Hawk's Challenge. Linda Johnston O.

didn’t bother to pretend not to look. When she raised her eyes, she saw heated awareness in his returned gaze.

      “No, thanks,” she said slowly. “I’m fine standing.”

      He nodded. “You sure are.”

      A tacky comment, but nevertheless, it charred her insides. The flirtatious part of this assignment just might backfire on her if she wasn’t careful.

      The bartender turned then, and Logan lifted his arm to get the guy’s attention.

      “Be with you in a second, Logan.” The beefy bartender motioned to show that his hands were occupied by the beer steins.

      “Thanks, Evan.”

      So he knew the bartender, and vice versa. Not surprising. Could Autumn use that somehow?

      Soon Evan was back, holding out his hand for the empty stein that Logan proffered toward him. “You want a refill?”

      “That’s right. And an amber ale for the lady.” He nodded at Autumn.

      The bartender grinned. “I thought you were here looking for Beer Guy.”

      “You seen him?”

      “Not tonight. I’ll get your drinks.” The bartender took the mug from Logan and turned his back again.

      Who was Beer Guy? Autumn wondered. And why was Logan looking for him?

      Autumn would add that to the list of questions she’d make sure Logan answered before they parted ways tonight.

      Was the gorgeous and flirtatious babe another groupie? Logan hoped not. Maybe she wasn’t, considering the way she’d come up to him.

      He’d noticed her before her near-fruitless efforts to squeeze in at the bar had brought her to his side. And he’d been glad to help such a great-looking woman get her drink, especially once she’d wriggled her way beside him. Fortunately, it hadn’t seemed like she was zeroing in on him, just trying to find a way to get to the bar.

      His writing, and the promotion it required, put him in the public eye a lot. Too often, women recognized him and came on to him just for the challenge of being able to say they’d sex with a famous author. Not that he’d screwed even a fraction of the ladies who claimed they’d gotten together. He was turned off by women like that and kept his distance.

      But that was a price of fame. And fame helped to sell his books.

      This woman didn’t act like she recognized him. Maybe she didn’t. Maybe for once he could just relax and enjoy her lovely presence while he accomplished what he’d come here for this evening.

      He watched as Evan handed her a filled stein, then took the one that the bartender held out toward him. “Put them on my tab,” Logan said.

      She shot him an amused look. “Thanks, but that wasn’t necessary. I suppose now you’ll want to find a place to sit down so we can get to know each other better.”

      “Sounds good to me,” he acknowledged.

      She laughed. “Why not? Although I can’t stay long.”

      Good. That suggested she wasn’t here just to come on to him. Otherwise, why toss out an excuse to leave if she decided he was a miserable conversationalist, someone she didn’t want to get to know better?

      He’d make sure that didn’t happen.

      She flung a smile at him before turning to ease her way through the crowd. It made his vital body parts spring to attention. She seemed to know it as she looked back and cocked her head, causing the reddish highlights in her short brown hair to glimmer in the bar’s low light.

      She wasn’t very tall, and her facial features weren’t perfect, but her slightly elongated nose fit well with her full lips. Then there were her eyes, dark and challenging and damned sexy. Gorgeous? Yes, he wasn’t about to amend his initial perception. Not with the way everything fit together so perfectly.

      He followed as she slipped through the thick crowd. She wore a short black skirt beneath a shimmering green blouse, and he liked watching her curves move beneath her tight clothing.

      Surprisingly, she found an empty table on the far side of the main room. She set her glass on the table and sat down, motioning for him to join her. Intrigued by her charismatic attitude, he obeyed.

      “This is quite a place,” she shouted over the din. “My first time here. How about you?”

      “I come here often. Are you from around here?”

      “No. You?”

      This wasn’t enough. He realized that he wanted to know more about her. A lot more. And yelling across the loud bar wasn’t going to get him what he craved.

      On the other hand, he was reluctant to leave this place too quickly. The last time he had seen Beer Guy here, it had been on another Friday night, about a month ago.

      Talking with Beer Guy again was the main reason he’d started coming back to this microbrewery. Logan was working on the sequel to a thriller that was just about to come out. He’d already started letting his imagination run with possibilities, of course, and had some great ideas of his own. But Beer Guy had suggested the concept in the first place—he’d been tipsy, half-sloshed really, and had said he was a member of a clearly fictional military force Logan had never heard of. Logan had been intrigued by the man’s crazy ramblings, and now he wanted to run his latest scenario past Beer Guy, even brainstorm with him, to get his offbeat perspective.

      His mystery date took a sip of her beer, then leveled what appeared to be a quizzical glance at him. “You know, I don’t mean this like some kind of line, but you look familiar. Do I know you?”

      “I don’t think we’ve ever met,” he countered, “but I’d enjoy getting to know you better now.”

      She gave a small shrug of one shoulder beneath her silky blouse. “Maybe,” she said carefully. She continued to study him, then said, “Have I seen you on TV? Or… You’re a writer, aren’t you? If not, you really look like the guy I’ve seen lately on talk shows. What’s his name?” Her eyes scrunched up as she appeared to ponder the question.

      “How about Logan Valliere?” he asked drolly. Maybe he’d been wrong about her after all. Even so, he could continue to play this out, see where it went. “I’ve been told that I resemble him.”

      “So you’re not him. Good thing, or I might pretend that I like to read thrillers. But I don’t.”

      A groupie? Apparently not. Her comment should have turned him off, but instead it challenged him. “Okay, I’ll admit it. I am Logan Valliere—the writer whose photos and interviews you might have seen. And if you don’t like thrillers—well, have you ever tried one of mine?”

      She shook her head.

      He noticed then that she had nearly finished her beer. “I’d like to convince you to try,” he said. “What’s your name?”

      “Autumn Katers,” she said.

      “Well, Autumn Katers, if you walk me outside to my car, I’ll give you a copy of my latest novel, the one that’s just about to be published. We’ll be able to hear each other better out there, too. Okay?” He sounded like some pleading, hormonal kid out for a seduction. And maybe he was—except for the kid part. This woman definitely wasn’t the usual type who came on to him. She’d seemed somewhat interested, but only until she’d realized who he was.

      “Okay,” she said. Her slow, mocking smile challenged more than his ability to convince her to read the book.

      CHAPTER 2

      Things were going well, or so Autumn hoped. It was impossible to hear much in the bar, so getting any information out of Logan would have been difficult.

      But here in the parking lot,