Millionaire on Her Doorstep Read Free Page B

away from him and settled her
gaze on the mountains stretching for several miles in the distance.
    And Maureen York wasn’t a romantic. She hadn’t said the words, but Adam had read them on her face just before she’d turned her head away. Well, that was fine, even good, he thought. It was a relief to know she wasn’t searching for romance. It would make their job together so much easier.
    â€œThis job will send you to all sorts of places, particularly here in New Mexico. It’s not likely you’re going to get much time to spend in that house with a yard.”
    She looked at him from the corner of her eye. “You don’t want me to take this job, do you?”
    Fearing she could read his expression, Adam kept his gaze firmly entrenched on the view outside the glass wall. When his father had purchased this office building more than twenty years ago, he’d also bought several adjoining lots to keep any sort of neighbors at bay. To this day, beautiful woods of pine, spruce and aspen grew right up to the back of the building, and at most any time of the day, chipmunks and birds could be seen feeding right outside the windows.
    â€œI don’t have the final say-so whether you work here or not. My father has that right,” he told her.
    â€œThat’s not what I said,” she pointed out.
    â€œI think you’ve come here searching for something you couldn’t find in Houston. I don’t think you’ll find it here, either.”
    How could he know what she was searching for? Maureen wondered crossly. She swallowed the last of the bitter coffee and tossed the cup in a trash can
sitting next to the desk. “Are you an authority on geologists or women or both?”
    â€œI don’t profess to be an authority on anything.” he retorted.
    She smiled, but the expression didn’t reach her eyes. “Then don’t try to figure me out. More than one man has tried it and failed.”
    That got his instant attention, and he twisted around and pinned her with a stare of disbelief. “Look, Ms. York, I’m not trying to analyze you. I just want to make sure you’re here to work. This may not be like the huge company you worked for in Houston, but we do sink a lot of holes. If you came out here thinking this job was going to be easy, then you might as well head back to Texas.”
    She walked to within a step of him, folded her arms across her breasts and looked up at him. “How old are you, Mr. Sanders?”
    He frowned as though he couldn’t believe her question. “Twenty-five. Not that my age has anything to do with this conversation!”
    â€œHmm. Well, I was just amazed that you got so smart in such a short length of time. It takes most men many more years than you’ve acquired.”
    Adam could rightly say without a drop of conceit that he’d always found it easy to converse with women, to charm and cajole them around to his way of thinking. He normally had a gift for gab. Especially with the opposite sex. A trait he’d been told he inherited from his birth father, Tomas Murdock, who’d died shortly after he was born. But this woman was not like any he’d encountered before. He wanted to kiss her and strangle her. He wanted to shake the haughty confidence from her face.

    She dropped her arms, and his eyes fell to the generous line of her breasts. Beneath the mint-geen cotton shirt, he could see the faint outline of her lacy bra. He tried not to think how she would look without either piece of clothing.
    â€œI guess you could say I’m a...fast learner,” he drawled.
    Noticing the line of his vision had strayed lower than her face, Maureen folded her arms back over her breasts and glared at him. “I can tell you right now, the only reason I’m going to stay with Sanders Exploration is your father. He’s a man who’s highly admired in this business, and now that I’ve met him, I can see