Got A Hold On You (Ringside Romance) (7 page)

“There’s nothing I can say to change your mind?” Sully
brushed a speck of lint off the shoulder of his suit.

Jack ground his teeth. Sully had him by the balls and
they both knew it. Jack couldn’t afford to be wiped out financially, not with
most of his money invested in Butch’s youth fitness centers. Then there was the
balloon payment due next month on the construction loan. They were finally
about to break ground on his mountain cabin, the dream that had kept him going
for the last five years.

“I’ll tell Billings you’re turning heel. He’ll
schedule you on the Milwaukee card against Cowboy Gil,” Sully said. “We’ll send
you out with some brass knuckles, a buckskin knife, maybe even a chain saw.”

“Get the hell out of here!” His pulse pounded in his
ears.

A nurse ripped the curtain aside.

“We’re leaving,” Sully said.

The nurse went to Jack and checked his pulse.

“I need Morphine, Demerol, a kick to the head.
 
Just put me out,” Jack said.

“We don’t want you out, exactly, Mr. Hudson, but we
can probably do something for the pain.” She tapped at his IV bag and grabbed
something from the tray.

“Milwaukee, next Monday, you can slice Gil to pieces
in front of all his little cowpokes,” Sully taunted from the curtain.

“Get out!”

“Reconsider my offer and I’ll give you a week off
followed by two weeks of light promo appearances with Tatianna.”

“Nurse, call security.”

“Okay, now, Mr. Hudson. Take a deep breath and
everything will be fine.”

She turned and Jack caught sight of the ten-inch
needle squeezed between her latex-gloved fingers. His heart did a
skippity-hop-thump, his breath caught in his throat, and the world faded to
black.

***

The next morning Frankie paced Uncle Joe’s office like
a woman on caffeine overload. “What do you mean you can’t find a replacement?”

Okay, so she was a bit overexcited, but she couldn’t
help herself. She’d tossed and turned all night thanks to nightmares about
leather-clad cowboys.

“Take it easy, princess,” Uncle Joe said. “There’s
plenty of time. It’s not like Jack’s going to be back soon. He’ll take a few
days to recover.”

She paced the office, her stomach churning with dread.
Why did she get the feeling that her uncle wasn’t putting a lot of effort into
finding another Tatianna?

“Have you discussed the situation with him today?” she
said.

“No, but I doubt I was the first person Jack wanted to
talk to when he woke up.”

“Gee, I wonder why.” She collapsed in the leather
wingback chair opposite his desk. “What can I do to expedite this process?”

“Don’t worry about it.” He popped another butterscotch
candy. “Everything will work out fine, like always.”

She considered that statement. “Fine” was a relative
term when dealing with Uncle Joe. Last night’s disaster had proved anything but
fine.

“Why don’t I trust you?” she said.

“Me?” He placed an open palm to his chest and his
gray-blue eyes widened.

She stared him down. “I won’t go out there again. I
won’t dress up and make a fool out of myself.”

“I understand, but you were wonderful, a natural. You
saved us from the gallows.”

“I’m not an exhibitionist,” she said, ignoring his
praise. “I don’t belong anywhere near a ring.”

“The ring is part of your heritage.”

“Mom spent my whole life telling me otherwise.”

He glanced at her, crestfallen. “When I think about
the hard work, the blood and angst drained from my soul to create WHAK.”

She felt the guilt hammer swing away.

“And when I’m gone, it’s over. Kaput. No one to take
over. No one to carry on my good work.”

“Listen, Uncle Joe.” She stood, plastered her hands on
his desk and leaned forward in her most intimidating pose. “I’m not here to
dress up and prance around like a furry fluff ball, or hang on a wrestler’s
arm.”

“But Frankie—”

 
“My job
is to dig you out of financial debt. That’s it. I have no interest in taking
over the family business.”

“Honey, don’t say that.”

“And let me be clear: the last place I want to be
right now is surrounded by ignorant, grunting, testosterone-charged gorillas
that you generously call athletes!”

Uncle Joe’s eyes bugged out of his head as if he’d
been stabbed with a fireplace poker. He’d never been speechless before. She
straightened and righted her linen suit jacket with a snap of the hem. She
kinda liked this.

“I’ll be in accounting.” With a lift of her chin she
spun around and came face to chest with washed-out blue denim.

Uh oh. She swallowed hard. Her gaze drifted up,
locking on to a pair of fiery green eyes.

“Ignorant, testosterone-charged gorilla?” Black Jack
said, his voice low and threatening.

Her own voice caught in her throat.

“You don’t consider us athletes?”

She backed up against Uncle Joe’s desk and fumbled
behind her for a paperweight, a picture frame, or a pen to poke his eye out.
Cripes, the violence was rubbing off on her.

“I… I…” She curled her fingers around something firm
with a pointed edge.

“Who do you think you are, anyway?” he said in that
throaty wrestler’s voice she knew the guys used when being interviewed by
Prince Priceless. “You think a lot of yourself, don’t you Niece Sullivan?”

“My name is Frankie.”

“That’s right, a guy’s name. Figures.”

He moved suddenly and she instinctively snatched the
weapon from Uncle Joe’s desk and raised it over her shoulder, ready to strike.

He chuckled, a deep, throaty sound that made her skin
tingle.

“What, you gonna light my fire, babe?”

She glanced at the object in her hand: a cigarette
lighter in the shape of a naked woman. A well-endowed woman no less, and
Frankie was fondling her breasts.

“Ah!” She tossed the lighter on the floor.

“Tsk, tsk. Now that’s no way to treat a lady.” He
picked up the hand-carved lighter and rubbed his thumb across the pointed
nipples.

Her pulse hammered against her throat. What was
happening?

As he reached around her to place the lighter on the
desk, the inside of his muscular arm brushed against her shoulder. She inhaled
the scent of male mixed with deodorant soap and closed her eyes. Her heart beat
triple time as images invaded her thoughts, images of strong, male hands,
touching and exploring her naked body.

The sound of a man clearing his throat shocked her
back to her senses. Jack stared her down with a sly grin easing across his full
lips.

“Sully, where’d you find this one? A convent?”

She ground her teeth and curled her fingers into her
palms. What she wouldn’t give to plant one knuckle sandwich on the corner of
this guy’s cocky jaw.

He took a step back and glanced at her hands, clenched
firmly by her side. “Again with the fist. You sure have a short fuse for a
lady
.”

The emphasis on the word “lady” wasn’t lost on her.
The funny thing was, she didn’t have a short fuse. Up to this point in her
life, she’d had no fuse at all. Anger was a wasted emotion. It didn’t change
anything. She and her mom had learned that the hard way.

“You surprised me, that’s all,” she said. “We didn’t
expect you back today.”

“I’ll bet you didn’t.” He eyed her slowly,
methodically, as if analyzing every curve of her body. Luckily she was wearing
a loose-fitting vest under her suit jacket.

Abruptly, he paced to the window overlooking the
workout area and glanced down at the wrestlers using the machines.

“I thought about your offer, Sully. I’ve decided
you’re right. I do owe WHAK for my success.”

“I knew you’d come around.” Uncle Joe jumped to his
feet and extended his hand.

“However…”

Uncle Joe snatched his hand back and ran it through
his hair.

“I need to cut down on my matches. I don’t want to
push the knee.”

“Will you do more promotional appearances?”

“Sure.”

“It’s a deal,” Uncle Joe’s hand went out again.

“About the Tiger Lady...”

Uncle Joe shoved his hand into his pants pocket.
“Non-negotiable. Judging from last night’s performance, this story line will
catapult us right up there with Steel’s Outrageous Wrestling. But don’t worry.
I’m working on finding you a new Tatianna. Someone with more experience and
savvy.”

“I want the girl from last night.”

“What?” Uncle Joe said.

Frankie’s knees buckled. She planted her butt on the
corner of her uncle’s desk for support.

“But, Jack, last night you said—”

“I know what I said. But I also know it worked last
night because there was something real about her, something innocent. She’s not
a professional actress, is she?”

“N-N-No,” Uncle Joe said, turning his back to Frankie.

“I didn’t think so.”

“She was a last-minute replacement, a friend of the
family.”

“Great, then she’ll have no problem helping out her
‘family’ again.”

A knot of panic twisted in her stomach. “The woman who
performed with you last night is no longer available,” Frankie said.

“Yeah?” He sauntered across the room and her heart
started that triple-time rumba beat again. Why couldn’t she keep her mouth
shut? If he got any closer her circuits were gonna fry.

“And why’s that, Frank?” he asked, towering over her.

Intimidation. She didn’t put up with it from insolent
CEOs, and she sure as hell wasn’t going to put up with it from an empty-brained
wrestler.

She straightened and stared up into his dark green
eyes. Way up. “She has other commitments.”

“Then uncommit her. I want her back. She’s perfect.”

His penetrating green eyes seemed to pin her in place.
Breathe
, she reminded herself. In
through the nose, out through the mouth, just like the meditation tape
instructed. She certainly did not want to pass out in front of this arrogant
bully.

Arrogant and tall. If only he weren’t so damned tall.

And handsome.

And virile.

And…gawd. She curled her fingers into her palms to
keep from ripping off his shirt and running her hands across his rock-solid
chest.

Get a grip
!
She corralled the animal lust back into its cage. What on earth was the matter
with her? She needed some one-on-one time with Bradley. That would cure this
hormonal disorder.

“We’ll find you another woman, Mr. Hudson,” she said.

“I want the girl from last night.” His eyes grew even
more intense.

Even with his hair tied back, he looked wild, like a
crazed boar poised and ready to sink his teeth into fresh meat.

“Now Jack, Frankie does have a point. Wouldn’t it be
nice to work with a professional?” Uncle Joe’s voice cracked.

“Compromise, Sully. That’s what you’ve always taught
me. I’ll extend my contract if you bring back the original Tiger Lady.”

Jack’s plan clicked away in his head as he eyed
Sully’s rigid niece. He was going to have fun messing with this little girl’s
head.

It seemed to him that if anyone needed a little
messing with it was Frankie. Hell, she looked like she’d stepped off the cover
of
Young Executives Magazine
. She
wore a tailored gray suit, pearl-buttoned white blouse complete with starched
collar, and a conservative pinstriped vest to conceal her generous curves. He
detected little makeup, with the exception of a conservative stroke of mascara
and blush. She didn’t do a helluva lot to make herself attractive, but Jack
guessed attracting men wasn’t her objective. She preferred bossing them around.

Jack Hudson was too old and too cranky to be bossed
around by anybody, especially the Franken Niece.

This was going to be fun all right.

He couldn’t help but wonder if the prim-and-proper
boss lady had ever had her feathers ruffled. Wildly, crazily ruffled.

“What’s it going to be, Sully?” He snapped his gaze
from the Franken Niece and glanced through the glass at the gym. He’d have to
get down there today, headache or no headache.

“I’ll see what I can do,” Sully offered.

“What!” Frankie cried, glaring at her uncle.

She actually looked kinda cute when she glared.

“Looks like blood isn’t thicker than water,” Jack
taunted, reaching out to chuck her chin with his thumb and forefinger. She
jerked away.

“Yeah, well...” He gave her the once over, letting his
gaze roam her body and linger on her chest to rattle her cage. With a
mischievous grin, he turned to leave.

“Jack, wait!” Sully said. “It’s Frankie’s first week
here. I’d like to show her around, but I’ve got so much paperwork.” He motioned
toward his desk. Two sheets of paper sat dead center.

“Uncle Joe—”

“Sure, I’ll give her the five-cent tour.” Jack rubbed
his chin and narrowed his eyes in his best “I’m-gonna-eat-you-alive” look.

“Really, Mr. Hudson, it’s not necessary.”

“Call me Jack.”

“Thank you, but no.”

“Frankie, I told you how swamped I am today. Go off
with Jack and we’ll talk later.” He gently shoved his niece from behind.

Jack didn’t know what the old man was up to, but he
could play the game just as well, maybe even better, than the manipulative
promoter. Spending a little time with Frank could keep him one step ahead of
his boss. Jack might even be able to dig up some dirt on Sully, something dark
and seedy that he could use to persuade Sully to cut him loose sooner than
later.

“Come on, Frank. I can show you the ins and outs of
WHAK headquarters.” He opened the door and grinned. “After you.”

“Uncle Joe,” she ground out between clenched teeth.

“Go on. Learn about the business. There’s no one as
savvy as Jack to teach you all you need to know.”

“I will talk to you later,” she said. Was that a
threat tinging her voice?