He’d been expecting the storm. Anticipating it. “Yes, I think I did my—what was it you called it? Ah yes, my spiel very well.”

“It was more like a three-act play.” With calm, deliberate movements, she signed the check. “But the next time, don’t cast me unless you ask first.”

“Cast you?”

His innocence was calculated to infuriate. He never missed his mark. “You gave that woman the very clear impression that we were lovers.”

“Juliet, I merely gave her the very correct impression that I respect and admire you. What she takes from that isn’t my responsibility.”

Juliet rose, placed her napkin very carefully on the table and picked up her briefcase. “Swine.”

Carlo watched her walk out of the restaurant. No endearment could have pleased him more. When a woman called a man a swine, she wasn’t indifferent. He was whistling when he walked out to join her. It pleased him even more to see her fumbling with the keys of the rented car parked at the curb. When a woman was indifferent, she didn’t swear at inanimate objects.

“Would you like me to drive to the airport?”

“No.” Swearing again, she jabbed the key into the lock. She’d control her temper. She would control it. Like hell. Slamming both hands down on the roof of the car, she stared at him. “Just what was the point of that little charade?”

Squisito, he thought briefly. Her eyes were a dangerous blade-sharp green. He’d discovered he preferred a woman with temper. “Charade?”

“All that hand-holding, those intimate looks you were giving me?”

“It’s not a charade that I enjoy holding your hand, and that I find it impossible not to look at you.”

She refused to argue with the car between them. In a few quick steps she was around the hood and toe-to-toe with him. “It was completely unprofessional.”

“Yes. It was completely personal.”

It was going to be difficult to argue at all if he turned everything she said to his own advantage.

“Don’t ever do it again.”

“Madonna.” His voice was very mild, his move very calculated. Juliet found herself boxed in between him and the car. “Orders I’ll take from you when they have to do with schedules and plane flights. When it comes to more personal things, I do as I choose.”

It wasn’t something she’d expected; that’s why she lost her advantage. Juliet would tell herself that again and again—later. He had her by both shoulders and his eyes never left hers as he gave her a quick jerk. It wasn’t the smooth, calculated seduction she’d have anticipated from him. It was rough, impulsive and enervating.