held the door open for her and then walked beside her, sliding his arm around her waist while they stepped outside into a cool October night. She felt the light contact with Cade as if it were a burning brand. She was prickly with raw awareness of his shoulder against hers, his arm circling her waist and her hip lightly touching his.
In the front of the club at the porte cochere, a limousine waited with a driver, who opened the door for her. Cade climbed in and sat beside her, turning slightly to face her.
Gazing back at him, she almost felt as if she were with a stranger. She didn’t know Cade any longer. There was only a dim connection to the boy he once was and the person she knew. Yet there was no way to wipe out memories or her hurt or her anger.
“Why are you here?” she asked bluntly.
“Reasonable question. Some curiosity about you and my past. But that part is minor.”
“So what’s the big reason?” she persisted.
“I’ve found that ninety-nine percent of the time, when you purchase something, it’s worth the difference to get the best.”
“So you’re here in Fort Worth to get the best of whatever it is you want.”
“That’s right. Why were you in the bachelorette auction?”
“The Slade Home is one of my favorite projects. Little children shouldn’t be on the streets. You helped the children enormously tonight,” she said, aware that he deserved thanks for what he had done for the kids.
“But, at the same time, you’d rather I hadn’t bid.”
“No. The money is more important and it’ll do many needed things,” she said, thinking how bland their conversation was while sparks ignited the air between them, and she fought the attraction for him that pulled at her as if he had never walked out and the past hadn’t been filled with hurt.
“You could have written a check to the charity, so I’ll inquire again, why did you participate?” he persisted.
“I’ve been asking myself that all evening,” she remarked dryly, still having the feeling of talking to a stranger, except for his voice. She knew his voice. Even his hands were different—larger, less roughened.
“So the men who bid didn’t particularly mean anything to you?”
“Not at all. I recognized one man and we’re friends. Where do you live?” she asked, curious in spite of wanting to ignore Cade.
“I live most of the year in Los Angeles, part of the time in Pebble Beach, part of the time in Switzerland. I’m building a house in Houston.”
“You’ve done well. Sometimes I’ve read about you,” she said. “According to the papers, you’re an entrepreneur involved in investments and finance,” she said, leaving out that every time she had read about him, she had wondered how someone who had been penniless and a high school dropout—a mechanic whose expertise had been bikes and cars—could have investments, but she didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of asking about his life.
“Katie,” he said, reverting back to the name he had always called her.
“It’s Katherine,” she snapped. “I don’t care to be called Katie by anyone.”
“Very well, Katherine,” he said in a flat tone of voice that gave no indication of what he really felt.
There was no wedding ring on his finger, nor would there have been if he’d bid for her time for an evening. Cade had been wild, the local bad boy. Friends had warned her he would never settle and he wouldn’t go through with the wedding. And they had been correct in their dire predictions.
“You’ve done well,” he remarked.
“I enjoy my work,” she said, wondering how he knew anything about her business. She became silently aware they were in downtown Fort Worth now. She gazed at the tall building that held Ransome Design, Incorporated. She had two floors and sixty employees and she dreamed of opening more offices. Her company was growing fast and she usually experienced a rush of pleasure on viewing the building with her office, but her emotions churned over Cade, and she didn’t feel the customary satisfaction. Thanks partially to the man seated facing her, her work was her life.
She turned to find him watching her.
“A penny for your thoughts,” he said quietly. “As the old saying goes.”
“It won’t cost you even a cent. I was looking at the building where I have my business.”
“Ransome Design, Incorporated had a very impressive twenty percent growth over a year ago. You’ve made a name for yourself, too.”
“My job is my whole life,” she said. “I suspect you can understand that.”
He shrugged one shoulder casually. “There are other things more important,” he said, his dark gaze boring into her.
“Not in my life,” she answered and turned away to look out the window again. She could feel his gaze remaining on her and she wished she could lose the prickly awareness of him, the attraction that made him larger-than-life in too many ways.
She had no inclination to engage in conversation with Cade. She stayed on a raw edge, hanging on to her temper and all the accusations she had accumulated over time.
She wondered what was going through his mind, because he was quiet and didn’t try to engage her in any polite conversation, which would have been pointless.
She didn’t want to be alone with him. She didn’t want to be with him, period. In her peripheral vision, she could see him, and while she tried to ignore him, it was impossible. His long legs were stretched out near hers.
In minutes they stopped in front of another tall building and she realized their destination was the exclusive and prestigious Millington Club on the twenty-sixth floor. Her father belonged to the Millington, as well as the Petroleum Club, and she was surprised Cade even knew about it. She was certain he had known nothing about the exclusive clubs when he was growing up in Rincon in Cedar County, Texas.
They rode the elevator and emerged at a reception area with a thick navy carpet and mahogany furniture. To her surprise, she realized Cade had reservations. She watched while he talked to the maitre d’. As the two men conversed briefly, her gaze ran down the length of Cade, and she remembered exactly how it felt to be in his arms, pressed against that strong, hard body, his legs tangled with hers. Heat coiled low inside her and she clenched her fists, trying to ignore feelings and banish memories and desire.
He wore a simple watch with a leather band, but in the limo she had seen his watch was one of the most expensive brands. She suspected he’d meant what he’d said about having the best. And who was the woman in his life now? Cade wouldn’t be without one.
When he turned to take her arm, his hand touching her was as electrifying as any other contact they had had tonight. Trying to ignore everything about him and continually failing, Katherine walked beside him as they were shown to a linen-covered table beside floor-to-ceiling windows that overlooked the bright city lights. Soft piano music played and couples already were on the dance floor. She gazed across the table into Cade’s dark eyes.
“As
