“I’ll help you find something else, though,” he promised in a rush of guilt. “I’ll even recommend that Lansing take you on and assign you to other accounts.”
“I really wouldn’t want you to put yourself out,” Dana said stiffly, stubborn pride written all over her face. “I’d better be going. I can see this was a mistake.”
She scrambled out of the booth, grabbing her jacket and ran from the restaurant. An odd, empty feeling came over Jason when she’d gone.
“It was the only thing to do,” he muttered under his breath.
“Sir?” Giles said, his expression concerned as he gathered up the dishes from the table. “Is everything okay?”
“No,” Jason said. “Everything is definitely not okay. Bring me another Scotch, will you? In fact, bring me the whole damned bottle.”
Chapter Four
All the way home on the bus, through a sleepless night and on into the next day day Dana tried to dismiss the trembly feeling in the pit of her stomach as nothing more than the pitch of acid. Jason Halloran had infuriated her. He’d led her on, hinted that perhaps they could find some means to coexist. Then he’d shot her down. No wonder her stomach was churning.
As angry as she was, though, she sensed she had made a very narrow escape. The unexpected effect of those few brief moments of Jason Halloran’s warm attention had just about stolen her breath away. No man had ever, ever looked at her quite that way, had ever listened so intently, as if she were special and not just another conquest. The guys in the neighborhood had made their crude passes, but she’d fended them off easily enough and forgotten about them in a heartbeat.
None of them had made her tingle inside, though. None of them had stirred the kind of waking, temptation-filled dreams Jason Halloran stirred without even trying. A woman could land in a lot of trouble if she took his kindness seriously. Those warm feelings he inspired had turned to ashes.
Luckily her work at the print shop was piled high. It kept her from remembering the way his gaze had lingered, the way his fingers had curled reassuringly around hers for just an instant, the way his lips had curved into an unforgettable smile.
No, dammit! She would not remember. She had plans and those plans did not include making big mistakes, not when it came to her heart. Besides, she couldn’t afford to allow herself to become distracted by a man, especially one as unsuitable as Jason Halloran. With his stuffy, conservative way of thinking, he was the kind of man who could easily turn into a white knight. He would want to do things for her, make her life better. Just look how he’d offered to help her find a job, if only to get himself off the hook. Before she knew it, she would be counting on those little snatches of generosity. She would become weak. And when he lost interest in helping, as everyone who’d ever mattered to her had, this time she might not have the strength to fight back.
Who was she kidding? Jason Halloran didn’t want any part of her. He’d made that clear. The last thing she had to worry about was becoming dependent on him in any way. He’d see to that.
“Dana!”
Filled with guilt, she jerked around to meet the impatient gaze of her boss, Henry Keane. “I thought you told me if I gave you yesterday morning off so you could go to your meeting, you’d make up for it today. I don’t see that stack of proofreading shrinking.”
“Sorry. I’m just a little distracted. Did I have any calls while I was taking those flyers over to Mr. Webster?” she asked, thinking that John Lansing was likely to call at any moment to hear her decision. She was going to force a no past her lips, even if it killed her.
“You were expecting that brother of yours to check in? Is he in trouble again?”
“No, Mr. Keane,” she replied dutifully.
“A boyfriend, then?”
His sarcastic tone was meant to remind her about his edict that she not receive or make personal calls except on her break. It meant that Sammy spent too many unsupervised hours after school, but she had little choice in the matter. She doubted a few five-minute phone calls were likely to keep him out of trouble, anyway. The truth of the matter was that he’d been a latchkey kid from the beginning, except on those rare occasions when Rosie had looked after him in her haphazard way.
“No, not a boyfriend, either,” she said. “Never mind. I’ll catch up on all this by the end of the day. I promise.”
He stood behind her until he was apparently reassured that she meant what she’d said. Finally she heard his small, satisfied huff, then the shuffle of his feet as he went back to his own office.
As irritating as she found the man, she knew she owed him. He’d offered her the latitude to expand her duties, to develop a small design business. Even though he took the money, she’d gained in experience. Her portfolio was crammed with top quality flyers and brochures she’d been able to create on shoestring budgets.
Maybe she could even convince him to improve the terms of the last deal he’d offered her. As cranky as he often was, deep down he was fair. She’d pull together some statistics to show him that his own printing business had improved since having her on board to do occasional designs.
There was a timid tap on her door and she looked up
