor and isn’t sure she can manage her schedule without him.”
    Devon continued to stare, lifting that one sharp brow the way he always did to signal he had a saint’s fortitude when it came to waiting out her moods.
    “I would think that might concern you,” she finally said.
    “I trust you implicitly.” His expression shifted, settled in a concerned frown. “But I am worried.”
    She exhaled what she could of her tension. “Don’t be. I’ll handle it.”
    “I’m not worried about the caterer. I’m worried about you.”
    She glanced away, studied the vase of yellow calla lilies centered on a red-lacquered accent table and flanked by scrolls of painted tigers rendered in Sumi ink and color on silk. The austerity of Devon’s office usually fit her tack-sharp mood. Tonight, she simply bristled further.
    “When you come to me and say you’re in big trouble, I worry.” Devon pushed up from the love seat and crossed the small room to lean on the corner of his matching black desk. The distance gave him the edge he needed; the position gave him the upper hand. “You haven’t been yourself for several weeks now.”
    She waved off his concern with the flutter of one hand, wondering why she’d come here when she knew he wouldn’t let her hide from his probing questions or continue to deceive herself that she was equipped to handle Patrick Coffey.
    Then again, maybe that was exactly the reason she had come, she mused ruefully, getting to her feet. She needed the wake-up call to tell her she was doing the right thing in sending him away. “I was dealing with the stress of finals. Of course I haven’t been myself.”
    Devon shook his head. “I’ve seen you stressed from finals. This is different. In your words, big trouble.”
    He was right, of course. How she’d even managed finals with Patrick disrupting her schedule, not to mention her concentration…Even now he was on her mind, and she just couldn’t have that. He was getting too close; she was letting him in. She was giving in, when she’d determined that he had to go.
    Turning her back on her brother, she made her way from the love seat to the window, opening the miniblinds and peering into the darkness for the second time tonight,as if she’d find her answers outside of herself rather than within.
    Her sigh of admission was heavier than she’d intended. “Yes. It’s a man.”
    “Glad to hear it.”
    She allowed herself a private smile. Her brother’s reaction was no surprise. Over the years, he’d made his feelings on her dearth of personal relationships clear.
    When she’d joined gIRL-gEAR as a partner, the champagne he’d sent had been more a celebration of her allowing the fashion empire’s other women into her life than congratulations on the new position.
    He didn’t approve of her reasons for keeping her distance, and used every possible opportunity to tell her so. But those reasons were what had brought her as far as she’d come in her life. She hadn’t survived their childhood as well-adjusted as Devon seemed to be. Or maybe he was simply pretending, as his own relationships never seemed to last, either.
    He walked up beside her. “I was hoping that once you completed your degree, you’d be more amenable to settling down.”
    She couldn’t hold back a full-fledged smile. “With a man, you mean?”
    “Well, yes. I’m old-school. I admit it.”
    “Don’t get your hopes up. At least not this time.” She sighed. “I told him it was over.”
    “Hmm.”
    “What’s with the ‘hmm’?”
    “I’m just wondering if you told him before or after you lost your panty hose.”
    “A lady never kisses and tells.” Not that there was anything to tell, since