Mind Over Matter

the reviews.”
    “Prepare to accept praise humbly, and with good grace. Hastings, this is David Brady.”
    “Brady?” As Hastings took David’s hand, his etched in bronze face creased into a frown. “Producer?”
    “That’s right.”
    “God, I love your work.” Already flying, Hastings pumped David’s hand six times before finally releasing it. “I’m an honorary chairman of Rights for Abused Children. Your documentary did an incredible job of bringing the issue home and making people aware. Actually, it’s what got me involved in the first place.”
    “It’s good to hear that. We wanted to make people think.”
    “Made me think. I’ve got kids of my own. Listen, keep me in mind if you ever do a follow-up. No fee.” He grinned down at A.J. “She didn’t hear that.”
    “Hear what?”
    He laughed and yanked her against him again. “This lady’s incredible. I don’t know what I’d have done without her. I wasn’t going to take this part, but she badgered me into it.”
    “I never badger,” A.J. said mildly.
    “Nags, badgers and browbeats. Thank God.” Grinning, he finally took a good look at her. “Damn if you don’t look like something a man could swallow right up. I’ve never seen you dressed like that.”
    To cover a quick flush of embarrassment, she reached up to straighten his tie. “And as I recall, the last time I saw you, you were in jeans and smelled of horses.”
    “Guess I did. You’re coming to Chasen’s?”
    “Actually, I—”
    “You’re coming. Look, I’ve got a couple of quick interviews, but I’ll see you there in a half hour.” He took two strides away and was swallowed up in the crowd.
    “He’s got quite an…overwhelming personality,” David commented.
    “To say the least.” A.J. glanced at her watch. It was still early.“I suppose I should at least put in an appearance, since he’ll count on it now. I can take a cab if you’d rather skip it.”
    “Ever hear of the expression about leaving with the guy who brought you?”
    “This isn’t a country dance,” A.J. pointed out as they wove through the lingering crowd.
    “Same rules apply. I can handle Chasen’s.”
    “Okay, but just for a little while.”
    The “little while” lasted until after three.
    Cases of champagne, mountains of caviar and piles of fascinating little canapés. Even someone as practical as A.J. found it difficult to resist a full-scale celebration. The music was loud, but it didn’t seem to matter. There were no quiet corners to escape to. Through her clientele and David’s contacts, they knew nearly everyone in the room between them. A few minutes of conversation here, another moment there, ate up hours of time. Caught up in her client’s success, A.J. didn’t mind.
    On the crowded dance floor, she allowed herself to relax in David’s arms. “Incredible, isn’t it?”
    “Nothing tastes so sweet as success, especially when you mix it with champagne.”
    She glanced around. It was hard not to be fascinated with the faces, the names, the bodies. She was part of it, a very intricate part. But through her own choice, she wasn’t an intimate part. “I usually avoid this sort of thing.”
    He let his fingers skim lightly up her back. “Why?”
    “Oh, I don’t know.” Weariness, wine and pleasure combined. Her cheek rested against his. “I guess I’m more of a background sort of person. You fit in.”
    “And you don’t?”
    “Ummm.” She shook her head. Why was it men smelled sowonderful—so wonderfully different? And felt so good when you held and were held by one. “You’re part of the talent. I just work with clauses and figures.”
    “And that’s the way you want it?”
    “Absolutely. Still, this is nice.” When his hand ran down her back again, she stretched into it. “Very nice.”
    “I’d rather be alone with you,” he murmured. Every time he held her like this he thought he would go crazy. “In some dim little room where the music was low.”
    “This is safer.” But she didn’t object when his lips brushed her temple.
    “Who needs safe?”
    “I do. I need safe and ordered and sensible.”
    “Anyone who chooses to be involved in this business tosses safe, ordered and sensible out the window.”
    “Not me.” She drew back to smile at him. It felt so good to relax, to flow with the evening, to let her steps match his without any conscious thought. “I just make the deals and leave the chances up to others.”
    “Take ten percent and