Heart of Hurricane Read Free

her hands in her lap decorously, and watched Ward Kingman flip through the file folder containing her application and test results. She hadn't a clue as to what he was thinking; nothing in that chiseled face gave him away. The tests she had taken the day before had been a breeze, and her interview with Mrs. Perkins had gone quite well, but she had the uneasy feeling that this interview was not going to be quite so painless.
    The pictures she'd seen in the newspapers had prepared her for Ward Kingman's ruggedly attractive looks, yet nothing had prepared her for the sheer animal appeal the man exuded. With no effort on his part, it seemed to flow from him, like a highly charged magnetic field, pulling at her senses and making her skin prickle, her stomach flutter.
    Irritated by the strange sensations rippling through her, Althea narrowed her eyes and studied him closely, dissecting his features one at a time. He wasn't in the least handsome. His face was too chiseled, his nose too aquiline, his jaw too strong, his mouth too hard, for real masculine beauty. Yet there was no denying his attraction. It was basic. Elemental. With his dark springy hair, a face that looked as though it could have been carved in Mt. Rushmore, his broad-shouldered, deep-chested physique, he was the very essence of maleness: virile, rugged, powerful—and dangerous. Not even his superbly tailored three-piece charcoal suit could disguise the potent, slightly primitive man that he was.
    He looked up then and Althea's heart gave a little kick. Startlingly, his eyes were warm brown and surrounded by ridiculously long lashes, giving them a slumberous, bedroom look that was incongruous in that hard, rough-hewn face.
    "You have a bachelor's degree in business administration." The warm brown eyes glanced down at the file, then back at her for confirmation.
    "Yes, that's right."
    "You state here that you left Barlow Manufacturing because it was being sold. Surely they weren't going to replace all the staff?" He leaned back in his leather chair and waited for her answer. Suddenly the brown eyes weren't quite so warm.
    "No. Only those whose jobs were going to be redundant. Since the new owner already had a personal assistant, that included me." Althea could feel her palms begin to sweat, but she held herself ramrod straight and looked him right in the eye. "But as you can see, I have a letter of recommendation from Mr. Barlow."
    "Yes. I checked it out just a few minutes ago. He seems very impressed with your ability." Ward Kingman sat forward again and picked up her application. "I see here that you list a nineteen-year-old brother as a dependent. Isn't that a little old for a man to be relying on his sister for support?"
    Althea bristled instantly. "Greg is in college. He's studying to be an engineer," she replied stiffly.
    "People have been known to work their way through college, you know."
    "Yes, I know. I did it myself. But as long as I can afford it, I see no reason why my brother should have to." It took every ounce of self-control Althea possessed to conceal the anger that smoldered inside her. Ever since that tragic car crash that had killed their parents when she was only ten, she had looked after Greg, mothered him, helped him with his studies, protected him from their uncle's wrath. And as soon as she had finished college and gotten the job at Barlow's she had moved out of their house and petitioned the courts for guardianship of her younger brother. He was all the family she had and she loved him dearly. She bitterly resented this cold, hard man's criticism.
    "Does he live with you?"
    "Only during the summer months. The rest of the year he lives in a dorm on campus. But I assure you, he is quite self-sufficient."
    "Good. The job as my assistant entails long hours and frequent out-of-town trips—many with no advance warning. Too many family ties and obligations would make that impossible."
    The bluntness of his statement stirred a burning resentment in