It did feel better to sit. Indescribably better. But she wasn’t about to admit it. “The baby’s not due for two months. I have plenty of time. We were discussing...”
“Rach.” He laid a hand on her cheek, very gently. A shouted curse wouldn’t have stopped her, but the small gesture did. “Don’t make me worry about you.”
“I’m perfectly fine.”
“You shouldn’t be here.”
“I’m having a baby. It’s not contagious. Now, about Domingo.”
Alex gave a brief, pithy opinion on what could be done with Domingo. “Talk to the DA,” he repeated. “Sitting down.”
“She looks pretty strong to me,” Bess commented. Two pair of eyes turned to her, one furious, the other thoughtful.
“Thank you. The men in my life are coddlers,” Rachel explained. “Sweet, but annoying.”
“Muldoon should take better care of you,” Alex insisted.
“I don’t need Zack to take care of me. And the fact is, between him and Nick, I’m barely allowed to brush my own teeth.” She held out a hand to Bess. “Since my brother is too rude to introduce me, I’m Rachel Muldoon.”
“Bess McNee. You’re a lawyer?”
“That’s right. I work for the public defender’s office.”
“Really?” Bess’s thoughts began to perk. “What’s it like to—”
Alex held up a hand. “Don’t get her started. She’ll pick your brain clean before you know she’s had her fingers in it. Look, McNee—” he turned to Bess, determined not to be charmed by her easy smile “—we’re a little busy here.”
“Of course you are. I’m sorry.” Obligingly she swung her huge purse onto her shoulder. “We’ll talk tonight. Nice to meet you, Rachel.”
“Same here.” Rachel ran her tongue over her teeth, and both she and Alex watched Bess weave her way out of the squad room. “Well, that was rude.”
“It’s the only way to handle her. Believe me.”
“Hmm... She seems like an interesting woman. How did you meet her?”
“Don’t ask.” He sat back down on his desk, irked that the scent of sunshine and sex still lingered in the air.
“I can’t believe we’re doing this.” Holly, Judd’s pretty wife of eight months, was all but hopping out of her party shoes. “Wait until I tell everyone in the teachers’ lounge where I spent the evening.”
“Take it easy, honey.” Judd tugged at the tie she’d insisted he wear. “It’s just a party.”
“Just a party?” As the elevator rode up, she fussed with her honey-brown hair. “I don’t know about you two, but it isn’t every day I get to eat canapés with celebrities.”
Ominously silent, Alex stayed hunched in his leather jacket. He didn’t know what the hell he was doing here. His first mistake had been mentioning the invitation to Judd. No matter how insouciant Judd pretended to be, he’d been bursting at the seams when he called his wife. Alex had been swept along in their enthusiasm.
But he wasn’t going to stay. Holly’s sense of decorum might have insisted that she and Judd couldn’t attend without him, but he’d already decided just how he’d play it. He’d go in, maybe have a beer and a couple of crackers. Then he’d slip out again. He’d be damned if he’d spend this rare free evening playing soap-opera groupie.
“Oh, my” was all Holly could say when the elevator doors opened.
The walls of the private foyer were splashed with a mural of the city. Times Square, Rockefeller Center, Harlem, Little Italy, Broadway. People seemed to be rushing along the walls, just as they did the streets below. It was as if the woman who lived here didn’t want to miss one moment of the action.
The wide door to the main apartment was open, and music, laughter and conversation were pouring out, along with the scents of hot food and burning candles.
“Oh, my,” Holly said again, dragging her husband along as she stepped inside.
From behind them, Alex scanned the room. It was huge, and it was packed with people. Draped in silk or cotton, clad in business suits and lush gowns, they stood elbow to elbow on the hardwood floor, lounged hip to hip on the sapphire cushions of the enormous circular conversation pit, sat knee to knee on the steps of a bronze circular staircase that led to an open loft where still more people leaned against a railing decked with naked cherubs.
Two huge windows let the lights of the city in. More partygoers sat on the pillow-plumped window seats, balancing plates and glasses on their laps.
