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said with a great deal of sarcasm. “I ordered you that nasty
crap you drink. How on earth anyone drinks tea without sugar is beyond me. I’m,
of course, having a Bloody Mary. We’re celebrating.”
    The waiter came over and sat their
drinks in front of them. Reilly waited until he was gone before she looked at
Rachel to ask her about the celebrating. She had a strange look on her face.
    “What?” Reilly turned around and saw Mr.
Hunter coming toward her. “Fuck. He just doesn’t give up, does he?”
    “You know him? Well, that makes this easier.”
Reilly had a strange feeling she wasn’t going to be celebrating like her agent thought
she might. “Reilly Harlequin, I’d like you to meet the man who’s just
commissioned you to make a premier piece for his new lobby, Daniel Hunter.”

Chapter 5
     
    Daniel could see that she was furious,
and smiled to himself. He had a feeling that getting one over on this woman
wasn’t easy. He’d meant to tell her this morning when she’d left him, but she’d
been so pale when he mentioned her son that he’d forgotten. Kissing her hand instead
of shaking it, he laughed when she jerked it away from him.
    “I don’t want to work with you,” she
whispered furiously. “What is this, a joke? I don’t think it’s funny if it is.”
    He smiled at her and pulled out her
chair. When she stood glaring at him for several seconds, he thought she was
going to simply leave. It wasn’t until Ms. Fletcher spoke that she finally sat
down.
    “Reilly, people are beginning to stare. Please
sit and we’ll work this out. I’m not sure what it is to work out, but staring
each other down in a public restaurant isn’t going to help. Sit down.”
    Daniel held her chair until O’Reilly
sat. He just knew that he was going to pay for this later and was looking
forward to it. He moved to the other chair and sat down after unbuttoning his
jacket, which he’d meant to leave in the car but had forgotten when he had
realized how late it was. He didn’t want to give her any more ammo.
    “Mr. Hunter wants you to do a piece for
his lobby of his new building. He said that…”
    “No.” Rachel flushed when Reilly cut her
off. “I don’t like him, and I certainly don’t want to make anything for him.”
    “You might want to listen to the details,
O’Reilly, before you decide,” he said. “If you help me out on this project,
I’ll donate the amount you charge me to the Foundation of Art that my family is
trying to get up and running.” He leaned back in his chair and thought he had
her.
    “I’ll simply donate the money, not work
for you, and I’ll be a happy person.” She glared again before looking at
Rachel. “You said you have some papers for me to sign concerning the last
order. I have it done, by the way.”
    “You could donate your monies and mine. What
if something like this could benefit Benny? Would you do it then?” He looked
over at Rachel when she started laughing. “What is it?”
    “What kind of foundation is your family
running that a dog could come and learn at? Or is that stupid mutt simply
walking through paint, then over a paper? I saw that somewhere on television
once, where an elephant or something did that to raise money.”
    Daniel looked over at O’Reilly with a
question on the tip of his tongue when he saw her face. Panic, terror, and
pleading were there. He looked over at Rachel again before looking at O’Reilly.
She didn’t know…no idea that O’Reilly had a child and that he was living with
her.
    He leaned back again and picked up his
menu. He didn’t have a clue what it said, his mind whirling around the fact
that he had information he could hold against her. And when he glanced at her
again, he could see that she knew it. This might be fun enough to get from her
what he wanted and maybe a few hours of her time.
    The waiter took their order, and still
his mind wasn’t grasping why she’d be keeping her son a secret. He kept coming
back to the