Chapter 1

The yellow cab drove toward her and Erin stepped quickly to the right of the sidewalk. She was just in time as the taxi’s tires threw slush and mud directly onto the spot she had been. Erin didn’t bother to shake her head in disgust, the fallout of bad weather was something she had long since learned to avoid and she did it now almost without thought. She was feeling proud of having dodged the cab until a young man went rushing past her on the sidewalk and caused her to step into a small puddle to avoid him.

Winter in Chicago was harsh and relentless. Melted snow had turned into sludge on the busy byways as the watery sun broke through the clouds and people scurried like ants in a bustling colony. In the shadows ice gave way to mushy snow. Erin Donovan grumbled silently as she huddled into the thick coat. Her chin was tucked under a banded, multi-colored scarf while the wind bit into her flesh without mercy. It whistled around her like a beast with fangs and claws and tried to penetrate her cloak of warmth before it rushed up the knee-length black skirt to chill her to the bones. Erin did her best to ignore it. Like the other inhabitants of the windy city she was intent only on getting to work and out of the elements.

The petite redhead’s high winter boots beat a sharp tattoo on the concrete as she walked around the fountain toward the double glass doors that led into her office building. Normally the huge water-spewing double dolphin caused her to stare in astonished horror. Who could possibly have thought such a monstrosity was the least bit attractive?

Fortunately with the frigid winter weather the fountain was drained and shut off and she didn’t spare it a glance. The double doors of the Holcomb Building were in sight now, just up one more flight of stairs and a quick elevator trip and she would be in the warmth of her own offices with a hot cup of coffee. Someone had thoughtfully salted the slippery steps but she still held carefully to the handrail and holding onto the image of a steaming mug.

Christmas lights and garlands were strung up across the doors and around the outside lampposts. With the holiday only a week away the crowd on the streets was heavier than usual. No doubt people were engaged in last minute pursuits of the perfect gift.

Erin felt she was blessed in that regard. Her circle of close friends was minimal and there was only her father to buy for and at the moment he was a few thousand miles away. Her mother had died seven years earlier and the pain of her passing had dimmed with time. Now Erin’s main focus was work.

When she was in the office all else faded away and work became her sole world, her only reason for being. Nothing else mattered except the legal and financial welfare of her clients. Erin found her career absorbing, even fascinating. No matter how many years she worked as an attorney it never got old. Lives could be fulfilled or destroyed by what she did and she felt an obligation to see that no one was ruined because of carelessness on her part.

Thank God, she thought as she walked toward the doors and cast a look overhead, I can’t wait to get some hot coffee. I’m so glad I decided to take a cab this morning. The weather looks like it’s going to get worse and I’d hate to have to try and drive in this.

Her apartment building was only a fifteen-minute drive, but in this weather it wasn’t worth taking the risk. Too many people didn’t drive safely on the busy Chicago streets in the best of weather and with a blizzard yet unborn but easily felt, traffic would be a nightmare. It was just too bad the taxi had needed to drop her off half a block away because of a traffic accident. Her legs felt like two lumps of ice from the brief walk.

Erin closed in on her objective and reached out to eagerly push open the heavy doors without waiting for the door attendant. The heat inside the building was almost stifling in comparison to the frigid air outside and condensation beaded on the glass.

She felt a light bead of perspiration pop out on her upper lip from the abrupt change in temperature and paused for a moment to unbutton her heavy coat. Erin adjusted the purse on her shoulder before she cruised swiftly through the press of human traffic. She shifted her grasp on the briefcase she held in the other hand, crossed the lobby and glanced without really seeing at the paint crew that was perched on a scaffold overhead.

Holcomb Enterprises was remodeling the structure and there were crews all over the place. Not just paint crews, but rumor also had it that the whole top floor of the miniature high-rise was being gutted and reworked. Erin really couldn’t have cared less. She didn’t work for Holcomb. Her firm was simply housed in the same structure although her partners had discussed moving to the floor after the refit was complete.

Erin was one of the senior partners of Eldridge, Donovan and White. She was a very successful corporate attorney with a very busy schedule and was running behind because of the weather. Her partners were in court this morning with a client that had been charged with embezzlement. That left her with the dubious honor of showing a new client her future offices on the tenth floor. Normally it wasn’t a task Erin would lend herself to, but with the incredible amount of money offered to handle her affairs Erin didn’t really think a small tour would hurt relations.

The briefcase was starting to get heavy so she switched it over to the other hand as she fumed a little and took the escalator down one floor. The she crossed another lobby before she climbed into a second elevator car headed up.

Honestly, why was this place so big? And was it just a perverse sense of humor by the architect that designed the structure that she needed to go down a level to get onto the elevator that would take her up to the sixth floor?

There were three different sets of elevator banks that carried occupants in three different directions. You needed to know where you were headed to get somewhere. Erin sighed and focused on the present before she squeezed into a corner of the elevator to avoid the heavy press of bodies.

Finally the contraption opened and Erin gratefully squeezed out of the small, confined space before the door finished opening properly. She walked briskly into her office lobby to the shrill ring of the telephone.

"Merry Christmas." Her greeting was distant, meant to be friendly without encouraging conversation. Without meeting anyone’s gaze she crossed the room to enter her private office.

"Just a moment, I’ll see if she’s in."

Cathy, her secretary, spoke into the telephone handset. Her voice made Erin cringe internally with dread while she hoped the call wasn’t for her, but she kept walking while keeping her expression neutral.

The sound of the other attorney’s secretaries gossiping around the bullpen was already about to lull her into the quiet rhythms of the day. Erin eavesdropped shamelessly as she crossed the room.

Cathy noticed the look on her boss’ face and told whoever was on the other end that Ms. Donovan was in a meeting and that she would have to take a message. The attorney shot her a grateful look, but stopped when her briefcase slipped out of her gloved fingers and dropped onto the floor.

Her secretary affected not to notice and finished the phone call. After she hung up, Cathy walked over to hand Erin the slip of paper and smiled a greeting. As usual, the first thing she actually said was a recount of her previous night’s dream.

"I keep having this nightmare where the furnace goes kaplooey. Then all the phones stop working and we’re just stuck here, slowly freezing to death. I’m telling you if the storm doesn’t let up soon I’m never going to get any sleep!"

Erin grinned at the blonde’s account of her nocturnal struggles as she walked into her office and over to her desk. She retrieved her coffee mug before she walked out of the other door in the corner that led back into the rear of the break room area. The circuitous route was just another example of the architect’s convoluted design.

"That sounds like quite an adventure, Cathy." Erin grinned as she walked past the woman who had also walked into the small kitchen alcove from the other side to fill her mug.

Cathy Dawson was in her early twenties and already a professional businesswoman, even if she did insist on too thick make-up and bright red lipstick that contrasted sharply with her pale skin. Her nail polish today was a strange combination of orange and red.

"Yeah. Only it was the same one." She leaned against the wall while Erin filled her mug and said, "Last night was the third time this week."

Erin didn’t take the dream seriously as she concentrated on the first sip of her coffee. Cathy’s very active imagination was always coming up with some new way in which the whole office would be involved in mass suicide or some other kind of death. Erin walked away from the alcove and sensed she was being followed back into her office.

"I had a dream last night," Erin contributed. "Only it was in August and it was the air conditioning that went out. Everybody had to take their clothes off just to survive."

While she spoke Erin dropped her scarf and gloves onto her desk before she walked over to hang her coat on the rack. She paused with her story for dramatic effect and she turned to Cathy to gauge her reaction.

"I like your dream even better. At least we’d all be warm."

"That’s when Ed Cupper took his clothes off and danced naked on his desk." Erin grinned when her secretary threw her head back and laughed out loud.

Ed was an extremely portly man with a dark receding hairline who took every opportunity to proposition the female employees. Usually he invited them to his place to look at his etchings. If he weren’t the Vice President of the corporation that owned Holcomb Enterprises Erin had no doubt that he would have been fired long ago for sexual harassment.

"That’s when I woke up." Erin concluded her story and picked up her mug for another sip of black coffee. Her direct line chose that moment to ring. Slightly irritated she halted the rise of the much-needed brew to her lips.

"Yes?" she inquired after she checked the caller id and snatched up the handset.

Erin clamped down on her impatience since the call had direct bearing on future business relations. The client was actually her partner’s, but she had agreed to handle the details this morning while Ray was unavailable.

After a moment she hung up and turned to her secretary. "That was the information desk downstairs. Mr. Sloan sent the electrician to look at the tenth floor offices. Have Mr. Evans show the electrician to the floor and please make sure he’s clear on exactly what the client wants and proper placement. After that could you have him come and see me? We need to get that discovery on Jameson going."

"New client?" Cathy asked. Erin realized she would be familiar today’s schedule but wouldn’t know anything to do with the tenth floor.

Technically it wasn’t any of her business and Erin knew that her partners would have considered it beneath them to answer a secretary, but she had never been one to stand on ceremony. She also found that if she didn’t act like she was better than those who worked for her it made her life easier. Often the receptionist or secretaries would overhear some critical bit of information the clients discussed in the lobby. These little tidbits would rarely reach Eldridge or White, but Erin was always kept in the loop.

"She’s really Mr. Eldridge’s client, but he’s in court this morning. Since Ms. Tierney insists that one of the senior partners show her the offices, I’m elected."

The secretary shared a sympathetic look. "When is she supposed to be here?"

"In about an hour."

"Tierney…Tierney. Is that Carson Tierney? Head of Delphi Technologies?"

The younger woman was clearly impressed and Erin couldn’t blame her. The woman that founded Delphi Technologies was considered a prodigy in every respect. Ray Eldridge mentioned that Carson Tierney skipped six grades in a public school, going from sixth grade to twelfth in the same year. She was in college on a full scholarship at thirteen, had more degrees than Erin could count and had founded Delphi Technologies six years ago. The company rocketed to the top almost overnight. That Ms. Tierney went from being a poor girl on the wrong side of town to establishing a multi-million dollar company practically overnight was a testament to the young woman’s intelligence and strict work ethic; a work ethic that mirrored her own.

Erin grinned. "One and the same. From what I hear the woman has so many master’s degrees she could probably teach every class at Columbia University. So now you know why I have to show the offices instead of letting one of the junior partners handle it."

"Yeah, she’s supposed to be smart and loaded. That’s a lot of money for the company. Delphi’s one of the leading computer research companies in the world."

Erin finished her coffee and set the empty cup on her desk. That was enough gossip for the morning and now it was time to get down to business.

"Besides Ms. Tierney you probably have a pretty busy day planned, huh?"

The attorney sat behind her desk and refocused on the other woman. She had already started to shift into business mode and resisted the hypnotic pull. Well aware of her reputation for working too hard, she focused and said, "Yeah, if you call reviewing two writs, a deposition, preparing a discovery and three client meetings a busy day."

"Ouch. In that case I’ll leave you to it."

She was almost to the door when Erin added, "Oh Cathy, would you bring me another coffee?"

"Sure." But Erin had already started to boot her computer and Cathy doubted the attorney even heard her.

No wonder Ms. Donovan is a senior partner at thirty-nine years old, Cathy thought. She really does work too hard. I bet she doesn’t even have a boyfriend.

While the computer was booting up Erin changed from the heavy winter boots into more traditional footwear for a corporate attorney. Her feet were chilled from slugging through the snow and slush and the high heels were almost a relief. She grinned wryly at the thought of pumps being comfortable and knew that they wouldn’t be by the end of the day. Then she settled behind her desk and logged into her computer.

For the next hour Erin was lost in the world of corporate law. She loved the intricacies of the work and was constantly challenged and thrilled by new and innovative approaches to timeless problems. What she was working on today wasn’t exactly precedent setting, but it was vital to one of her clients and she didn’t intend to let him down.

Mr. Jameson’s wife was suing him for half the worth of his business ventures, a chain of high-end restaurants and his IRA. She claimed that he divorced her after a torrid affair and refused to pay child support or alimony. The ex Mrs. Jameson claimed that if she didn’t receive full restitution she and her son would be living out of their Mercedes.

Garret Jameson had confided that Mrs. Jameson was the one having the affair and was better off with her own money than anything he could provide for her. He insisted he had been paying all child support required by the courts and even provided documentation to prove it.

Unfortunately the legal system usually sided with the mother, which left her client’s divorce attorney the difficult task of proving that Mrs. Jameson was just trying to take him to the cleaners. The first step was to research the discovery for Mrs. Jameson that required her to reveal all of her financial holdings. Her husband had previously filed the discovery with his divorce lawyer, but then asked Erin to look over the results.

He was concerned that she would somehow be able to get controlling interest in the chain of restaurants that he had built from the ground up and wanted to know if Erin thought his ex-wife had a case.

Erin had the feeling that some of the woman’s assets were hidden in an offshore account, but property purchases as well as investment trails from her broker would point a finger at the concealed finances.

She frowned as she read back through Trudy Jameson’s history. In a round about way she was related to the Marsters family that owned Marsters Research Corporation. The company coincidentally kept a lab on the eleventh floor of Erin’s own building. Mrs. Jameson was a first cousin to the president, Douglas Marsters. If Mr. Jameson hadn’t provided her with a complete family history, which Erin thought superfluous at the time, she would never have known.

She vaguely remembered that Marsters was the company that had been involved in a wrongful death lawsuit five years earlier. They were charged with spewing toxins into the air from one of their chemical plants. Several people in a twenty-mile radius contracted a rare form of cancer and the families blamed the company.

Douglas Marsters had approached Erin back then to represent them, but after a preliminary investigation she refused the case on moral grounds. Their safety protocols seemed to be non-existent and a lot of their research was labeled ‘Top Secret’. It smacked of clandestine military biological warfare even though she had never uncovered enough to prove it.

When she turned them down another up and coming law firm eagerly snapped it up. No doubt they received a huge retainer. Dickson and Dickson managed to find a sympathetic judge and in the end the Marsters Corporation received a token slap on the wrist. The victim’s families were compensated barely enough to pay for their loved one’s funerals.

From what Erin understood the cancer was extremely virulent and incurable. Most of the victims had already succumbed to the disease.

If Mrs. Jameson was really related to them she had to be extremely well off. Even after the settlement from the wrongful death case the Marsters Corporation was worth billions. Erin was suddenly jolted by loud voices from just outside her closed door.

"I’m sorry, ma’am, but you can’t go in there."

Cathy’s voice was high and frustrated as though she had been arguing strenuously with the woman in question. The heavy oak door was thrown open and bounced off the wall. A tall, cool blonde woman with severe features and a gorgeous blue Armani pant suit stalked unannounced into the room. The first thing Erin noticed was the suit perfectly matched the color of the stranger’s eyes.

"I am Carson Tierney. I am here to see the offices on the tenth floor."

Chapter 2

Erin stood up slowly behind her desk. She had seen the woman before outside Ray Eldridge’s office even though they had never spoken. She was haughty, arrogant and gorgeous, just as Erin remembered her. No doubt the rich bitch in the Armani power suit was accustomed to getting everything she wanted. Erin felt her proverbial hackles rise.

"Are you in the habit of stalking into other people’s offices unannounced?"

The cold expression remained solidly fixed. Erin used her harsh tone rarely and it usually made the recipient back down very quickly. The fact that it didn’t even seem to faze the blonde only irked her more.

"For a five hundred thousand dollar retainer? Yes."

Okay, she had a point. But Erin wasn’t quite ready to let it go. "Do you think you could at least stop harassing my people?" The only response she got was a raised eyebrow and she felt the fist throb of a headache.

"Fine. Thank you, Cathy. I’ll handle things from here."

Cathy shot her a grateful look and closed the door on her way out. Erin reached for a folder on the corner of her desk and passed it across to the taller client.

What was she anyway, Erin wondered irritably, six feet? Erin ignored the fact that Ms. Tierney’s Nordic beauty made her feel like an old frump.

"Here are the schematics for the offices on the tenth floor. They also include the locations of the new outlets and phone jacks that you requested."

Carson. Tierney abruptly snatched the folder from Erin’s hand and the attorney felt the sudden urge to slap the cold blonde across the face. She resisted the impulse and watched as the folder was shoved negligently under an arm without a single glance. The thick, fur-lined overcoat all but obscured the manila folder.

"My research team will look over the schematics. We will have the entire tenth floor, correct?"

When Erin only nodded Tierney said, "I will see the space…now."

It was not a request and Erin squashed another violent urge. How the hell did Ray put up with this?

She tugged down the hem of her jacket and stepped out from behind the desk. She could do this. It would only take twenty minutes at the most to show the annoying woman the tenth floor and then she would never have to speak to her again.

She could do this.

Erin led Ms. Tierney to the nearest elevator bank that would carry them to the tenth floor. It was the same set of elevators she had taken earlier and it actually managed to traverse the entire eleven floors without any convoluted detours, except for the main lobby. It would even travel to the roof if someone had the proper key. As a senior partner of Eldridge, Donovan and White she had a key but had never used it. Erin doubted she ever would.

"Here we are, the tenth floor."

Erin almost ran smack into James Evans when the doors opened. The law clerk had grime on his face and dark smudges on his white shirt. His suit jacket was nowhere in sight. She had forgotten that he was supposed to come see her after he finished showing the electrician around.

"Mr. Evans! What are you still doing up here?"

"Um, I was helping the electrician. Nothing’s too good for the client’s satisfaction, right?"

Ms. Tierney breezed out of the elevator and said haughtily, "At least some of your staff has the proper attitude."

From the puppy look James currently lavished on the irrepressible Ms. Tierney, Erin doubted the only satisfaction he wanted to give was of the electrical variety.

"I pay you to assist the law firm, Mr. Evans, not learn another trade. I want those briefs prepared for the one o’clock meeting, finished and on my desk in one hour. Is that understood?"

"Yes, ma’am."

He answered respectfully, but his eyes still followed the blonde computer executive as she wandered the tenth floor. Erin wanted to slap him on the back of the head. She had never felt so many violent urges in such a short amount of time. This was getting ridiculous!

She settled for pushing him back through the open elevator doors. Before they closed she said, "And clean your face."

It wasn’t the scathing retort she wanted but he had the grace to flush and mumble an apology. Erin turned around and unexpectedly caught Ms. Tierney with an unguarded look on her face as she inspected the office space. She really couldn’t blame James. With the stony expression gone the woman really was quite beautiful.

Her eyes were the color of glacial ice and her skin was fresh cream, pure and unblemished. Erin felt the sudden desire to run her thumb across the cleft of the proud chin. Lights from overhead made the blonde hair shine like summer wheat and she felt a shiver travel up her spine.

Erin shook the thoughts away and walked toward the client.

"There are seven private offices as well as a lobby and receptionist space on this floor. It also boasts a janitor’s closet, two supply rooms, a large room with the additional outlets and phone jacks requested. It even has a small kitchen. A lavatory at the end of the hall contains a locker room as well as a shower. You could practically live up here without the need to see the outside world."

The sound of a hammer and power tools dimly filled the air and Erin realized that the construction crew was getting started for the day. The building was well insulated and sound proofed so the noise was faint, but there was no missing it. She wondered if the client would suddenly tell her that the space was unacceptable and walk out.

Instead Carson Tierney asked curiously, "What’s on the floor above us?"

Taken off guard by the civil tone Erin answered softly. "A research company, but the twelfth floor is being renovated with new windows, plumbing and carpet. Actually, the senior partners of my firm are thinking of relocating to that floor after the remodeling is complete."

Ms. Tierney only nodded and continued to wander from room to room. She seemed to be in no hurry and inspected every little nook and cranny. By the time she was finished Erin was convinced the woman had also counted every strand of the small spider web at the rear left corner of the hallway. It was all she could do not to tap her foot impatiently while she waited.

After the tenth time she checked her watch Erin was ready to inform the woman that she was going to leave her on her own, but Ms. Tierney suddenly decided that she was finished. Erin wondered if the woman had managed to pick up on her impatience.

Back in the elevator Erin asked, ‘When did you plan on moving in?"

"When are you going to give me the keys?"

Erin tried not to flinch at the sarcasm and wordlessly held up the spare set. Ms. Tierney grabbed the keys in the same fashion as she had the folder and the attorney honestly thought she would throttle her. It took a second to swallow her ire but then she handed Ray’s client an elevator pass card.

"This is a temporary until your identification badge is finished. It will operate the elevators after they’re shut down at six. Digital readers are located inside the stairwell at each exit, but the cards will only work for your company’s floor and the lobby after hours. That is, of course, a security measure due to the sensitive nature of the business conducted in this building. In the event of an emergency or power loss all of the stairwell doors will unlock automatically."

"I shall be back this afternoon to settle in."

Not even an acknowledgment of her words, Erin thought. Could the woman get any ruder? "I assume you mean you will send your crew to move you in?"

The snide remark was uncalled for, but she just couldn’t help herself. At first Erin was proud of her quick retort but the brief flash of hurt on the other woman’s face unaccountably made her wish she could bite her tongue off. Then the look was gone and Erin wondered if it had been a product of her imagination.

Hurt feelings or not, Ms Tierney was still an important client and Erin’s behavior was bordering on unprofessional. She prided herself on not letting anyone get under her skin and this woman had managed it almost on sight. It was time to get things back under control.

The doors opened back on the sixth floor and Erin stepped off, but she turned and put her foot in the way of the sensor to prevent the doors from closing.

"If you need anything," she finally said, "please call me."

Erin handed the executive her business card. It was one of the special ones and had her home number on the back. To her surprise Ms. Tierney accepted the card gracefully and Erin stepped back. Just before the doors closed their eyes made contact. Confusion swam in the blue depths and then Ms. Tierney was gone.

What the hell is wrong with me?

Erin shook herself like a dog shedding water to throw off the surreal experience that was Ms. Carson Tierney. She had work to do and it was time to concentrate. Unaccountably she wondered if she had left any impression on the client other than another lackey to boss about.

As soon as the elevator doors closed Carson slumped against the wall and heaved a relieved sigh. That went well, she thought sarcastically.

She had tried to prepare for this meeting all week and it still caught her off guard. Carson just hadn’t expected Erin Donovan to overwhelm her so completely even though she had insisted that the unexpectedly young senior partner be the one to show her the tenth floor when she learned that Ray wouldn’t be available.

Her nerves had won out when Carson walked into Ms. Donovan’s lobby and she didn’t even wait for the secretary to announce her. Carson walked in like she owned the place and demanded that the attorney interrupt her busy day to accommodate her. The amazing blue-gray eyes that she had fantasized about from the first time she saw the woman turned to a hard, stormy slate and took the wind out of Carson’s sails.

When Ms. Donovan handed her the folder she snatched it away out of fear that their fingers would touch. Carson knew that she couldn’t survive the electric contact and she unwittingly made things even worse.

She had been considered a genius at age six, graduated public school at thirteen and published her first doctorate at MIT at sixteen. Mathematics was easy, especially the language of ones and zeros. What never made any sense to her were the social niceties. She had never been good at it and managed to alienate the first adult female she could ever remember being attracted to inside thirty seconds.

The image of her father flashed briefly in her mind and Carson pushed the unwanted vision away. She tried not to blame him, but from the time of her mother’s death at age five he wanted nothing to do with her. He still went to work as a backhoe operator, but left the young child to her own devices.

All Carson could ever remember wanting was to get away from him and the ramshackle trailer house they lived in. Even at her tender years she realized the only way that would happen was through school. Buried in the world of academia Carson never considered people important in any fashion; all people did was cause her pain. She concentrated on her education and excelled. Her first two master’s degrees were in Computer Science-Security and Programming.

She managed to gather three additional doctorates at Yale in Mathematics, Engineering and Organization and Management of Information Technology. At age twenty Carson started Delphi Technologies. Initially she focused on computer software development, but eventually diversified into testing other major software company’s programs for security leaks to prevent hacking into their programming. Now the company had grown to the point where working out of a warehouse was no longer sufficient or desirable. Carson needed a fresh, new, sophisticated look for Delphi.

She also employed a very select group of hand picked programmers and technicians that needed more room to work. Ray Eldridge came highly recommended by a colleague to protect her business interests. The fact that he charged a healthy retainer didn’t even cause her to flinch. She needed the best to look out for their legal welfare to prevent unexpected and frivolous suits.

She saw Erin Donovan the first time she walked into the Holcomb Building to meet with him, and when Ray suggested the move to the tenth floor it seemed like a golden opportunity to keep running into the redheaded goddess that walked the halls.

The elevator doors opened in the lobby and Carson straightened from her slumped position immediately. She felt the cold mask slip into place with practiced ease and strode across the lobby. Men and women alike turned their heads when she walked past, but she ignored them and walked toward the condensation covered glass doors.

The doorman called for her car and she waited impatiently for the valet to pull the Lexus SUV around. At least it would be warm inside and she wouldn’t need to wait for the engine to warm up.

Carson drove home on the slippery streets with great care. In her opinion people just didn’t know how to drive in this weather and the holiday rush only compounded things. Dirty snow had been pushed by the snowplows into huge banks on the sides of the roads and she refused to look at them.

She didn’t care for Chicago in the wintertime and had once made plans to expand to California once the Chicago office was set up to her liking. She had made enough money with Delphi that she could comfortably expand three times without feeling the financial impact and decided that at least in California she could be warm.

Then she saw Erin Donovan and her focus changed. For the first time the world of numbers had to move over and make a little room for her heart. Carson wasn’t fooling herself; she knew Ms. Donovan couldn’t be remotely interested in her. She was probably straight anyway.

Even though she wasn’t exactly experienced in these things Carson was well aware that her romantic interests leaned toward the feminine variety. She never understood the crushes her classmates claimed they experienced over members of the opposite sex. It just didn’t make sense. Men were clumsy, lumbering and had an unpleasant aroma, even the ones that insisted they had just taken a shower.

When her first crush did finally come it was in the form of a gorgeous dark haired athlete in her freshman year of college. Carson was very young at the time, only fourteen, but she still remembered the chiseled muscles of the lady track star.

Carson followed every major track and field event that year when she wasn’t studying or actually in classes, but she was still destined to get her heart broken. One night as she was walking back to the dorm after studying at the library she found her intended locked in the arms of a tall, male jock that looked like he’d crawled out of a caveman movie.

She had seen the young man before at one of the track events, and knew he was considered handsome and a real catch. But the only thing Carson caught when she saw them kissing was a case of unrequited puppy love. It took a while to get over it, but she knew that men were not anything she could ever seriously consider.

Years later, and so much hard work that she had forgotten to have a heart, and then she enlisted Ray Eldridge to cover her company’s financial security. That was when she saw Erin Donovan for the first time and felt her heart start to melt from the cold lump of ice it had become.

Carson made every excuse she could think of to visit the Holcomb Building over the last six months just to see Ms. Donovan. She knew that the attorney only spotted her a handful of times since she did her best to stay out of sight, but it was worth it. The diminutive attorney had a classic beauty, like a film star from the forties or fifties. Her auburn hair was vibrant even under the glow of artificial lights and Carson was firmly of the opinion that they just didn’t make women like that any more.

By rote she drove north along the Kennedy Expressway toward Rodger’s Park. Her home was located north of Lake Shore Drive and was one of the older estates that populated the area. Traffic was normally slow because of the weather at this time of the year, but at the moment it was at a standstill.

Annoyed, Carson wondered what could possibly be the hold up. Had there been an accident? There were certainly no baseball games in the wintertime that could account for the traffic jam.

For a few miles traffic was bumper to bumper, another reminder of her desire for the quiet life. Maybe after she earned her second billion she would appoint a chairman to run her company and hide quietly in the wings.

A few miles along traffic suddenly picked back up to full speed. Carson couldn’t see any reason for it to have slowed to begin with and resisted the urge to complain. Eventually she turned off onto a secluded lane. Two hundred yards up a narrow paved road she pulled into a large private driveway.

The garage door opened automatically when she crossed the sensor and she drove into the triple-car heated garage, only slowing a little to accommodate the rise of the doors. When she finally pulled to a stop and shut off the engine Carson sighed in relief.

This place was her sanctuary and although she had paid close to two and a half million dollars for it, she felt it was worth every penny.

The house was two stories with a full basement that she had converted into a wine cellar. There were four bedrooms with three and a half baths. A fireplace took up one wall of the first floor family room and all of the wood décor throughout was Brazilian cherry. The library on the first floor had been renovated and expanded as well. Nine and a half foot ceilings gave the place a roomy feel and the slate spa bath on the enclosed patio was a comfort on these cold, stormy days.

On sunny days Carson enjoyed the Juliet balcony on the top floor outside the other family room.

One of the things Carson did like to do was cook. When she bought the house she had it remodeled to accommodate a gourmet kitchen with a nine-foot island and stainless steel appliances.

Even though the inside of the older home had been completely remodeled, a lot of work was still going on throughout the grounds. An estate on Lake Michigan needed a sea wall and that was the priority at the moment. After that the boathouse, docks and swimming area would be upgraded.

Carson had been too impatient to wait for all of the work to be finished and moved in as soon as the house renovations were completed against the advice of her security advisors. The outer gate worked off of a solar panel and the old security system had been disabled until the rest of the construction was completed. After that it would be hard-wired into the house with a backup power supply.

It was worth the noise of construction crews though, and definitely beat living in the old trailer home or an apartment. At the moment it was quiet, the crew having no doubt packed it in for the day in anticipation of the winter storm that was due to hit later.

She entered through the kitchen door and tried to ignore the loneliness of a place that usually comforted her. In this case the roominess reminded her that of all the things she had achieved in life the one thing she hadn’t managed was someone to share it with.

Erin Donovan reminded her of that.

She didn’t even have the comfort of family. The father she never got along with had finally abandoned her completely. He had never forgiven her for her mother’s death and even after she became successful he wanted nothing to do with her. She tried to offer him a new home besides the dilapidated trailer house, but he wouldn’t even speak to her about it.

They were never close and when he passed away the year before she was unsurprised that she didn’t feel much of anything. One should feel something at the death of a parent, she thought. Shouldn’t they?

Carson growled and pushed the melancholy feelings away. She needed to get changed and gather some of her things from the warehouse before she returned to the Holcomb Building. She exchanged her Armani for a silk button-down shirt because she liked the feel of it, dark blue jeans, thick socks and hiking boots with heavy tread. The overcoat was swapped for a fur-lined leather bomber jacket.

No one would recognize her in her current garb, but this was what she preferred. She didn’t care if instead of driving a Lexus SUV she drove an old beater truck in need of a muffler, but she realized that she had an image to protect. If she ran around in a beat up old pick-up her company would go down the drain in a week. And it is nice to have the Bose stereo system and heated seats, she thought with a grin.

Carson moved nimbly down the stairs and walked into the kitchen. A quick mocha from the espresso machine and she was out the door. Her heart thumped in anticipation of seeing Ms. Donovan again as she drove toward the warehouse district. In a few hours she would get to see the small attorney and hopefully this time she wouldn’t act like a complete idiot!

She wondered just how much of a bad impression she had made on Erin Donovan or if she would ever be able to look her in the face again.

Downtown, Erin Donovan, corporate attorney at law, had almost forgotten about her encounter with the Armani-clad businesswoman. Her task of showing the insufferable person around was complete and as far as she was concerned Carson Tierney was now officially Ray Eldridge’s problem. If he needed another stand-in he could call on their other partner, Bob White.

The day passed quickly as she concentrated on her work. The deposition was completed in record time, which was good as it turned out since her first client meeting went over by an hour. When she finally finished it was to find that James had completed the briefs she wanted and they were already on her desk for her approval.

Lunchtime came and went without notice as she perused the documents and signed them off. Then it was time for her one o’clock and second client meeting of the day.

Erin stood up and pulled on her jacket that she had draped over the back of her chair earlier. Discarding the jacket soon after she started her day and only pulling it on before she was due to interact with a client always managed to give her a fresh appearance, even if she felt like she was about to collapse from exhaustion. In this case she didn’t think that was far off.

Erin had only managed to snag a bagel on the way to work this morning and her stomach started to protest the strict diet of caffeine. The heavy workload of the day and the encounter with the princess certainly hadn’t helped.

She glanced at her watch again and hefted the folder with the material she needed for the meeting before she walked out of her office. Conference room one was just down the hall and she only had a few minutes or she would be late.

"Ms. Donovan," Cathy said when she walked through the receptionist’s office, "you were busy when the lunch cart went by so I got you a Reuben on rye."

The secretary held up a sandwich covered in clear wrap and waved it temptingly in the air.

"Bless you, Cathy. You’re a godsend. Put it on my desk if you don’t mind and I’ll get to it when I get back from the meeting."

The secretary tutted at her and cast her a worried look, but she knew better than try to lecture the attorney about her work ethics; even if she felt that Ms. Donovan’s health might suffer for it.

Erin entered the conference room to find that she was the last one to arrive. Her clients from Burlier Pharmaceuticals sat pensively around the huge oak table and watched her carefully for any signs she might give, good or bad. She tried not to show the elation she felt that always came when she had good news for her clients. Instead she slowly sat her heavy files on the table and sat down before she carefully met the gaze of all three men that waited for her.

She took a deep breath and began without preamble, "Legal and financial experts on the Eastern Seaboard favor the view that preliminary steps to a merger, even if they are in contractual form, are conditional and do not preclude later acceptance of better offers from third parties."

Erin could see that she not only got their attention, but that they all looked extremely disconcerted by this news. Undeterred she continued. "Trade customs in large commercial centers assume that prospective mergers are primarily concerned with maximizing shareholder benefits and are therefore open to competing offers until the deal is closed."

Burlier Pharmaceuticals had been in preliminary negations with Norton Hospital to form a merger. The deal would have kept Burlier from filing bankruptcy and helped the hospital reduce medicinal costs. Before the deal had been finalized Carcroft Industries had stepped in and underbid Burlier, stealing the deal and signing everything off before they knew what was happening.

Burlier was now facing bankruptcy and came to Erin in an effort to find some legal loophole. From what she had just said they didn’t have a leg to stand on. She could see the desperation in their faces, but she still had a trump up her sleeve.

"However, there is precedent on the books to the contrary. In 1984 during Pennzoil v. Texaco, the Supreme Court ruled that although the contract was verbal it was still binding."

Shocked expressions from the men sitting around the table delighted her beyond words. She had spent a great deal of time researching their dilemma, convinced in the beginning that there was nothing they could do. After all there was nothing on paper to indicate such a merger was in the process and she just didn’t see what she could do to help them. Stumbling on the old case had been a welcome accident.

"What are you saying?" Rick Gardner, a palsied man in his sixties with a painfully receding hairline asked the question somewhat tremulously.

Erin could see the glimmer of carefully guarded hope in his rheumatic eyes and grinned before she answered him. "It means that in this state a verbal agreement is just as good as a signed document."

"Norton Hospital has already admitted that they were in preliminary negotiations with your company and don’t seem to realize that was their tactical error. They can’t deny it now. In fact, during the case that I mentioned earlier the Supreme Court required Texaco to pay an eleven million dollar penalty for the breach of contract. Of course they eventually settled out of court for three million rather than declare bankruptcy, and I see no reason why your case isn’t just as good."

#

He could almost believe that she just sat at the window lost in quiet daydreams. If it weren’t for the vacant stare of sightless eyes or the way her breath didn’t fog the windows that were frigid with winter’s kiss he could let himself believe. But the truth was that she was gone, the light in his heart and his purpose for living. She was as dead as the leaves from the trees trapped in winter’s embrace.

The doctors hadn’t been able to help her. They had tried for months to halt the disease that grew inside her at a highly accelerated rate. It was a cancer that he was convinced was caused by the chemical research lab that poured toxins into the air across the bay and less than a mile from their home. In his efforts to fight the huge corporation responsible for the air that polluted their bodies he learned the hard way that no one cared for the concerns of one man. The lab meant jobs for people that tried to make it in hard times so everyone else turned a blind eye.

Finally he ran out of the money needed to fight the corporate lawyers and felt himself spin into a pit of despair as he watched the life slowly drain out of his beloved Mary. She required his constant care in the end and with the money gone in fighting the lawyers he couldn’t afford to hire a nurse. Left with no alternatives he willingly took over the task and thanked God every day for each breath Mary took.

His employers, however, had a very different take on the subject. On the third day that he missed punching in on time they fired him. It didn’t matter. Only Mary mattered. He never enjoyed the road crews anyway. It was hard work that was unforgiving no matter what the weather. The fact that it left him well-muscled and sturdy was beside the point.

He stared into the window and focused on his own reflection and that of Mary. Not for the first time he considered their differences. She had been blonde and frail, like a light visited on this world for a brief time to profoundly touch the lives of everyone she met. Mary had never known a stranger, easily speaking to anyone with friendly offers of encouragement. Everyone had liked her.

In contrast he was a mammoth of a man. He towered almost seven feet tall and sported a dark shock of thick wavy hair complete with a heavy beard and mustache. When people looked at him he could almost feel their terror. No one could see the gentle man that resided in the massive form, no one but darling Mary.

And now she was gone.

With a shift, his focus was directed outward again into the swirling snow. The barren landscape was a strange comfort. It was as hollow and forlorn as he felt. Christmas had been Mary’s favorite time of the year and for a time his as well. Now it was meaningless, just another day in a season where the world was locked in death.

He knew what he needed to do now. He had tried to do things the right way, the civilized way and lost everything. Now he would take care of things properly. What became of him was unimportant. What was important was revenge. They would pay for what Mary had endured.

The research lab was incidental and unimportant in making his anguish felt. You needed to cut the head off before the snake would die and in this case the serpent was the corporate office located in downtown Chicago. He would start there.

Carefully he leaned over and adjusted the throw on Mary’s legs. It wouldn’t do to let her get cold, but he didn’t have the heart to put her back to bed. She so enjoyed the view from this window.

After she was settled he pulled on a heavy black overcoat before he kissed her on the temple. Then he whispered goodnight to his wife of fifteen years and quietly went out the door.