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was angry beyond reason that Gage was usurping her authority in her own office, she wasn’t about to spar with her brand-new boss.
    “I apologize,” she said, lowering the register of her voice, trying to project a calmer demeanor than she currently felt capable of projecting. “But I have to confess I’m a little bit controlling and I can be very territorial.”
    Gage tried to ignore the tightening in his gut. The woman practically purred when she spoke. And when she stood from her desk, she sauntered around to the other side, her walk as slinky and liquid as a cat’s, her curves enough to remind him why it was so good to be a man.
    She was stunning, not like the women he usually dated with their breezy West Coast manner, and their fake-and-bake tans. She was more like a museum display. Refined, elegant and partitioned off with thick velvet rope. She had Do Not Touch signs all over her, and yet, like a museum display, that made her all the more tempting.
    She tilted her head and put one perfectly manicured hand on her shapely hip. Her skirt-and-jacket combo was expertly tailored to skim her curves, revealing her figure, but not in an obvious way. Her dark brown hair was twisted into a neat bun and her pale, flawless skin, rare in the sun-obsessed state of California, had just the right amount of makeup to look a bit more perfect than nature allowed.
    “What are your terms?” she asked.
    “My terms?”
    “What do you expect from me so that I may be worthy of the somewhat exorbitant sum you’re offering me?”
    She had attitude, but that was a good thing. She would be dealing with the media on his behalf, and in order to do that, she was going to need a backbone of steel. She seemed eager to prove that it was firmly in place.
    “If you really think the sum is exorbitant I could always offer you less.”
    “I could never turn down your generosity, it would be rude.”
    He chuckled. “Well, in the interest of good manners, by all means, accept it. As for the rest, I expect you to be on call twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. I have projects happening all over the world in several different time zones, that means it’s always business hours. That means if something happens and I need my PR specialist, you have to be available. I can’t afford for you be off on a hot date.”
    “Your chauvinistic nature is showing again, but I assure you that nothing takes priority over my job. Not even hot dates.” She quirked a dark eyebrow, her brown eyes glittering. She liked this, challenging him, he could tell. And he took it as a good sign. His last public relations specialist had cracked under the pressure in less than a year. It was a hard business, even harder in his industry and with his level of visibility in the media. The fact that Lily seemed to enjoy a little bit of friction was a good sign.
    “In that case why don’t you get down to the business of signing your life away to me?” he said.
    A faint smile curved her berry-painted lips and sheturned to face her desk, grabbed a pen out of the holder and bent over slightly so that she could sign the contract. It was a pose she had to know was provocative. Her fitted pencil skirt cupped the round curve of her butt so snugly he couldn’t help but admire the flawless shape. And she had to know that. Women always knew. No wonder Jeff Campbell had assumed she’d been making a play for him. Deluded idiot. Lily wasn’t making an offer, she was out to intimidate. And on most men, he could see how it might work. But not on him.
    She straightened and turned, her jaw set, her expression one of satisfied determination. She extended her hand and he took it. She shook it firmly, her dark eyes shining with triumph.
    “I look forward to doing business with you, Mr. Forrester.”
    He laughed. “You say that now, Ms. Ford, but you haven’t started the job yet.”

CHAPTER TWO
    T HE fact that the very first thing she felt when Gage’s deep, masculine voice pulled her