The Burning Point by Mary Jo Putney

around to looking seriously in ten or twelve years.
    But maybe her life wasn't going to run according to her master plan. Silently she raised a hand and caressed Donovan's cheek. Warmth and a faint, alluring rasp of whiskers caused flutters deep inside her.
    He turned and pressed a kiss into her palm. "Kate," he whispered. " Carissima."
    Dearest one. She'd heard the Italian endearment from her earliest days. Desire and tenderness pulsed through her with disorienting force, along with a clear knowledge that he would not always be a comfortable companion, that there was darkness as well as kindness in him.
    Struggling for sense, she murmured, "Is it my imagination, or is this something...something special?"
    "No. It's not your imagination." He kissed her again, one hand undoing the buttons of her oversized jacket until he could slide his hand inside and cup her silk-covered breast. Mental clarity vanished in a torrent of sensations--and the certainty that her life had changed forever.

 
    Chapter 6

     
    "You don't have to make a decision tonight."
    Donovan's low voice--deeper than when they'd met a dozen years earlier, and with no trace of East Baltimore left--snapped Kate back to the family room and her ex-husband.
    She took a shaky breath as she tried to reconcile the excitement and wonder of that first meeting with the murderous strain between them now. "I'm not the only one who has to make a decision, Donovan. Would you agree to this nonsense?"
    He exhaled roughly. "I...don't know. If you decide you're willing, I'll have to think long and hard about whether I am. I want PDI. I want it a hell of a lot, but maybe not this much. If I'm forced out, I can always start my own demolition firm."
    She thought of the long-term PDI employees. Some would follow Donovan to a new firm, but others would stay with Marchetti, fracturing the family that had been Phoenix Demolition. "That wouldn't be the same."
    "No. It wouldn't." He rubbed the back of his neck. "Which is why I'm at least considering whether it would be possible to comply with Sam's crazy will."
    She thought of the home they'd once shared, and shivered. "I can't imagine living in the old house again. It's so small. We'd be on top of each other."
    As soon as she heard the words, she flushed. For most of the three years they'd lived on Brandy Lane, they had been on top of each other. Sometimes Donovan above, sometimes her, in every room of the house.
    Mercifully ignoring the double entendre, Donovan said without inflection, "For what it's worth, I've done some remodeling. There's more room now. How about if I pick you up in the morning and take you out to Brandy Lane? It might help you decide if you could bear to live there again."
    Visit the home they had worked on together with so much love and laughter? Come face to face with their past?
    Knowing she had no choice, she said, "Ten o'clock?"
    He nodded, then said goodbye.
    Relieved to be alone, Kate sank into the sofa opposite the fire. For a long time she stared at the flickering flames, too numb to think.
    She needed to talk to someone from her normal life. One of the house's dozen telephones sat on the end table, so she punched in her brother's number. He picked up on the second ring. "Tom? It's me."
    "How are you doing, hon?"
    Tears stung her eyes as he used a Baltimore endearment from their childhood. She kicked off her shoes and burrowed into the sofa. "Lord, what a day it has been."
    After a silence, he said painfully, "I should be there."
    His doubt and guilt pulled her up short. This was a hard time for him, and she hadn't called to make it worse. "Forget I said that. Mother and I are doing fine. Everyone has been so kind. The cathedral was packed. Lots of dignitaries, including the mayor, the governor, two congressmen, and a senator. Sam would have loved it." She'd always referred to her father by his first name when she was irritated with him, so he'd been Sam ever since she'd left Baltimore a decade before.
    She