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but she already knew enough about Davis Oakes to realize that he wasn’t about to give up easily. This was a man who, once he set an objective, kept going until he reached it. Furthermore, he was currently working for Mercer Wyatt, which meant he had the full power of the Cadence Guild behind him. What chance did one small dust bunny have?
    She needed to find a way to take the heat off Araminta.
    She dashed the back of her hand across her eyes and put a tremor in her voice. “Araminta has probably run away for good. I’m going to miss her so much. She was my little pal.”
    “In my experience, once dust bunnies form a bond with a human, they are fiercely loyal,” he said, showing no signs of sympathy. “Your little pal will be back. She’ll probably be waiting for you when you get home tonight.”
    So much for that ploy. Nevertheless, she sniffed and blinked furiously, as though trying to suppress a flood of tears. “I have your card, Mr. Oakes.” She added a delicate sob to her voice. “I’ll give you a call if she ever shows up again and brings back the relic.”
    “You do that.” He went back out into the hall. “If you’ll excuse me, I’ve got some work to do. See you at seven tonight.”
    That stopped her cold. She cleared her throat. “I, uh, sort of assumed that this new development meant our date was probably off.”
    He paused and looked back at her. “Guess again, Miss Ingram. You and I are going to be spending a lot of time in each other’s company until that damn relic reappears.”
    She knew a threat when she heard one.
    “No offense, Mr. Oakes, but under the circumstances, I don’t think it would be a comfortable evening for either of us. What do you say we postpone the issue of a date until we see whether or not Araminta comes back with the artifact?”
    “Not a chance,” Davis said. “By the way, under the circumstances , you can forget about taking a cab to the restaurant. Something tells me you might not show up.”
    “Oh, good grief, if I say I’ll be there, I’ll be there.”
    “I’ll pick you up.”
    “You don’t have my address.”
    “Not a problem. I’m a private investigator, remember? I find things. You’d better believe I’ll find you.”

Chapter 3
    SHE MUST HAVE SENSED THE ENERGY THAT HAD PULSED between them. He couldn’t have been the only one who had felt that high-rez stuff ricocheting back and forth back there in her office. Or was he?
    Davis got out of the parking garage elevator and made his way through the rows of cars to where he had left the Phantom. He was still half-aroused.
    Max was waiting for him when he reached the car. The dust bunny was napping on the passenger seat in his favorite position, flat on his back, all six paws up in the air. When Davis opened the door, he stretched, opened his blue eyes, rolled over, and made little chortling sounds.
    “Hey, there, buddy.”
    They did the brief greeting ritual, which consisted of him patting Max on the top of his furry head and Max bouncing up and down a little.
    “I should have taken you in there with me,” Davis said. “You might have saved the day. Takes a dust bunny to catch a dust bunny, I always say. As it is, we’ve got a whole lot of new problems.”
    He set the briefcase on the floor on the passenger side. Max hopped up onto the back of the seat where he had an excellent view. Max liked riding in cars.
    Instead of rezzing the engine, Davis sat for a moment, hands resting on the wheel, trying to suppress the unfamiliar sense of anticipation and hungry excitement that was flooding his veins.
    “Damn near knocked me off my feet, Max. Felt about nineteen again. And it’s not like she could ever get hired to read the evening news on the rez-screen. I mean, she’s attractive, okay? But not in the usual way. She’s, I dunno, different .”
    Max made understanding noises.
    Different. That was it, he thought. She wasn’t perfect. In his experience, perfect was pleasant to look at, but it was