Page 9 of Fifth Avenue Devil

An off put expression flashes over his face.

"I should say so, Miss Gellar. I've been a member of Gellar Industries' Board of Trustees for fifteen years. I count your father amongst my closest friends." He rubs his jaw. "I made the initial motion during your swearing in before the board two weeks ago?"

He says the last as if I ought to remember him. And perhaps he is right. But honestly, I was so nervous that day that I spent it sweating and silently shaking, in shock over the fact that my father would put me up as his heir. As opposed to Don Young or even my mother.

Though I don’t feel sorry, I smile apologetically, deciding to bluff my way through the conversation. "Oh, Gimes! I thought you said... Grimes! And I have a little bit of face blindness. It's a condition that comes and goes. I apologize."

He blinks. "Well... I guess... that's all right, then."

I put my hand on his tux sleeve. "Thanks, Mr. Gimes."

Herbert is quick to move back a step, giving me a distrustful look. "Miss Gellar, I hardly think that touching is appropriate here. One would think that you're coming on to me if one did not know that I am merely your father's best friend."

His accusation blows my hair back. I barely touched his arm! What the hell?

"I don’t understand." I back away a step. "Why would you say that?"

"Because!" Herbert looks me up and down. "Look at yourself, Miss Gellar. You're a female, you're dressed provocatively, you're touching me?—"

I shake my head, as confused as ever. "I'm just trying to imitate how I've seen my mother and father act. They are both so stiff and formal, surely they can't be acting in a way that you would find... unbecoming."

Mr. Gimes shoves his hands into his pants’ pockets and gives me a long look. "They aren't a young, available woman, Miss Gellar."

I literally don't know what to say. I whisper sorry to Mr. Gimes, then whirl around and hunt for somewhere to cool down. I notice several doors leading to the outside. Turning my shoulder to cut through the crowd, I reach the exit and push on the glass door. The chilly air hits my whole body the second I step outside.

Brr. I pull my cashmere wrap closer around my shoulders as I look around the terrace that I've stepped onto. The night is too dark to make out much beyond the vague impression of bushes past the stone railing. As I walk out onto the flat flagstones, my steps sound like muffled gunshots.

I pause, startled at the sound. Of course, the noise dies when my footsteps cease.

I give a nervous laugh just as I hear the door opening behind me. Because I am already on edge, I jump and spin around, my heart pounding, ready to ward off any evildoers. Standing there, bathed in the single spotlight on the terrace, is a man unlike any other I’ve ever seen.

The man before me looks handsome as an angel, with a little smirk on his lips and his dark hair ruffling gently in the slight breeze. But this is no innocent man.

"Mr. Fordham!" The words are pulled from my lungs, a protest.

His dark eyes sparkle with mischief. "Annalise Gellar. I believe we've been introduced once or twice."

I feel my cheeks heat, though I don't know why.

"At some point," I say quietly. "Before you made a bet that gave my father a stroke, that is."

He frowns. "That's unfair."

He strolls toward me, his expression what I imagine a tiger’s prey might see just before its gory death.

Nate Fordham is intimidatingly tall, dressed in a tuxedo that fits him like a glove. His collar is unbuttoned, tie askew. I glance at the patch of smooth, dark skin and a light dusting of hair. Something glints in the faint light.

"Are you all right?" he asks, tilting his head a few degrees.

Although I don't want them to, I can feel my cheeks heat again. "I'm fine." I wrap my arms across my chest and shoot him a glare. "Why are you out here? There's no one else to talk to on this terrace."

Nate takes another step toward me. Just what the hell is he doing?

"That's all right. I came out here to find you, Annalise."

"Me?" I try not to appear startled. The breeze starts up again and I catch a whiff of his cologne.

"Yes, you. You sound surprised."

---