Home for Love (12 page)

"Obviously you think so." Kate was stung by the way Steven admired Gloria. His voice was always emotionless when he spoke of the woman, but he portrayed her as a paragon of the business world. Then another thought struck Kate, horrible in its implications. "Steven, do you realize what you're asking me to do? You're asking me to let Gloria Nestor be my boss! I'd go crazy having her order me around."

Steven merely shrugged. "If you'd stop overreacting, you'd see how much Far Horizon could do for your career. Your financial worries would be taken care of, for one thing, and you'd still have a lot of freedom." He gave her a real smile now. "In fact, your first job for Far Horizon could be to redecorate your new office."

"Oh, sure. Gloria Nestor would go for that."

"I think you're judging her too harshly."

"She no doubt has her good points," Kate said. "She
is
stunning."

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"I don't know." Kate sighed. She wished contrarily that Steven would say Gloria looked like a horse, but there was no chance of that. "I just don't want to lose my independence," she went on more forcefully. "I kept my part of the bargain in all this. You said financial planning, and I've gone this far. That's enough."

"We're only getting started, Kate." He straightened his shoulders, a forbidding glint in his eye.

"I won't let you keep manipulating me," she said.

"I'm trying to help you, dammit."

"I don't want your help. Or Gloria's."

"I'm going to hold you to our agreement, whether you like it or not."

She blew her breath out sharply. "I thought no matter what your other faults, at least you were fair-minded."

"What other faults?" he asked. She turned and began striding away.

"Wait a minute. Where are you going?" Steven demanded, easily keeping pace with her.

"To work on the house."

"We came in my car, remember?"

"I'll take the bus."

"Just stop, will you? I'm not letting you go anywhere. You nearly fainted up there."

"I'm fine now. Go find someone else to manage!" She walked faster.

"Stop," he said quietly, taking hold of her arm. "I told Gloria we had another appointment. You don't want to turn me into a liar, do you?"

"We don't have an appointment, so you've already sinned."

"Wrong. We're going to lunch."

Kate stopped. Deep down she wanted to be with him. She did want to prolong their time together, no matter what.

"I know a place in Chinatown, not far from here," she said, despising her own weakness. She was even enjoying the proprietary way he held on to her.

"Good," he said. "I haven't been to Chinatown yet."

Kate was stirred out of that hateful submissiveness. She looked at him in surprise. "You've lived in San Francisco all this time and you can actually say something like that?"

"I haven't done much sight-seeing. I've been too busy," he said defensively.

"You're right—you have been. Follow me."

Now he was in
her
territory. Kate led him into the bustling streets, where even the streetlights were crowned with their own fanciful pagodas. Tall, skinny signs climbed up the tall, skinny buildings, announcing a wealth of shops and restaurants. Steven paused to take in the scent of spices wafting from a doorway and looked up at a sign printed in both English and Chinese.

"I like this," he said, clasping her hand as they went on walking. Kate recklessly tightened her fingers around his. She took him down a narrow side street and into a small diner. The owner, Mr. Dow, came forward to greet her.

"Katie, it's good to see you," he said. "How is your mother? A pleasure to meet you, Mr. Reid. Come along, sit over here." He was Chinese, but spoke with a musical Italian accent. His background was a mystery, and he seemed to enjoy his customers' speculation about it. Kate suspected he fueled the speculation with some outlandish rumors of his own making; the latest had something to do with Gypsies. She grinned at him and took the chair he pulled out for her. Steven looked a little befuddled, not quite so in control anymore. Kate was pleased.

Mr. Dow didn't wait for them to order. He brought plates of ravioli, his famous fish salad and two steaming cups of peppermint tea. Steven gave the tea a sour look, but took a sip anyway. Kate went after the ravioli with her chopsticks, finding that her unsettling morning had made her quite ravenous. Steven examined his own chopsticks quizzically. Then he glanced at the checkered curtains, the gondola painted on one wall, the Chinese lanterns hanging outside. Shrugging a little, he picked up a fork.

A while later he loosened his tie and leaned back with a satisfied expression.

"I could get used to this city, if I were going to be here much longer."

"You're wrapping up business, then?" Kate kept her tone light.

"I'm trying to," he said, tracing a chopstick over the checkered tablecloth. "Lately I just don't seem to be getting as much work done."

"Too many dinners and evenings at the opera," Kate suggested. She expected a caustic retort from him, but instead he was thoughtful.

"Saturday night at the opera, Gloria brought a friend with her, someone from a big corporate law firm in Los Angeles. Seems I could have a partnership there if I wanted one."

"You told me you wanted to get back to the grass roots," Kate said in surprise. "You sounded so excited."

"Yes…I'm still considering that. A smaller practice, maybe specializing in family law. I've come up with some other possibilities, too, like going into criminal law, perhaps as a public defender." Steven's expressive face came alive as he talked. "Practicing law on a smaller scale is rewarding, Kate. That's how I started out. You're closer to people. You feel that what you do really matters."

She listened to him, his enthusiasm catching hold of her. He was a good and decent man, surprisingly idealistic behind the cynical front he sometimes put up. Kate felt an odd thickness in her throat, wishing suddenly that she could share his plans. She concentrated on refolding her napkin.

"I think it all sounds wonderful, Steven. But I don't see how joining a big law firm will fit in."

"It would be a good step for my career—I can't ignore that."

"Gloria likes the idea, I'm sure," Kate remarked. Steven nodded, looking amused.

"Of course she likes it," he said. "It wasn't a coincidence that she just happened to bring her friend along that night. She's trying to be subtle about it, but she thinks I should go on to bigger and better."

"So you admit it!" Kate exclaimed triumphantly. "Gloria is full of plots. She—"

"Hold on," Steven said. "Stop exaggerating. That's just the way Gloria is. She's always thinking in terms of business deals, each one bolder than the last. It's one of the things that makes her so successful."

Kate took a bite of the white-chocolate ice cream that Mr. Dow had placed before her.

"Maybe there are other kinds of success," she said. "Become a public defender or go into family law, Steven. Forget about everything else!"

His chopstick made a forceful pattern of squares on the tablecloth. "Life looks pretty simple to you, doesn't it?" he asked. "As a matter of fact,
my
life was simple until you came crashing into it. I was going along just fine, living in a world I could understand, even if it wasn't perfect. Mergers, stockholders' meetings, women with the same drive and ambition as Gloria Nestor. But you, Kate, you're in a different world entirely, one you conjured up yourself. It's full of colors and dreams but not a single practicality."

Kate watched her ice cream melt. Steven didn't sound very approving of her. It seemed that Gloria represented his type of woman: sophisticated, successful, wielding business power with flair. He was right—Kate wasn't like that. She had her own style and she'd always been proud of it before. But now she found herself wishing intensely that she could be powerful, take the corporate world by storm. Maybe then she, too, would have Steven's admiration.

It was shameful, this craven need to please him. She despised the need, and yet it grew stronger every day. She had to fight it with whatever weapon she had.

"I'll never stop believing in dreams," she declared. "Impractical ones that don't have a thing to do with money or prestige. You have a few of those yourself, Steven."

"I'd forgotten about them until I met you," he said wryly. "And now they're more alive than ever. You have that effect on me."

"Maybe that's good," she said. "Maybe you needed to remember your dreams!"

"All this is making my life a hell of a lot more complicated than it used to be. I don't know if I want to throw out everything I've worked for. That means something, too."

Kate pushed her bowl of ice cream away.

"So you'll listen to Gloria," she said. "You'll go for bigger and better."

Steven hooked an arm over the back of his chair. "I'll look into this law firm in Los Angeles to see what it's like for myself," he said. "But maybe I'll keep my partnership in New York. Then again, maybe I'll open an office in a little town somewhere and grow apple trees on the side. I haven't made any decisions yet, but when the time comes, Gloria won't make them for me."

"Well, that's all I want," Kate said hotly. "To make my own decisions, without interference from you or Gloria Nestor."

"Your case is entirely different, Kate. You need structure, otherwise you'll lose the freedom that's so important to you. Far Horizon will help you to keep hold of your dreams, don't you see that? I'm going to arrange another meeting with Gloria so we can really talk about this."

"You know what I think?" she exclaimed. "I think you're trying to push me into this thing with Far Horizon because you're at a crossroads in your own life. You don't have the answer for yourself yet, so you think you'll come up with one for me. Well, you don't need to bother. Solve your own problems, not mine!"

"We made a deal," he said, his voice unyielding. "You accepted the terms and you can't back out of them now."

"You're forgetting something! I could never consider a decision this major without talking to Paula and Max. They're as much a part of Melrose Designs as I am."

"I agree with you. This opportunity is theirs, too, and we'll want their input." His affability was deceptive, she thought darkly. "Go ahead and talk to them," he went on. "After that we'll set up a time for you and me to meet with Gloria."

There seemed nothing more to say. Steven was the kind of man who always needed to be in charge, and he still had everything just the way he wanted it. He still held all the power in this relationship. They stared at each other across the table, and Kate struggled to keep herself from being swirled into the depths of his eyes. Their intensity shook her.

"Agreed, Kate?" he said softly.

"You know you haven't left me any choice! I'll talk to Paula and Max." She scraped back her chair and marched up to the cash register. Snapping open her briefcase, she pulled out some loose bills.

"Don't be absurd," Steven said beside her. "I'm paying for this."

"It was a business lunch. I'll pay."

"Of course it was a business lunch. You're my client now, so I'll pay," he said.

"You're
my
client—"

"We didn't talk about interior decorating. Besides, technically that's my money you're throwing around."

"I don't care. I'm paying," she stated.

Mr. Dow came up to the register and settled the dispute.

"It's on the house, Katie. No, you can't change my mind. Just say hello to your mother for me."

Kate felt deflated, but held out until Steven pocketed his money first. They walked in grim silence back to his car. They drove silently all the way to his house and parked behind the battered furniture van that Paula and Max drove for Melrose Designs. Still without speaking, they sat in the car under the shade of an oak. Sunlight flickered through the leaves, warming the windshield. Steven's hand rested on the gearshift knob; Kate glanced down at his strong fingers, which could be so surprisingly gentle. She swung her door open.

"I won't keep you any longer. Goodbye, Steven." She was halfway around the car when she almost bumped smack into him.

"I thought you'd be in a hurry to get back to your office," she said stiffly.

"I am."

"So… goodbye, then."

"Goodbye."

They stood looking at each other for one long, sunshine-shimmering moment. Then Steven strode back around the car, climbed in, slammed the door and roared off.

Kate sat down on the porch steps, watching dolefully as one of the carpenters carried some boards to the back of the house. She thought about Gloria's exotic beauty and graceful style; she thought about her own freckled nose and the way she bumped into things because she never looked where she was going. And suddenly she wanted very badly to surrender herself to Steven, to be swept up by his compelling strength. She'd follow wherever he led her, even if that meant joining Gloria Nestor's camp at Far Horizon.

Kate jumped up. She had to remember that she was fighting a battle with Steven, a fierce and desperate one. She couldn't afford to lose either her freedom or her heart to him. The best thing was to begin aligning her forces right away; she was going to need every bit of help she could muster.

She headed into the house to find her allies, Paula and Max.