Lady's Choice by Jayne Ann Krentz Page A

fighting to save the love of her life. But she did not think now was the time to point that out to him. "Will you help me, Travis? Will you salvage the resort from bankruptcy?"
    "I already did that once, remember? And I didn't get paid for my efforts. What makes you think I'd repeat that mistake?"
    "This time I'll be paying your fee. And you already know I pay my debts."
    "Lady, you can't afford my fee."
    She frowned. "I'm paying you already, remember? For the consulting work on Charisma. And so far I haven't had any trouble meeting the tab. I paid your retainer right on time and I'll meet the monthly fees, no sweat."
    "Oh, Lord. What an innocent." Travis rubbed the back of his neck in a gesture of pure exasperation. He stalked to the end of the room and back again. "Juliana, let me make this crystal clear. The fee you are paying me for consulting work on Charisma is only a fraction of what I would normally charge for that kind of job. In fact, under normal circumstances, I would never even agree to take on a job the size of Charisma. Your operation is far too small for Sawyer Management Systems. Do I make myself plain?"
    "You're telling me I got a special deal?"
    "You got a hell of a deal"
    She caught her lower lip thoughtfully between her teeth. "Why? Because I was a Grant and you were out to punish all the Grants? You wanted to get close to me so that you could hurt me by destroying Charisma?"
    "No, damn it, I never intended to destroy Charisma. I don't know what happened. Not exactly. All I know is that I walked into your shop that day last month because I was curious to meet the one member of the Grant family who hadn't been around five years ago." Travis's palms came up in a gesture of total incomprehension. "The next thing I knew I was having a cup of coffee and agreeing to consult on your expansion plans."
    "You mean you took on my project out of the kindness of your heart?"
    "I don't do business out of the kindness of my heart," he said grimly.
    "Well, that's neither here nor there now, is it? We've got a contract. You're my business consultant and I am facing a financial disaster. It seems to me you're duty bound to save me."
    "Is that right?" His gaze was unreadable.
    "Looks that way to me."
    "Since you've got all the answers," he said, "Maybe you'll be kind enough to tell me just how I'm supposed to save you?"
    "I don't know. That's your business, isn't it?"

    Travis shook his head. "You are really something else, you know that?"
    "So I've been told. Well? Will you do it?"
    He sighed. "It can't be done. I'm too good at what I do, Juliana, and I've set this up so that there aren't any loopholes. Even if I thought I might be able to save the inn and even if I was idiotic enough to agree to try, there's still the little matter of my fee for the job."
    "Name it. I'll tell you whether or not I can afford it," she challenged softly.
    He looked at her through dangerously narrowed eyes. His gaze moved from the toe of her silver lounge sandals to the top of her red mane. "What if I told you my fee was an all-out affair with you?
    What if I said that the price of my services, win, lose or draw, no guarantees on saving the resort, was access rights to your bed?"
    Juliana stopped breathing for a few seconds. Then she sucked in a dose of air and sat very still to conceal the fact that she was trembling. "My fabulous body in exchange for your services as a consultant? Don't play games with me, Travis. If you don't do business out of the kindness of your heart, you certainly wouldn't do it for sex."
    He didn't move. When he spoke his voice was very, very soft. "But what if I said that was the fee, Juliana?"
    She shivered, aware that he was deliberately tormenting her. "I'd tell you to take a long walk off a short pier."
    He turned away and stood looking out the window into the darkness. "Yeah, I figured that's what you'd say. Alright, smart lady, I'll tell you what my fee for trying to salvage Flame Valley Inn and Charisma's