A Will and a Way

us, Mr. Lockworth. I’m afraid it isn’t possible to fully explain ourselves at this point, but I can tell you that we had good reason to suspect the wine.”
    Lockworth nodded. As a scientist he knew how to theorize. “If you find you need a more comprehensive report, let me know. Jolley was an important person in my life. We’ll call it a favor to him.”
    As he rose, Michael stood with him. “I’ll apologize for myself this time.” He held out a hand.
    “I’d be a bit edgy myself if someone gave me pesticide disguised as Moët et Chandon. Let me know if I can do anything else.”
    “Well,” Pandora began when they were alone. “What next?”
    “A little trip to the liquor store. We’ve some presents to buy.”
    They sent, first-class, a bottle of the same to each of Jolley’s erstwhile heirs. Michael signed the cards simply, “One good turn deserves another.” After it was done and they walked outside in the frigid wind, Pandora huffed and pulled on her gloves.
    “An expensive gesture.”
    “Look at it as an investment,” Michael suggested.
    It wasn’t the money, she thought, but the sudden futility she felt. “What good will it do really?”
    “Several bottles’ll be wondered over, then appreciated. But one,” Michael said with relish. “One makes a statement, even a threat.”
    “An empty threat,” Pandora returned. “It’s not as if we’ll be there when everyone gets one to gauge reactions.”
    “You’re thinking like an amateur.”
    Michael was halfway across the street when Pandora grabbed his arm. “Just what does that mean?”
    “When an amateur plays a practical joke, he thinks he has to be in on the kill.”
    Ignoring the people who brushed by them, Pandora held her ground. “Since when is pesticide poisoning a practical joke?”
    “Revenge follows the same principle.”
    “Oh, I see. And you’re an expert.”
    The light changed. Cars started for them, horns blaring. Gritting his teeth, Michael grabbed her arm and pulled her to the curb. “Maybe I am. It’s enough for me to know someone’s going to look at the bottle and be very nervous. Someone’s going to look at it and know we intend to give as good as we get. Your trouble is you don’t like to let your emotions loose long enough to appreciate revenge.”
    “Leave my emotions alone.”
    “That’s the plan,” he said evenly, and started walking again.
    In three strides she’d caught up with him. Her face was pink from the wind, the anger in her voice came out in thin wisps.“You’re not annoyed with Lockworth or about the champagne or over differing views on revenge. You’re mad because I defined our relationship in practical terms.”
    He stared at her as her phrasing worked on both his temper and his humor. “Okay,” he declared, turning to walk on. Patience straining, he turned back when Pandora grabbed his arm. “You want to hash this out right here?”
    “I won’t let you make me feel inadequate just because I broke things off before you had a chance to.”
    “Before I had a chance to?” He took her by the coat. With the added height from the heels on her boots, she looked straight into his eyes. Another time, another place, he might have considered her magnificent. “I barely had the chance to recover from what happened before you were shoving me out. I wanted you. Dammit, I still want you. God knows why.”
    “Well, I want you, too, and I don’t like it, either.”
    “Looks like that puts us in the same fix, doesn’t it?”
    “So what’re we going to do about it?”
    He looked at her and saw the anger. But he looked closely enough to see confusion, as well. One of them had to make the first move. He decided it was going to be him. Taking her hand, he dragged her across the street.
    “Where are we going?”
    “The Plaza.”
    “The Plaza Hotel? Why?”
    “We’re going to get a room, put the chain on the door and make love for the next twenty-four hours. After that, we’ll decide how we want to handle it.”
    There were times, Pandora decided, when it was best to go along for the ride. “We don’t have any luggage.”
    “Yeah. My reputation’s about to be shattered.”
    She made a sound that might have been a laugh. When they walked into the elegant lobby, the heat warmed her skin and stirred up her nerves. It was all impulse, she told herself. She knew better than to make any important decision on impulse. He could change everything. That was something she hadn’t wanted