Free Soft focus by Jayne Ann Krentz Page A

eyes. She glanced from Jack's face to Elizabeth's and then back again. "You're going away together?"
    "That's right," Jack said. "Been looking forward to it for weeks."
    "I see." Gillian looked as if she was having a problem assimilating the data. "I hadn't realized that you two were seeing each other."
    "We've kept it quiet." Elizabeth gave Jack a warning smile. "For business reasons."
    "Are you going to the coast?" Gillian asked.
    "No." Jack tightened his fingers on Elizabeth's arm. "We're going to a resort in the Rockies. No fax, no phones, no E-mail. Just the two of us alone in the woods. But we've got an early plane to catch, so I'm afraid you're going to have to excuse us."
    "Yes, of course," Gillian murmured. She blotted her eyes one last time and gave Jack a warm, tremulous smile. "Have a good time."
    "Thanks. We intend to do just that."
    He turned Elizabeth and steered her down the hall toward the lobby.
    Neither spoke until they walked outside and came to a halt beneath the bright lights that illuminated the hotel's front entrance.
    "Don't look back. She followed us into the lobby," Jack said.
    "I'm not surprised. She's very upset."
    "It will look better if we share a cab," Jack said.
    Elizabeth said nothing, just gave a clipped nod, acknowledging the suggestion. He was right. If Gillian was watching them, it would be better if they left together.
    Jack signaled the doorman, who raised a whistle to summon the next cab in line. When the door opened, Elizabeth slipped quickly into the rear seat. Jack got in beside her. The door closed.
    The back of the cab suddenly seemed like a very small, very intimate space.
    Elizabeth gazed straight ahead through the window as the taxi pulled out onto the street.
    "I suppose I should thank you," she said stiffly.
    "Don't worry, I'm not expecting you to go overboard."
    She groaned and settled back into the seat. "Thank you."
    "You're welcome," Jack said.
    "What happened back there was a little awkward."
    "I sort of figured that," he said.
    "You were right. The divorce is not final."
    Jack slanted her an enigmatic glance. "Told you so."
    She controlled her temper with an effort of will. "Yes. You did, didn't you?"
    He did not respond immediately. She glanced warily in his direction and saw that he was looking out the side window of the cab into the night. The weak glare of a streetlight glanced off the strong line of his cheekbones and jaw, leaving his eyes in deep shadows.
    "I heard Angela paid you a visit this week," he said after a while.
    The change in topic surprised her. "Angela generally comes to my office twice a month. What about it?"
    "What did she want this time?"
    Elizabeth thought about the unpleasant scene that had taken place three days earlier. Angela Ingersoll Burrows was a tall, striking, formidable woman. Her marriage of fifteen years had ended abruptly when her fifty-three-year-old, mild-mannered husband had stunned everyone by running off with his twenty-two-year-old secretary. Left with a teenage son to raise, Angela now focused most of her time and attention on making certain that her only offspring received what she considered his fair share of the family inheritance. The family inheritance consisted solely of the assets of Excalibur.
    "We talked about her usual concerns," Elizabeth said as diplomatically as possible. "She wants to see Excalibur sold or merged. She's convinced it's the only way her son will ever see a dime out of Excalibur."
    "What did you tell her?"
    "The same thing I tell her every time she comes to see me."
    Jack watched her from the shadows. "Which is?"
    She flexed her fingers around the edge of her evening bag and kept her voice very flat. "Which is that you are Excalibur's best hope and that, therefore, her son's best chance of coming into a significant inheritance from Excalibur rests with you."
    There was another short, heavy silence. Jack shifted slightly in the seat, seeming to settle deeper into the shadows.
    "You backed me," he