“Ah.” Ben managed to inject sympathy, disapproval, and comprehension into one short syllable. “Do I need to remind you that Chloe works for you?”

“I believe I included that fact in my first mention of her name.”

“Don’t you think that gives you unfair leverage?”

“Do you think I would use my position to force a woman to do something she didn’t want to?” Nathan was getting a little angry.

“Not deliberately, but the leverage is there nonetheless.” Ben paused a moment. “Consider this: you don’t even know why she insists on being home at night.”

“Because I haven’t applied any undue pressure to make her tell me.”

The next day Nathan remembered his words as he paced to the window of his office at Trainor Electronics yet again. He couldn’t focus on the reports he’d put off reading while he was ill. He kept wondering what Chloe was doing and how she could so easily refuse to see him for two days after the explosion of desire that had brought them together.

Was it a ploy as Machiavellian as Teresa’s? She would play hard to get so he would want her even more?

It seemed to be working.

There was no point in staring at the computer screen any longer. He strode back to the desk and signed off. He would go home and swim until he stifled the yearning in his body with sheer exhaustion.

In the elevator, he started to push the button for the ground floor when Chloe’s voice floated through his mind. You have a key project floundering, and you’re the person best qualified to rescue it.

His finger hovered over the array of numbered buttons for a long moment before he touched the one for the research-and-development department.

When the elevator doors slid open, he stepped out into the open-plan room with a sense of familiarity that gradually disintegrated as he looked around. The bundles of wires hanging from the ceiling at regular intervals and the worktables outfitted with triple-layered shelving were the same. But the electronics arrayed on them were all several generations newer than what he’d worked with. He recognized their general function, but the screens and controls were configured differently.

He’d been away too long. He pivoted on his heel to return to the elevator.

“Mr. Trainor?” The woman’s voice held a mixture of incredulity and awe.

Turning back, he watched heads pop up from behind racks of equipment. Some people looked curious, some shocked, and most appeared nervous. He was impressed with the number of people working on a Saturday.

The woman stood up from a desk. She was short and thin, with long, straight black hair twisted into a sloppy knot at the back of her head. “Mr. Trainor?” she repeated. A low murmur filled the room. He could hear the repetition of the T at the beginning of his name ticking through it.

He combed his memory of the Prometheus reports and came up with the assistant project manager’s name. “Ginnie Tsai?”

“Yes, sir,” she said, surprise and apprehension skittering across her face.

“I’ve read your reports,” he said. “I came to see what I can contribute.”

“Yes, sir!” she repeated, this time in a tone of breathless excitement. “It would be an honor to have you work with us.”

“It’s been a long time since I’ve been in a development lab,” Nathan said with a wry grimace. He unbuttoned his cuffs and rolled up his sleeves. “Why don’t you show me what you’ve got so far?”

CHAPTER 14

Despite her X-rated dreams, Chloe slept well, probably because her body had been so satisfied by Nathan’s lovemaking. As she dressed and fixed breakfast, a little smile kept tilting the corners of her mouth upward. She would purse her lips to erase it, only to find them in the same contented position five minutes later. Grandmillie kept giving her sideways looks, which meant Chloe needed to get her happiness under better control.

Grandmillie was waiting in her recliner while Chloe got organized for their expedition to the mall when the doorbell rang. Chloe pulled open the front door to find Oskar standing on the tiny porch, a flat brown gift box tied with a turquoise-and-gold satin ribbon clasped carefully in his big, square hands. “From Mr. Trainor,” he said, holding it out to her. “With his compliments.”

“Thank you.” Chloe took the box from the chauffeur, finding it heavier than she expected. “MarieBelle” was embossed into the box’s fancy cardboard. Thank goodness it was too big and heavy to be a diamond farewell bracelet. “Do you know what it is?”

“No, ma’am, but it must be perishable, because I had instructions not to leave it outdoors.”

That relieved her. Receiving a gift of food wasn’t inappropriate, even if it was expensive food. She thanked him again and Oskar returned to the car. Not the Rolls, but an elegant dark-green sedan that she thought might be the Maserati.

She walked back into the living room. “I guess I did a good job, because Mr. Trainor sent me a gift.”

Her grandmother’s sharp gaze said she wasn’t fooled by Chloe’s attempt to minimize the unexpected arrival. “Via his own chauffeur, not some delivery service,” Grandmillie pointed out.

“It’s something that can’t be left out in the sun, so he probably didn’t want to entrust it to FedEx.” Chloe stared down at the box in her hands. Nathan wouldn’t send something potentially embarrassing, would he?

“Are you trying to untie the bow with your mind?” Grandmillie asked. “Open it!”