Perry’s face was suffused with an angry red color. “Damn it, you had no business interfering in the professional affairs of the institute.”
“But I didn’t interfere.” Hannah smiled. “I merely told Tom that Brad was brilliant and that the selection committee should be applauded for choosing him.”
“Lydd told me that he wants McCallister to run the department created by the endowment.” Perry started to sputter. “The whole damn department.”
“An excellent idea. Brad is the very soul of integrity. With him in charge, Lydd and the institute will have the satisfaction of knowing that Lydd’s money is spent the way he wants it spent.”
Perry’s face worked furiously. “Pamela McCallister is your friend, isn’t she? You knew that Brad was being considered for a joint appointment here.”
“I also heard that you were trying to block it because you’re jealous of Brad’s professional abilities. You’re afraid he’ll outshine you once he gets on the institute staff, aren’t you?”
“That’s got nothing to do with it.”
“Good. In that case you shouldn’t have any problem with the selection committee’s choice.”
“You planned this. You agreed to come here tonight because you knew the Lydds would be here.”
“I believe it was you yourself who mentioned that they had been invited.”
“That’s beside the point.” His voice rose. He grabbed her other arm. Rage flashed in his eyes. “You think you can pull a stunt like this with me just because you’re a Harte?”
“Perry, you tried to use me and the Harte name tonight. I let you do it. In exchange, I used the opportunity you dropped into my lap. I’d say we’re even.”
“You little bitch! You got a kick out of playing the tease eight years ago, and you’re still at it, aren’t you?”
It occurred to her that Perry had not learned to curb his temper in the past eight years. It flared as quickly and intensely as it had in the old days.
“Let me go,” she said coolly. “This scene is starting to remind me of another discussion we had once.”
“If you’re talking about that night you staged the big drama in my car and then jumped out when I got tired of your cock-teasing—”
Her own temper kicked in. “I’m talking about the night you decided that since you couldn’t seduce me into having sex with you, you would try force instead. What were you thinking, anyway? Were you working on the theory that once I discovered what a great lover you were I’d agree to marry you?”
“Damn it—”
“Or did you convince yourself that if I had sex with you, I’d feel that I had to marry you just for the sake of my reputation?”
His eyes narrowed. “If I ever thought you cared a damn about your reputation, you sure straightened me out when you told Chief Yates and anyone else who would listen that you’d spent the night on the beach with Rafe Madison.”
Hannah’s turbocharger switch suddenly tripped and her temper went into overdrive. “Let me tell you something, Perry Decatur. You are very, very lucky that I did not tell my folks or my brother how you really behaved in the front seat of the car that night. All I ever said was that we’d argued. I never told them how you tried to force yourself on me.”
His eyes bulged. “How dare you accuse me of that sort of behavior? No one has done more for women’s issues here at the institute than me.”
“Forget the political agenda. We both know what you had in mind that night.”
“We were on a date.” Perry’s voice was choked with outrage. “You freaked out when I tried to kiss you. That was all there was to it.”
“That’s not quite how I remember it.” She stabbed her finger against his elegantly knotted white silk tie. “You thought you could coerce me into marrying you.”
“You’re crazy. Hell, I knew that you were naïve and inhibited in those days, but I didn’t think you were so naïve and so inhibited that you couldn’t recognize a grown man’s normal, healthy sex drive when you saw it.”
“I saw it, but I gotta tell you, Perry, it didn’t look normal or healthy to me.”
“It was your fault that there was a small misunderstanding.”
She gave him an icy smile. “Yes, it was on the small side, but I wasn’t going to mention it.”
“There’s a word for women like you. You can’t blame me for trying to take you up on what you were offering.”
“I didn’t offer you anything, and you know it.”
“I cared for you.” His jaw jerked a couple of times as if he were on the verge of being overcome by emotion. “I wanted to marry you.”
“Sure. But only because I was a Harte.”
“That’s not true.”
“It was true. I wasn’t nearly as naïve in those days as everyone seems to think. Do you really believe that you were the first man who latched on to me because he saw it as a way to marry into Harte Investments?”
“I resent the implications of that statement,” Perry said furiously. “I’m an academic. I live for the world of ideas, not the world of business.”
“Give me a break, Perry. You’re a hustler. You always have been a hustler. Eight years ago you saw marriage to me as a quick, easy way to get access to the deep pockets of my father’s company. You also figured you’d have a lot of use for the social and business contacts that my family could provide, didn’t you?”
“Your parents liked me.”
“Mostly because they thought you were bright, charming, and ambitious. Really ambitious. My family admires ambition in a person. Sometimes we admire it a little too much.”
“There’s nothing wrong with ambition. It’s the American way.”
“What you seem to have overlooked is that there’s a line between ambition and hustling. I’ll admit that it can be mighty thin at times, but it’s there if you care to check for it.” She paused deliberately. “Something tells me that you haven’t looked for it in years, Perry.”
“You’re just as preachy and prissy as ever, aren’t you?” His mouth tightened. “Do you know how incredibly self-righteous and officious you sound when you go into your lecturing mode? No wonder your engagement fell apart. What man in his right mind wants to go to bed every night with a woman who can’t stop lecturing?”
