Chapter One

Rick Masters wasn't given to cruising around in his car. Certainly not in what was considered to be well past the shank of the evening. It wasn't as if he was at loose ends with nothing to do. A stack of reports waited for his perusal, a pile of documents needed his signature and hundreds of people had lives on the cusp of being rearranged, all on his say-so once he made up his mind about the relocation of the present corporate headquarters for Masters Enterprises. This wasn't the time to be driving around aimlessly on deserted streets. Well, not aimlessly. He hadn't been aimless in a very long time. And no matter what he tried to tell himself, he knew exactly where he was going. He'd finally given in and looked her up in the telephone book an hour ago. She still lived there. In the old house. The one he still dreamed about on balmy nights when his mind gave him no peace. Like tonight. Maybe it was a mistake, coming back. Maybe this was the one challenge he should have turned his back on. Too late now. Besides, leaving a question unanswered was too much like letting the challenge win. Ever since he could walk, he'd always been too competitive to allow that to happen. He'd taken that light a little too fast. Rick raised his dark eyes to look in the rearview mirror. No dancing blue and red lights approached. He had to be careful, he told himself. There was no sense in letting his emotions run away with him, stealing away his tendency to be careful. The way they once had, leading him down a path where he was vulnerable. It seemed like a million years ago. It seemed like yesterday. He glanced along the silent, sleepin...