“Dar, that’s horrible.”

Dar got up and wandered over to the window, leaning her hands against the glass and peering out. “Yeah, I know.” She snorted softly. “Imagine, I finally develop a conscience, and what do I get for it?” she asked. “I get accused of sleeping with my staff.”

Mariana studied her back, then got up and joined her at the window, putting a hand on her arm. “That wasn’t what I…” She sighed, perplexed at the situation. “Dar, listen, in a strange way, I was halfway hoping it was true.”

Shocked blue eyes turned and gathered her in. “What?”

“I’ve known you for years, and it’s like I hardly know you, Dar. You only let us see tiny bits and pieces of who you are. And I’ve been very worried about you,” the shorter woman said quietly. “They put an enormous amount of pressure on you, and it bothered me a lot to know you really had no one to share that with. Beyond this stupid job, okay?”

Warily, Dar regarded her. “What are you saying?” She crossed her arms and leaned against the glass, the sun slanting in on both of them and bisecting the quiet office.

“Don’t get mad at me.” Mariana put a hand on her arm. “But I’ve seen a big difference in you the last month. And to be completely honest, I was hoping you’d found someone.” She glanced across her office, then met Dar’s eyes again. “Even if that someone was Kerry Stuart.”

Oh, damn it. I don’t want to lie to her. Mariana has been my friend for years, but this… Dar sighed. She didn’t want the personnel executive to have her own 340 Melissa Good crisis of conscience, pitting her liking of Dar against her duty to her job. She thought quickly. “I’d had a lot of things on my mind lately…” She chose her words carefully, “…not the least of which has been my health.”

It threw Mariana right off the scent, now her eyes widened in real concern.

“I told you about the headaches. Well, when they checked for that, they found something irregular in my heartbeat,” Dar told her. “I went in for some tests. And believe me, Mari, I was damned scared.”

“Oh my god.” Mariana moved a step closer. “What happened?”

Dar shook her head. “It came out all right. Somehow, I’m not really sure how myself, but it was a cloud that had been over me for a long time. I was damned relieved to be rid of it.” She glanced at the carpet and nudged a bit of the pile with her foot. “I guess that’s why I’ve been a little more relaxed lately.

That and being told I’d better take it easy or risk real problems with those headaches.”

“Dar, you should have told me. I could have…”

“What, arranged for crises to stop happening?” Dar asked mildly. “Those couple days in Orlando came at the right time. It really irks me that someone could take pictures of something so normal and make it seem like we were…”

Dar shook her head sadly. “Damn.” Also true. At the park, neither of them had even really begun to think about a romantic relationship.

Had they? Dar glanced at the top photo and sighed inwardly. How much was she fooling anyone other than herself?

“Dar, don’t worry about it,” Mariana replied soothingly. “I’ll shred them.”

Dar considered that, then let a faint smile cross her lips. “No, let me have them. I have a better idea.” You think you got me, huh, you little weeble? “Look, Mari, I’m sorry I yelled. You were absolutely right to call me on this. It could be hell for all of us if it got out of hand.”

Mariana patted her arm. “I could have approached it a little differently. I guess I was just so shocked. Well, not shocked, just…” She walked over, picked up the pictures, and leafed through them, then glanced at Dar, who was gazing out of the window. Her eyes dropped back to the picture on top, seeing the relaxed and happy look on the tall executive’s face as she hugged the blonde Kerry to her. “Anyway, to change the subject, I’m looking forward to dinner tonight. You did remember, right?”

Dar turned and nodded. “I did. And Kerry tells me she accepted your invitation also. It should be a good time.” She pushed off the glass and crossed to her friend, holding a hand out. “Gimme, I’m gonna have the damned things published on the internal web server. Ops monthly newsletter’s about due.”

“What?” Mariana blinked.

“I’ll make sure to e-mail Michelle a copy of the page.” Dar smiled acidly.

“Tch, Dar.” The Personnel VP bit back a grin. “I’ll send her a thank you note, how about that? On letterhead.”

Dar chuckled. “Hey, that’d be a nice touch.” She lifted a hand. “I’ve got a pile of emergencies on my desk. I’ll see you tonight, Mari.”

“Mmm, see you tonight, my friend.” She waved as Dar left, then sat, playing with a pencil in silence for a few minutes. When a soft knock came at Tropical Storm 341

the door, she called out, “Entrez-vous,” and was unsurprised when Duks slipped in. He padded over and perched on a corner of her desk.

“Well?” He raised a brow at her in inquiry.

“Well, I almost got my head handed to me, and I got some very plausible skating of the issue, but you know what, Dukky?”

“What?” He folded his arms across his chest.

They both burst into song. “There’s something there that wasn’t there before!”

The door swung open, and José put his head in. “Was that singing?”

Two solemn faces looked back at him. “What?” Duks asked, his brows rising.

“Singing?” Mariana studied him. “José, use your health benefits and get the ears checked, will you?” She shook her head disapprovingly. “Did you need something?”

The stocky Sales VP gave them an evil look. “My goddamn new regional sales manager, in fact. You going to make me wait until next year?” he complained. “Or do you have to be Dar Roberts to get anything done around here?”

“NO, PETER.” DAR rested one elbow on her desk and closed her eyes.

“I’m not going to release that. They’ll just have to wait.” She held the phone away from her ear as a yell of outrage came out of it. “One more like that and I’m hanging up,” she snapped into the phone. “I don’t have time for this crap.”

“You’re sabotaging me, goddamn it,” he answered in frustration.

“Don’t be stupid,” Dar replied. “Why would I do that? You do a great job of it all by yourself.”

“Bitch.” The phone disconnected and Dar exhaled, grinning wryly.

“Asshole,” she muttered, going back to her screen and plowing through yet another mail. The back door opened, and she glanced up to see Kerry enter, a brown bag in her hands. “Hey.”

The blonde woman came over, putting the bag down and leaning against the edge of the desk. “Hi.” She tugged the edge of her burgundy skirt up and folded her hands.

“What’s that?” Dar nudged the bag with her pen.

“Lunch,” Kerry replied readily. “I had to run out to the bank during mine, and I figured you’d still be buried in here, so…”

Dar poked at the bag again. “It’s not anything with alfalfa sprouts or anything, is it?” She glanced slyly at the smaller woman.

“Oh, yeah, right.” Kerry laughed. “As if. No, it’s a cheesesteak sandwich and spicy fries.” She peered at the screen. “Good grief, I thought I had a lot of mail. What’s all that?”

Dar was investigating her lunch and pulled out a fry, munching on it contentedly. “I’ve been letting things slide for a few days. It all caught up with me today, I guess. Oh yeah.” She pulled the manila folder from her inbox and handed it over. “Look what Mariana got today, from our friend Michelle.”

Kerry pulled the pictures out and sucked in a breath in surprise. “Holy 342 Melissa Good Christ!” she blurted in surprise. “Where in the… Oh.” She realized they must have been spotted by hidden cameras. “What a pig.”

Dar looked, chewing another fry. “No, that’s Donald Duck.” She pointed at the picture.

Kerry just looked at her. “Who got these?” she asked quietly.

“Mariana.” Dar replied. “I, um, got called on the carpet for them, more or less.”

“Hmmm. Well, it’s not like they’re anything big, or are they? I mean, Jesus, Dar…” Her voice trailed off. “Are we in trouble?”

We. Dar curled herself around the word, and remembered what Mari had said. “I don’t know,” she murmured. “She thinks there’s something going on.

I…I talked around it more than anything.” Her eyes lifted wryly. “We’re going to have to watch it tonight, though. She’s not easy to fool.”

“Oh.” Kerry considered that in thoughtful silence. “She’s a friend of yours, right?”

Dar nodded quietly. “Yes, she is.”

The smaller woman’s brow furrowed. “I think you’d feel better if you told her.” Kerry paused a moment. “Because I think she knows anyway, just from the way she was talking to me the other day.”

Dar chewed on a fry. “I think she does, too. I just hate putting her, or Duks, for that matter, into an uncomfortable situation. She’s the director of personnel, and this is part of her job. I don’t know, Kerry.”

“Mmm.” Kerry stole a fry. “Think about it, okay?” She changed the subject. “These are nice pictures. Can I keep one?”

Dar smiled and glanced at the pile. “Sure. I was going to give them to Betty to put in the division newsletter.”

Kerry selected the one of them together on the ride and gave her back the other ones. “I like this one.” She gazed at it. “I really wanted you to offer to go on that damn thing again.”

Dar laughed. “I almost did,” she admitted. “Hey, it’s supposed to be nice weather this weekend. You up for a little time on the water?”

Kerry glanced up at her with a delighted look. “Yes!” she agreed quickly.

“I have my first scuba class on Saturday morning. How about we head out after lunch?”

“Sounds good.” Dar nodded. “You’ll have all those snowbirds jealous of your nice tan, that’s for sure.” She put a hand out and gently rubbed Kerry’s knee. “I think I’m going to call Mariana and ask her to change the location for dinner…two nights in a row.”

Kerry sucked in a breath. “Jesus, I forgot you took her there. You have someplace else in mind?”

Dar shook her head, then punched the phone buttons. It rang twice, then Mariana answered. “Mari, listen, would you mind a change of venue tonight?”

She heard rustling and a soft mutter in the background that she couldn’t make out, then Mariana cleared her throat. “No, no. In fact, Dar, I was about to call you. There’s a new Thai restaurant in North Miami Duks has been dying to try.”

Green and blue eyes met. Kerry tapped her nose, then made a scrunched Tropical Storm 343

up face and poked her teeth out, sniffing. “I smell a rat,” she mouthed.

Dar bit back a chuckle. “Sure, but Mari, I didn’t know you liked that stuff,” she agreed warily, her thumb still absently caressing Kerry’s skin.

“Life’s short, Dar. Always time to try something new. Besides, Duks swears by the stuff, and he’s promised me the chicken is really just chicken.”

“Okay, sounds good.” Dar relaxed with a pleased expression. “I happen to like Thai.”

“Oh, I guess I’d better ask Kerry. She might not…” Mari sighed.

“No, she does.” Dar answered without thinking, then slapped her head and rolled her eyes as Kerry covered her mouth with a hasty hand. “Jesus, she got me,” she whispered soundlessly. “We were talking about it the other day,”

she added towards the phone.

Kerry bent over in laughter and leaned against the desk.

“Oh. Well, that’s great,” Mariana said smugly. “It’ll just be the four of us.

It’s down near US 1, Dar, just before the tracks.” A pause. “You’ll let Kerry know, then?”

Dar sighed and covered her eyes, not quite able to believe Mariana had snagged her quite so easily. “Sure, I’ll let her know,” she agreed wryly, eyeing the now-composed blonde, whose sparkling green eyes were gazing merrily at her. “See you.” She disconnected and lifted her hands, letting them drop in disgust. “God damn it.”

Kerry glanced at the door, then leaned forward and kissed her on the forehead. “You’re so cute when you’re flustered,” she told her with a smile.

Dar’s brows shot up. “I am not flustered!” she objected, straightening her cuffs and brushing her sleeve off. “I’m just…um…”

The light tap warned them, and Kerry slipped around to the front of the desk, hastily settling in one of Dar’s visitor’s chairs. Maria poked her head in and spotted them.

“Ah, there you are, Kerrisita.” The secretary entered and walked across the carpet. “Dios mío! Dar, what is that?”