LITMIR.BIZ

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if throwing up—in public—wasn’t bad enough. As Kitty knelt on the bathroom floor with one hand propped on the toilet paper dispenser and the other wedged against the wall, she heard footsteps outside the stall.

      “Oh, my, are you all right?” asked a wavering voice from behind her.

      The voice sounded kind—benevolently maternal. Kitty wasn’t taken in. Too many “kind” women were starving for gossip.

      “I’m fine,” Kitty managed. She raised her left leg, felt around in the air a bit for the door, then kicked it shut.

      “Is there something I can get you, dear?”

      Hmm … a cool washcloth? A glass of water? Retrograde amnesia? Any of the above would do.

      Kitty shoved the hair out of her face and straightened, wiping at the corners of her mouth with the back of her hand.

      “Perhaps I could notify your date that you’re not feeling well?”

      Nosy and persistent, then. Kitty stood, smoothing down her dress. In her haste, she stepped on her hem and pulled it out. But that couldn’t be helped. Praying she looked better than she felt, she left the sanctuary of the stall. Kitty turned to see an elderly woman hovering by the sinks. Though she had to be nearing ninety, the woman was well-dressed and obviously took pains with her appearance.

      Kitty remembered something her grandmother had often told her. There’s no situation that can’t be improved with a fresh coat of lipstick.

      Sayings like that had made Kitty roll her eyes as a teenager. Inexplicably, Kitty chuckled. “I think I’ll just freshen my makeup.”

      The older woman smiled. “Always a good idea, if you ask me.”

      Kitty faced the mirror. Her hair had lost its smooth sheen and now looked tousled beyond repair. Her face was ashen, her lips dry. Even her eyes seemed to have developed dark circles. She could only suppose they’d darkened to match her exhaustion.

      And here she’d thought she looked pretty good just a few hours ago when she’d left the condo.

      She sighed. By the sink there was a selection of hand lotions and perfumes, along with a bottle of mouthwash and a stack of tiny cups. She filled one of the cups with water to rinse out her mouth.

      Spitting as delicately as she could, Kitty said, “This is quite embarrassing. I don’t think I’ve ever thrown up in public before.”

      “Think nothing of it, dear. Every woman goes through it.”

      Kitty raised her eyebrows. “Every woman—” she started to ask in confusion.

      “Well, not every woman. But when I was pregnant with Jake, my second, I couldn’t keep anything down, either.”

      “Oh, I’m not … That is, I’ve just been under a lot of stress.”

      The woman gave her a pointed look. “Is that what they’re calling it these days?”

      “I’m not—” But Kitty’s protest died in her mouth. “Pregnant.”

      Her vision tunneled, fading to black at the edges but staying piercingly bright in the center, where she could see her reflection in the mirror. Pale. Frightened. Terrified.

      What if she was? She couldn’t be. But even as she thought it, reality came crashing back.

      She was losing Biedermann’s. Ford was back in her life. Running her company. So why wouldn’t she be pregnant?

      Ford stood in the grand ballroom of The Pierre, scanning the room one last time as the nasty truth sank in. Kitty had left him standing on the dance floor, dashed off for the bathroom and then—somehow—sneaked past him on her way out.

      As unpleasant as the idea was, there was no other explanation. Kitty was nowhere to be found. Hell, he’d waited long enough for her to put in an appearance.

      Maybe he had it coming. After all, this wasn’t an actual date. He’d pushed his way in. Bullied her into agreeing, to use her word.

      Still, he wasn’t going to let her get away with this.

      Forty-five minutes later, he was standing at her door, a lavish bouquet of orchids in his hands.

      Her hair was loose about her shoulders, no longer sleek, but tousled as if she’d been running her fingers through it. Her face had been scrubbed clean of makeup, leaving her cheeks rosy. Her mouth was still impossibly pink, though.

      She’d changed out of her dress and had a long silk robe cinched tight around her waist. The result was that she looked like one of those forties movie starlets. Somehow, even devoid of makeup and expensive clothing, she still exuded class. As if she’d been simmered in wealth since childhood and now it fairly seeped from her pores.

      She eyed him suspiciously, her gaze dropping to the orchids and then back to his face. “What are those for?”

      Since she didn’t seem inclined to invite him in, he elbowed past her into the apartment. “They were my excuse to get in the building. One of your neighbors was leaving. I told him I was here to apologize for a date gone bad so he’d let me in.”

      “And he believed you?”

      “What can I say? I was persuasive.”

      After a moment of indecision, she closed and bolted the door. “Don’t worry. It won’t happen again. I’ll hunt him down and kill the jerk.”

      “Don’t do that. If you’re mad at me, take it out on me.” While she considered his words, he surveyed her apartment. A dingy kitchen led off from the living room and he headed there with the flowers. “Do you have a vase?”

      “I thought the flowers were just a ruse.”

      “That’s no reason not to enjoy them. Do you have any idea how hard it is to find flowers at midnight on a Friday night?”

      He grabbed a vase out of one of the cabinets. It was an ornate job with elaborate curlicues. As he filled it with water, he waited for her response. She always seemed to have some snappy comeback.

      It was her silence that alerted him something was wrong. He dropped the flowers into the vase and turned, thinking maybe she’d retreated to her bedroom or even left the apartment. Instead he found her sitting on the living room’s sole sofa with her elbows propped on her knees and her face buried in her hands.

      His nerve endings prickled with alarm.

      He sent up a silent prayer. Please don’t let her be crying. Between his three sisters, Patrice and Suz, he’d faced down his share of weepy women.

      The one thing his vast experience with crying women had taught him was that running like hell would only make things worse.

      “Hey,” he began awkwardly. “What’s—”

      Then Kitty stood, her eyes red, but dry.

      No tears. Thank God.

      She crossed to stand before him, her posture stiff with anger. “What’s the matter?”

      She got right in his face, stopping mere inches from him. “I’ll tell you what’s the matter.”

      She shoved a hand against his shoulder. Surprise bumped him back a step. “You are the matter.”

      She bopped him on the shoulder again. This time he was ready, but she was stomping forward, so he backed up a step anyway. “You come here and push your way into my company. Into my life. Into my apartment. You push and you push and you push.”

      With each push she shoved against his chest and with each shove he stepped back, trying to give her the room she needed. But she followed him step for step.

      “Maybe it’s time someone pushed back.”

      By now he was—literally—up against a wall. With his back pressed to the living room wall, he had

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