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“Da on a suit, a white-on-white shirt and a silk tie, he thu shoes, yanked an ancient Harvard T-shirt over his head and trotted down the stairs, out the door and to the path along the Charles River
He’d run it once this ain
Within minutes, his T-shirt was plastered to his skin It had been cooler, an hour ago, when he’d done his daily five- until he collapsed in a sodden heap would exorcise Lara’s ghost He was tired of having her ie burned into his brain
He could see her face, hear her voice He could feel the heat of her, in his arhts since he’d last kissed her, he’d awakened with the sheets kicked off and the s it hadn’t done since he was fifteen
Slade felt his lungs start to burn as the distance lengthened Friday night had gone by, and Saturday, and Sunday Plenty of time to have put Lara out of his mind
Except, he hadn’t And he’d tried
He’d worked all day Saturday, phoned a knockout blonde at the last minute and smiled to himself when she’d said well, she already had plans…but yes, she’d change them So he’d taken the blonde to dinner, then to an outdoor concert And he’d ended up in her apart the Green, as he’d known he would—except, when she’d slipped into his ar his tie, he’d suddenly wanted to be anyplace but where he was
“Wow,” he’d said, gently disengaging from her eo to my office”
“At ht…
And he’d fled
Slade groaned at the s faster
He’d tried again on Sunday by al, danced around with the body bag at his gym for an hour after that, sculled up the river in ed out in front of the TV
So ly—until someplace around dahen he’d had one of those dreams he didn’t even want to think about And yeah, noas running his butt off, panting and sweating as he headed ho and nobody but her
Slade stued hi off his soaked shorts or T-shirt He turned his face up to the water and—he was still thinking about her, still wondering why he’d kissed her, and ould have happened if that phone hadn’t rung because, no matter what she said, she still wanted to pick up where they’d left off He’d felt her turn boneless in his arms He’d heard that sexy little moan, felt the kick of her heart…
What kind of man would marry a woman like that and divorce her, all in a year and a half’s time?
Why should it matter a damn to him? That was a better question
“It doesn’t,” he said firmly, as he stepped from the shower
Maybe it was ti fields for a while He had the Beaufort building to work on and another proposal cos to deal with In fact, he’d already penciled-in awith Dobbs teeks from now
“Come for the whole weekend,” Dobbs had said, “and I’ll introduce you around, at my club”
It didn’t matter that he’d have to spend two days in the sa of the past, right?
“Right,” Slade said
He finished dressing, pulled on his boots, knotted his tie and made his way briskly down the stairs
By nine, he was seated behind his desk, leafing through his calendar He had a luncheon appointment, a conference call at three…and a , to phone Travis
He grinned
Trav had been roped into soht His office had put a heavy wager on his being the bachelor who’d bring in the highest bid
Well, why not? Trav had tried settling down and discovered it didn’t work Big surprise, Slade through wryly The only guy he kneho’d ever settled down and been happy with one woel
Slade put his feet up, crossed them at the ankles and linked his hands behind his head
Playing the field hat he enjoyed, too That, and seeing to it that Baron, Haggerty and Levine kept right on growing
“We’ll do the naht he, Jack and Ted had hatched their plans over good pasta and bad Chianti at the little Italian trattoria two blocks froiant architectural firht out of Harvard
“I’ll bet ouldn’t, if your name was Zambroski,” Jack had said, deadpan, “but it’s okay Each tih all those Back Bay debs, Baron, I swear I can hear cash registers ringing”
Slade grinned at thein last What he couldn’t have endured was if their new alliance had done the saood architect, a daood architect, despite his old oals