There was a long pause before he finally grinned slyly, saying, “You might be shrewder than I thought.”
She smiled, too.
“But I also know you’re vulnerable. Don’t dispute that, Scarlet. By your own account, you’ve fallen into rougher arrangements than this one with me will be, without hardly balking at any twist or test.”
“Then you know why I need to be cautious now. I have had some breathing room, a space between the last and whatever comes next.”
“But you still need to be owned.”
“Perhaps, but this time, I’m making it my decision.”
“You decided every other time.”
“But this time I’d like to do it consciously.”
He nodded, then reached into the bottom drawer of his desk and withdrew the navy leatherette folder containing the typed diaries.
“Take this home and put it where women kee
