Erich Radner sat the tumbler of cut glass with its two ice cubes and three fingers of scotch on the coffee table. He turned toward the door and the expression on his face didn't betray a single thought he had as he stared at the beautiful woman who stood in the doorway of the study. "Caitlyn, it's nice seeing you again."
"You two already know each other?"
"You could say that. We were introduced at one of your charity functions, Joseph." Erich strode forward, his gait as sensual as a cat. "Caitlyn was kind enough to take pity on me."
"Is that what they call it now?" Cat's voice was hard and her eyes betrayed her anger, though she tried to hide it.
"Then that's a start. Cat will be training you. She heads King of Hearts and actually is the reason we have that special division." Joseph walked to the bar and fixed Cat her usual gin and tonic. He handed her the drink and then swept his hand toward the sitting area of the room. "Shall we sit down?"
Cat nodded her thanks, taking a sip of her drink and feeling the gin zing through her system. She sank down on the couch and crossed her mile long legs.
"I can't believe you were ever an abused wife." Erich sat across from her and his eyes lingered on her legs before they moved to her face. "I didn't think you'd put up with that from any man."
"I've never been married, Mr. Radner. What Joseph means is that I went out on my own one night. I had a client who was pregnant, very pregnant. Her husband had beaten her, leaving a black eye on her face and had broken two of her ribs. I don't take very well to men who abuse those who are less able to defend themselves so I went to talk to him."
"Caitlyn has a very forceful way with the spoken word, Erich. I've been on the other side of more than one of those kinds of conversations." Joseph chuckled but
ignored the look that Caitlyn shot at him.
"Go on, Caitlyn. What did you do?" Erich sat forward and cradling his glass in both hands. He took a small sip of the potent scotch before sitting the glass down once more on the coffee table.
"I really just went there to talk to the man, to impress upon him the legal ramifications if I could talk his wife into going to the cops. He was the one who took the first swing at me."
"You have to understand, Erich. This man was at least as tall as Caitlyn and out weighed her by about a hundred pounds. The only fat on him was the stuff between his ears."
"How did you manage to get away without being as badly beaten as his wife?"
"The thing that you should always remember, the bigger they are, the harder my knee in their groin can hurt them. He dropped to the ground and while he was screeching like a choir boy, we had a little heart to heart talk. He decided that he didn't want me coming back so he would be treating his wife with the respect she deserved." She shrugged her shoulders, the move setting her breasts to jiggling under the low cut blouse she wore. Her eyes smoldered when she saw his drop to her chest, his tongue coming out to lick his lips. She felt like a bone for a dog and the feeling did not sit well with her. Not now, after he'd ignored her for so very long.
"Wonderful. Now I can't wait to get started. When can we set up a schedule?"
"You're the boss. I'll have to work around my other cases but I'm sure we can find plenty of time on the mats."
Joseph glanced at her, his eyes showing a sudden concern. "Caitlyn..."
"No, no Joseph, I'm anxious to get started. As you said, Mr. Radner will be an asset to the firm. He should know the company from the inside out. Isn't that what you enforced with me?"
"Yes, but I'd like for Erich to be alive after your training sessions." Joseph chuckled nervously and glanced from one to the other of his guests.
"Oh, Joseph, how you go on. Mr. Radner, I'm free this afternoon if you'd like to get started."
"Oh definitely. Where will we start, weapons training?"
"No, something a bit more basic." Caitlyn smiled and Joseph sighed. He could see the evil in that smile even if Erich couldn't.
* * * *
An hour later, Caitlyn was still smiling, listening as Erich lost the expensive lunch he had shared with Joseph in some bushes in Central Park. "Oh, are you all right?" The false concern in her voice was very obvious.
Two men in jogging suits ran by, their eyes on the tall redhead with her hair in a ponytail, her body clad in short running shorts and a sport's bra, her long legs looked tanned and sleek. A sheen of sweat covered her body and made her seem to shimmer in the afternoon sun. She nodded at them then her eyes went back to Erich. He crawled out of the bushes, his face still pale, his eyes half closed.
Caitlyn handed him the bottle of water she'd bought off one of the vendors in the park. It was icy cold, condensation making the bottle wet. He ran it over his forehead before opening the bottle and taking a sip.
"Not too much, otherwise you could cramp up."
"You do this everyday?" He sat up on the grass and stared up at her, his chest still heaved from his run.
"I run ten miles in the morning." She tried to ignore the admiration in his eyes. "You'll be joining me tomorrow."
"Ten miles?" The admiration in his eyes turned to horror. "You're kidding, right?"
"Do you want to be trained for King of Hearts or not, Mr. Radner?"
"You called me Erich once, Caitlyn, can't you again?"
"No. Now, if you feel better, we should get to the gym."
"I don't want to go to the gym. I want to discuss what happened between us."
"We had a one night stand. That's it, end of discussion." Caitlyn's voice was rough and she averted her eyes when his green eyes seemed to probe too quickly. She turned away from him before he could say any more and started running.
Erich rose and groaned, then took off after her. He stumbled the first few steps until he caught his balance.
* * * *
