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The music died away and we finally slowed to a stop. I looked up at him, smiling…
And went utterly still, because I suddenly saw the way he was looking at me.
He looked helpless. My heart fluttered.
The other couples flowed past us, leaving the dance floor. But JD stood like a rock, his breathing quick and his eyes locked on mine, that pale blue burning hotter than any flame.
I’d never seen him like this. Oh my God…
His hand released mine and a ripple of disappointment went through me. Then his palm cupped my cheek and my whole body tensed, giddily excited. His thumb stroked the edge of my hair once, twice. His eyes flicked down to my lips—
“Hey,” said a voice from beside us. “Lorna. I need a minute.”
I blinked. What? I saw JD blink, too, and felt it all slipping away. No! No, God, no, not now!
Too late. JD frowned like a man waking from a dream, turned to look…and the moment was lost.
In despair, I turned to look too. The man standing next to us was in his fifties, heavyset with gunmetal gray hair and an arrogant, sly grin, like he’d enjoyed interrupting us.
“Henry Creel,” said the man, and jerked his head. “Come on, I want to talk to you in private.” And he took a step away, expecting me to follow.
JD took a step towards him, his face thunderous. I didn’t like the guy’s arrogance, either, or the way he’d called me by my first name, like it was a way of putting me in my place. But as the shock died away, his name sank in. Henry Creel was the head of the New York planning association. I quickly put a hand on JD’s arm. “It’s okay. Give us a minute.”
I followed Creel, feeling that iron band tightening around my chest again. I wanted to weep: escaping it had felt so good!
Creel led me up a flight of stairs to where a balcony overlooked the main floor. It was dark up there, and when he turned around I could barely make out his face at all. Then he grinned and his white teeth made a floating, Cheshire Cat smile. “I brought you up here to discuss approval for your hospital.”
“We went through planning months ago. Everyone signed off!”
“Wellll…actually my committee only granted provisional approval. The final paperwork is still sitting on my desk.”
I had that unsettling feeling I get, like I was getting tangled in threads of meaning I couldn’t even see. “Okay, so…what is it you want us to change? Do you want more parking spaces? Is it about the solar panels?”
He gave a single, throaty chuckle and then passed me a folded slip of paper. I unfolded it and stared at the lazy, looping swirls of handwriting. $100,000.
I was naive enough that it actually took me a second to understand.
“We don’t—I’m not paying bribes,” I managed.
“I know you’re new to this,” he said sourly, “but all construction companies do it.” I could hear the anger in his voice. I’d made him feel dirty and he didn’t like that.
I shook my head. “Not us.”
He leaned closer, a looming black mass in the darkness, and I smelled whiskey and cigars. He jabbed a finger at the note I held in my hand. “That was your father’s standard rate, you pious bitch.”
I swallowed. No. No, my dad wouldn’t— Then I remembered Maria and wilted. Oh crap. What if Creel was telling the truth? What if I’d just been blissfully unaware, all these years, of what my dad was really like?
Creel’s grin returned as he saw my reaction. He patted me on the shoulder. “There’s a good girl. You’ll soon learn how the game’s played.”
He strolled away and I stood there shaking. Shit! I was so, so far out of my comfort zone. What do I do? Why couldn’t it be my dad, or Miles making this decision?
My fingers found cold stone in the darkness. I curled them around the wide, satin-smooth handrail and the weight and solidness of the building filled me, calming me. It had stood here for decades, an icon…
I stopped thinking about what my dad would do, or what Miles would do. I thought about Cody, and him having this conversation with someone in twenty years, about me.
I took three deep breaths. Then I turned and called after him. “No!”
He stopped, looked back in confusion, and then marched back to the balcony. “Don’t get all holier-than-thou with me, Lorna, your father—”
“It’s Miss McBride. And it’s not my father’s company, anymore. It’s mine.” Saying that last part was like trying to swallow razor blades, but I got through it. “And I don’t care what my dad did or didn’t do, I’m not paying you.”
And I walked off towards the stairs.
He was so shocked that, for a moment, he didn’t move. Then I heard his footsteps coming after me. I sped up, but he caught up with me at the top of the stairs and grabbed my arm. “Don’t walk away from me, you bitch!”
