Jordan pushed back in his chair and watched the woman saunter across the large office. Ashley Baines. In the flesh.
Jeffrey had mentioned her several times.
And Rob had mentioned her too, while pointing out her picture in the companys annual report.
Evidently, the iron maiden was Jeffreys competition for this promotion. Both men had spoken of her with a mixture of awe and fear.
Jordan didnt think she looked all that scary as she folded herself into one of the guest chairs. She arched a perfect brow over glowing blue eyes and gave him a quick, dispassionate once-over.
Scary, no.
Challenging, definitely.
Her crisp, burgundy jacket and the narrow, matching skirt told him she meant business. But her blond braid was like a flash of sunshine in the dark, ostentatious office, and her trim body was the stuff of Jordans favorite fantasies.
When did you hit town? She crossed one leg over the other, showing off tanned, toned calves that held Jordans attention a little too long.
Maybe that was what scared Jeffrey and Rob so bad. The woman was sexy enough to be lethal.
Good thing Jordan was brave. Good thing hed taken self-defense training. In fact, hed be prepared to wrestle her on the carpet if push came to shove.
Hed be prepared to wrestle her at length.
Naked, if necessary.
He dragged his gaze back to her face. Got in last night, he answered her question.
She zeroed in on the pile of presentations sitting on the wide desk in front of them. Her eyebrows twitched with interest.
He reached out and flipped the papers facedown.
Scared? she asked.
He cocked his head to one side. Of you?
She laughed at the tone of incredulity, and the sound trickled through him like clear stream water. That laugh sure didnt mesh with the personality Jeffrey had described.
Of my series, she said.
Were ready to give you a run for your money. He patted the pile of upside-down papers, considering the merits of locking them in one of the desk drawers until the meeting. Who knew how far shed go if she happened to stroll into his office and find it empty?
Cant wait to see it, she said. But I came to tell you that if you have any tweaking to do, youve caught a break.
A break? he asked.
The meetings been put off until Friday.
Jordan rocked forward in his chair. Friday? He didnt have until Friday. Hed signed up for one day in L.A., not five days in L.A. How the hell did that happen?
Stroke of a pen by the chairman of the boards secretary. She looked smug, and a little self-satisfied. Shed obviously been pivotal in postponing the meeting. But, why? What did she have to gain?
She couldnt know his secret already. Could she?
He gazed into her clear blue eyes for signs that he was caught.
She stared back, poker-faced, not giving a thing away.
Jordan had never been any good at mind games. He much preferred the straight-ahead approach. Like a wrestling match on the floor of the officewinner got the promotion.
He wondered if shed go for it.
Friday at ten, said Ashley.
I have an appointment on Friday. In Alpine, Alaska. Running his company. Wally had only convinced him to do this much because he was the closest thing Jordan had to family.
So, cancel, she said.
Its not that simple.
The storm was forecast to last most of the week, so there was no hope of Jeffrey making it back to save the day.
Forget the possibility that Jordan would be caught before Friday, his employees back home were depending on him. The airline wasnt going to run itself.
She smirked, and shrugged her slim shoulders. Then dont show. I dont mind.
Then she nodded at the stack of papers, leaning slightly forward in her chair. I hear yours is set in Alaska.
Arctic Luck, said Jordan, then immediately wondered if hed made a mistake. Jeffrey had distinctly told him not to share any information with Ashley.
Whats the title? she asked.
Whats yours? he returned, not about to get caught out a second time.
She smiled, revealing straight, white teeth and giving those blue eyes a luminescent glow. A shiver of attraction shot to life inside him. He quickly quelled it. That was the last thing he needed.
Kissed In California, she replied.
His gaze subconsciously shifted to her full lips. But he quickly blinked his way back to her eyes. Bottomless. Amazingly beautiful.
His brain might know she was off limits, but his libido appreciated what his libido appreciated. There wasnt a whole hell of a lot he could do about it.
Cute title, he said into the silence.
Its a cute concept.
Going to tell me about it? he asked.
Not on your life.
Spoilsport.
You expect me to make this easy for you?
Definitely not.
Good. She paused. Id hate for you to be disappointed.
It was his turn to grin. Im not so far.
Her eyes narrowed. What does that mean?
It means I cant wait to see what your medical series is all about.
Detective series, she corrected.
Jordans grin widened.
Dont get all smug on me. I gave you that one.
And she had. He had no doubt.
This was a woman completely in control, completely sure about what she wanted, where she was going and what she was doing.
Jeffrey had her all wrong. She wasnt dangerous. She was intriguing. Sharp and prickly, but definitely intriguing.
Stop that, she said, eyeing him suspiciously.
Stop what?
Does the bedroom eyes thing actually work in New York?
I have no idea what youre talking about.
A challenge glittered in the depths of her irises. Dont mess with me.
That challenge called to him. It made him envy Jeffrey for getting to work with her all the time. Okay, so Jeffrey got to work against her all the time. But it was probably still stimulating as all get out.
She sighed in exasperation and threw up her hands. What now?
Youre not what I expected.
What are you talking about?
Oops. I mean, this isnt what I expected.
She sat back. You thought Id just roll over and play dead as soon as I heard you were showing up?
Jordan didnt chance answering this time.
She shook her head. Not on your life, Jeffrey. You just hang on to your New York hat, because I am going to blow you so far out of the East River.
Jordan couldnt help the grin that crept out.
She straightened, and her skirt hiked up showing off an inch of shapely thigh. Her full lips were pursed. And those crystal blue eyes pinned him with a challenge worthy of a wild lynx.
Too bad all that pent-up intensity and emotion was working against him instead of for him. If he ever had a choice, hed want her on his team. She could probably survive quite nicely in the Alaskan bush.
Exactly how are you planning to blow me out of the East River? he asked, wondering if he could fake her into divulging a little more information. Though, if he was honest, he wasnt doing it so much for Jeffreys sake at this point, as he was trying to best her for the gratification of his own ego.
With skill and talent, she responded smoothly. And hard work.
You dont think Im willing to work hard?
I want it more than you do.
Maybe.
Her eyes widened, and she looked momentarily confused.
Oops. Not a Jeffrey answer. I mean, Im sure you think you want it more than I do. But, you know me, Ashley
Thats right. I do. And Im not going to let you undermine me this time. She pinned him with a knowing look.
This time? Jordan needed to talk to Jeffrey.
Then you know I never back away from a fight, he said. That seemed like a safe assumption about Jeffrey. And, it was true enough for Jordan, too.
Back away? she scoffed. Im sure youll do your usual end run.
Jordan wasnt sure he liked the sound of that. It made Jeffrey, him, sound rather conniving. He was definitely going to find out what Jeffrey had done to this woman.
I promise you. He looked her straight in the eyes. Whatevers happened between us in the past, this time youll see me coming.
SEE HIM COMING?
What did he mean, see him coming? L.A. studio executives, Jeffrey Bradshaw in particular, were not known for their frontal attacks. Nobody got ahead in this business by giving the competition a chance to mount a defense.
Ashley shut her office door and leaned hard against it, closing her eyes.
What was the matter with her? Shed started off planning to pump Jeffrey for information, but ended up practically throwing down the gauntlet. Talk about an ill-advised frontal attack. Jeffrey knew more about her plans than shed ever intended to divulge.
Butshe took a deep breathshe hadnt come away completely empty-handed.
She crossed to her desk, adjusted the opaque blinds to block the midday sun from streaming through the picture windows and clicked on her Internet link.
Arctic Luck, Alaska.
Youre slipping, Jeffrey, she muttered to herself.
What was in Arctic Luck, and why would it make a funny television series?
After fifteen minutes of surfing, Ashley had her answer, at least to one of her questions.
Nothing was in Arctic Luck. Nothing at all.
Well, according to the National Forest Service, it had ten unserviced campsites and several miles of grizzly-infested hiking trails. You could catch pike and Arctic grayling in the local lakeswhen they werent frozen solid. And, one of the citizens had made the Anchorage Daily News two years ago when his dog team chased off a bull moose during a dogsled race.
As to how Jeffrey planned to make that funny and marketable to a broad demographic, she had absolutely no idea.
Her odd couple/sexy/mismatched buddies/action/fish out-of-water/detective series had to be better than husky dogs and moose. After all, how could a person possibly make a moose sexy?
Not even Jeffrey. Who, well, speaking of sexy
Ashley closed her eyes again.
Something had happened to Jeffrey while he was away in New York. He suddenly oozed sex appeal. He looked like hed spent the entire year at the gym and in a tanning booth. She sure didnt remember that rugged, outdoorsy, hardened appearance from last year.
It was distracting. She didnt want to be thinking about his broad shoulders and bulging biceps while she was plotting ways to undermine his bid for the vice presidency. She wanted to focus on his weaknesses and vulnerabilities.
She sat up straight, shaking the mental image, forcing herself to catalogue everything she knew that might be valuable. The series was set in Arctic Luck. It might be a drama, but was probably a comedy, or a combination of both. He hadnt given her the title. But, shed given him hers.
Damn.
There was nothing in Arctic Luck except wilderness, fish and moose. How was that interesting? How was that funny? Hed hidden his proposal from her, which meant there was something on the front page.
The page.
His proposal was on pages, not on a computer, not in sound bites, not in video clips. He was giving a paper presentation.
There it was. His weakness and her opportunity. If she went flat outa bells and whistles, high-tech, multimedia extravaganzashed win.
Ashley picked up the phone and punched in Rachels number.
Rachel picked it up on the second ring.
Did you get Sean Connery? asked Ashley without preamble.
No, but I got Greg Duncan for the clips. Hes almost as good. Did you pump Jeffrey?
I tried. With very limited success. The main thing shed found out was that there was suddenly something weird about Jeffreyin an intriguing sexy way. But she wasnt about to share that with Rachel.
What did he tell you?
The location. Its Arctic Luck, Alaska.
Never heard of it.
Thats cause youre not a bull moose.
Huh?
Never mind. Little backwater, hole-in-the-wall, near as I can tell. I dont know what Jeffreys thinking. But, get this, it looks like his presentation is on paper.
Completely?
Uh-huh.
Maybe theyre not as progressive in New York.
Suits me just fine. Can we film tonight?
Got a skeleton crew meeting us at the beach at seven.
ASHLEY AND RACHEL had spent the entire evening filming the first of the new clips. And now Ashley had to stay late that night to layer them into the proposal. That left them with three days before the meeting.
She glanced at her watch. It was nearly three oclock in the morning. If she worked really fast, she might have time to catch a couple of hours sleep before starting work. Shed let some other things slip yesterday in order to get the filming done, and shed have to take care of them tomorrow, or rather, later this morning.
She double-clicked the button on the computer in the Argonaut Studios audiovisual computer lab. She was linking still photos, sound bites, video clips and text files into a smooth presentation.
The room held high-end computers with top of the line monitors, specifically designed for video and animation. Argonaut provided them in a central facility for the use of all employees, though the film and photography staff had dibs on them during the day.
The door opened and Ashley turned to see who had joined her. Though official office hours were eight to five, the television industry was a hotbed of last-minute deadlines and emerging crises. No matter what time it was, day or night, there were always a few people working in the main office building.
Her eyes focused on Jeffrey, as he let the door close behind him.
Hows it going? he asked, in a gravelly voice.
Fine. She quickly minimized the screen before he could get close enough to see the details.
A few last-minute adjustments? he asked, strolling across the dimly lit room.
A few, she admitted, although it was far more than a few, and she wouldnt consider it last-minute until Thursday night.
What are you doing here? she asked.
Just keeping up with the Joneses. He took the computer directly across from her, swiveling the chair to face her. He could have picked any of the other four workstations in the room. The ones farther away from herout of spying and distracting distance.
I hear youre setting a high standard. He slid a disk into the drive and began punching keys. Thanks to you, Im not getting any sleep tonight.