"Tired?" Panic came on wings, "You should get off your feet."
"You're probably right." Though she felt strong as a horse, she scooted a stool over to the cash register and perched on it. "I'll just sit here and ring up sales for the next hour. Oh, Josh, darling, be sure to offer the customers champagne."
Enjoying herself, she slipped off her shoes and prepared to watch her adorable husband handle a storeful of customers.
The only show she would have preferred to witness was the one that would be starting shortly in the penthouse office of Templeton Monterey.
* * * * *
The first analogy that came to Byron's mind was that of a wild, possibly rabid, deer charging.
Kate cut through his shocked, protesting assistant like a sharp knife through quivery jelly, snarled like a feral she-wolf, and might very well have delivered the knockout punch of a flyweight champ if Byron hadn't signaled his assistant to retreat.
"Well, Katherine." He barely missed a beat when she slammed the door with a resounding crack. "What an unexpected pleasure."
"I'm going to kill you. I'm going to rip off your meddling nose and stuff it in your flapping mouth."
"As much fun as I'm sure that'll be, would you like a drink first? Some water? You're a bit flushed."
"Who the hell do you think you are?" She sprang toward the desk, smashed her palms down on its polished, and just now crowded, surface. "What possible right do you have to mix in my business? Do I strike you as some weak-willed, empty-headed woman who needs a man to defend her?"
"Which one of those questions would you like me to answer first? Why don't I take them in order?" he said before she could shout again. "You know exactly who I am. I didn't mix in your business any more than any tentative and concerned friend would, and no, no indeed, I don't see you as weak-willed or empty-headed. I see you as stubborn, rude, and potentially dangerous."
"You haven't got a clue how dangerous, pal."
"That threat might have more weight if you'd take off those filing tips. They spoil the image."
A strangled sound erupted from her throat as she looked down and discovered the brown rubber tips still on her fingers. Smooth and quick, she ripped them off and threw them at him. Just as smooth, just as quick, he caught them both before they hit his face.
"Good arm," he commented. "I bet you played ball in school."
"I thought I could trust you." For reasons she didn't want to analyze, thinking of that made her eyes sting. "I even, for one brief, foolish moment, thought I could learn to like you. Now I see that my first impression of you as an arrogant, self-important, sexist jerk was totally on the mark." Her sense of betrayal was every bit as keen as her fury. "I was reeling when you found me on the cliffs, I was vulnerable. Everything I said there I said to you in confidence. You had no right to run to Jos
h with it."
He set the rubber tips on his desk. "I didn't say anything to Josh about that day on the cliffs."
"I don't believe you. You went to him—"
"I don't lie," he said sharply. She glimpsed the steel beneath the polish. "Yes, I went to him. Sometimes it takes someone outside the family to put things on the table. And your family is torn up about what happened to you, Kate. More worried about the way you're behaving."
"My behavior isn't—"
"Any of my business," he finished for her. "Odd that something as harmless as my speaking with Josh sends you into a tailspin of revenge and retribution, but being questioned about embezzlement makes you curl up in the fetal position and suck your thumb."
"You don't know what I'm doing, what I'm feeling. And you have no right to pass judgment."
"No, that's all quite true. If you weren't so self-involved, you'd see that no one's passing judgment. But as an outsider I can tell you that your family is hurting for you."
Her flush died until her cheeks were bone-white. "Don't lecture me about my family. Don't you dare. They're the most important people in the world to me. I'm handling this my way because of my family."
He cocked his head. "Which means?"
"Which means that, too, is none of your business." She pressed her fingers to her eyes, fighting for control. "Nothing and no one is more on my mind than my family."
He believed that without hesitation, and only felt more sorry for her. "Your way of handling this situation isn't working."
"How the hell do you know?"