As the high-pitched ringing of the cell phone finally ceased and the room fell back into a heavy, expectant silence, Kate Walsh tossed her device onto a pile of shipping manifests with a clatter. She turned back toward me, her face flushed a deep crimson, her eyes wide and simmering with a mixture of residual panic and raw, unvarnished l**t.
"You are absolutely terrible, Mr. Barnes," she panted, her voice trembling as she smoothed her disheveled hair. "I finally managed to land a boyfriend with a real pedigree—someone with a family trust and a six-figure brokerage account—and here you are, trying to sabotage my entire future. If he had actually driven down here and caught us, you’d be responsible for my ruin. You’d have to support me, you know. I’m an expensive woman to keep."
She spoke
