Heart of the Woolf (Woolf Series) Read Free Page B

boss’s whore and some equally degrading remarks.
“Harmless things, like I’ve told Marcy. So long as I don’t let them get to me,
they can continue sending whatever they like.”
    Marcy shook her head. “I don’t understand why you don’t just
put a stop to it.”
    “It’s simple.” Adrienne lifted her hands in a helpless
gesture. “I don’t have proof it’s them. I can’t link the messages directly to them. This is all conjecture, but enough clues are there for me to suspect
that it’s them.”
    Jake shifted in his seat. He leaned forward and rested his
hands on top of her desk. His strange piercing eyes bored into hers. “How many
of them?”
    Adrienne shook her head. “No, Jake.” Damn, but his male
take-charge attitude both attracted and irritated her. It made her feel safe
and taken cared of, but she could darn well look out for herself, thank you
very much.
    He held up the card. “So, with this message, you think the
‘it’ they’re referring to is your assistant manager position, and that after
two months, they still can’t accept being passed over for promotion. Hence,
they are out to get you.”
    “Yes.”
    “So, what’s with the black rose?”
    “What do you mean?”
    His forehead was knotted. “It’s a rare flower, one that
doesn’t come cheap. Why dole out money -- good money -- to scare
someone? The message would have been enough.”
    Adrienne was stumped. This was one angle she hadn’t thought
of. Jake was probably the only one who could outthink her, and if she didn’t
come up with something fast, he’d become suspicious, and he’d continue digging
and digging until all her secrets were revealed.
    “I -- I don’t know.” Her brain whirled, trying to come
up with a passable reason to satisfy Jake so that he wouldn’t even think of
going to the police, like Marcy had suggested just moments ago. Her hands
busied themselves, arranging the sheaf of paper that was her proposal into a
neat pile. “But if they were thinking to make me lose face by calling the police,
being scared enough by the black rose to do it, then they just might spend that
money for the authentic threatening feel. Not only would I be embarrassed, but
the firm might even punish me harshly for the negative publicity.”
    “But it’s perfectly within your rights to call the police,”
Jake pointed out. “Creative Minds has no authority to punish you for calling in
the law; in fact, that’s what you should have done. The police can get to the
bottom of this for you.”
    Which is what I’m afraid of. They might get to the bottom
of who I am, too, and then I’d be running again. David, too. I can’t uproot him
when he’s settling down so nicely ... “Please, Jake,” Adrienne tried
to persuade without begging. “This is my personal problem. Let me handle it the
way I want to; just give me a little time. I promise, I’ll settle this with
them within the month.”
    Jake held her gaze for a few seconds more, as if weighing her
capabilities. Finally, he nodded. “All right.” His lips twisted. “I didn’t know
we have such petty and vindictive people on the team.”
    “Not everyone is as well-rounded as I am,” Adrienne said
dryly, trying to inject a light-hearted tone into the whole scenario. Yet, the
questions Jake raised left a disquieting doubt in her mind.
    Jake stared at her, and then his lips broke into a huge
smile.
    Marcy gasped. Adrienne could relate, as thoughts of a
sheet-rumpled bed, their bodies reaching and limbs entwined, rioted within her.
Lord, the man could smile. If they could patent and manufacture it, they
could easily make a billion in a year.
    His eyes twinkled. “Have you finally let your hair down and
made a joke?”
    “I didn’t know I was so stiff.”
    “Not stiff. But too serious most of the time. You need to
lighten up. Remind me to show you how.” The look in his eyes had turned
intimate, and his voice warm, as if there were only the two of them in