Ties That Bind (3 page)

“Sure,” Kate swallowed and took a deep
breath. Any rational thoughts scattered when he gave her that
lopsided grin. As a teenage girl, Kate had whiled away summer days
by the pool reading historical romance novels. She’d wondered then
what exactly rakish good looks meant. She was beginning to
understand.

“Come on,” he opened an office door and
motioned for her to follow. She hesitated briefly, but reassured
herself that if he intended to kill her, he wouldn’t choose a room
with giant windows overlooking the lower gallery.

Tossing the last reservation to the side, she
followed him into the sprawling space. Her heart hammered wildly in
her chest when the door clicked shut behind her. His nearness was
much more palpable now.

Here it was easy to imagine they were the
only two people at the party. His presence left little room for her
attention to drift elsewhere. Sure, she was vaguely aware of the
scenery–the low slung couch in the corner, the mini bar along the
back wall. But she was acutely aware of the man pulling her into a
kiss.

A long, deep and almost fierce kiss. The kind
that made her toes curl. When he pulled away, he gave her a
devilish grin.

“Have a seat; I’ll get us a drink.”

Kate nodded numbly and sank into a large
leather sofa. Her heart rate slowly returned to normal as she
listened to him rifling through cabinets. One of her long fingers
rested on her lips; they were still throbbing from his kiss.

“I could have sworn there was more wine than
this,” he called from the behind the bar.

“Whatever’s fine,” she called back
distractedly. Reality was settling in and it made her a little
uneasy. She allowed her eyes to drift around the room. They came to
rest on a large print still visible from the main galley. It was
the black and white of the little girl and the daisy.

Her breath caught. She was vaguely aware of
the man saying that he was running down to the bar and would be
right back. Her mind didn’t really register it, though. She was
carried back to a memory from her wild and reckless youth.

College. A boy. The boy. The first time Kate
had learned that if there was a consequence to be had for an
action, it would happen to her. A summertime fling. A baby. How
completely livid her mother had been.

And then, the pain. The baby was gone. People
assured her it was for the best but she couldn’t bring herself to
believe them. Her mother was even more furious. It was almost as if
she didn’t believe that Kate had a miscarriage. Her relationship
with her mother was torn and had taken years to repair. Kate vowed
to color within the lines from that point on.

She glanced around the room. This was way
outside the lines. With a gasp, the scale of what she was about to
do splashed over Kate like cold water. She knew nothing about this
man. He could be a freaking mass murderer for crying out loud.

Or he could break her heart all over again.
She jumped up and scurried out the door. That’s as far as she got
before the sight of several pairs of angry eyes stopped her short.
Of course, his fan club must have seen that kiss.

She hadn’t thought about that. Her lips were
still tingling from said kiss; she could still feel the sandpaper
of his five o’clock shadow on her chin. It burned her as deeply as
any branding iron now, under the heat of their glares.

Kate eyes darted between the women and the
bar. The man was chatting easily with the bartender as he opened a
bottle of wine. It occurred to her she had to get down the stairs
and out the door without him seeing her, and she had one cork to do
it. With a last look at the angry mob, she took a deep breath and
began the trek, sticking as close to the wall as possible to avoid
detection. In her mind’s eye, the stairs stretched on forever, the
door loomed far in the distance. Her eyes cut back to the bar. The
cork was out of the bottle. He started to turn her way, only to be
intercepted by one of his earlier companions.

Kate stopped, her mouth dropping into a
little O. That woman certainly hadn’t wasted any time to seize the
opportunity. Kate allowed herself a fleeting satisfaction that he
seemed to be trying to extract himself from the hyena’s grasp, then
remembered her original goal and picked up the pace. She stole
another quick peek at him only to realize he’d been waylaid by
another from the pack. She was fuming so intently she missed a
step, causing her to slide down the last three. She managed to
right herself on the landing, albeit with the assistance of a
concerned elderly gentleman.

“Thank you, sorry sir,” Kate whispered before
practically running to the door that was now tauntingly within
reach. She hadn’t remembered the lower gallery as being this
crowded. An expletive ran through her mind when she bumped into the
first person. One escaped her lips when she got caught in a small
group that actually started moving her in the wrong direction.

She had a sudden great empathy for salmon.
Only she was swimming really hard upstream to avoid mating. Poor,
stupid salmon. They either got eaten by a bear trying to get to the
rendezvous or they died shortly thereafter. She’d debate the irony
of that one later. For now, she ducked under a waiter’s arm nearly
knocking the tray out of his hand and made one final push for the
door.

Kate sucked in the night air, feeling a sense
of victory. She closed her eyes for just a second, allowing her
breath to return to normal before crossing the street to her
apartment building. It wasn’t until she was safely inside her own
apartment, leaning against the heavy wooden door that the tears
came. She didn’t even know his name.

Kate didn’t sleep much that night. Guilt and
regret wrestled in her mind and robbed her of rest. How could she
have done something so careless and stupid was replaced with why on
earth had she left that beautiful man?

When her alarm went off, she was tired and
cranky and felt every one of her years. A shower did little to
improve her mood. Neither did the new clothes. She didn’t even
bother with the purple heels; they deserved better. She barely
troubled herself with make-up and swept her hair up carelessly.
Kate just had to get through this one day and she could slink back
home to hide in the dark like the freak she was.

She left the wedding file on her kitchen
table and had to go back for it. That meant passing the now-quiet
gallery twice more. If buildings could laugh, she was pretty sure
this one was mocking her. On her third trip by the doors, she
noticed the sign in the window. The exhibit would be up through the
next week. Kate would be happy when the outward reminders of her
encounter would be gone.

She was so rattled she almost walked right by
her coffee spot without stopping. By some miracle she made it to
work on time, pleased to have a whole hour to collect her thoughts
before the morning meeting. She spent her time leaving messages for
caterers and rifling through the wedding file. Everything seemed to
be in place there. She’d have to keep everyone on schedule and make
sure nothing slipped off the radar, but most of the legwork was
done.

She updated her Outlook calendar with
reminders for fittings, taste tests and mailings while she waited
for cheerful receptionists to transfer her to voicemail boxes. Once
that was done, she began the process of figuring out which
reporters in town mattered. She’d long since learned that the key
to a successful event went beyond careful planning and ventured
into well-thought out public relations.

She was soon joined by Liz and Jessica. If
either noticed her bedraggled appearance, they were too kind to
mention it, at first anyway.

“Long night?” Liz could no longer resist.

“To say the least,” Kate closed her eyes only
to quickly reopen them when his face danced across her mind.

“Oooh, sounds interesting,” Jessica decided
not to reprimand Liz for her poor manners when she realized there
might be a good story involved.

“Yes, do tell.”

“Temporary insanity is all I can say,” Kate
threw her hands up in the air. “I have absolutely no idea what came
over me.”

“What did you do?” Jessica leaned
forward.

“I met a guy at the Gavin Nichols showing
last night and almost did something really stupid,” Kate whispered
breathlessly, unable to believe the words even as she spoke them.
“When he went to grab a bottle of wine, I came to my senses and
left.”

“Did you…” Liz started.

“No,” Kate jumped in quickly. “But I’m not
sure if I’m relieved about that or not.”

“I’ve only known you for two days and just
can’t picture you doing that,” Jessica shook her head.

“I’ve known me for thirty-two years and can’t
picture it either,” Kate mimicked Jessica’s head shake. “I can’t
even begin to describe the pull this guy had on me.”

A throat cleared nervously just as Liz and
Jessica’s eyes widened. Kate’s heart sank and she could only guess
who’d just overheard that statement. She fixed a smile on her face
and turned to greet the bemused face of Jack Cooper. It was the
smiling eyes next to his that made her blood run cold and her face
heat up at once.

“Ladies, I’d like to introduce you to Gavin
Nichols. Turns out he had a show here yesterday so he’s here even
sooner than we expected,” Jack couldn’t keep the pleasure out of
his voice. Kate rose mechanically to join the others in shaking
Gavin’s hand. Jack was motioning to each of them. “Gavin, this is
Jessica Reid, Liz Bellinger and Kate Yager.”

“Oh Katie and I go way back,” Gavin’s eyes
sparkled with mischief and his lips seemed to twitch ever so
slightly as he took her hand in his. She resisted the urge to yank
it back at the electric current his touch created. “How have you
been? It feels like ages since we last met.”

“Peachy,” Kate practically glowered at him.
“And yourself?”

“Peachy,” at that he did chuckle. “You left a
little abruptly at our last meeting…. I hope everything is
okay.”

“Just fine, thanks,” she ground through her
teeth.

“Looks like everyone else is ready for the
meeting,” Liz came to her rescue. She might not know what was going
on, but she could sense Kate’s need to be rescued.

“Just let me grab my notebook,” Kate motioned
for the others to go on without her. Gavin looked ready to hang
back but Jack was ushering him towards the conference room.

Jessica’s wide eyes demanded an explanation
to which Kate simply shrugged helplessly. “It’s him,” she mouthed.
A giggle escaped Liz and her hand flew to her mouth. Confusion
clouded Jack’s eyes but Gavin’s lips were twitching again. Kate
made a mental note to ask him if he had a nervous tic or
something.

Kate wasn’t sure if it was fate or Gavin’s
maneuvering, but she found herself squeezed in next to him at the
meeting.

“You could have told me who you are,” she
whispered fiercely as she sat down.

“That seemed less fun somehow,” he shrugged
with another smile.

“Weren’t you supposed to be here next
week?”

“Because I had the show this week… but I woke
up this morning with the sudden urge to report to work early.”

“Stop grinning like the village idiot,” she
snapped, wishing she hadn’t been so quick to tell a stranger where
she worked.

“Ouch, that was harsh,” he winced a little
but his smile didn’t diminish.

“Sorry,” she apologized out of habit before
turning her attention to Jack. He began the meeting the moment
everyone was in their seat and quickly dove into the status of the
upcoming launch. He seemed pleasantly surprised that Kate had
booked a venue for the next two events and she flushed with an odd
pleasure at having made him happy with her.

The interchange wasn’t lost on Gavin. But
then, Kate thought ruefully, nothing seems to be lost on him today.
It was hard for Kate to concentrate with him so close, too. He
might be infuriating, but he still smelled the same as he did last
night. The same heat rolled off him, its long fingers licking at
her skin. She struggled to make sense of the words people were
saying but they all came across as incoherent as Charlie Brown’s
teacher. She just hoped no one turned their attention to her any
time soon.

Her wish was granted and she was eventually
free to seek fresh air. She was making a bee line for the door when
she was intercepted by Tara.

“Kate, I’m so glad I caught you,” Tara smiled
warmly as she reached for Kate’s hands. Kate wanted to pull away,
but allowed herself to be held hostage. She smiled patiently and
waited for Tara’s next words. “I got a call from the caterer and
they wondered if I could swing by with my new wedding planner. They
have some shrimp concoction they want us to try.

“Oh I don’t know; I really want to get a
start on the launch party….” Kate hesitated.

“Nonsense, we can talk about the wedding on
the way. You need a break from this place.”

While Kate wanted to argue that she barely
got to spend any time in this place, the thought occurred to her
that it would get her away from Gavin.

“I’ll go get my purse.”

“Great!”

Kate grabbed her purse and waved a quick
goodbye to Liz and Jessica.

“Oh don’t do this to me,” Liz protested.

“Lunch?” Jessica called out hopefully as Kate
scurried off.

“Yes, let’s all do lunch,” Gavin called
gleefully behind her. “Don’t worry though; I’ll pass the time
catching these two up on everything.”

Dang it. She hadn’t thought about that.
Surely he wouldn’t. Right? She spent the first part of the drive
worrying about what Gavin would say. Kate had exactly two friends
in this world at this point and she wasn’t thrilled at the prospect
of losing them.

The more Tara chatted excitedly about the
wedding, the more Kate’s thoughts shifted to how much she didn’t
like her soon-to-be step mom. She didn’t feel like trying to sort
out whether that was a fair assessment or not. The fact that the
woman was her age–or in her age group at least–and getting ready to
marry Kate’s dad was enough.