He shrugged and held up his hands in surrender. “Then by all means ignore me.” He added recklessly, “Though I don’t know why the hell anything you’re feeling matters to me anyway. In fact, I might enjoy watching you more than listening to you. You’re a beautiful woman when you manage to keep your mouth shut. When I look at those superb cheekbones, I can almost forget what a pain in the ass you are.”

She went still. “Cerebral versus physical?” Her gaze was searching his face. “And you told me you were very physical. Is that really why you came back to me tonight? Have you changed your mind about the terms of the deal?”

“Hell, no. That’s not what I meant. I told you what I wanted to say.”

“And you said it.” She was suddenly on her knees facing him. “But sometimes things aren’t what they seem.” She needed to make sure that he wasn’t saying one thing but meaning another. She and Margaret were getting so close to bringing him on board to help those students. She wasn’t the one who might suffer if she made that error in judgment. “You’re angry now, and that always heightens sexual tension. I believe you’re thinking about more than my cheekbones. If you want to change those terms, just tell me.”

“So you can offer to take your clothes off again?”

“Of course. I told you I couldn’t lose you. It’s not as if it would matter to me. It’s only sex, but I’ve been very well trained. You’d enjoy me. Should I do it?”

He was glaring at her. “Yes, I am angry with you, and frustrated, and I’d like nothing more than to pull you down on the ground and screw your brains out. You read that right. But I find I don’t care for the idea of a mindless jump in the sack with you. I have more sophisticated tastes these days, and I resent the fact that you’d refer to sex with me as ‘only.’ You might have heard I’m very competitive.”

“I haven’t heard anything about you sexually except what I’ve read in the tabloids, and that was probably lies.” She drew a deep breath. “But I’ve obviously made a mistake. I thought you’d changed your mind and decided you wanted me. I didn’t mean to make you more angry. Let’s forget about it.”