Heart of Ice Read Online Free PDF Page B

dwell on her confused emotions, either. She wanted no complications in her life, especially with someone like Egan Winthrop.
    She and Ada went shopping later in the day and ate out at a little Italian restaurant just down the street from their apartment. They watched television and eventually went to bed. And Egan didn’t come back. Not that night. Not until the next morning.
    Kati was sitting on the living room floor with pages littering the area around her. They were galleys of her latest book, which had come that morning by special messenger, and she was going over them. Ada was at auditions for a new play, hoping to be home by lunch if she didn’t get held up at the theater during tryouts. That was a laugh. Most of the time, it took hours. Despite the appointments the hopefuls weregiven, something always went wrong. Ada had never gotten back when she thought she would, and Kati was dreading Egan’s arrival. She felt wild when she thought of his not coming in at all, and angry because she didn’t understand why. She didn’t even
like
the man, for God’s sake!
    There was a loud knock at the door an hour later, and when she opened it, Egan was standing there looking faintly amused and as immaculate as when he’d left. Still in the same clothes, of course….
    She glared at him. “Lose your key?” she asked.
    “I thought I’d better not use it, in case you were…entertaining,” he said.
    She let him in, slammed the door and went back to her comfortable sprawl on the floor.
    “Coffee’s hot if you want some,” she said icily. “I’m busy reading.”
    “Don’t let me interrupt you. I thought I’d have a quick shower and change clothes. I’ve got a lunch date.”
    Why, oh, why did she feel like smashing plates? She frowned and concentrated on what she was doing. Minutes later, he was back, dressed in a navy blue pinstripe suit with a white silk shirt and a blue and burgundy tie. He looked regal. Sexy. Unbelievably handsome for such an ugly man. If he was dressing like that in the middle of the day, he must be on his way to the Waldorf, she thought. And God only knew with whom.
    “Ada didn’t worry, did she?” he asked, checking his watch.
    “Oh, no. She’s used to people staying out all night,” she lied deliberately, lifting her eyes. It shocked her, the flash of reaction in his face before it was quickly erased.
    His eyes ran over her: the gray slacks and burgundy silk blouse she was wearing, her feet hose-clad and without shoes. Her hair was loose, and flowed in waves of reddish gold silk down her shoulders; her face was rosy and full of life.
    His scrutiny made her nervous, and she dropped her eyes back to the page she was reading.
    He moved closer and suddenly bent to pick up a page. His eyebrows rose as he read, and a slow smile touched his mouth.
    “You do put your heart into it, don’t you?” he murmured.
    She reached up and took the page out of his hands, glancing at it. She blushed and tucked it under what she was reading. Why did he have to pick up
that
page? she groaned inwardly.
    “Is that what you like with a man?” he continued maddeningly, his hands in his pockets, his eyes intent. “I’ve never done it in a bathtub, but I suppose—”
    “Will you please go away?” she groaned, letting her hair fall over her eyes. “I don’t care where you’ve done it, or with whom, just please go eat your lunch and leave me to my sordid occupation.”
    “I suppose I’d better. Stockbrokers sure as hell don’t have time to waste.”
    She looked up as he turned to leave. “Stockbroker?” she murmured incredulously.
    He glanced down at her from his formidable height with an expression she couldn’t decipher. “I’m a businessman,” he reminded her. “I do have the odd investment to look after.”
    “Yes, I know,” she said quickly. “I just thought—”
    “That because I was out all night, it was with a woman—and that I was meeting her for a leisurely lunch?” he suggested