Running From Fate (27 page)

James j
aw wanted to drop when the door opened, but he managed to hold it steady.  He couldn’t
, however,
stop his eyes from doing a slow perusal from the sexy feet to the smooth shoulders that gleamed above her dress.  “Hello Mira,” he murmured.
“
You look fabulous.”  The usually flippant comment slid off his tongue just as smoothly as always, but he was surprise
d
to realize that he actually meant it.

Her thick mink hair was swept up and away from her face tonight, highlighting her classically molded cheekbones, her stunning green eyes had somehow been deepened, making them look like shadowed and mysterious forest pools against the green of her dress, and the sleeveless, strapless dress showed an inviting expanse of silky, glowing skin.  After all the stick thin, icy
blond
s he had dated, her rich,
warm
beauty was a refreshing change.

“Thank you James.”
She
returned the silent approval and
ran her eyes over his perfectly tailored suit
and the sleek muscles that it
covered.
“So do you.”

She turned to take something from the hall closet and James felt his
head spin
.
The back of the dress
almost didn’t exist.
It
was cut so low that every time she shifted he swore he could
almost see a shadow at the base of her spine.
He was sure that by the end of the night i
t was going to drive him crazy.

Mira turned around holding her black wrap and suppressed a smile at the look of glazed shock on James’ face.
“Shall we go?”
s
he asked.

James closed his mouth and resisted the urge to wipe his sweaty hands on his pants.
“Yes, of course.”
He gestured toward a low, sleek car sitting against the curb.
“After you.”

Despite the fact that James seemed to think that they were on a racetrack and he had to beat everyone else, the ride was smooth and he appeared to be a pretty
competent driver.
After deciding that he was unlikely to crash the car,
Mira sank back into the buttery soft, leather seat and mentally searched for a topic of conversation.

She was intensely curious about
why he had stopped talking to her and
what had happened to him since his early college days but, considering
the precariousness of her situation
, she didn’t feel comfor
table asking personal questions
. 
She
might unintentionally give something away.
It would be better to stick to business matters.

“
Is there anything
that I should know about
the people who will
be
there
before we reach this party?”
she
finally asked.

“Are you talking about gossip?”  His lips curled in derision
.
It was one thing getting information on other businesses or potential clients if it would help his company remain competitive, but digging up dirt on people or creating it just for the sake of scintillati
ng
conversation bothered him.  He hoped that she wasn’t one of those people.

“I’ll have you know that insider knowledge or ‘gossip’ as you call it
can be an invaluable asset in the business community.
”
Mira sniffed.
“
It can often mean the difference between just
getting by and comi
ng in ahead of your competitors,
especiall
y in such a volatile market as
eco-building.”

“I
don’t consider that gossip
.
” 
James cast a sidelong glance at Mira’s stiff figure
. 
“
It’s just good sense
.  Y
ou look so young that I
keep forgetting that
you’ve been involved in the
industry for years
.”

She had been involved in the indus
try since she was a little girl.  It was really the only way she
had
truly
been
able to connect with her dad.  She had listened to
him
pontificate
on business in general and on the building industry in particular
for hours
, at
least until she got older and other things had grabbed her attention.  James, however, didn’t know that
. 
She
relaxed slightly and gave
him
a small smile.
“I also lived and worked in Cali
fornia. 
Nowhere else do
es
gossip and business intermingle
as
freely as in
T
he Golden State
.”

“
All right,
I’ll agree with that
.
So where do I start?”
He
would much rather have asked Mira about herself
, but
by
his words
he
had perpetuated this farce of a date so he had no choice but to
pretend he was only interested in business
, at least until he could figure out a way to change things to a more personal note.

“Tom Ric
hards is a big name around here,” he finally said.
“
He’s primarily concerned with industrial real estate, but has been trying to get into the eco-friendly market.
Until recently we were friendly competitors, but now we’re just opponent
s.
H
e’s Kim’s father
and he’s rather upset that we are no longer seeing each other.
I believe that he had his heart set on a merger between Kim and I and
or rather
, between our
two
companies. 
By the way.
”
He briefly took his
eyes off the road and glanced at her.
“
He
also
considers himself to be quite the
lady’s man.
I would suggest that you stay away from him unless you
like
to be slobbered on.
”

The oblique reference to Jonathan wasn’t lost on Mira, but far from angering her she found his obvious jealousy a good sign.
The slur on her character
, however, couldn’t be ignored, but b
efore she could come up with a
suitably acerbic reply
the
y
came to a
smooth
stop in front of a glittering hotel.

After handing their keys to one attendant and their
outerwear
to another, they walked through a pair of imposing oak door
s
and entered a large ballroom teeming with people.
The women flitted around like exotic birds arrayed in silks and satins and decorated with brightly colored jewels.
In contrast, most of the men wore some type of suit or a tuxedo.
Some of them
, she noticed,
looked
vaguely
uncomfortable, as if they felt more at home in jeans and a hardhat and presiding over a job site.
She surreptitiously glanced at her partner. 
Despite the fact that
she knew he
had spent plenty of time wearing jeans and a t-shirt, right now he looked like he had been born to wear expensive clothes.

Had James been thinking clearly he might also have noticed how at home Mira seemed in the glittering throng but, after her wrap was removed, all he could think about was the smooth expanse of skin revealed by the gown.  He noticed that other men were also looking and, und
er the pretext of guiding her into the brightly lit room, he placed a hand
proprietarily
against her back.
If possible
her skin was even softer and silkier than he thought it would be and he had to resist an overwhelming urge
to smooth his hand down her spine.
He wasn’t able to completely restrain himself, however, a
nd his thumb circled in a gently
caressing motion.

Mira suppressed a shiver and wondered how she was ever going to maintain any distance when all she wanted to do was sink into his touch.
She glanced around for something to distract her
self with
and noticed a long, fully laden buffet table set up on the right side of the room.
Her
stomach rumbled, reminding her that it had been hours since she had last eaten.
“I’m starving,” she said a little desperately.
“Let’s get something to eat.”

“That
sounds like an excellent idea.”  He didn’t take his eyes off her smooth skin
.
“I find that I’m quite famished.”
He
was certain that he had fel
t a response from her earlier and, testing
, he shifted his hand.
She shivered.
No,
he thought with a smile that was distinctly predatory,
she was definitely not immune to him.

Halfway to the buffet table
he
spotted
Kimberly Richards
, the
one person that he did not want to see.
She was standing nex
t to
an elaborately molded column and clinging to the arm of a tall, muscular man
.
The man was staring down at her breasts, which almost spilled over the top of a tight red, sequined sheath dress.
In an effort to avoid a pos
sibly nasty confrontation he
quickly changed course, pushing between
two
elegantly dressed couples, but it was too late
. 
Kim had spotted them.
He pulled Mira to a halt and waited.

When they came to a stop Mira glanced around trying to discover what had caught James’ attention.
She stood on tiptoe,
attempting
to see over peo
ple’s heads, and finally saw Kimberly
.
The tall,
blond
woman was weaving among gro
ups of gaily dressed people,
slowly making her way toward them.
She dragged a tall, sandy haired man behind her.
Mira glanced up at James to gauge his reaction.
His
eyes were locked on
his former girlfriend
.
Suddenly cold, she
straightened her back and
stepped out of reach,
effectively
forcing him to lower his hand.