She tried to figure out how to present this so they wouldn’t jump all over her. “He was actually sort of fatherly. He told me that sometimes a person can get in over her head—especially a pretty little thing like myself who is trying to do a man’s job. He said I wasn’t being fair to Reed. He mentioned all the things he spoke to you about, plus a rumor he’d picked up that I was also carrying on with Bobby Tom.” Her mouth tightened. “He suggested that monthly hormonal fluctuations might be at the root of my troubles.”

Ron knew her well enough to regard her warily. “What did you say?”

“I—uh—” She looked past him out the window. “Never mind.”

“Phoebe . . .”

She bowed to the inevitable with a sigh. “I told him I had to get off the phone because Playboy was on the other line.”

Ron winced, but Dan laughed.

“Don’t encourage her.” Ron was clearly annoyed. “You know that if the Stars were winning, we wouldn’t be getting all this flak.”

“I was suspended last week! It’s real hard to win a football game when you’re not coaching the team.”

“That’s one of the reasons I wanted to talk to both of you.” Ron toyed with his coffee mug. “As far as I’m concerned, what’s past is past. We can’t do anything about the photographs, and as for Phoebe’s dress on the sidelines— Well, I believe the commissioner’s wrong.”

“I can just imagine how thrilled he was with that Stars’ tattoo she had on her shoulder blade yesterday. It showed up real nice on TV.”

“It’s removable,” she said. “And I was simply displaying my team spirit.”

“You were displaying a lot more than team spirit.”

“She’s filling up some of the empty seats,” Ron said. “Many of them with women, by the way.” He looked at Dan. “Your suspension was my decision and I take full responsibility for yesterday’s loss. I’m also giving you both a warning. I don’t know what’s going on between the two of you, but I don’t want to get caught in the cross fire again. Is that understood?”

“Understood,” Dan said brusquely.

“There’s nothing going on,” Phoebe said. Dan’s steady gaze was making her uncomfortable. Once again she reminded herself that—temporarily, at least—these two worked for her. She stood. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have work to do.”

The corner of Dan’s mouth kicked up. “Say howdy to your buddies over at Playboy for me.”