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fighting this one all the way. Nobody knows why. He and Tate have had some real battles over this.”
    â€œThat’s just an excuse and you know it. Tate hates the man.” Colby pushed back a strand of straight black hair that fell into his eyes. Unlike Tate, his hair was short. “I know I said this before, but it bears repeating. You know Tate won’t like you staying with me.”
    â€œI don’t care,” she said bitterly. “I don’t tell him where to sleep. It’s none of his business what I do anymore.”
    He made a rough sound. “Would you like to guess what he’s going to assume if you stay the night in my apartment?”
    She drew in a long breath. “Okay. I don’t want to cause problems between you, not after all the years you’ve been friends. Take me to a hotel instead.”
    He hesitated uncharacteristically. “I can take the heat, if you can.”
    â€œI don’t know that I can. I’ve got enough turmoil in my life right now. Besides, he’ll look for me at your place. I don’t want to be found for a couple of days, until I can get used to my new situation and make some decisions about my future. I want to see Senator Holden and find another apartment. I can do all that from a hotel.”
    â€œSuit yourself.”
    â€œMake it a moderately priced one,” she added with graveyard humor. “I’m no longer a woman of means. From now on, I’m going to have to be responsible for my own bills.”
    â€œYou should have poured the soup in the right lap,” he murmured.
    â€œWhich was?”
    â€œAudrey Gannon’s,” he said curtly. “She had no right to tell you that Tate was your benefactor. She did it for pure spite, to drive a wedge between you and Tate. She’s nothing but trouble. One day Tate is going to be sorry that he ever met her.”
    â€œShe’s lasted longer than the others.”
    â€œYou haven’t spent enough time talking to her to know what she’s like. I have,” he added darkly. “She has enemies, among them an ex-husband who’s living in a duplex because she got his house, his Mercedes, and his Swiss bank account in the divorce settlement.”
    â€œSo that’s where all those pretty diamonds came from,” she said wickedly.
    â€œHer parents had money, too, but they spent most of it before they died in a plane crash. She likes unusual men, they say, and Tate’s unusual.”
    â€œShe won’t go to the reservation to see Leta,” she commented.
    â€œOf course not.” He leaned toward her as he stopped at a traffic light. “It’s a Native American reservation!”
    She stuck her tongue out at him. “Leta’s worth two of Audrey.”
    â€œThree,” he returned. “Okay. I’ll find you a hotel. Then I’m leaving town before Tate comes looking for me!”
    â€œYou might hang a crab on your front door,” she said, tongue-in-cheek. “It just might ward him off.”
    â€œHa!”
    She turned her eyes toward the bright lights of the city. She felt cold and alone and a little frightened. But everything would work out. She knew it would. She was a grown woman and she could take care of herself. This was her chance to prove it.

Chapter Two
    T here was film at eleven. Senator Holden found it hilarious, and when Cecily phoned to ask him about the job at the new museum that he’d offered her, he told her so. He didn’t ask any questions. He accepted her application over the phone and gave her the job on the spot.
    Early Monday morning, Cecily found a small apartment that she could manage on the salary she’d be making and she moved out of the apartment Tate had been paying for. She pulled out of her master’s classes and withdrew from college. From now on, she was paying her own way. And one day, she’d pay Tate back, every penny. For the time being, shell-shocked and