1

Daniel Sinclair settled back into the comfortable leather seat of his limousine, which was taking him to JFK airport for his flight to San Francisco.

“We should be at the airport in forty-five minutes, sir,” his driver Maurice announced.

“Thank you.”

Instead of chartering his own jet as he often did when he traveled cross country, he’d decided to fly first class on a commercial airline. Since both his lead attorney and his girlfriend were scheduled to fly out to meet him on the West Coast the next day rather than joining him on this flight, there’d been no reason to charter a jet just for one passenger.

Audrey, his girlfriend of almost a year, had an important charity function to attend and had promised to take the first flight out the next morning, while his attorney Judd Baum was working on final contract revisions and thought it more prudent to finish them in New York where his staff could assist him.

Daniel had been working on the acquisition of the San Francisco-based financial services company for almost a year. Despite the fact that his attorneys and his business managers handled most of the details, he preferred to be intimately involved in any deal his company struck, especially when it came down to the final few days.

He always made a point of sitting at the table with the other side when the final signatures were exchanged, rather than finalizing the deal remotely. Besides, another trip to San Francisco would be just what he needed.

It provided him with an opportunity to relax as well as to catch up with his buddy Tim, who’d hightailed it out of New York five years earlier, having decided that life outside of California wasn’t for him. The native Californian had tried to adjust to life on the East Coast, but deep down he’d never felt at home. Daniel couldn’t really blame him.

Life in New York was hectic and completely centered around work.

His ulterior motive for coming to San Francisco, though, was to introduce Audrey to Tim, who had the uncanny ability to assess a person’s character within five minutes. Things had been a bit on shaky ground with Audrey for the last few months, especially because he’d been working so damn hard on this deal.

Daniel had neglected her on several occasions and was wondering where to take the relationship. The truth was, he needed a little bit of advice from his old college buddy on what to do with her. He never discussed relationships or women with any of his friends or business associates in New York. Tim was the only person he felt comfortable with talking about other things than guy stuff.

He raked his long fingers through his dark hair, something he did frequently when he was preoccupied. His hair was longer than usual; lately, he hadn’t even found time to visit his barber for a quick haircut. His schedule had been too hectic.

Never one to sit idly, Daniel opened his briefcase to start reviewing some of the documents for the deal. As he flipped through the files, he cursed under his breath. One of the files his assistant had put together for him was missing. He remembered that he’d taken it out of his briefcase the night before.

He’d gone to pick up Audrey from her apartment, but as usual she hadn’t been ready, and he’d waited for her to get dressed. Since Audrey was never one to be rushed, he’d started reviewing the file while he’d waited for her and then promptly forgotten it there. And since he’d dropped her off after dinner rather than spending the night, he hadn’t noticed his neglect.

As he thought about the previous evening, he had difficulty remembering when he’d last spent the night with her. It must have been more than a couple of weeks ago. And for that matter, it must have been a while since he’d had sex with her. Strangely enough, he hadn’t even noticed. That’s what work did to him—it made him forget everything else.

“Maurice,” he called out to his driver.

“Yes, sir?”

“Swing by Miss Hawkins’ place, please. I left some documents there last night.”

“Certainly, sir.”

It wouldn’t be much of a detour. Maurice was still fighting traffic in midtown, and Audrey’s place was only a few blocks away. Daniel glanced at his watch. She was already at her charity event, but he had a key and could let himself in. The doorman knew him well and would have no objections to letting him go up.

Minutes later, Maurice double parked in front of the building, and Daniel sauntered out of the car. Audrey’s apartment was on the top floor of the turn-of-the-century-co-op. He impatiently tapped his foot as the wood-paneled cab of the old-fashioned and rather slow elevator climbed from floor to floor.

There were only three units on the top floor, and he headed straight for Audrey’s. As soon as he turned the key and let himself into the apartment, he thought he heard noises.