Table of Contents
To Jeri, the love of my life, who is always there for me.
She gives me her strength when Im weak and her special smile
when Im strong. No one knows as well as she everything that
has brought me to this place, this book, this new road. I could
never be who I am, or accomplish all that I do, without her
at my side every step of the way. She completes me.
This one is for her.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
At Putnam I wish to thank the publisher, Ivan Held, and my editor, Susan Allison, for their boundless enthusiasm and support.
I would like to give special thanks to my friend Andrew Freeman, not only for all his help, but for bringing his remarkable vision, talent, enthusiasmand unfailing sense of humorinto my life.
My thanks also to Heather Baror for coming up with great ad copy as if it were the easiest thing in the world. It is not, believe me.
IT WAS THE PIRATE FLAG flying atop the plumbing truck that first caught his attention. The white skull and crossbones seemed to be straining to keep from being blown off the flapping black flag as the flatbed truck, apparently trying to beat the light, cannonballed through the intersection. The truck heeled over as it cut an arc around the corner. White PVC pipe rolled across the diamond plate of the truck bed, sounding like the sharp rattle of bones. At the speed it was traveling the truck looked to be in danger of capsizing.
Alex glanced to the only other person waiting at the curb with him. With his mind adrift in distracted thoughts he hadnt before noticed the lone woman standing just in front of him and to the right. He didnt even remember seeing where shed come from. He thought that he saw just a hint of vapor rising from the sides of her arms into the chill air.
Since he wasnt able to see the womans face, Alex didnt know if she saw the truck bearing down on them, but he found it difficult to believe that she wouldnt at least hear the diesel engine roaring at full throttle.
Seeing by the trucks trajectory that it wasnt going to make the corner, Alex snatched the womans upper arm and yanked her back with him.
Tires screeched as the great white truck bounced up over the curb right where Alex and the woman had been standing. The front bumper swept past, missing them by inches. Rusty dust billowed out behind the truck. Chunks of sod and dirt flew by.
Had Alex hesitated they both would have been dead.
On the white door just above the name Jolly Roger Plumbing was a picture of a jovial pirate with a jaunty black patch over one eye and a sparkle painted in the corner of his smile. Alex glared back as the pirate sailed past.
When he looked up to see what kind of maniac was driving he instead met the direct, dark glare of a burly passenger. The mans curly beard and thick mat of dark hair made him look like he really could have been a pirate. His eyes, peering out of narrow slits above plump, pockmarked cheeks, were filled with a kind of vulgar rage.
The big man appeared infuriated that Alex and the woman would dare to be in the way of their off-road excursion. As the door popped open there was no doubt as to his combative intent.
He looked like a man stepping out of a nightmare.
Alex felt a cold wave of adrenaline flood through him as he mentally choreographed his moves. The passenger, who seemed to be getting ready to leap out of the still-moving truck, would reach him before the driver could join in, making it one against oneat least for a brief time. Alex couldnt believe that it was happening, but it was and he knew that he was going to have to deal with it.
Calm fury filled him as he prepared himself for the unavoidable.
Everything slowed until each beat of his heart seemed to take an eternity. He watched the muscles in the mans arm bulge as he held the door open. In response, Alexs own muscles tightened, ready to meet the threat. His mind was cocooned in silence.
Just as the passengers stout leg swung out the open door, flashing lights and the sudden wail of a siren made the burly man turn his attention away. A police car, tires squealing, launched across the intersection in a way that suggested the cops were angered by the trucks stunt. The police car had been parked beside a hedge to the side of the drive into the parking lot across the street. As they had sped past, the men in the truck apparently hadnt seen the parked police car watching traffic. Lost in his own thoughts, Alex hadnt, either.
The loudspeaker crackled to life. Pull it over!
The world seemed to rush back in.
The white plumbing truck, trailing a fog of dust, slowed as it rolled off the curb up ahead, the black-and-white police car right behind it. As the truck stopped, two policemen leaped out, hands resting at the ready on their guns as they approached from both sides of the truck at the same time. They yelled orders and both men carefully emerged with their hands up. In an instant the officers had them out and leaning on the front fenders of the truck.
Alex felt the tension drain out of his muscles, leaving his knees feeling weak.
As he turned his glare from the men being frisked, he found the womans gaze fixed on him. Her eyes were the luscious color of his finest sable artist brushes. It was clearly evident to him that behind those sensuous brown eyes she appraised the world around her with an incisive intellect.
She glanced deliberately down at his big hand still tightly gripping her upper arm. He had intended to toss her back out of harms way so that the passenger couldnt hurt her, but the police had shown up first.
She looked up at him in silent command.
Sorry, he said, releasing her arm. You were about to be run down by pirates.
She said nothing.
He had meant his comment to be lighthearted, to ease the fright of what had nearly happened, but by her calm expression she didnt appear to be the least bit amused. He hoped he hadnt hurt her arm. He knew that sometimes he didnt realize his own strength.
Not knowing what to do with his hands, Alex combed his fingers back through his thick hair as he stuffed his other hand in a pocket.
He cleared his throat, changed his tone to be more serious, and started over. Im sorry if I hurt your arm, but that truck would have hit you if I hadnt pulled you back out of the way.
It matters to you?
Her voice was as captivating as her eyes.
Yes, he said, a little puzzled. I wouldnt like to see anyone get hurt in an accident like that.
Perhaps it wasnt an accident.
Her expression was unreadable. He could only wonder at her meaning. He was at a loss as to how to respond.
The memory of the way shed been standing at the curb still hung in the shadows in the back of his mind. Even lost in distant, dejected thoughts at the time, he had noticed that her body language hadnt been quite right. Because he was an artist, a persons balance, either at rest or in motion, stood out to him. There had been something out of the ordinary about the way she had been standing.
Alex wasnt sure if, by her answer, she was simply trying to do the same as he had been doingtrying to lighten the heart-pounding scare of what had nearly happenedor if she was dismissing his chivalry as a presumptuous line. He imagined that a woman as attractive as she was had to deal with men constantly trying clever lines in order to meet her.
