“That wasn’t my idea,” she muttered and looked at the lamp base in his hand. “Were you going to hit me with that?”
He looked taken aback, but said, “Only if you were a killer and you outweighed me by fifty pounds.”
“Well, I’m not and I don’t,” she muttered.
“So I can see,” he said softly in a tone that brought color to her cheeks. Then he said, “So, you came to feed the cat…?”
She exhaled and motioned to the lamp base. “Can you put that down?”
He eyed her up and down, and there was a definite softening in his expression. She realized that his eyes weren’t just shadowed, they were dark as night. “If you promise not to unleash that beast on me again.”
“Sorry, I can’t promise that. He’s pretty much got a mind of his own.”
“Okay, but I’ll keep an eye on him,” he said and laid the lamp base on the counter. Facing her again, he asked, “Now, why were you coming in here to feed him at this time of night?”
“Because he ran away.”
“From you?”
“No, the guy who used to live here. He moved, the cat went with him, but he disappeared—the cat, not the man—and his wife’s worried about it and thought that the cat might try to get back here, and sure enough…” She pointed to Joey. “He turned up tonight. I was sitting on the fire escape meditating when I spotted him going over the roof, then he jumped down to the window and disappeared. I guess the guy left the window open just in case he came back. Anyway, he got in, and I knew…” She cleared her throat. “I thought this place was empty.”
“Wrong,” he said. “So, you were outside on the fire escape, then came in here? What do you do, hang out on fire escapes at night for fun?”
She shook her head. “I’m staying in the next unit. The guy, the one who lived here and moved out with the cat—”
“I’ve got that part of it.”
“Okay, well he asked if the cat showed up, could we feed him or something and keep him here until he could get over here to take him back. So, I did. Not that he liked the food I found.” She took a breath. “I thought he was waiting here in an empty loft, and I came over.” She shrugged. “And there you were.”
He raked his fingers through his hair, spiking it even more. “Who was it who asked you to watch for the cat?”
“Zane something-or-other, one of the suits at LynTech, I think. They lease this place, for whatever reasons. Since I’ve been here, no one’s lived in here at all for more than a few days.”
“One of the what at LynTech?”
“Excuse me?”
“You said one of the suits at LynTech? A suit?”
“A suit. You know, some bigwig executive who makes millions and wants to rule the world from his corporate tower. Although this isn’t any corporate tower, and I’d think, with all the money they’re raking in, that they could put their people up in a plush penthouse or something.”
His expression tightened. “Zane Holden wants to the rule the world?”
“Whatever. The man’s the head of everything at LynTech, along with some other guy, and, from what I’ve heard, eats up competitors. Heck, he’s probably eyeing IBM even as we speak.”
“You’ve met him?”
“Oh, of course not. And I can’t say I’d want to.”
“Not your type, huh?”
She heard the edge to his voice, then suddenly it all added up. She was so slow on the uptake, it had to be the late hour and inability to sleep that was fogging her brain. He was here, in a place leased by LynTech. He more than likely worked for Holden. He was a suit. A half-naked suit at the moment, but a suit, unless he was just loft sitting or something. Maybe a relative in from out of town? “I wouldn’t know,” she murmured.
He eyed her night shirt and bare feet. “Take my word for it, he’s not your type.”
She felt that touch of heat in her cheeks again at the tone in his voice. Condescension, or maybe sarcasm? She wasn’t sure, but she knew that she didn’t like it. “Tell your boss his cat is back,” she said.
“My boss?” he asked.
The moment he said the words, she knew she’d been wrong. This man wasn’t a flunky. He was a boss, a filthy rich boss staying in a very plain loft. She remembered exactly where she’d seen him before. A glossy magazine. She’d been in one of the offices at the hospital waiting for yet another interview with Dr. Shay, and she’d picked it up to pass the time. It had been one of those “people on the go” columns, the type that either started rumors or confirmed them.
This man had earned a full half-page column including a color picture. He’d been in a tux, his arm around the shoulders of a tall, beautiful woman with perfect bone structure and a cap of ebony hair. The paragraph was about Jackson Ford, and Eve something-or-other. Definitely a suit, a very rich, powerful suit. It had been announcing the engagement of Jackson Ford, head of European operations for LynTech. Something about them making their home in London.
“You’re Jackson Ford, aren’t you?” she blurted out.
She’d definitely shocked him.
“How in the hell—?”
“Saw your picture in a magazine a bit back. You were getting engaged and partying in England, I think.”
“You got me,” he said. “So, you are…?”
Out of here, she thought, but said, “I didn’t know you were here, that anyone was here. Sorry about all of this.”
“I didn’t expect to wake up at two in the morning and find a half dressed hippie in the kitchen.”
“Hippie?”
He flicked his gaze over her. “Hippie.”
“Whatever,” she said, and knew it was time to get out of the loft and away from this guy. She’d faced snobbery before, but it hadn’t rankled her as much as the snobbery he was showing at that moment.
“Now that we’ve labeled each other, I’m leaving,” she said, and moved to go past him.
But it wasn’t going to be that easy, not when he caught her by the upper arm and stopped her. His fingers hovered this side of real pain, but held her firmly, stopping her escape completely. “Hold on there,” he said. “You aren’t leaving yet.”
Chapter Two
Rain fought every instinct to try to free herself of his hold, and stood very still. “What, do you want me to thank you for not braining me with that lamp? Or do you want me to do a spirit dance around you while you
