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“I’d be happy to look with you. Do you have anything in mind?”
    â€œMy dear, I don’t know anything about Houston. I’m totally in your hands.”
    â€œBuy a newspaper tomorrow and circle the apartments that you like best, and we’ll drive around to see them. What time would you like to start?”
    â€œAs early as it’s convenient for you—after all, I’m at your mercy.”
    She doubted that he was ever at anyone’s mercy, but a light, happy feeling was swelling in her. His eyes were a warm, brilliant turquoise now, and his smile would have turned the head of a statue. She wasn’t proof against his charm, and suddenly it didn’t worry her.
    Their food had been cooling in front of them, and they both realized it simultaneously. As they ate, Claire began to watch him with growing amazement. How could someone so lean eat so much? His manners were faultless, but nevertheless the amount he ate would have done a stevedore proud. His metabolic rate had to be high, because his movements were characterized by an indolent grace; he didn’t burn off calories with nervous energy.
    She said as much, and he smiled at her. “I know. My mother used to scold me for eating too much in company. She said it made it appear as if they kept me in a dungeon on starvation rations.”
    â€œDo you have a large family?”
    â€œThere seem to be hundreds of us,” he said blithely. “Aunts and uncles and cousins by the score. In the immediate family, I have one brother and three sisters, and eight assorted nieces and nephews. My father is dead, but my mother still rules us all.”
    â€œAre you the eldest?” Claire asked, fascinated by his large family.
    â€œNo, my brother is the eldest. I’m second in line. Is your family a large one?”
    â€œNo, not really. Just my parents, and my sister Martine and her family. There are cousins in Michigan and an aunt who lives in Vancouver, but the relationship isn’t close.”
    â€œA large family has its advantages, but there are also times when it closely resembles a zoo. Holidays are chaos.”
    â€œDo you go home for all the holidays?”
    He shrugged. “Sometimes it isn’t possible, but I pop over on the odd weekend.”
    He made it sound as if it were only a matter of getting in a car and taking a half-hour drive, instead of “popping over” on a transatlantic flight. She was still marveling at that when he turned the conversation to her job. He asked interested questions about the sort of work done at Bronson Alloys, the market for special alloys and the uses for them. It was a fairly complicated subject, and Claire had studied intensely when she’d first gotten the job as Sam Bronson’s assistant, trying to understand the processes and the practical applications of Sam’s metallurgical genius. She knew her ground well but had to make a special effort to keep abreast. The ease and rapidity of Max’s understanding was amazing; she could talk to him as naturally as if he also worked in the field, without having to pause continually for complicated explanations.
    Then they began talking about real estate, and the way Max explained it, it sounded fascinating. “You don’t actually buy the real estate yourself?”
    â€œNo. I act as a consultant, investigating properties for people who are interested buyers. Not all property is suitable for investment or expansion. There are the geological considerations, first of all—some land simply isn’t stable enough to support large structures. There are other variables, of course: the depth of the water table, any bedrock, things that effect the price effectiveness of locating a building on that particular plot of ground.”
    â€œYou’re a geologist, too?”
    â€œI’m a gatherer of facts. It’s like putting a puzzle together, with the difference that you have no idea what the