Heart of Ice by Diana Palmer

so quickly that she hardly saw him coming before he was towering over her. “I wantyou,” he said, his voice like warm velvet in the sudden silence of the room. “I’m through pretending.”
    “Well, I don’t…I don’t want you,” she said in a breathless little voice. “I have a boyfriend—”
    “No competition whatsoever,” he returned. “What are you afraid of? I’m not brutal in bed. I wouldn’t hurt you.”
    She flushed deeply, and just stopped herself from slapping him. “I liked it better when you hated me,” she said angrily, glaring up at him.
    His eyes searched hers. “Was it ever that?”
    Her lips parted, but before she could find an answer, Ada was through with the dishes and Kati stuck to her like glue until it was time to leave for dinner that evening.
    Jack grinned as he saw Kati in her burgundy velvet dress. “What a dish,” he murmured. “And I like your hair down like that.”
    “Thank you. You aren’t bad yourself. Jack, you know Marshal,” she said, indicating the tall, dark young man beside Ada.
    “Sure.” Jack extended his hand. “Good to see you again.”
    “Same here,” Marshal replied. He hugged Ada close. “I still love the sea, but sometimes I get a little hungry for the shore.”
    “I can imagine. Uh, wasn’t your brother supposed to join us?” Jack asked Ada with evident reluctance.
    “He’s meeting us at the Rainbow Grill,” Ada said. “And I made reservations in advance.”
    “Good girl,” Jack said. He took Kati’s arm. “Well, let’s get it over with,” he murmured under his breath.
    “It will be all right,” she promised as Ada and Marshal fell back. “We can have the waiter pour wine over his head if he starts anything.”
    “You don’t think he would?” Jack asked, horrified.
    She patted his arm. He wasn’t the type for public scenes, although Kati wouldn’t have minded dousing Egan any old where at all. “No, I don’t,” she promised. “Don’t worry. Everything will be fine.”
    She was to remember those words vividly a little later, when Egan joined them at their table overlooking the colorful lights of the city sixty-five floors down. He had on his arm a windblown little blonde who looked and dressed like a woman who loved money, and her first glance at the other women was like a declaration of war.
    “So this is Ada,” the blonde gushed, heading straight for Kati.
    “Wrong woman,” Kati said shortly. “That’s Ada.”
    The blonde shrugged, gave a careless smile and turned to greet a highly amused Ada. “So you’re Ada. How nice to meet you at last. I’ve just heard so much about you from Egan. We’ve known each other for along time, you know. He calls me every time he gets to New York. I’m a model.”
    As if that didn’t stick out a mile, Kati thought as the blonde sat down near her and almost choked her with expensive perfume.
    “Isn’t this the most gorgeous place?” the blonde enthused. “I love the atmosphere. And isn’t the combo great?”
    Kati couldn’t say. She hadn’t been able to hear them play, or hear their sultry-voiced vocalist sing, for the newcomer. And just as she was wondering how she’d eat because of the perfume, Egan slid into the seat beside her and ruined her appetite completely.
    “Jennie Winn, this is Katriane James and her date,” Egan volunteered.
    Kati glared at him. “Jack Asher,” she supplied.
    “Nice to meet you, I’m sure,” Jennie murmured. “What do you do, Mr. Asher?” she asked Jack and batted her impossibly long eyelashes at him.
    He perked up immediately, the turncoat. “I’m a political columnist, for the
Times
,” he said.
    Jennie beamed. “Are you, really? Oh, I just adore intelligent men.”
    Kati had to muffle a giggle with her napkin. Really, she was behaving impossibly, but that blonde couldn’t be for real!
    “Something amuses you, Miss James?” Egan asked with ice in his tone.
    She got herself under control. “I got strangled, Mr. Winthrop,”