Mirror Image

for your TV commercial. Remember?”
    She knocked him aside and swept past him, moved to the dresser and began removing her jewelry, dropping the pieces onto the surface with little regard for their value or delicacy.
    “What were you doing with him?”
    “Walking,” she said flippantly, addressing his reflection behind her own in the mirror. In the dim light he appeared dark and intimidating. She refused to be cowed. “I ran into him at McDonald’s. He and the station’s reporter are staying at the Holiday Inn, I believe he said.” Lying was becoming easier. She was getting lots of practice. “Anyway, he chided me for walking alone and insisted on seeing me back to the hotel.”
    “Smart fellow. A hell of a lot smarter than you. What the hell were you thinking of to go out alone at this time of night?”
    “I was hungry,” she said, raising her voice.
    “Ever think of room service?”
    “I needed air.”
    “So open a window.”
    “What does it matter to you if I went out? You were with Jack. Jack and Eddy. Laurel and Hardy. Tweedledee and Tweedledum.” She wagged her head from side to side in time to her words. “If it’s not one who has something urgent to discuss with you, it’s the other. One of them is always knocking on your door.”
    “Don’t get off the subject. We’re talking about you, not Jack or Eddy.”
    “What about me?”
    “What made you so nervous tonight?”
    “I wasn’t nervous.”
    She tried to sidestep him again, but he wouldn’t have it. He blocked her path and caught her by the shoulders. “Something’s wrong. I know there is. What have you done this time? You’d better tell me before I find out from somebody else.”
    “What makes you think I’ve done something?”
    “Because you won’t look me in the eye.”
    “I’m avoiding you, yes. But only because I’m mad, not because I’ve committed what you would consider a transgression.”
    “That’s been your routine in the past, Carole.”
    “Don’t call me—” Avery caught herself just in time.
    “Don’t call you what?”
    “Nothing.” She hated having him address her as Carole. “Don’t call me a liar,” she amended. Defiantly, she flung her head back. “And just so you’ll know from me before you hear it from somebody else, Van Lovejoy was smoking a joint. He even offered it to me. I refused. Now, do I pass muster, Mr. Senator?”
    Tate was furiously rocking back and forth on the balls of his feet. “Don’t wander off by yourself like that again.”
    “Don’t put me on a short leash.”
    “I don’t care what you do, dammit,” he growled, gripping her shoulders harder. “It’s just not safe for you to be alone.”
    “Alone?” she repeated in a harsh, mirthless tone. “Alone? We’re never alone.”
    “We’re alone right now.”
    It occurred to them simultaneously that they were standing chest to chest. One was breathing with as much agitation as the other. Their blood was running hot and their tempers were high. Avery felt her nerves sizzle like fallen hot wires that snaked across a rain-slick street.
    His arms went around her, met at the center of her back, and jerked her against him. Avery went limp with desire. Then, moving as one, their mouths came together in a ravenous kiss. She folded her arms around his neck and provocatively arched her body into his. His hands slid over her derriere and roughly drew her up high and hard against the front of his body.
    Their breathing was loud. So was the rustle of their evening clothes. Their mouths twisted against each other; their tongues were too greedy to exercise finesse.
    Tate walked her backward into the wall, which then served the original purpose of his hands by keeping her middle cemented to him. His fingers curved tightly around her head and held it in place while he gave her a hungry kiss.
    The kiss was carnal. It had a dark soul. It touched off elemental sparks that were as exciting to Avery as the first tongues of flame were to primal man. It conveyed that much heat, that much promise.
    She attacked the studs on his pleated shirt. One by one they landed soundlessly in the carpeting. She peeled the shirt wide and bared his chest. Her open mouth found the very center of it. He swore with pleasure and reached behind her for the fastenings on her dress.
    They eluded his fumbling fingers. Fabric was ripped. Beads scattered. Sequins rained down. Neither was mindful of the damage. He worked the dress down her shoulders and planted