Power play Read Free Page B

appalled at what she planned. But her anger was still riding high and Kane Sebastian was so infuriatingly in charge, or so he thought.
    He blinked, the long lashes over the green jewels lowering with a dangerous laziness. He sat propped on the corner of the desk and waited.
    Talia drew a deep breath, sensing the new menace in the atmosphere. She didn't want to resort to this. It wasn't her style. She knew that better than anyone else in the world. And if Sebastian hadn't goaded her, she would never had tried it. Grimly she reminded herself she was back in the vicious corporate world. The only language a wolf like this would understand would be the tactics common to that world.
    "I am aware, Mr. Sebastian, of what Justin Westbrook does or did for a living and I know you are also aware of his rather unusual career. I seriously doubt you normally put people on your payroll for a few short weeks and then release them."
    "All the time, Miss Haywood," he drawled. "All the time. They're called consultants."
    Talia nodded, her mouth curving in a satisfied, knowing smile. "Justin has been called a great many things in his time, according to the correspondence and records I've managed to accumulate. You were not the first to put him on the payroll as a consultant. But don't bother telling me you did so of your own accord. You were asked to do so, weren't you, Mr. Sebastian?"
    He regarded her from beneath the lazily lowered lids, his smile as cool as her own.
    "Exactly what have you found out about the mysterious Mr. Westbrook that makes you say that, Miss Haywood?"
    "He was a spy during the time he worked for you in South America, Mr.
    Sebastian," she declared easily, the excitement which had brought her this far flaring ABC Amber Text Converter Trial v ersion, http://www.processtext.com/abctxt.html
    to life once more in her amber eyes. "And you knew it. I may not be able to prove it from the information I've got, but I learned a long time ago that one doesn't have to prove something in order to cause a great deal of damage."
    "What, exactly, are you trying to say?" Kane ground out very softly.
    "I have no quarrel with your decision to assist the United States Government by providing cover for one of its agents," Talia murmured, nerving herself for the next bit, "but there are many who frown on business involving itself with espionage in foreign countries. A little publicity to that effect could seriously damage the image of Energy Interface Systems, Inc. couldn't it?"
    The green eyes were quite frozen now. Talia barely repressed a shiver.
    "Are you by any chance threatening me with blackmail if I refuse to help you locate Westbrook?" Kane finally asked a little too gently.
    Talia's mocha-colored nails dug into the arm of her chair as she refused to be intimidated. She inclined her head in a negligent movement of acquiescence, saying nothing. She had fired her biggest weapon. All she could do now was wait for the effect.
    "So." Kane drummed his fingers on the mahogany desk in a seemingly absent manner. "You appear to have come a long way since you left town three years ago, Miss Haywood. As I recall, you didn't put up much of a fight when Hazelton started slinging innuendos around." He paused, but Talia refused to be drawn out.
    "But here you are, three years later, fully prepared to resort to blackmail merely to get the answer to a question."
    Talia swallowed but kept her gaze level and unflinching.
    "You don't appear to give me much choice," Kane observed.
    Talia got to her feet, amazed her legs didn't collapse under her.
    "Here's the phone number of my hotel. If you come up with anything by this evening, please give me a call." She , reached into her chocolate leather shoulder bag and pulled out a card.
    Placing it neatly in front of him on the polished wooden desk, she turned and walked out the door. If what she was feeling was a foretaste of victory, Talia wasn't sure she was going to like it.
    As she walked out to the white