Adversaries and Lovers Read Free

best of me."
    Kate set the box on his desk and reached into her shoulder bag. "I found these in my grandmother's trunk and thought your grandfather might like to see them," she said, offering the photos, disturbed to find her fingers shaking and hoping he hadn't noticed.
    Ben took the photos, smiled at her and said, "Nervous?"
    Kate withdrew her hand. "I suppose a man like you would jump to that conclusion."
    "And what kind of a man do you think I am?"
    Kate found his slow smile unsettling. And dangerous. There was no question the man set her on edge. He also made her pulse quicken and her cheeks hot. When she said nothing, he added, "Go ahead, lay it on. I can take it."
    Holding his dusky gaze, Kate replied, "Okay then, since you asked for the truth, I'll give it to you straight. I find you cocky and conceited and incredibly—" she stopped short of saying, good-looking, and added instead, "annoying."
    "Then there's hope." He moved to her side, his warm breath wafting against her temple as he made a fan of the photos in his large hand and waited for her commentary. "And now you intend to tell me about these." It was a statement.
    "Well, yes." Kate drew in a long breath to dispel the tightening in her chest, and said, while pointing, "This one's of your grandfather and mine. And here they are in front of the fraternity house where they were living..." her voice trailed off as she focused on the hand holding the photos. Large, well-shaped fingers culminated in short, clean fingernails, not nails imbedded with grease and dirt as she might have expected of a motorcycle buff. She wondered how many naive women might have surrendered to the touch of that incredibly masculine hand...
    Aware that her thoughts had wandered into dangerous territory, she pointed to the last photo and said, "And in this one your grandfather's wearing this raccoon coat—" she slipped the lid off the box and pulled out the coat. It dangled from her hand like a great fur trophy, the pungent aroma of mothballs wafting from it. When she got no reaction, she said, "I thought your grandfather might want to see it for old-time’s sake."
    Ben stared at the coat, saying nothing. Then his chest expanded, he nodded with a grim smile, and his nostrils flared. "Ahhh... Ahhh... Chewww!"
     "Bless you."
    "Ahhh... Ahhh... Chewww!"
    "Bless you again. I don't know why my grandmother had your grandfather's coat," Kate said, "but she's kept it in mothballs for years. You can see it's very well preserved."
    Ben eyed the coat, with annoyance. "I imagine my grandfather gave it to your grandfather for the same reason I intend to give it back. Ahhh... Ahhh—" he pressed a finger beneath his nostrils to quell a sneeze "— get the damn thing out of here !"
    Kate's forced a smile. "I'm sorry. I didn't know moth balls bothered you." Deciding she'd better get on with her appeal, she stuffed the coat back in the box and replaced the lid. Obviously he hadn't bought into the photo raccoon coat bit. He also looked as immovable as a mountain, and just about as indifferent. Convincing him to give up the idea of building his corporate office in Sellwood would be more of a challenge than she'd anticipated.
    "Look, about my grandmother..." she paused while searching for the approach that would best tug at the man's heart strings.
    "You came here to talk about your grandmother?"
    "I came to talk about a whole neighborhood of kind, gentle grandmothers and grandfathers, helpless old people who’ll have no place to live if you build—" she shot a finger toward the rendering "—that thing , in Sellwood!" She sucked in a sharp breath to check her temper against another outburst. But the thought that this man could be solely responsible for destroying the lives of so many sweet old people made her mad as a hornet.
    Ben set his jaw. "That thing was designed by the most prestigious architectural firm in the northwest, and I don't intend to build it in the middle of an old folks’ home."
    "No,