Affair of Honor by Stephanie James

your own future, perhaps even destroying it, if you accuse him of stealing your work!”
    “No wonder you’re so good in front of a class full of students, Damon.” She tried to smile weakly. “Your logic is impeccable and your delivery is perfect!” She pulled out the frying pan and began to crack eggs into a bowl. “But it’s no good. I honestly don’t know if I can go back and work for the man in the fall.”
    “You little idiot,” he declared tightly, his temper apparently on edge. With reason, she thought fleetingly. He hadn’t even had breakfast yet and here he was trying to deal with a crazy young faculty member. “You’ll be back in the fall and you know it! What else can you do? Jobs for philosophy professors are damn scarce! It could take you months, maybe a year to line up another one. And in the end you would have achieved nothing.”
    “How about my pride and self-respect?” she hazarded dryly, beating the eggs violently.
    “What good are they going to do you in a world where there are a lot of Paul Humphreys? And that’s the way it will be, Brenna. Our faculty politics are no different than those of any other college or university. If you’re going to get ahead, you’ve got to play the game. That means not embarrassing men like Paul Humphrey or making yourself look like a fool!”
    “Good lord, Damon! You make it sound like corporate politics in the business world! All the maneuvering and power struggles and the pains taken to avoid embarrassing the boss or yourself!” She dropped the egg beater and whirled to face him, her hands on her hips.
    “That’s exactly what it’s like! There’s a price on success in any sphere, and playing the political game is part of that price,” he grated.
    “You’re telling me you think it’s all right to pay the price?” she challenged tersely.
    “Yes, damn it! It’s the only way one can make a contribution to his or her profession!”
    “The ends justify the means? Do you realize what you’re saying, Damon? We’re talking about theft and dishonorable conduct. Do you realize what you’re condoning? What that makes you?”
    She didn’t know why she pushed him that far. She certainly never intended to do so. Perhaps it was because she was so unnerved and upset with herself this morning. Brenna only knew she hadn’t meant to enrage the man she had actually been contemplating marrying!
    But she had done exactly that. She saw the red flush sweep into his face, saw the hardening line of his mouth, and the next instant his palm connected with the side of her cheek in an instinctive reaction to the insult in her words and eyes.
    Even as she flinched automatically from the blow, Damon was being whirled around by the shoulder. Ryder was in the room.
    She had never seen him enter, never heard that silent stride as he crossed to the kitchen. The first intimation of his presence was when he swung a fist that collided with Damon’s jaw.
    Dr. Damon Fielding toppled to the floor before Brenna’s horrified gaze.

Chapter 5
    “D amon!”
    Rushing to the fallen man’s side was an automatic reflex, Brenna realized even as she did so. She would have gone to the aid of whichever man had taken the fall.
    “Leave him alone, Brenna, he’ll be fine.” Ryder’s voice was incredibly soft.
    But she was already kneeling on the floor beside the other man even as Damon groaned and opened his eyes weakly. She threw a furious, accusing glare up at Ryder, who stood easily, feet slightly braced, his expression utterly unruffled. He had obviously been back to his own cabin, because he was again wearing the black denim jeans he favored and an open-throated white shirt with a tiny stripe in it. His brown and gold hair was lightly raked by the morning breeze and his recent exertion, and when his silver-gray eyes met Brenna’s angry glance, she saw the memory of last night hovering just below the surface. For some reason that fueled her own fury and disgust.
    “There was no