Raven's Prey

switch the topic of conversation.
    “Is it Prager? Are you upset about not seeing him anymore?” Steve finally asked commiseratingly.
    ‘To tell you the truth, I hope I never see that man again!” Honor saw the astonishment on her friend’s face and laughed ruefully. “I’m not working for Garrison and Prager anymore, Steve. As a matter of fact, I shall be pounding the pavement soon, looking for a job. Any ideas?”
    “Sure. How about Evie’s old job?” he shot back wryly.
    “Oh, she’d love to hear that I was working in the same firm as you! I think she was always a little jealous that I knew you first.”
    “Maybe it would bring her back to Phoenix,” he hazarded wistfully. “You know, there was something to be said for the good old days when a man could just pick out a woman, hunt her down and drag her back to his cave and keep her there.”
    Honor blinked, aware of a chill down her spine. A man like Steve would never step out of his three-piece suit long enough to resort to such primitive methods. Steve Melbourne was well and truly trapped in the bonds of twentieth-century civilization. He, like most of the other men of his era, were learning to deal with women within the framework of the new social more.
    Looking at her friend across the small candle in the center of the table Honor suddenly realized just how different Steve Melbourne and the other men of her acquaintance were from Judd Raven. It made her realize just how lucky she had been to walk out of that motel room alone the previous morning. Raven’s hunting instincts were definitely pre-twentieth century, as was his lack of refined sensitivity. She shivered in the warm, smoky lounge and remembered the rustic cantina where she had first seen Judd.
    In all honesty, she admitted now, Judd’s instincts, primitive as they were, had been correct on one score. He had been right when he’d said she couldn’t have ever been truly involved with Steve Melbourne in a full-scale love affair. She knew in her heart that if she’d ever felt a fraction of the passion with Steve that she’d experienced with Judd, there would have been no way she could sit across from Melbourne tonight and be a “friend.”
    “Hey, don’t go moody on me,” Steve complained good-naturedly. “Come on, let’s dance. I haven’t danced since Evie left town.”
    Honor managed a smile, setting down her drink. “What are friends for?”
    There was a certain solace to be had in dancing with a friend, however, Honor discovered. She still had so many disturbing memories that had to be banished. Neither she nor Steve would be making any demands on each other tonight and she knew she could relax and give herself up to the pleasures of simple friendship.
    Friendship. That was another of the refined sides of human nature about which she doubted Judd Raven knew very much. He seemed singularly lacking in friends from what little she had learned about him. Even his association with Craig Maddock, for whom he had apparently worked from time to time, seemed more of a wary, adversary relationship than a friendship.
    That faint flicker of unease coursed through her once more and she found herself clinging a little closer to Steve Melbourne than she might ordinarily have done. What was the matter with her? She was safe.
    “Will you be looking for a position similar to the one you’re leaving at Garrison and Prager’s firm? A sort of administrative assistant post?” Steve asked musingly.
    “Yes, I imagine so. That seems to be the kind of work I do best: coordinating schedules, lining up details, summarizing data.”
    “Evie always said you were very good at the administrative end of a business and good with clients, too. That should be a marketable combination.”
    “I hope so.”
    “Might be tough to find another job that involves all that great overseas travel, though,” Steve went on.
    “Believe me, I’ve had my fill of travel for a while!”
    “I wish Evie hadn’t been so interested in traveling to Denver,” He sighed.
    “Steve, you’re going to have to make a choice. How much does Evie mean to you?” Honor asked firmly.
    “A lot,” he groaned. “A hell of a lot.”
    Honor was genuinely glad to hear he had found with Evie the passion that had been missing in her own romance with him.
    “Then what are you going to do about the situation?”
    He looked down at her bleakly. “You’re saying I should start job hunting in Denver?”
    “It’s up to you, but it