He glanced down. "That's the mortal world. What the hell do they know? Their world's a mess." He crumbled up her paper and tossed it aside.

Darcy's heart fell into her stomach. "You could hire me for a month on a probationary status, so I could prove my ability—"

"No way. Stone would tear this place apart if I tried to pair him up with a female co-anchor."

"I understand. He's an excellent news anchor." Dull as a rock was more like it. "But Stone does all the stories, droning—I mean, talking for the entire thirty minutes."

"So?"

"The Nightly News would be more exciting and faster paced if you included reports from correspondents in the field. That was my specialty, and I would be delighted to—"

"I was considering doing that. And I was thinking about hiring you, but you turned out to be a woman."

Her heart dropped a few inches lower. "I fail to see—"

"News is serious business. We can't have females doing it. People would miss something important, 'cause they were looking at your perky little breasts."

Her shoulders slumped, taking her perky little breasts with them. This was it—the impenetrable wall of male vampire chauvinism, and once more, she'd slammed right into it. If only she could take a sledgehammer to it. Or a baseball bat to Mr. Bacchus's egg-shaped head. "I could work behind the scenes. I used to write my own—"

"You can write?"

"Yes."

"Can you be entertaining?"

"Yes." Her reports had been considered humorous.

He studied her. "You strike me as somewhat intelligent."

Her eye twitched. "Thank you."

"We're flooded every night with the flashy ones who want to be in front of the camera. Finding someone with intelligence and experience to work behind the scenes is a major problem."

"I'm very good at solving problems."

"Are you? Then I'll tell you what I really need at DVN." He leaned forward. "I need a big hit."