Nash glanced at his arm where Steers had cut him and wondered how that was not a cow.
“She wants to have dinner with me tonight. As her guest. What should I know, Hiroko-san, before I sit down with her?”
Hiroko reached out and slid her soft, aged palm against Nash’s cheek.
“Dillon-san, in encounters such as that, you must follow your heart. No amount of pondering will provide you the guidance that you seek.” She touched his head. “The mind thinks too deeply and will play you false when you most need it to be true.” She then touched his chest. “But your heart will lead you to where you need to go, Dillon-san. It always does.”
Later, as Nash got ready to go out with Steers, he wondered whether his heart was up to the task. Because no matter what had happened to Steers to change her, the fact remained that she had killed his daughter and destroyed his life. There was no going back from that.
That cow was indeed a cow.
CHAPTER
39
NASH APPEARED IN THE PENTHOUSEfoyer five minutes early. He was dressed in a dark suit and white shirt with no tie. He had showered, shaved his scalp, and trimmed his beard and goatee, and he felt terribly self-conscious and uneasy about all of it.
Earlier, Thura had given him some good-natured ribbing. “Dating the boss, man, you better be careful.” But then he’d lost his jocularity and said, “All kidding aside, Dillon. Be careful. She is the dragon lady for sure.”
As he stood waiting for her, Steers’s protection detail emerged from various nooks and crannies. They stood arrayed around him, and the grim expressions on their faces told Nash all he needed to know. The only thing keeping him upright and alive was the fact that these men feared Steers. As Nash thought about it, such power was tenuous and might be undermined by certain things. And those things might already be in play.
When Steers appeared, right on the dot of nine, Nash felt his mouth ease open in surprise. He had grudgingly conceded that Steers was quite an attractive woman. And yet there had always been a hardened edge to the beauty that had managed to diminish it to a state where he saw only the hard—and not the lovely—woman behind it.
Now the hair had been swept back into a ponytail, giving off a casual vibe that Nash found difficult to associate with the woman.
Her makeup was muted, but the red on her lips was bold against the pale skin.
Her clothing choice was perhaps the most astonishing.
It was the first time that Nash had ever seen the woman wearing a dress, and in a color other than black. It was a striking shade of orange, and it contrasted pleasingly with her dark hair and red lips.
She swiped self-consciously at her hair, and with that motion Nash realized that she was probably as nervous as he was.
“Are you ready, Mr. Hope?” she said, not looking at him.
“Yes, Ms. Steers.”
They rode down in the elevator alone, the protection detail having gone on ahead.
As the floors swiftly passed by he said, “You look very nice, Ms. Steers.”
She shot him a quick, sideways glance. “You as well, Mr. Hope.”
For an anguished moment Nash felt like he was back in high school on his first date.The only thing is thisdatekilled my daughter.
The car was waiting in the garage and they climbed in. When Nash tried to hold the door for Steers, one of her men beat him to it, giving him a surly look as he did so.
They sat in the back of the Maybach and didn’t speak for the whole ride. A car rode in front of them and one in the rear with her men housed inside both.
Twenty minutes later they walked into a small restaurant in a suburb of Hong Kong. It was expensively and tastefully decorated, and it was also empty.
The hostess escorted them to a table and quickly left.
Some of Steers’s men were clustered near the entrance and another two guarded the rear.
“Nice place,” said Nash. “I’m surprised there aren’t other customers.”
“I made arrangements. I do not like. . .people all that much. They tend to. . .stare.”
