"Now why," Cole murmured meditatively, "did I think you'd like the idea of a million-dollar escrow account set up for the citizens of Bayville?"
"You thought everyone would go weak in the knees at the possibility of getting their hands on all that money," she tossed back at him as he moved toward her.
"It would only be used in the unlikely event of a catastrophe at the plant," he mentioned, stopping less than a foot from where she stood.
"Don't be ridiculous," Elinor exclaimed, taking an involuntary step backward. "Cleaning up a toxic spill could take ten million, not to mention the irreparable harm to people's lives."
"The escrow account is a good-faith pledge," he murmured, his dark blue eyes roaming over her face with an avidity that unsettled her heart rate even further. "My plant presents no danger to the community."
"That may very well be," she said, trying to even her tone as she backed up another step. "But it's your attitude about money that's really the issue here."
"El," he said tiredly. "If I treasure money so much, why am I giving it away?"
She blinked, hesitating a moment. That particular angle hadn't occurred to her.
Cole smiled at her encouragingly as her brain raced furiously, wheels spinning in the mud for a minute before it engaged again.
"It sounds like a good bluff to me," she claimed, regaining her balance. "You say the money's there in the event of a catastrophe that won't happen. You just want to sway the people of Bayville with your money."
He was too close. Elinor considered sitting down in one of the uncomfortable-looking chairs in front of his desk. If she sat down, maybe he'd return to his chair behind the desk.
He might, however, choose to sit in the chair next to her, and then they'd be practically sitting in each other's laps. She decided to remain standing, fighting to stay focused on the conversation.
"I'm using my money to sway them by trying to assure them of my concern for their safety?" Cole asked, his voice dropping into the now-familiar velvet range.
Goosebumps shivered over her skin. Elinor swallowed as a sudden flash of heat shimmered through her body.
"If you really want to assure us of that, why don't you publish your safety record in the Sentinel?" she shot out, refusing to acknowledge her body's reaction to him.
Cole's gaze remained level on her face. "Is there anything that will make you trust me, El?"
She met his eyes, startled by a shadow of something in them. Wariness? Cole wasn't a cautious man. In the past she'd always gotten the impression that he enjoyed crossing swords with her.
Looking into his eyes at that moment, she'd have sworn he was sincere.
Sincerity is a salesman's best weapon. Her father's words flashed through her mind. He'd said them in some drunken fit of loquaciousness, intent on passing on his wisdom, she supposed.
"What will it take, Elinor, to make you trust me?" he asked again.
She couldn't let him do it. Couldn't let him take her poor, gullible heart without a fight.
"Bankruptcy?" she tossed back, determined not to let him see how shaken she was by the emotions raging between them.
Cole shook his head slowly. "I'd still be the same man, bankrupt or not."
"Maybe so," she admitted, the tang of sorrow flooding her. Men obsessed with money didn't stop being obsessed because they no longer had money. Both her father and grandfather had lost great wealth. It had changed neither for the better.
She thought of Cole chasing success his entire life and ending up like her grandfather somewhere down the line. Empty and disconnected from loved ones.
"I don't think there's any way to change what's between us," Elinor said, keeping her voice steady. "But you might try playing it straight with the town."
Cole's eyes darkened, and she recognized his anger as he reached for her, his hands closing around her upper arms. "I've never been anything but straight with the people of Bayville."
"Cole . . ." she protested, suddenly weak as he pulled her against him.
"We're going to sort this out, Elinor," he promised, his mouth inches away from hers.
The deep, drugging scent of him filled her senses, heat radiating from the nearness of his body. Elinor felt her chin tilt up in mute, involuntary invitation.
A thundering knock reverberated on the door. Immediately, the door banged open.
Elinor froze as Cole glanced over his shoulder, his arms tightening when she instinctively tried to pull away.
"Cole!" Mayor Stephens burst into the room, stopping abruptly at the sight of Elinor in Cole's arms. "My God, boy. I didn't mean to interrupt anything."
"Then you might want to wait till your knock is answered," Cole mentioned with admirable restraint.
He loosened his grip as Elinor squirmed in his arms, her face warm with embarrassment. By stepping away quickly, she managed to evade his grasp altogether when Cole would have tucked her against his side.
"I'm sorry, Cole." The mayor winked lasciviously, a chuckle shaking his well-padded body. "I didn't know you had such a pretty little visitor so early this morning."
It was too much for Elinor. "I've got to go," she mumbled, dodging Cole's reach for her as she slipped past the mayor's bulky form.
"Elinor!"
She didn't even turn around, speeding down the hall as she prayed that Cole wouldn't embarrass them both by following her.
The rest of the morning passed in a blur. She met with clients, rescued misplaced payroll data and tried once again to explain to Minnie Gray that she really could trust the "save" function on her computer.
Lunch got preempted by an emergency that called her away from the last emergency. By three o'clock, Elinor finally managed to wind up the last of it and head back to her car. She wanted nothing more than to escape to her office and delve into the new accounting program that Dave Higgens had bought on the home shopping network. At least it might amuse her.
She reached her car, her arm aching from carrying her briefcase. Plunking the case down, Elinor dug through it to find her car keys. Straightening, she inserted the key in the car door . . . and froze.
On the driver's seat of her car rested a single rose, its pale golden petals just unfurling. Beside the rose lay a scroll of papers tied up with a gold ribbon.